At any given point in time I am faced with the temptation to drop everything I am doing and 100% complete Super Mario Odyssey. Sadly, my schedule doesn’t allow for me to play multiple games at a time, but if it did, I can guarantee that Super Mario Odyssey would be a consistent in my Nintendo diet.

Super Mario Odyssey is the best game of all time… to me. The simple truth of the matter is that there is no real “best game ever” at least that’s my belief. Whilst there are games that many agree are the best collectively, such as Ocarina of Time for example, the fact of the matter is that there is too much subjectivity involved for any one game to objectively be considered the best game ever. So whilst many will agree with me that Super Mario Odyssey is the greatest game ever made, many will not, and that’s OK. Today however, I would like to gush over my favourite game, and possibly my favourite piece of media ever.

I did not grow up with Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, my tragic backstory has finally been revealed. In my adulthood, I have 100% completed both titles, and love them to absolute bits, but I do not feel they hold a candle to Odyssey. This is partly because I feel no nostalgia over these games, unlike one Super Mario Galaxy and one Super Mario Galaxy 2. These are the games that for the longest time held the title of my favourite game (it was basically a draw) and I did not think it could ever be topped because of all the fond memories I had of playing them, especially the original as I was only 12 years old at the time. To experience such a quality game at a time when life was so playful and fun, I genuinely did not think it was possible for any game to top that experience…

… and then I played Super Mario Odyssey.

As I played this game for the first time I would often have thoughts of Galaxy, as it was the most fun I had had with a game since that time, but what impressed me about this is that I was an adult, with complicated life things going on, work, relationships, the lot and yet despite all of this, playing Odyssey was just a blast. Now whilst this particular article isn’t a review of Odyssey I still think it’s fair to include some reasons I love this game so much…

The worlds are so colourful and so bright and the fact that there are so many moons to collect gives so much purpose to exploration and the fact that these worlds are so fun to explore is only further complimented by the endless possibilities available due to you through the new capture mechanic and Mario’s natural movement being fine tuned more so than any other game in the series in my opinion *breathes* the different jumps you can pull off with Cappy is such an ingenious way to incorporate more skill, challenge, and possibilities into what is already a masterpiece in platforming.

The worlds are all so varied and the music exemplifies that so well, it is BEAUTIFUL! New Donk City, Luncheon Kingdom, Wooded Kingdom, THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM, they are just so iconic, I love them. Outside the gameplay which is just the best in any game in my option, Mario is so expressive and everything is so well animated. I feel this is the best adventure in terms of balancing story with goofy Mario antics and just getting right into the game. There’s not as much story as Sunshine for sure, but I actually like how everything is set up. To me, this game is the epitome of fun.

I could go on and on, but despite how fun this game is, it wasn’t until I returned to Super Mario Galaxy with the release of Super Mario 3D All Stars that I realised how much I loved this game. See, I immediately went to Galaxy, and I loved every second of it… but I didn’t find it as fun as Odyssey. It was then, almost 3 years after I played Odyssey for the first time, that I finally discovered that Super Mario Odyssey was the best game ever… at least to me, and to me, that’s all that matters.

What do you consider to be the best game ever? It truly is the one question in which there are no wrong answers… except maybe for Mario Teaches Typing 2, really didn’t live up to the hype…