How Nintendo turned Super Mario Odyssey into the ultimate vacation

Whenever my hat-shaped spaceship landed on a new location in Super Mario Odyssey, my mind always went to the same place. Stretched out in front of me was a huge expanse of land — sometimes it was a lush jungle, other times an idyllic beach — and all I could think of was where I wanted to go first.

Most big-budget video games are structured like epic quests, but Mario’s new globe-trotting adventure, Super Mario Odyssey, feels a lot more like a vacation. “The theme was basically going on a journey,” explains director Kenta Motokura, “and searching for surprise.” Mario may be trying to save the world, but he’s still going to enjoy his time everywhere he visits.

It’s a feeling that extends throughout Odyssey, thanks to a series of seemingly...

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