Mario games are my favourite games. Jumping is my favourite thing to do in a Mario game. Video games are my favourite hobby. In summary, jumping in a Mario game is my favourite thing to do.
We got a chance to sit down and play Super Mario Odyssey recently. Nintendo’s very nice PR people were like, relax, take your time, enjoy the game. And I was like, “No: I gotta obsess over as many of the jumps as possible.”
I made this video showcasing all of the jumps I tried, and comparing them to their counterpart jumps in Super Mario 64.
Spoiler: Super Mario Odyssey has all of Super Mario 64‘s jumps, plus some new ones.
My favourite new jump is a close relative of my favourite old jump. My favourite old jump is the running long jump, AKA the “crouch-slide jump”, AKA the “Z-Jump”. (Did everyone else call it the “Z-Jump”? We called it that because you had to press the Z button [the trigger] to slide before the jump.) The basic idea of the new jump is this: If you press and hold the trigger again upon landing from a running long jump, Mario will land in a roll. Mario will roll forward with some good speed and momentum. This roll is not infinite: Mario will eventually stop. If you press the jump button before he stops, however, you can chain-combo into a second long jump. Press and hold the trigger again, land again, jump again: You can do this forever. It is delicious. It is My Favourite Thing To Do.
Here: Watch me execute 23 jumps in one combo. Twenty-three, the number of Michael Jordan, whose shoe brand logo is known as the “Jumpman”. Jumpman: The original name of Mario in the game Donkey Kong, which starred Pauline, mayor of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey. This is clearly not a coincidence.
Super Mario 64 came out 21 years ago. That’s a long time ago. It’s aged well. Its jumps have aged even more well. I wish I could play Super Mario 64 on my Nintendo Switch — though on 27 October 2017, I guess I can play Super Mario Odyssey on my Nintendo Switch, which will probably be even more fun.
Comments
5 responses to “Super Mario Odyssey Brings Back Super Mario 64’s Best Jumps And Adds New Ones”
A Tim Rogers article that I can read without needing to take a toilet break! What is this madness.
At least the GIF is impractically long.
Carry on, good sir!
Oh my god Nintendo is actually going to new Super Mario jumps for exploring both the Forest Kingdom of nature the Sand Kingdom and even New Donk City well I obviously didn’t expect that all my first Super Mario jumps was in Super Mario 64 and I really enjoyed it but new Super Mario jumps in Super Mario Odyssey count me in.
Glad you enjoyed the… jumping? 😀
Will Kotaku be asking someone who traditionally doesn’t like Mario games to take a look at this when nearer to release?
Reason I ask (if not obvious) is I pretty much hate most Mario/platforming games yet this is different & Nintendo-y enough to grab my interest, much in the same way I enjoyed 64 & galaxy which seem to be in at least something of a similar vein?
What don’t you like about Mario games? This is in the same vein as Mario 64 apparently, somewhat open levels, not as linear as Galaxy (which although pretty good I did not enjoy a much).
I’ve just never been a fan of platform games at all really – run, jump, collect, rinse, repeat. Obviously the problem is my end as so many people do enjoy the genre, just my personal tastes but then I love Jrpgs so maybe I’m just a bit odd? 😉
From what I can see it evokes more of a 64/Galaxy vibe, but I liked those in spite of them being Mario games, namely because they were somewhat unique games at the time (Mario 64 was pretty groundbreaking in terms of 3D play).
I realise my question is somewhat asinine to begin with, almost ” If I don’t like Vegemite will I like this Vegemite sandwich?” etc, but obviously a new Mario game is a big deal – if it isn’t my ballpark, no problem, I can move onto the next release, but when something this big drops then it’d be at least interesting to get a non-fans idea from one of the big sites etc?
I remember one site getting two people to review GTA 5 a few years back – the main reviewer had praised GTA 4 through the roof as a lot of reviewers had. GTA 4 was pretty polarising (I didn’t like it much) so we suggested that if the same guy reviewed 5 and gave it 10 again it wouldn’t tell us too much as to whether we’d like it or not – sure enough the staff agreed and got both a ‘hater’ and ‘lover’ of 4 to review 5 to provide different perspectives. Have seen this done for other games too and I always find it beneficial (however I realise time constraints prevent this in the majority of cases)
Wait until it’s out, see if there is universal praise like Zelda. If there is, try it out. EBGames let you return within 7 days.