A Mario Odyssey Follow-up Could Give Princesses the Time to Shine
The Nintendo Switch released over five years ago, bringing the console manufacturer back from a lull it suffered during the Wii U era. This console's hybrid nature brought a lot of versatility to its games, many of which released during launch year were strong enough to do that gimmick justice: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 among them. Super Mario Odyssey will also celebrate its fifth anniversary this October.
Not counting Bowser's Fury in Nintendo's 2021 re-release of Super Mario 3D World, Odyssey is the mascot's latest 3D sandbox platformer. It revolutionized the series' platforming with smooth, creative movement options provided by the sentient hat companion Cappy, and gave fans a diverse array of locales surrounding the Mushroom Kingdom to test those abilities in. However, Odyssey's world-spanning format could easily be used to craft a more referential format in which more tertiary characters like the princesses get defined roles.
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Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, self-proclaimed father of Mario and Luigi, is known to prefer gameplay mechanics over compelling story elements — a stance that has affected spin-offs like the Paper Mario series. However, one could also see this as a reason why there's no real consistency in how the Mario world is put together. Areas surrounding Peach's Castle and Toad Town are different in just about every game, and the Mushroom Kingdom's neighbors also change.
Super Mario World introduces Dinosaur Land, Sunshine introduces Isle Delfino, and spin-offs like Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are set in the Beanbean Kingdom and Rogueport,
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