As expected, Nintendo gave us a full-on avalanche of info on Super Mario Odyssey during Tuesday’s E3 2017 Nintendo Direct presentation.

Let’s get the release date out of the way: Super Mario Odyssey will be available on the Nintendo Switch on October 27th, 2017!

Nintendo showed off a satisfying portion of gameplay this afternoon during their Nintendo Treehouse presentation.

Super Mario Odyssey returns to the roots of 3D Mario gameplay. The game’s designers expressed the desire to take players on a journey through the games multitude of worlds, while also establishing what they referred to as an “emotional resonance” with the player through inspired play systems.

Mario jumped, flipped, rolled, and generally did all the things that made us fall in love with 3D Mario titles in the first place; however, the new environments and gameplay systems made everything feel fresh.

New to Super Mario Odyssey is the addition of Cappy – a chapeaued specter who inhabits Mario’s signature hat, and allows the plumber to posses other enemies and even objects throughout the game.

In the play session, we got to see Mario take control everything from classic enemies like Bullet Bill’s, to inanimate objects like a flagpole, which could then be used to fling Mario to otherwise impossible to reach locations. There was even a segment where Mario takes over a tree, forcing it to then hop out of the way in order to gain one of Super Mario Odyssey’s main collectibles: the Power Moon. Other collectibles, like purple coins, also appear in each level. You can collect 100 of the specially colored coins per level, which you can then trade in to shops to purchase different outfits for Mario. One puzzle in a beautiful Latin-themed level, required Mario to dress as one of the locals to gain access to an exclusive club. Mario popped into the local shop and was soon sporting a spiffy sombrero and poncho, got into the club, played some blazing guitar, (really) and got a Power Moon for his efforts!

Like the previous entries in the 3D Mario series, Super Mario Odyssey will see Mario collecting the new power source as a way to power his ship, the Odyssey, which he uses to travel to distant lands in his bid to once again stop the nefarious Bowser. Unlike those entries, once Mario grabs a Power Moon, the level doesn’t end – you just get a report that you found another one of the moons and continue on your way. The developers noted that this frees up the player to continue exploring and trying new things, as they no longer feel forced into completing the original objective of the level.

Speaking of Bowser, the old Koopa King is bolder than ever in his bid to win the hand of Princess Peach. Not only has he run off with her again, but this time he intends to go through with a royal wedding! The horny fella (he has horns on his head….) has even taken the liberty of hiring a group of “evil wedding planners” known as Broodal, who bear a suspicious resemblance to the Rabbids in Ubisoft’s Rayman series.

These folks will stop at nothing to make sure their client’s special day goes off without a hitch – or, at least one hitch. It is a wedding after all (Get it?)

It was easy to tell throughout the gameplay demonstration, that a new generation of developers is now exerting influence over Nintendo’s main franchises.

Brodal wants to make sure Bowser and Peach get married.

Early this year, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wowed pretty much everyone who played it, with its willingness to eschew series conventions, and ride off into bold new directions.

Super Mario Odyssey has that same spirit. Yes, it’s a core Mario game at its heart, however, it feels like it’s willing to play with conventions, while honoring pieces of Mario’s past.

A couple of those nods to Mario history were the name of the huge metropolis in which Mario begins his adventure. New Donk City, obviously named after superstar gorilla, Donkey Kong, contains places like Cranky Ave. (a reference to Cranky Kong from Donkey Kong Country) The city’s mayor is even Pauline, who also made her debut in Donkey Kong, alongside Mario himself.

You can also tell that Super Mario Odyssey doesn’t exactly take itself overly-serious. That’s not to say that it has a laissez-faire attitude; it just has the confidence needed to have fun with itself.

To me, this was best expressed in the fact that Super Mario Odyssey has a full vocal theme song. A gloriously cheesy fanfare that is both cringe worthy, and brilliant at the same time.

But that also means that the developers probably thought the same thing about the piece, and were good-nature’d enough to make sure that it got included. That bodes well for the game as a whole. It speaks to a good nature’d development team that is willing to imbue the game with pieces of their personality.

In other words, Super Mario Odyssey looks exactly how you would expect it to look: fun.

Are you ready to go on an odyssey with Mario, when Super Mario Odyssey launches in October? Make your travel planes in the comments section below.

Be sure to check out the rest of NerdBacon’s E3 2017 coverage right here!

Written by The Watchman

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