Super Mario Odyssey Reddit AMA: Producer Talks Details On Gameplay, Cappy, Amiibo And More

In a Reddit AMA, Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi discussed his career as well as his work on the upcoming Mario title. He revealed a few gameplay details and the thoughts behind some of the team’s decision-making, as well as personal tidbits like his favorite hobby (making coffee) and his favorite thing Cappy can possess (the dinosaur). You can read the full AMA here, but we’ve compiled all the Super Mario Odyssey-relevant tidbits below.

The theme song for Super Mario Odyssey is done by Pauline, a character from way back when in Mario history (specifically, 2009’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong 3: Minis March Again! ) “As we were developing Pauline more as a character, we know that she was going to be interested in jazz. It was interesting for us to have the first song in a Mario game with vocals,” said Koizumi.

Pauline also features more heavily in the game as the mayor of New Donk City.

“When we were deciding which Kingdoms to have in the game, we knew we wanted the city environment, and we wanted something that would have resonance with players. We knew that players know Pauline so we of course wanted to make her the mayor of New Donk City,” said Koizumi. “It's important to note that though they are called Kingdoms, they do not necessarily have royalty, and that's why she's the mayor.”

The city environment, while bizarre, was chosen precisely for its strangeness. “The city was one of many experiments when we were first making the game, and it was very interesting. Especially with how strange it looks to have Mario exploring the city environment,” said Koizumi.

As for Mario’s possession mechanic that was so memorably on display in Super Mario Odyssey’s E3 2017 trailer, Koizumi states that it came about as a natural result of exploring the actions Mario can do.

“[I]n previous Mario games he was able to get power-ups and new abilities. But this time around when we were making many different prototypes and changed our approach that found capturing or "possessing" enemies worked well so we stuck with that,” Koizumi said.

As for Mario’s cap, Cappy is a character all his own, one meant to accompany the player on a journey throughout the whole game. “One of the reasons for making the hat into a character is that it gave us the opportunity to give people an attachment for something that's personal for us. You can talk to and experience your journey with Cappy, similar to Na'vi in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and making this character relatable was important to us,” said Koizumi. (Oh no…. Not Navi… We’re still scarred from “Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen!”)

The mobility of the Nintendo Switch was considered an important factor in Super Mario Odyssey’s design, same as it was in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

“[W]e wanted to make sure you could have a fun experience with the game even if you only had a short time to play. If you're out on a journey of your own, handheld mode will help you play and have fun experience,” Koizumi said. No need to complete a world all in one go; even twenty minutes of playtime will make you feel like you did something.

However, it’s been a while since the last sandbox-style Mario game and Koizumi considers that length of time the biggest challenge his team tackled. “[I]t's 15 years since the last time we made a sandbox style Mario game, it felt completely different and new to come up with ideas that would work there. We had a lot of debate to decide if people would accept this kind of playstyle again.”

The collectible in Super Mario Odyssey will be Moons, and for a simple reason: “Stars have had their chance, and we've grabbed Shines before, so i thought it was time we gave Moons a chance,” said Koizumi. We may also be able to see Luigi in Super Mario Odyssey , as Koizumi didn’t write that possibility off completely.

Finally, Koizumi clued us in on the use of Amiibo in Super Mario Odyssey: “Everytime you tap an amiibo, you'll receive a costume and in-game assistance,” he said.

What questions do you want answered about Super Mario Odyssey ? Are you looking forward to more details in advance of Super Mario Odyssey ’s Oct. 27 release date? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.