Nintendo’s E3 press conference this morning dedicated a healthy chunk of time to Super Mario Odyssey, the wonderfully weird and wildly ambitious new Mario coming to the Switch on October 27th. We got a new trailer, but we also got more than 20 minutes of new gameplay shown off live.
Not only did we get a in-depth look at the New York-like New Donk City, but we met Mario’s new anthropomorphic hat, Cappy, and got a look at how the game’s new possession system will let you transform into countless enemies and objects throughout Odyssey. That includes everything from taxis and electrical current — so you can travel along power lines — to the iconic goombas and even a life-size T-rex.
Related
The five biggest announcements from Nintendo’s E3 Spotlight
You can also possess the tall, normal-seeming humans of New Donk City in what will surely be the most surreal (and slightly disturbing) game mechanic of the year:
New Donk: Become Human pic.twitter.com/o3CkS9UwOa
— Michael McWhertor (@MikeMcWhertor) June 13, 2017
Odyssey is clearly drawing from the signature open world elements pioneered by Super Mario 64, with a dizzying amount of strange oddities and hilarious art style and gameplay mash-ups that make it seem like the most ambitious and out-there Mario title in years. My colleague Andrew Webster spent just 10 minutes in New Donk City earlier this week, and he walked away convinced that Odyssey may be one of the biggest, most complex, and most difficult Mario games Nintendo has ever made.