Super Mario Odyssey wins big at Gamescom

Nintendo and Super Mario Odyssey have swept the Gamescom 2017 Awards winning in 5 categories. Best of Gamescom, Best Action Game, Best Family Game, Best Console Game for Switch and the ‘Most Wanted’ consumer award. 2017 has been a heck of a year for Nintendo and they just seem to be going from strength to strength.

Super Mario Odyssey had a special showing at Gamescom with director Yoshiaki Koizumi on hand to demonstrate a never before seen area called Luncheon Kingdom. Does Nintendo seem to have an obsession with naming worlds after food? The showcase demonstrates some of the gameplay features that will be available within the game. Mario purchases a cap and chefs outfit from the Kingdom’s Crazy Cap store.  The capture mechanic is demonstrated further as Mario captures a Lava blob and transforms, allowing him to swim through lava. The challenges all seem food based, even the hammer brothers throw frying pans rather than hammers. The world itself is very colourful and reminds me of past Super Mario games.

The gameplay also demonstrates another new mechanic in the form of regional currency. Each world in the game has its own form of currency, Luncheon Kingdom for example replaces coins with purple tomatoes for example.

Nintendo has already had a huge year kicking off with the NES Classic storming the retro world. Followed by the successful launch of Nintendo Switch and Zelda Breath of the Wild. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe went gangbusters sales wise and the  Super NES Classic is a hot item for sure. The next big date on Nintendo’s calendar is the release of Super Mario Odyssey on October 27th and all indicators point to it being a huge success.

There will certainly be some decent Christmas bonuses flying around for the Nintendo Execs this year.