History VideoGame / SuperMarioOdyssey

''Super Mario Odyssey'' is the first main series game in the ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' franchise for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, released on October 27, 2017. After the more linear level designs of the ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Galaxy]]'' [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 duology]] and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand 3D]]'' [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld duology]], ''Odyssey'' marks a return to the more [[CollectAThonPlatformer exploration-based formula]] used by ''[[VideoGame/SuperMario64 64]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]]''.

Bowser has once again kidnapped Princess Peach, this time with the intent of [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forcing her to marry him]], and Mario must leave the Mushroom Kingdom, journeying to fantastic other worlds to save her. This time, however, he's not alone. Joining him on his journey is a spirit named Cappy, who's aiming to rescue his sister Tiara from the Koopa King, as he uses her as Peach's wedding tiara. Realizing the two share a common goal, Cappy possesses Mario's hat and allows Mario himself to [[BodySurf Capture]] things, ranging from enemies to bystanders to nearby objects.

SuperMarioOdyssey/TropesAToD
SuperMarioOdyssey/TropesEToM
SuperMarioOdyssey/TropesNToZ

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* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:Which turns out to be a 13th Hour Superpower: Mario Captures Bowser after the FinalBoss, and uses his new giant, fire-breathing host to carry Peach out of Bowser's crumbling lair.]]
* OneHundredPercentCompletion: Getting all 880 unique Moons [[spoiler:makes the Odyssey's sail golden and unlocks [[TrueFinalBoss a harder version of the final boss]]. Beating it will have a group photo of everyone appear after the credits]]. Getting 999 Moons [[spoiler:puts a top hat on Peach's castle that gives a fireworks display, accompanied by an orchestrated version of the Level Clear fanfare from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'']].
* AbsurdlyShortLevel: The Cloud Kingdom and Ruined Kingdom. Each one is a BossOnlyLevel at first, but they can be revisited afterwards for a few more Power Moons, and have Moon Rocks that can be broken in the post-game. Even after unlocking the extra content, they have a much smaller surface area and less total Moons than the full-fledged kingdoms, and lack unique Captures or regional coins/shops. While both areas have more Moons than [[BrutalBonusLevel the Darker Side]], neither are a MarathonLevel like it is.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: New Donk City has extensive sewers Mario must traverse to restore the city's power grid. The game's developers say that the city on the surface is the setting of the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' arcade game, and the sewers, with their abundance of green pipes, are implied to be the setting of the ''Mario Bros.'' arcade game.
* AchievementSystem: Once you beat the final boss, you can talk to Toadette, who will add a list of achievements to the Power Moon List. As you complete the achievements, you can talk to Toadette to get Power Moons.
* {{Acrofatic}}: Unusually for the series, the game provides two characters who are significantly hindered by their weight.
** Madame Broode, who mostly lets her pet Chain Chomp do the fighting, is too heavy to run after it for very long after Mario Captures it, giving him a chance to wind up and fling it into her face while she stops to take a breath.
** Cookatiel is too chubby to hold her body up with her small wings after she's been hit a few times, so she loses energy and falls into the boiling stew below.
* ActionBomb: Trapeetles, enemies in the Lost Kingdom, will grab Cappy if he's thrown at them and wind up before slinging themselves forward with their legs. They'll keep flying forward at the same elevation, and explode when they hit something or after a few seconds flying through the air without hitting anything. The brochure describes it as a "tragic display seen absolutely nowhere else in nature".
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: '''S'''tupendous '''S'''tew. Fossil Falls and Lake Lamode, for area names.
* AdventurerOutfit:
** The Explorer Outfit and Explorer Hat combination bought in the Wooded Kingdom give Mario this look. Peach has one, too.
** In the Lost Kingdom, you can buy the aviator version of this look, though the Steam Gardener roadblock looking for an explorer doesn't consider the outfit to count.
* AffablyEvil:
** Bowser. Yes, he kidnapped Peach with the intent of forcibly marrying her and is stealing all sorts of sacred treasures from around the world, but he's really going all out to prepare for his wedding with nothing but the best things. He also doesn't consider blackmailing Peach to go along with the wedding (like he did in [[WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow "Do You, Princess Toadstool, Take This Koopa..?]]"), or straight-up [[HypnotizeTheCaptive brainwashing her]] (like what happened in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' and ''ComicBook/SuperMarioAdventures''). He's noticeably very upset when [[spoiler:Peach rejects him and Mario in the game's ending]].
** Bowser also seems to be on good terms with Crazy Cap, as he allows them to set up a branch in his Kingdom and document it with a flyer.
* AfterTheEnd:
** The Ruined Kingdom, Crumbleden, was once a civilization that used its towering buildings to harness lightning. No one knows exactly why it was destroyed, but archaeologists theorize that was destroyed in a great battle against whatever the people used the lightning for, which is implied to be the dragon boss you fight. The world is a BossOnlyLevel with 5 Power Moons and no local currency or [=NPCs=] to talk to.
** The Crazy Cap flyer for Culmina Crater on the Darker Side of the Moon theorizes that this may be why the Moon Kingdom is uninhabited and sparse: The cataclysm that created this crater might have also annihilated the Moon Kingdom. Whatever the case, it's only intact structures are a chapel and a building seemingly based on New Donk City Hall. Rabbit Ridge seems to have been built and populated after the Moon Kingdom's demise.
* AirborneMook: In addition to bringing back the Parabones from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' and the series-perennial Paragoombas (and allowing Mario to capture both), the game introduces the Urban Stingbies (mosquito enemies found in Metro Kingdom and a part of Darker Side).
* AirplaneArms: When Mario hits his top speed while running, he outstretches his arms, like he did in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.
* AlasPoorVillain: Downplayed, because it's meant to be somewhat comedic, but at the end of the game, [[spoiler: Bowser's (forced) wedding that he worked so hard on is completely ruined and he makes one final attempt to win over Peach, only for both him and Mario to be rejected due to their childish rivalry. Bowser is left in soft tears, and even [[AllLovingHero Mario]], his [[ArchEnemy sworn enemy]], comforts him]].
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The Darker Side of the Moon has parts with gameplay from every kingdom, although not in order.
* AlwaysCheckBehindTheChair: Getting some of the purple coins, and some of the power moons, tends to come down to this. [[spoiler:A literal example is three purple coins behind Peach's throne in the Mushroom Kingdom.]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: No, not Mario, it's the other way around. The inhabitants of New Donk City are simply called "New Donkers", not "humans". Which is a bit suspect, since, if the inhabitants of a Kingdom have a proper name, they'll be called that in the brochure instead of a demonym, such as the Lochladies of Lake Lamode and the Toads.
* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Bowser's goal in kidnapping Peach this time around is to force her to marry him.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes:
** The prize for beating the Broodal tower in the Dark Side is the King's crown and outfit, and the prize for clearing Culmina Crater in the Darker Side is [[spoiler:the [[InvisibilityCloak Invisibility Hat]]]].
** The specialized Wedding Toys/{{amiibo}} give Mario early access to the wedding outfits worn by himself, Bowser, and [[WholesomeCrossdresser Peach]].
* {{Angrish}}: Successfully answering all of the Sphinx's questions leads to him shouting out a bunch of nonsense out of irritation that you've done so.
* AnimateInanimateObject:
** The inhabitants of Bonneton are all hat-like ghosts: this includes Cappy, who possesses Mario's hat after Bowser stomps on it, and his sister Tiara, who is a living tiara.
** The Luncheon Kingdom has living kitchen utensils.
** Mario's Capture ability isn't limited to living things; he can also capture things like pylons, cars, and manholes, granting these things limited mobility while he inhabits them.
* {{Antepiece}}:
** The primary Capture mechanic of the Cascade Kingdom is Chain Chomps, and its boss, Madame Broode, must be beaten by Capturing her own Chain Chomp pet.
** Throughout the Sand Kingdom, several small round cacti can be found. Hitting them with Cappy will grant you coins, and if hit correctly, one can set off a domino reaction as the cacti hit the ones next to them in sequence. Even if you've managed to not hit any or never tried to use Cappy on one while playing through the kingdom, the game puts a large group of round cacti before the doorway to face Hariet, to make sure the player knows they can be hit. Why? Well, they're meant to teach the player that Hariet's visually-similar spiky round bombs can be dealt with the same way. In fact, if you've discovered that the cacti can be chained, you'll likely realize that the small bombs can be smacked into Hariet to unhat her, rather than you having to wait for her stronger attack to give you an opening, and they can also be used to cut her counterattack short by knocking a bomb up into her flying hat.
** The primary Capture mechanic of the Sand Kingdom is Bullet Bills, and the boss, Knucklotec, is beaten by Capturing one of his rocket fists, which controls in the same way and punching him in the face with it.
** The Lake Kingdom puts extra emphasis on the flower trampolines that have already appeared earlier, letting you know what to use its Broodal boss, Rango's, hats for when you attack them, as they have identical flowers inside.
** The Wooded Kingdom's primary hazard is poison generated by Piranha Plants, which can be cleared by a toss of Cappy. This teaches you everything you need to know to deal with Spewart, the region's Broodal boss, as he uses poison to attack and keep Mario at a distance.
** The Wooded Kingdom also features Uproots as the primary Capture, and their stretching ability and tough heads are needed to weaken and damage the boss, Torkdrift.
** The Metro Kingdom's first story section has you Capturing Sherms, which you should learn pretty well, as they're your only means of taking down the Mechawiggler menacing the city.
** The Seaside Kingdom's main Capture are Gushens, which are the only way to chase down the boss, Mollusque-Lanceur, and, for the first hit, are the only way to damage him (you can ground-pound his head for the next two hits, though Gushens are still needed to get in position to damage him). In the rematch, they're your only way to win, period, since you fight in the open sky and cannot exit the Capture and survive.
** The main Capture of the Luncheon Kingdom is the Lava Bubble. Traversing the level as one will prepare you for the boss, Cookatiel, as you are forced to remain in one during the entire battle, and its unique "platform" abilities in lava are key to defeating her. If you've discovered the Lava Bubbles' ability to deal contact damage from playing in the level or even from the first hit of the fight, you might also figure out that you can hit Cookatiel while she's flying low and attacking to cut short the phase and get right to the lava-vomit that will give you a chance to climb up and attack.
** Bowser's Kingdom focuses on Pokios' beak-climbing ability, teaching the player early that soft materials are climbable, and towards the end in a vertical section, that metal is not. The level also showcases that bombs break metal things, and that Pokios can redirect bombs by smacking them with its beak, both of which are required to get a Moon Shard for a mandatory Moon. The final boss of the area requires the player to attack its metal armor plating with bombs to break it and expose the climbable wood underneath, which can be scaled to attack the boss's weak points.
** One Power Moon has a particularly tricky 2D stage; instead of being purely 2D, it involves moving screens that take Mario out of the stage if he reaches the border. To prepare the player for that, the stage starts out with a small screen with a slow moving background. And in the event that the player gets taken out of element, a small platform catches them, safely and quickly teaching them about the gimmick and its consequences.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** To compensate for the massive worlds, Mario has a map that he can use to [[WarpWhistle warp to any checkpoint flags he's activated in a kingdom]] or back to the flag on the Odyssey's deck, allowing a quick way out of a kingdom.
** Should Mario have to exit a Captured character, the character will be stunned temporarily so that he can recapture it once he's ready. If he takes too long, the character or enemy will disappear and respawn again at the exact spot they were found in, so it's easy to find them again. In places where you need them for something, they'll also respawn when killed.
** No need to worry about slipping off a platform to serious damage when you land — FallingDamage is one notable feature this game does ''not'' take from ''Super Mario 64''. The worst that can happen is Mario getting stunned for a few seconds by the impact, which can usually be canceled by throwing Cappy before landing.
** There are three different hint systems in the game to prevent GuideDangIt: the Hint Toad[[note]]Marks your map with a Moon location for the price of 50 coins[[/note]], Talkatoo[[note]]Gives you the name of an uncollected Power Moon for free[[/note]], and Uncle amiibo [[note]]A scanned amiibo will retrieve a location on the map after a few minutes[[/note]].
** Upon re-entering a challenge sublevel, Cappy will tell you whether or not there is still something there for you to do there, alerting players to the presence of uncollected purple coins or Power Moons, or sparing them wasted time searching through a cleared area. Some sublevels gain collectibles in the postgame, so Cappy will still tell you to look again. Also, as a rule, each sublevel has two Power Moons, which lets you know in itself whether you've cleared the area.
** For the first time, Mario doesn't have lives and there are no game overs. Instead, you just lose 10 coins (which are super easy to get). Somehow ran out of coins? Don't worry, you'll just be sent back to the last place you exited.
** Characters with a big turning circle (such as Bullet Bills) will, when captured, be able to freely pivot for the split second after capture, so you can always face them the way you want regardless of which way they were going before.
** On that note, "free movement"-type captures like Bullet Bills and Cheep-Cheeps project a flashlight-like beam in the direction they face to help guide them with higher precision.
** In the post-game, the player can buy infinite moons from Crazy Cap stores for 100 coins each. This allows players to see the 100% ending even if they just can't complete a certain mission.
** Have an amiibo like Mario or Peach and are low on health? You can re-use them as many times as you want to continue to receive the bonus health. Very useful if you accidentally fall or get hit too many times with a bonus heart.
** Capturing an underwater enemy removes the air meter, and leaving them refills it again. This means a player who's out of air can quickly capture a Cheep Cheep to refill their air supply.
** Collected items do not have to be collected again when the player dies, including purple coins, [[spoiler:fruits that Yoshi eats]], or Moon shards gathered in levels. They still appear, but faded out, and give coins if collected again. This is especially nice in the platform-heavy sublevels, where death won't make you have to re-collect the items along the way on your next attempt to complete the section.
** In the final EscapeSequence, hitting ZL or ZR won't boot you out of your capture like with other captured creatures so that you won't accidentally do so in the middle of all the frantic running, jumping, and smashing.
** Hearts aren't the only things that heal Mario. Entering the Odyssey heals him to full health, as does touching previously-collected Moons. So if you're low on health and you don't know where a heart is, but you're nearby one of those, you're good. Even if you're not near the Odyssey, you can always warp to it and pop inside. This will not be possible during the initial run of the Lost Kingdom, however, as you need to collect Moons to repair it.
** If you fail a boss too many times, a Crazy Cap employee will appear and offer to sell you a Life-Up Heart to give you more health during the fight.
** Moons found by following Hint Art are listed as though they belong to the kingdom where you discover the hint, instead of the one where you actually collect the moon, as the Moons match the art's kingdom, like the Kingdoms have been hiding their own moons in other Kingdoms and leaving treasure maps for you. That way, you'll be reminded to look for the art in each kingdom to get clues, but this also means that you won't be told about those Moons by the hint systems if you're in the Kingdoms where they're actually found.
** The region-specific purple coins in a Kingdom can total 50 or 100 depending on the size of said Kindgom, and because they're smaller collectibles, they're a bit trickier to find. Fortunately, the game makes the burden a little lighter, as the coins never appear alone — they're either in pairs or groups, which means there's no hunting around for [[LastLousyPoint one solitary coin]] that [[GuideDangIt you just can't find]]. The groups make them easier to see and faster to collect.
** You don't have to exit a Captured enemy to use a spark pylon — you'll just get transferred into it on contact. This can reduce any potential mishaps like bumping into the enemy after exiting or accidentally re-Capturing it instead of hitting the spark pylon when throwing Cappy.
** During the postgame, each Kingdom has a moon rock that will release more Power Moons into the world. Perhaps as compensation for the new amount to collect, all of the Moons from a moon rock get automatically marked on the map.
** If you find a Moon corresponding to a piece of Hint Art, the art will get a check mark on it, reminding the player that it's already been used and preventing them from checking and screenshotting pieces they forgot they used.
** In the post-game, remembering which area each of the bosses' rematch paintings are found in could be confusing given that some are in identical structures and others are reached through pipes. To help, the game provides hints on the overworld. For the four identical towers, which contain rematch paintings of Knucklotec, Torkdrift, Mechawiggler, and Cookatiel, [=NPCs=] from the world the boss was fought in will stand next to the corresponding tower (e.g., Tostarenans are found next to the tower where Knucklotec's painting is kept, and New Donkers near the Mechawiggler's, etc.). For the other two, however, the hint is in the location. The aquatic boss Mollusque-Lanceur's rematch painting is fittingly reached by using the underwater pipe near Dorrie, and because the Ruined Dragon came from a castle civilization, its painting is reached by the pipe at the bottom of the castle moat.
* ArcSymbol:
** Hats: Mario, Bowser, and the Broodals use them in combat, the Odyssey is shaped like a hat, the Cap Kingdom's inhabitants, airships, and buildings are all hat-shaped, many enemies and most [=NPCs=] have hats, the InsertSong mentions them, etc.
** Moons: The main collectible in the game, the moon is visible in every kingdom (with a huge one hanging in the sky of the Cap Kingdom), the square in the Metro Kingdom has a big one on the ground, the InsertSong mentions the moon, the last level is on the moon, etc.
** Within the Sand Kingdom, a certain face and fists appear everywhere in the carvings of the ancient structures. The end of the kingdom's story reveal that they are images of Knucklotec, the boss of the area and an implied god of the old civilization.
* ArcWords: Not in the main story, but the BrutalBonusLevel. [[spoiler:It's "Thank You", shown by the massive crowd gathered to cheer you on and stated in the level by the Sphynx, some spark pylons, and at the very end, Cappy.]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The fishing Lakitu's song concludes with him saying he'll fish "through poison, fire, or mold".
* ArtEvolution:
** Mario's overalls are a bit more detailed than they have been in previous games, though nowhere near ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl]]'' levels. His hair, eyebrows, and mustache are also made up of visible, individual hairs, when they used to be simply solid blocks of color.
** Trailers shown in the September 2017 Nintendo Direct show how polished the game became since E3 2017. For example, character models were more detailed and full of life, Peach especially.
* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: As cool as the idea of the Seaside Kingdom’s carbonated ocean sounds, it wouldn't work in real life, because carbonation requires an airtight container.
* ArtShift: The various Kingdoms have very different art styles from each other and most ''Mario'' games in general, creating this effect.
* AscendedExtra: Toadette makes her second appearance in a main ''Mario'' game (the first being ''Super Mario Run'', and not counting her very brief cameo in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''). Due to her main role in ''VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker'', she's now a member of the Toad Brigade, who also make their typical appearance.
* AshFace: Mario ends up covered in soot if something blows up in his face or sets him on fire. It lingers for a bit before fading away.
* AsianLionDogs: The Jaxis from the Sand Kingdom resemble an Egyptian-themed version of this, being statues of lion-like beings with teeth permanently bared in a snarl and "wearing" loosely pharaonic headdresses. You'll only find one that moves and talks, but that one refers to the statues as his family.
* AstralFinale: The final area in the game is the Moon Kingdom. By extension, the BrutalBonusLevel takes place on the moon as well.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: If you come up against a Stairface Ogre while capturing a Pokio, Cappy will suggest attacking it in the glowing spot on its head. Poking said spot with the Pokio's nose causes the Ogre to explode the same way it would if it took a Ground Pound.
* AutobotsRockOut: [[spoiler:The final leg of the post-final-boss EscapeSequence is accompanied by an upbeat, inspirational rock song.]]
* AutomaticNewGame: The first time you start the game, you're asked if you want to play on Normal or Assist Mode before going into the opening cutscene. Subsequent startups include the title screen.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: The content ratings of ''Super Mario Odyssey'' are higher than usual for the series; it has a B rating (ages 12 and up) in Japan, a PEGI 7 rating in Europe, a PG rating in Australia, and an E10 rating in North America. While the content of the game is largely the same as other ''Mario'' games, the game heavily advertises its "realistic" elements such as the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' and has a few very bleak stages with nightmarishly-designed bosses. The most likely intent was to market ''Odyssey'' as a "cool adventure game" — just as the creators always intended for ''Mario'' to be — and to give it more immediately obvious appeal to older audiences as well as kids (not that ''Mario'' wasn't an "all-ages" franchise in the first place).
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[[folder:B]]
* BadassInANiceSuit:
** Mario can wear a dandy white wedding outfit.
** Bowser's wedding uniform is a white suit and top hat. Mario can purchase one to wear himself (differentiated from his outfit mainly by the spiky turtle shell on the back).
** If you return to Cap Kingdom, you can purchase a black tuxedo and top hat from the local Crazy Cap.
** Once you get to the Metro Kingdom, you can buy Mario a black pinstripe suit and matching hat.
** Updates later added the options to buy the suit Pauline's backup musicians wear and (of all things) the various Broodals' suits. Including Hariet's, complete with heels.
* BaitAndSwitch: The first two trailers for the game start off looking like something else entirely before revealing that it's a ''Mario'' game.
** The initial reveal trailer starts off with a pan across a realistic cityscape before panning down to a wiggling manhole; Mario hops out to begin the trailer proper. The only tip-off before Mario's appearance is that the various advertisements in the city are references to ''Donkey Kong''.
** The E3 2017 trailer begins with a picturesque landscape that's interrupted by a ferocious and realistic-looking ''T. rex''. It isn't until we see a familiar red hat on its head that we learn it's really Mario, with the entire scene serving as a hint towards the capture mechanic that's properly introduced later in the trailer. Many commentators, upon first seeing the ''T. rex'', ended up mistaking the trailer as one for ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' ''until'' they saw Mario's cap on its head.
** Extending from that, several scenes are deliberately edited to remove plot details in the earliest trailers. The reveal trailer hides the existence of Cappy until the very end, showing Mario to be wearing [[IconicItem his normal cap]] in several gameplay moments. Also, Tiara wasn't revealed at all until the September trailer.
** Before the game's release, a number of early reviews promised the game would change the status quo. This is true to a point, as [[spoiler:while Mario does finally attempt to ask for Peach's hand in marriage, him and Bowser fighting results in Peach rejecting both of them out of frustration, ultimately preserving the status quo]]. Edge Magazine in particular also promised a significant post-game role for Peach that would leave fans surprised, which turned out to be [[spoiler:her simply showing up in the lands as an NPC alongside Tiara and handing out Moons]].
* {{Balloonacy}}: Luigi is held aloft by a balloon on his back. As the player's rank in Balloon World increases, he attaches more balloons to a maximum of four.
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: No one seems to have any difficulty breathing ''on the Moon''. A spacesuit is available in Crazy Cap, but given how the dog on the moon wears just a helmet with no trouble, it's more than likely just cosmetic. Further supporting this is the fact that the textures of said Crazy Cap spacesuit makes it look like it's made of ''cloth''. Of course, this isn't the only time [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Mario and his friends]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy have been to space without spacesuits]]. However, the Astro-Lanceur enemies seem to avert this, wearing bubble helmets with a breathing apparatus. The Ground Pound symbol on their helmet texture lets you know what to do, and the animation of shattering glass drives home that Mario has killed them merely by breaking their helmets, and not by the [[GoombaStomp usual effect of such an attack.]]
* BattleInTheRain:
** The Mechawiggler in New Donk City is fought in a thunderstorm.
** The rematch battle against Mollusque-Lanceur is in a rainstorm, because this time there isn’t a floor, meaning Mario needs to use water jets to stay aloft but also doesn’t have anywhere to get it; pausing for a second or two lets the rain refill his supply.
* BattleThemeMusic: Every regular boss has its own theme, while the Broodals (who are minibosses) share one. Madame Broode plays a stylized remix of her fellows' track, Knucklotec plays a theme that has strong {{Mayincatec}} vibes, Torkdrift plays a techno-inspired theme, Mechawiggler plays a theme reminiscent of the jazz-styled soundtrack of ''3D World'', Mollusque-Lanceur plays a French-inspired theme, Cookatiel plays a quirky track reminiscent of the ''Paper Mario'' series, the Ruined Dragon plays a very somber, ominous track, Robobrood plays a track that has a strong Japanese vibe (and includes VariableMix for when the boss is incapacitated), and Bowser has once again two battle themes, with the first being based on AutobotsRockOut and the second on OrchestralBombing.
* BigApplesauce: "New {{Franchise/Donk|ey Kong}} City" of the Metro Kingdom is New York in all but name.
* BigBoosHaunt: The Cap Kingdom/Bonneton is a gloomy London-esque area inhabited by the ghostly Bonneters. It's a rare non-scary example, as said ghosts are universally on your side.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: The Urban Stingbies are mosquito relatives of the Stingbies (the bees from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld''), and come in two forms: Larval and adult. They attack by charging at Mario and exploding when hitting him or a solid wall.
* TheBigRottenApple: New Donk City mid-Bowser attack adopts most of the traits on the trope page, being overrun with crime (abundance of Sherm enemies), infestations (Urban Stingbies also serve as enemies while rats are just part of the environment), and pollution (the New Donk City Power Plant below is full of Poison Pirahna Plants and is mostly full of poison). Post-invasion, the city is in a ''much'' better state.
* BigShutUp: [[spoiler:In the ending when Peach is cornered by Mario and Bowser fighting over who she should propose to, she shouts, "ENOUGH!" to shut them up before rejecting them both.]]
* BilingualBonus: Many of the lanterns decorating Bowser's Castle read "寿空覇" ("kotobuki kuppa"), which can be translated as "Long live Bowser". The characters used to represent Bowser's Japanese name 空覇 (normally pronounced "kūha") translates to "[[CoolAirship sky]] [[OminousFloatingCastle conqueror]]".
* BittersweetEnding: The day, and Peach, is saved, and [[spoiler:Mario's about to pop the question, but, due to Mario and Bowser fighting for her hand, Peach decides there should be NoRomanticResolution and rejects both of their proposals, breaking their hearts. She does, however, call out to the both of them for a ride back to the Mushroom Kingdom on the Odyssey, which Mario is able to board at the last second, although Bowser isn't as lucky]].
* BlackComedy:
** After defeating Cookatiel, it falls into the stew arena and gets ''cooked alive'', and the people at Mount Volbono remark that the stew is "chewier" and "stewier".
** In the Steam Gardens, one of the steam gardeners will talk about how the Steam Gardens are objectively superior to all other regions, as several others cheer. The signifigance being that the Wooded Kingdom is based on the forests of Germany. That's right; [[ThoseWackyNazis extreme German patriotism]]; they seriously went there.
* BleakLevel: The game features the Ruined Kingdom, a derelict land of crumbling Gothic towers covered in fog and swarming with bats. The boss of the level, the Ruined Dragon (also called the [[ShockAndAwe Lord of Lightning]]), is a frightening and [[NonstandardCharacterDesign abnormally realistic-looking]] dragon the size of a {{Kaiju}} and implied to be responsible for destroying the kingdom in a GreatOffscreenWar. The Kingdom and the Dragon look much more like something from ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' than something from a ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' game.
* BlindedByTheSun: Cappy will warn the player not to look directly at the sun this if they attempt to while using the Binoculars.
* BodySurf: The main mechanic of the game, referred to as Capturing, lets you possess and control others with Cappy. You can control Goombas and Hammer Bros., Bullet Bills, taxis, frogs, Lava Bubbles, binoculars, trees, dinosaurs, and even ''other people''. The only limitation is that he can't possess anyone that's wearing a hat.
* {{Bookends}}:
** Mario's first and last Captures in the main story feature Mario traveling through the mind of the entity he's Capturing.
** Mario's first Capture (in the Cap Kingdom) and his last Capture (in the Darker Side of the Moon) is a frog.
* BossArenaIdiocy: Torkdrift, Mechawiggler, Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III, and the [=RoboBrood=] all have enemies spawn in their arenas that can be Captured and used against them.
* BossInMookClothing: The Yoo-foe enemies that appear in the postgame in some Kingdoms. They're encountered in the open world like any other enemy and can easily be avoided and don't force you to fight them, and have no cutscenes, but they have an alternating attack pattern, are harder to defeat, taking two hits and usually requiring Captures provided by them (Goombas) or the area (an Uproot in the Steam Gardens), and they give better rewards, with two granting Power Moons and a third giving a Life-Up Heart. The one in the Wooded Kingdom even earns one of the Kingdom's more intense music tracks while it's present.
* BossOnlyLevel: The Cloud Kingdom and Ruined Kingdom are extremely small levels that only serve as boss arenas in the main story. There are additional moons to collect if you return to these locations, but far less than any other Kingdom. The Moons in these locations also sport the generic yellow color shared with other lesser/minor locations.
* BossRush: Located at The Dark Side of the Moon, where you fight the Broodals again, all in a row, with [[CheckpointStarvation no checkpoints]] and [[DroughtLevelOfDoom no healing]] in between. If that weren't enough, they're a lot tougher this time around.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Pre-release versions of the box art featured a shot of Mario wearing the Sombrero/Poncho outfit in the Sand Kingdom. The final box art replaced it with a shot of Mario swimming around with the Swim Goggles/Swimwear in the Lake Kingdom to avoid portraying Mexican stereotypes.
* BreakingOldTrends:
** This is the first main series ''Mario'' platformer to lack a proper BigBoosHaunt level since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''[[note]]Though there are some e-cards that contain haunted house levels for that game's World e in the GBA remake.[[/note]]. The closest thing to come to this territory is the Cap Kingdom, and even then, the ghosts that reside there are friendly, with Boos being absent from the game entirely.
** The game does away with VideoGameLives, a staple of ''Mario'' platformers since ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''. Losing a life only results in a ten-coin penalty.
** The game departs from the mission-by-mission (or, in the case of ''3D Land'' and ''3D World'', level-by-level) format that has been characteristic in all previous 3D games, meaning that you won't leave a world upon collecting a PlotCoupon; even the story-related Power Moons keep you in the current world.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In demos played in New Donk City, uniting all four of the Super Mario Players and getting the quest to turn on the Underground Power Plant allows you to get a unique piece of dialogue; a taxi is parked on the manhole that leads to the plant, and a nearby New Donker will tell you that "We'll have to wait for the full game to go any further."
* BrickJoke: In the postgame, you Capture binoculars to spot the Sphynx flying through the air on an airship sail in the kingdoms where it otherwise wasn't present, and zooming in and looking for a few seconds will get you a Power Moon. Later, the Sphynx's bonus quiz [[spoiler:on the Moon]] will ask how he got there, with the correct answer being "on an airship sail", which you should have learned from those binocular views.
* BrutalBonusLevel: The Darker Side of the Moon, which is a very long and difficult level during which Mario has to use a lot of Captures masterfully. On top of that, it requires a whopping ''500'' Moons to access. However, compared to previous entries, it is very generous with health, and some sections can be outright skipped if you know how to play it right.
* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: Unlike the majority of ''Mario'' games with desert worlds, ''Odyssey'' plays with the trope. The Sand Kingdom has pyramids as a reference to the pre-Columbian (Aztec, Toltec and Mayan) architecture, since that level was inspired by Mexico instead of Egypt.
* TheBusCameBack:
** Pauline from the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''/''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'' series makes her main series debut here.
** Dorrie makes his first appearance since ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' back in 2006.
** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong Donkey Kong]] himself. No... not [[Franchise/DonkeyKong him]], but his grandfather. The original Arcade Ape appears in the 2-D Festival in New Donk City [[spoiler:and later in a 2D section of the PostEndGameContent.]]
** Klepto, who hadn't appeared in a mainline Mario game since ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', returns in ''Odyssey'' to steal Mario's hat in the Lost Kingdom.
** As well as characters, some game mechanics return after a long absence, such as a trampoline flower and a boss alluding to the Spindrifts last seen in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and the diving attack last seen in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''.
* ButtMonkey:
** The Broodals come off as this. They manage to complete their objectives of gathering the wedding items, but they constantly fail to kill Mario and end up beaten by him three times in a row, even while using a giant robot. The post-game reveals that their failure to stop Mario from ruining the wedding has ruined their reputation and thus NOBODY will ever hire them again.
** To a lesser extent, Mario himself. He gets the crap beaten out of him by Bowser in the first 25 seconds of the intro, gets his beloved hat shredded to pieces, fails to stop the Broodals from making off with the stolen wedding items, suffers AmusingInjuries several times. [[spoiler:Oh, and at the end of the game, he lets his impulsiveness get the best of him, which leads to his attempt to proposing to Peach (which he likely planned for a long time) completely going down the drain.]] At least he's now finally seen as a world-class hero for his actions, and even gets a replacement cap [[spoiler:if the postcard you get by beating the harder version of the Bowser fight in the Moon Kingdom is any indication]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CakeToppers: Bowser's cake doesn't just have him and Peach, but a few Piranha Plant bouquets as well.
* {{Calacas}}: Tostarenans in the Sand Kingdom are colorful skeletons wearing ponchos and sombreros, often seen carrying maracas.
* CallBack:
** Pauline, Mario's original love interest from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', is back here as the mayor of New Donk City. She has a new outfit for this role (for the festival segment she dons her usual dress) in the form of a pantsuit, though she still has her usual high heels on with it.
** In the [[spoiler:Mushroom Kingdom]], the Super Leaf tree from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' makes a cameo.
* TheCameo:
** The silhouettes that represent the many minigames look like hat-wearing UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch figures.
** Some of the hidden Hint Art features Poochy from the ''Yoshi's Island'' games finding Power Moons. [[spoiler:He makes a physical appearance in Bowser's Castle, where a captured Lakitu fishes him up instead of a Cheep Cheep to get a Power Moon]].
** The conspicuously absent Bloopers and Boos, as well as the Fire Flower, appear respectively on Peach's fan, mask, and kimono in Bowser's Kingdom.
* CastFromMoney: Capturing a Coin Coffer lets you shoot Coins out of its mouth, in either single shots with the Y button or in a radial spread by shaking the Joycon. Each Coin you fire off depletes your Coin count by 1.
* CentralTheme:
** A journey to an unknown world. This game sees Mario leaving the Mushroom Kingdom to pursue Bowser around various kingdoms across the globe. This extends to Capturing, which allows Mario to see the world through the perspective of various objects and creatures, including enemies and the realistic humans.
** [[CraniumCoverings Hats and caps.]] Throwing and using Mario's cap is a mechanic, his Odyssey airship is in a shape of a hat, and nearly every revealed character has a unique hat. The enemies have different hats in each world, the [=NPCs=] in areas like New Donk City and Tostarena wear appropriate headgear, and even animals like rabbits and birds wear tiny caps!
** The Moon. It's visible in every Kingdom Mario visits (though not necessarily all the time), Mario collects Power Moons, the Odyssey's sails resemble phases of the Moon, getting fuller with each segment assembled, and in every cutscene that ends with Bowser's Airship, it's going in roughly the direction of the Moon in the sky. This all leads to the climactic wedding itself being set on the Moon, as well as the BossRush and BrutalBonusLevel.
* CharacterInTheLogo: Cappy, in the form of Mario's hat, appears in the game's logo.
* ChaseStopsAtWater: If you throw Cappy at the dog in the Seaside Kingdom, it'll chase Mario around to return the hat, but if you get into the water, the dog gives up the chase and Cappy simply flies back to you.
* {{Checkpoint}}: The Checkpoint Flag that debuted in the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' games and appeared in the 3D games from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' onwards makes another return appearance here, though they function less as checkpoints, and more as landmarks. While you will respawn at the last one you touched (and you can touch a flag any time you want to set your respawn to that point), their more useful function is letting you warp to one on the map after you've activated them.
* CheckpointStarvation: Checkpoints become a lot less frequent in the post-game locations. Of note are Rabbit Ridge and Culmina Crater, whose main challenges have no checkpoints at all.
* ChekhovsGun: The mysterious, metal-like cuboid stones found in each Kingdom. They don't appear to do anything at first, and Cappy wonders what their purpose is. They're Moon Rocks. In the post-game, the Rocks become active, and when interacted with, cause several new Power Moons to appear across the Kingdom before disappearing.
* CityNoir: When you arrive at New Donk City, it's dark and raining, with Sherms and Urban Stingby enemies looking for trouble. This lasts until you defeat the first boss, after which the city becomes vibrant and populated.
* ClamshellCurrency: The purple coins in Bubblaine are shaped like scallops.
* ClimaxBoss:
** At roughly the halfway point of the game, Bowser intercepts the Odyssey en route to the Metro Kingdom, initiating a battle. Following the fight, he shoots down the Odyssey, sending Mario to the Lost Kingdom.
** The Ruined Dragon is a surprise encounter that begins a three-part endgame, alongside the [[HumongousMecha RoboBrood]] and the final battle with Bowser himself.
* ClothingAppendage: The Lochladies have scales and fins in the shape of a dress.
* ClothingDamage:
** Mario's hat is shredded in Bowser's ship engine in the prologue, which prompts Cappy to retrieve it and find Mario.
** Bowser's tuxedo ''explodes'' when Mario knocks him out in his final boss fight.
* ColdOpen: The game's logo doesn't appear until after defeating Topper for the first time and clearing the Cap Kingdom.
* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler:Bowser's base on the Moon starts to fall apart following his boss battle, forcing Mario to Capture the unconscious Bowser and high-tail it out of there with Peach on his shoulder.]]
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The Power Moons and the poles on Checkpoint Flags are colored differently for each kingdom, as follows:
** Cap Kingdom / Cascade Kingdom / Cloud Kingdom / Lost Kingdom / Ruined Kingdom / Dark Side / Darker Side: Yellow
** Sand Kingdom: Green
** Lake Kingdom: Pink
** Wooded Kingdom: Dark Blue
** Metro Kingdom: Bronze
** Snow Kingdom: Orange
** Seaside Kingdom: Purple
** Luncheon Kingdom: Cyan
** Bowser's Kingdom: Bright Red
** Moon Kingdom: Light Yellow
** [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom uses [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 the golden Power Stars]] in lieu of Power Moons.]]
* CommonplaceRare: Power Moons are given out as prizes for races, as gifts, and one has even been buried in garbage in New Donk City, meaning they're of minimal importance to anyone but Mario in comparison to the public value of Power Stars or Shine Sprites in their games. Speaking of New Donk City, they use a near-infinite supply of Power Moons as energy for the entire city!
* ContinueYourMissionDammit: When you're approaching an encounter with Bowser, Cappy will prevent you from backtracking, forcing you to move on to the next kingdom. Also, if you attempt to do the Sphinx riddle prior to the final showdown, it'll insist you've got better things to do at the moment. He also discourages you from backtracking from the Metro Kingdom the first time you visit it and the Moon Kingdom, but allows you to anyway so you can pick up any Moons you've missed.
* ContinuityCavalcade: There are actually four in the game:
** New Donk City is littered with references to the ''Donkey Kong'' series, including ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry''.
** At the start of the festival mission in the Metro Kingdom, one of the [=NPCs=] near the entry pipe mentions that the festival tells the story of the city's beginnings. As the mission takes place within a multi-sectioned 2D sprite zone that is one long send-up to ''Donkey Kong'', it's really telling the origins of Mario himself.
** Mario's closet will eventually become this, as most of Mario's outfits are direct references to older games, promotional materials, and other characters in the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises.
*** Black Tuxedo and Hat = Box art for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' and [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/5/5d/Mariopaintart4.PNG official art for]] ''VideoGame/MarioPaint''.
*** Caveman = 1993 German Club Nintendo comic "Super Mario: Verloren in der Zeit"
*** Sombrero and Poncho = the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version of ''VideoGame/{{Qix}}''
*** Cowboy and Pirate = Costumes from ''VideoGame/MarioParty2''
*** Swimwear = 2016 Club Nintendo calendar
*** Explorer = Manual art from ''[[VideoGame/{{Picross}} Mario's Picross]]''
*** Scientist = [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCwpeXPKJ7Q 1994 Dutch commercial]] for the UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy
*** Builder = ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker''[[note]]Some feel it can also be considered a reference to VideoGame/WreckingCrew, where he wore a similar outfit.[[/note]]
*** [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead Golf]] = ''[[VideoGame/MarioGolf NES Open Tournament Golf]]''
*** Chef = ''Yoshi's Cookie''
*** Painter = ''VideoGame/MarioPaint'' and ''VideoGame/MarioArtist''
*** Samurai = ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRun'' promotional artwork
*** Hakama = 2015 Club Nintendo calendar
*** [[spoiler:Mario 64 and Metal Mario = ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'']]
*** Fashionable Outfit = [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVD9EsJgUTE 2014 Japanese commercial]] for [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS New Nintendo 3DS]] featuring Music/KyaryPamyuPamyu
*** Mechanic = Manual art from ''Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally''
*** Classic = ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''
*** Doctor = ''VideoGame/DrMario''
*** Gold = ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros2''
*** Pilot (helmet only) = Manual art from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' [[note]]In the Super Mario Land manual art, he otherwise just wore his standard shirt and overalls. The suit was created for Super Mario Odyssey.[[/note]]
*** Space Suit = ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins''
*** Sunshine Shades and Outfit = Mario's unlockable outfit from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''
*** Baseball Uniform = The color scheme is likely a reference to the Seattle Mariners, a team that Nintendo of America holds stock in
*** UsefulNotes/{{Satellaview}} Outfit = Japanese TV commercial for the Satellaview service
*** Zombie Outfit = Zombie Wario from ''VideoGame/WarioLandII'', ''[[VideoGame/WarioLand3 3]]'', and''[[VideoGame/WarioLand4 4]]''
** [[spoiler:When Mario Captures Bowser during the final stretch, images of his boss battles from previous games briefly flash by while Mario is within his mind, with the original NES title, ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', ''Super Mario World'', and ''Super Mario 64'', followed by images of Bowser's scenes from ''Odyssey'']].
** [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom as a whole is a reference to several games, especially ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. The boss fight rematches are accessed via paintings, with the same jingle as the Nintendo 64 installment, a number of Power Moons are accessed by doing similar actions (such as looking at the ceiling from the sun tile in the castle lobby), the purple coins are the familiar star coins, and the Power Moons and accompanying jingle are replaced by ''64''[='=]s Power Stars and jingle. Two of these stars are also located in the courtyard, which is rendered identically to its low-poly appearance in ''64'' and can only be accessed by wearing the ''64'' costume, which makes Mario appear identical to his model in that game. There are mushrooms with the color palettes of [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original Super Mushrooms]], modern 1-Up Mushrooms, and [[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros Mini Mushrooms]]. The Tail Tree from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' appears as well. Meanwhile, the area reached by the secret painting in the Luncheon Kingdom is [[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld Yoshi's house]], with the original appearance now translated into 3D. Finally, Toadette appears in her attire from ''VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker''.]]
* ContinuityNod:
** In the Luncheon Kingdom, Mario can pick up and carry turnips much like in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2''.
** Micro Goombas are a bright yellow color, resembling their appearance in the NES version of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''.
** [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Isle Delfino]] is visible [[https://imgur.com/O94tqRB here]] on one of the maps used in promotional materials, down to the dolphin shape and the Pinna Park island amusement park, next to the Mushroom Kingdom.
** Platforming challenges in the vein of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''[='=]s FLUDD-less missions return, only this time they're, naturally, Cappy-less missions.
** The way Mario holds his outstretched hand when collecting a Power Moon can either be a VSign (''64''), an open palm (''Sunshine''), or an outstretched fist (''Galaxy'').
** The Gushens that are capturable in the Seaside Kingdom play similarly to FLUDD's hover nozzle, and you can even use them to clean up lava-like goop.
** As in ''Super Mario 64'', [[spoiler:Yoshi can be found on the roof of Peach's castle]].
** The City Tripper from ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' (or if you prefer, the Sugarscoot/Bon-Bon from ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'') appears in the game, with a new color scheme.
** There are a couple of 8-bit missions that utilize GravityScrew mechanics similar to the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' games: one of these in the Moon Kingdom even has "Galaxy" in the name of its moons.
** The poison goop in Wooded Kingdom is similar to the goop in ''Super Mario Sunshine''. It hurts Mario if he touches it and covers his entire body if he does. It can be cleaned up with the help of Cappy and can even be spat out by certain Piranha Plants. The similarities are stronger in the Seaside Kingdom, where you use Gushen enemies (who behave much like F.L.U.D.D.'s nozzles) to spray away some molten goo in one section.
** In addition to the beachy setting, goop, and FLUDD-like Gushens, the Seaside Kingdom's boss is fought out on the open map without a defined arena, which resembles the redux fight against Petey Piranha and the fights against Phantamanta and Wiggler in ''Sunshine''.
** Besides the Gushens, the Rocket Flowers also work a lot like ''Sunshine'''s Turbo Nozzle, minus the ability to stop at will. Seemingly to highlight the similarity, there's a downhill ramp-jumping challenge course using Rocket Flowers that's very similar to a secret Shine Sprite course requiring the Turbo Nozzle in ''Sunshine''.
** Poochy being found in a ''sea of poison'' isn't too outlandish, since he's been known to NoSell any possible hazard in existence in his [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland home series]], including ''lava''.
** One particular Power Moon requires making use of a classic trick. [[spoiler:In Peach's Castle, standing on the sun carpet and using First-Person View to look at the ceiling will cause a Power Star to appear. This is the same trick in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' used to access the hidden Tower of the Wing Cap.]]
** [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom]] is surrounded by grasslands, but if you look far enough out to the horizon in one direction, you can see a desert. [[spoiler:Desert-themed worlds are typically the second world after the grasslands in most ''Mario'' games.]]
** In New Donk City you can find a hat, umbrella, and purse modelled after those same bonus point items from ''Donkey Kong''. It'll even play the same "points" sound effect from that game the first time you pick them up, and you can return them to Pauline to earn a Power Moon.
** In [[spoiler:the Mushroom Kingdom]], there is exactly one tree that has [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand a Tanooki tail.]] If you get Mario onto the right part of the branch, Mario will sit down on it the same way he does in the opening cutscene of ''3D Land''.
** [[spoiler:The currency in the Moon Kingdom is referred to as [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy "Star Bit-esque"]].]] Likewise, [[spoiler:the currency in the Mushroom Kingdom looks nearly identical to a purple version of the coins from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and are referred to as "64-esque".]]
** The Jizo statues in Bowser's Kingdom look exactly like the statues Mario can turn into using the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Tanooki suit]], including the scarf from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand''.
** At the end of the credits, :you can hear Mario say, "Thank you so much for playing my game!", which he also said at the end of the credits for ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.
** After the credits, [[spoiler:it cuts to Mario sleeping in the Mushroom Kingdom, with Cappy suggesting that [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 their trip to the Moon Kingdom was]] AllJustADream. Mario then immediately wakes up, and Cappy states that [[ThatWasNotADream it's a good thing that it wasn't]]]].
** You can refight bosses by [[spoiler:jumping into their paintings in the Mushroom Kingdom. It even plays "Game Start" from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''!]]
** During the New Donk City Festival, Pauline does her animation from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' during the chorus.
** The tourist binoculars, and with them, the ability to zoom in on interesting distant things to get rewards, return from ''3D Land'', though here, the binoculars are a new design and accessed by Capturing.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The Luncheon Kingdom plays this completely straight. Not only does it follow the typical ''Mario'' logic of no-contact proximity being harmless, but it's actually ''cooler'' than the Sand Kingdom according to their brochures, and Mario can dress down to be more comfortable. Next to ''lava''. But in the Sand Kingdom, nothing allows Mario to be cool enough to fall asleep outside.
* CoolAirship:
** Mario travels around the world in an [[GlobalAirship airship]] named the Odyssey that's shaped like a hat and has a huge sail on top, which gets more sail panels the more collected Power Moons from the different Kingdoms the Odyssey travels to. By the time the Odyssey gets to the Moon Kingdom, the sail is now a glowing yellow hot air balloon envelope.
** Bowser is shown to have an airship whose colors match his outfit.
* CoolCrown: Tiara, Cappy's sister, is being used as a bridal substitution for Peach's crown.
* CoOpMultiplayer: Building on the 2-player modes from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 its sequel]], ''Odyssey'' lets a second player assist Mario by taking control of Cappy, who then floats above Mario's head instead of sitting on it. With the ability to fly freely around Mario (even while Capturing), a second player greatly simplifies many of the actions, especially against enemies and bosses that require multiple hits in a row. The first player can still throw Cappy when the second isn't using him.
* CosmeticAward: In addition to clothes and Power Moons, Crazy Cap sells stickers and souvenirs that Mario decks out the interior and exterior of the Odyssey with.
* CrateExpectations: The game uses wooden crates to hide coins, small hideouts, and on rare occasions Power Moons. Fortunately, Cappy can be thrown to break them.
* CreepyCentipedes: One of the bosses is the Mechawiggler, a massive robotic Wiggler, only far less cute.
* CriticalAnnoyance: When Mario is down to a single point of health, a buzzing alert will sound (it will sound the first time you fall to one point, then sound whenever Mario is standing still until his health is raised higher than one).
* {{Cumulonemesis}}: Ty-Foos, the gigantic cloud enemies from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' that blow gusts of wind at Mario, reappear in this game and can be captured by Mario to blow enemies and wooden blocks away.
* CutenessProximity: One of the [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Lochladies]] from the Lake Kingdom loves Cheep Cheeps, and will reward you if you bring her one.
-->'''Lochlady:''' CLOSE-RANGE CUTENESS! I can hardly stand the adorability!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The game is just as optimistic and cheery as most other ''Mario'' games, but returns to the "cool, epic adventure" vibe of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and takes it even further, with a number of "realistic" elements that are deliberately out of place in a ''Mario'' game but make the game feel more complex and daring. Some of the bosses and levels, such as Mechawiggler and the Ruined Dragon and their respective stages, are very much this, and bring a feeling of darkness and despair. The game's content ratings are also higher than usual for the series, being E10+ as opposed to the usual E.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Rather than losing VideoGameLives, if Mario dies, he simply loses a small amount of coins that he can regain if he makes it back to where he died (unless he fell into a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} or similar hazard). Additionally, you can't even get a GameOver either — you still respawn even if you have no coins left.
* DeathIsCheap: Literally. When Mario dies, he loses 10 coins and goes back to the last checkpoint.
* DeathThrows: The first sandbox-style game to apply this, with Mario getting thrown off the screen at the vertical coordinate relative to his current position (making this the first truly 3D example) if he either loses all his health or touches poison water.
* DemotedToExtra: After having been playable in the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy previous]] [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 four]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand 3D]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld games]], Luigi is relegated to being the host of a balloon-collecting minigame that's only available in the post-game.
* {{Descriptiveville}}: Almost every greater location follows the Mushroom Kingdom pattern of "defining characteristic/theme + Kingdom".
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Mario's new sentient hat, Cappy, plays a major role in the game and has more of a presence than previous power-up sidekicks in the 3D games.
* DevelopersForesight:
** While jumping off several types of friendly [=NPCs=], Mario does ''not'' stomp on them, like he would an enemy. He instead vaults off of them, using his hands. Strangely, though, this does not apply to every friendly NPC; you can stomp on Toads and Bonneters, and most of the other "cartoony" [=NPCs=], all you'd like.
** Unlike previous games, performing a Ground Pound over an upright Pipe or Rolling into a sideways Pipe will now cause Mario to fall/roll into the Pipe respectively instead of performing his normal Pipe animation, accompanied by a sped-up Pipe sound effect. This detail was later retroactively added to ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' by way of its Nintendo Switch port.
** If the player is skilled enough to reach certain out-of-the-way areas, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a382dmNvRXs the developers reward them with large coin caches]]. Speaking of coin caches, while most normal coins will respawn whenever you teleport or re-enter an area, coin caches respawn with a reduced number of coins, to discourage players from grinding the same cache of coins over and over again. The same is true for the hidden 8-Bit Luigis added in the update, as they'll give you 200 coins when first found, but only 10 when uncovered again.
** When Mario's standing near SourceMusic, he dances to it. He's actually dancing in time to the music, and using the in-game SoundTest to override the music reveals that he'll dance in time to every song.
** If Mario is in water that's above his waist, he won't lie down and fall asleep. He'll just keep yawning and doing exercises.
** During the battle against Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III, the player can enter a 2D section and hear an 8-bit version of his song, even though the battle doesn't involve 2D sections. However, because this isn't intuitive, you won't need to do so to unlock the track on the music list — it comes with the regular battle theme.
** In the final battle, Bowser will [[LampshadeHanging comment on whatever costume Mario has on at the moment]], such as complimenting him if he has the wedding outfit on or accusing him of trying to scare him if he has the Clown costume.
** During the boss battles, their prefaces, the Klepto chases, and Culmina Crater, Mario will not go through any of his idle animations, to show how focused and determined he is.
** It's possible to skip many of the game's story missions and boss fights by collecting enough Power Moons to leave the kingdoms early. Doing this before encountering Bowser in the Sand Kingdom results in a unique cutscene, in which his airship leaves the Inverted Pyramid.
** Talking to Luigi while wearing certain outfits, such as the wedding suit, the same outfits Bowser is scared by, or the Luigi outfit, will yield some extra dialogue from him.
** A number of kingdoms have scattered seeds that must be put in pots and then let time pass to allow them to grow. In the Seaside Kingdom, you can instead water them with a Gushen to make them grow ''much'' faster — "Flowers need water to grow".
** The developers thought ahead with some of the costume-locked Power Moons, so trying out things like a skeleton costume to party like a Tostarenan or wearing a Satellaview suit for a Lochlady wanting to see a spaceman will still work. Not all of them have alternatives, but there are some costumes which aren't hinted at that will still work for the NPC characters.
** When fighting Topper, the obvious way to damage him is to knock off his hats with Cappy and then jump on his head. However, it's also possible to damage him by jumping on his back while he spins facedown on the ground to sweep the arena with his stacked hats. If you do this to finish him off, he'll still be wearing his hat in his defeat animation, since you didn't knock it off for that final hit. This also makes Topper the only Broodal who can be beat with his hat on.
** If for any reason HD Rumble isn't available, such as it's turned off or the game is being played on the Switch Lite, any Moon challenge that requires you to find the area that generates the most rumble will be replaced by the screen shaking instead.
** If you skip a platforming segment with the techniques at your disposal, Cappy will acknowledge this by complementing your jumps.
** If you go out of your way to obtain a ''lot'' of Power Moons without returning to the Odyssey to deliver them (such as by going through Warp Paintings), the list of undelivered Moons will keep going and going until 15 rows of 10. Go beyond that, and the final moon on the list will be replaced with an ellipsis (an "...") to show that the game has actively given up tracking them on the list.
** Being over- or underdressed for a certain climate will have Mario reacting accordingly during his idle animations. For example, Lost Kingdom is a tropical island, so if you wear the thick aviator outfit there, Mario acts like's he's about suffer a heat stroke, but if you switch to the caveman outfit, he'll be just fine.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:After Mario and Bowser's squabbling for her affection, Peach decides not to marry ''either'' of them. She doesn't sever ties with either party, though, and is still happy to see Mario and give him Moons when she takes a world trip with Tiara.]]
* DifficultButAwesome: The movement system is pretty deep, and proper use of Cappy can allow for amazing jumps. For example, the [[https://youtu.be/PAIO8boL_7A long-jump cap dive]] combo requires some decent dexterity to pull off, but doing so nearly doubles your maximum jump length.
* DifficultyLevels: The game has the standard Normal Mode and a more forgiving Assist Mode, where your maximum health is doubled to 6 [=HP=], arrows are placed on the ground in order to steer you towards your objectives, [[SuperNotDrowningSkills you cannot drown]], and {{Bottomless Pit}}s no longer kill you outright — you are put in a bubble when you fall and put right back where you started from at the cost of a single hit point.
* DisconnectedSideArea:
** Almost every kingdom has a painting in it that takes Mario to some distant unreachable area (typically a [[FloatingContinent floating island]]) in another kingdom, where a Checkpoint Flag and a Power Moon are guaranteed to be waiting for you. Some of them allow you to go down to the rest of the level, but others are floating so high and far away from the rest that you would need to warp with the map to the main area. Some of the former can be reached from within the Kingdom with ridiculous advanced jumping, but none of the latter can.
** The VR missions make these out of locations from the main game, which are only reachable with the slingshots; the Cap Kingdom gets Top-Hat Tower, the Seaside Kingdom gets the top of Glass Tower, and the Luncheon Kingdom gets the pot atop the volcano.
** After defeating Mechawiggler, Mario can collect a Power Moon from its scrapped remains. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to avoid fighting the boss. If the player somehow manages to skip it (i.e. via glitches), [[https://youtu.be/ZhKr2cnbLio?t=518 the scrap doesn't appear]] and the Power Moon is unobtainable.
* ADogNamedDog:
** Tiara, Cappy's sister, is a living tiara.
** Cappy's default appearance, outside his true form, is Mario's cap.
* DoubleMeaningTitle: "Odyssey" is both the name of Mario's CoolAirship and the journey Mario and Cappy undergo to save Peach and Tiara from Bowser.
* DownerBeginning: The game begins with Bowser defeating Mario and escaping with Peach, also [[KickTheDog destroying Mario's hat]] in the process.
* DragonsAreDemonic: One of the bosses, the Ruined Dragon, is an absolutely gigantic dragon in service to Bowser whose visual design is more in line with ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' or ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' than anything you'd expect in ''Mario''.
* DressedToPlunder: Mario can don a pirate outfit, and the Goombas in Bubblaine wear captain hats.
* DungeonBypass: The BrutalBonusLevel is generally much kinder than most of Nintendo's earlier levels of the type, since it provides you with frequent opportunities for health, but it still has hard platforming sections. Perhaps the hardest comes with a section where you have to climb a wall of blocks that pop out before they all pop out and push you into the lava. You activate them by hitting a scarecrow, too, so you can't use Cappy. However, the scarecrow is on the underside of a block which rises away once it's hit, so if you jump on top and use the motion controls to throw Cappy downward just right, you'll hit the scarecrow and get an elevator ride to the top, sparing you the challenge.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: A meta example. The game was one of many then-unannounced titles shown in the Nintendo Switch's reveal trailer, with a woman playing through Tostarena, two months before the game got its official reveal. The two-player mode is also hinted at in this trailer, with that mode not being revealed until eight months later.
* EarthDrift: ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' has now been retconned into taking place in New Donk City rather than Brooklyn on Earth.
* EasterEgg:
** Every kingdom has a hidden [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld Pixel Cat Mario and Pixel Cat Peach]] sticker located somewhere. Hitting them with your cap will cause them to dispense coins and a Heart, respectively. There's also a [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Pixel Rosalina]] sticker located in both Rabbit Ridge and Culmina Crater.
** In Toastarena, you can throw Cappy at round cacti, and they will dispense coins when they hit the ground and burst. If you knock a cactus into another cactus, a chain reaction will occur where the cactus you hit will launch the next cactus upon making contact, and so forth. When you do a chain this way, the second cactus onward will start playing the Red Coin sound effect from previous ''Mario'' games, and upon breaking four cacti in a chain, the last one will play the relevant fanfare.
** Bowser's dialogue during the confrontation at the wedding will change depending on what Mario is wearing. For example, Bowser will attempt to bribe Mario to go away if he's wearing the Wario outfit.
** Bouncing on the Odyssey's globe repeatedly will play a music box version of either the Cascade Kingdom's theme, or "Jump Up, Super Star!", depending on if you're in one of the Kingdoms before the Metro Kingdom, or if you're in the Metro Kingdom onward.
** If you use the Photo Mode to zoom in on Hint Toad's brochure, you'll find that it's one for ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''[='=]s Bob-omb Battlefield. Zooming in on the newspapers in New Donk City will show one of the T-rexes that appear in the game, and on the New Donkers' laptops, you can see some kind of article discussing the Moon Rock in the Sand Kingdom.
** The version 1.2.0 added another one: if you ground pound the spot marked by some new Hint Art shared by Nintendo on their social networks, you'll find [[spoiler:a hidden 8-Bit Luigi or Captain Toad which gives you 200 coins]].
** Certain Moons are barred by [=NPCs=] who won't let Mario into the rooms they oversee until he's dressed to fit the area, which is usually solved by buying the area's primary or only exclusive outfit with the region's purple coins. However, for some of these objectives, some other costumes will also work, but they're less intuitive due to being so expensive, and only one of them being available before the postgame. However, you can enter the rooms for fun any time if you're dressed right, so these are likely just as nods to curious players and not expected to be players' first solutions.
*** In the Sand Kingdom, you're supposed to buy and wear a sombrero and poncho to enter a party room, but you can also buy the extremely expensive skeleton outfit in the postgame to fit the skeletal Tostarenans' dress code.
*** In the Lake Kingdom, you're meant to get the full swim costume to enter the shop display, but the boxer shorts, the most expensive outfit before the postgame, also qualify as swimwear and will get you in.
*** The Sunshine outfit in the postgame can be used as an alternative to the resort outfit in the Seaside Kingdom due to it being Mario's vacation wear from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''.
** If you jab a metal box with a Pokio's beak over a hundred times, it will actually break. However, this is tedious and it's not very practical, as it's never the only or intended way to break them. As such, it's just a little secret for curious players.
** In the Goomba version of Picture Match, putting Mario's eyes and moustache on the Goomba face will have the overseeing Toad remark that it looks like Mario capturing a Goomba, but you'll still get failed for it.
* EquippableAlly: Much like in ''Galaxy'', Mario gets a new companion inhabiting his hat that gives him a new ability. This time, it's the hat ghost Cappy, allowing him to do all sorts of crazy things with his hat.
* ErmineCapeEffect: Peach averts this during her post-game vacation, as she wears various weather-appropriate outfits in the various kingdoms (including a swimsuit for the Lake and Seaside Kingdoms). None of these outfits even include her trademark crown. She changes back into her standard dress once she becomes a static [=NPC=], but her outfit is randomly chosen from her classic outfit and her travel ones each time the game is loaded afterward.
* EternalEngine: There are plenty of machines to be found in the Wooded Kingdom, as well as in the energy plant of Metro Kingdom. In both worlds, Mario can find and possess a tank enemy known as Sherm, which is capable of shooting projectiles to attack other enemies and destroy certain walls, and in the latter level this is used to defeat the boss Mechawiggler to restore peace in New Donk City.
* EverythingIsAnInstrument: The Peronza Plaza music in the Luncheon Kingdom, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLM8G_zjJcY this behind the scenes video shows]], uses the sounds of knives hitting a cutting board and a ladle hitting a metal pot lid as the sole percussion, to go along with the locale's LevelAte theming.
* ExcusePlot: The princess has been kidnapped again. What more do you need?
* ExposedToTheElements: Mario can run around Shiveria in the Boxer Shorts and impress one of the locals enough to get a Power Moon.
* ExpositoryThemeTune: Rather than describing the plot, "Jump Up, Super Star!" describes the ''gameplay'' of ''Odyssey'', from jumping, collecting coins, and other typical ''Mario'' elements to [[WideOpenSandbox the exploration and freedom available to the player]]. Mixes with ThematicThemeTune, as the lyrics encourage the listener to get out and explore their own world.
* ExtraEyes: The Mechawiggler has five red eyes that glow.
* EyeCam: When Cappy does his first Capture on a frog, we get a view through Mario's eyes as he's opening them before realizing what just happened.
* EyesNeverLie: Among the other changes enemies receive when Mario takes over them (his hat and mustache), most enemies will also inherit his blue eyes, either by gaining more detail to have irises or by their colored eyes changing to blue. Even Lava Bubbles, who gain no color and little detail when Mario Captures them, still have smaller, friendlier dot eyes when Mario's face replaces theirs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* FairytaleWeddingDress: The Lochlady Dress, which Bowser steals from the Lake Kingdom for Peach to wear at the wedding. It's shown after the escape sequence following the final boss fight that the dress comes with appropriately-colored high heels thanks to camera angle as Peach uses her slow-descent ability.
* FakeLongevity: The only way to get the maximum moon count of 999 is to grind up an extra 11,900 coins to spend at Crazy Cap to make it happen, as there are only 880 actual moons in the game. Fortunately, coins are easy to hoard over the course of the game, especially after the Balloon World update, and by the time you can buy multiple moons from Crazy Cap, you'll have than likely have amassed enough coins to get a headstart.
* FallingDamage: Unlike ''64'' and ''Sunshine'', you can hit the ground from any height and Mario will be fine, although he will be briefly staggered by a high enough fall when he lands. It's a good thing, too, as the levels can get rather vertical, and Mario has only three hit points by default.
* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: One of the Capturable enemy types is the Sherm, which is a ''tank'' that could almost pass off for a real one (almost; they still have headlamp eyes). So, of course, they fire fancy, firework-like shells with rainbow-colored trails, that look silly even by the standards of a franchise where cannon shells tend to have googly eyes and arms.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Cookatiel suffers this after being defeated, falling into the pot of Stupendous Stew and ''boiling alive'' in it, complete with sizzling sounds and bubbles surfacing from where it fell in before [[DefeatEqualsExplosion finally exploding in it.]]
* FantasticFireworks: After defeating the [=RoboBrood=], the mecha blows up, propelling it high up into the air before exploding in big fireworks representing all four Broodals cringing in pain.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Most of the game's settings are based on real-life locations:
** The Cap Kingdom is based on London. It's a densely foggy town, its inhabitants are famous for travelling the world, the backdrop of the level is blocky Victorian architecture, and the top hat is a signature of the town.
** According to Kenta Motokura, the Sand Kingdom was inspired by his own trip to Mexico. This is showcased by the town with sombrero-wearing, sugar skull-headed residents and the {{Mayincatec}} pyramid with its boss Knucklotec.
** Lake Lamode seems to be an amalgam of France (its name is based on ''à la mode'', the country is known for fashion, and the Lochladies speak vaguely French-sounding gibberish) and Greece (the overall architectural style and segmented island-like topography).
** Though there's no hint of it in the final game, the Steam Gardens were originally named Kogwald, which would make the Wooded Kingdom based on German forests ("wald" means "forest" in German). This would be supported by the kingdom's advanced technology; it's German engineering.
** While the lack of civilization doesn't make it clear, Forgotten Isle is based on the jungles of Southeast Asia, according to Rikuto Yoshida in the official artbook of the game. Its music makes this a bit more apparent, as it's based on gamelan, a traditional Indonesian form of music.
** New Donk City is pretty transparently based on New York City in the United States of America, with its high rise buildings and large population of suited businessmen and women.
** Shiveria seems mostly inspired by Scandinavia (with large harp seals wearing traditional knitwear and living in Scandinavian-style wood housing), with a little bit of Russia (as one of its souvenirs is a set of nesting dolls) as well as Antarctica (due to the presence of penguins and the glaciers surrounding the area).
** The Seaside Kingdom is based on the French Riviera, with snails wearing berets as the main characters and a huge champagne flute as the main landscape feature. Moreover, the boss fought here has a French name, and so do a few of the missions (''Bonjour, Dorrie!'' and ''Merci, Dorrie!'').
** The Luncheon Kingdom is based on Italy, namely the facts that it's famous for its cuisine and is volcanically active. It also has ancient Roman architecture, and cans of tomatoes lying around in addition to living tomato enemies.
** Bowser's Kingdom is a painstakingly accurate Japanese castle, with 3 concentric walls (accurately called "maru" in the Japanese version), yagura towers, arrow holes, and even a traditional Japanese garden with a tea house where the level's Crazy Cap is located. Mario can obtain accurate samurai armor and Japanese festival clothing by spending traditional Japanese ''ryō'', the 2D platforming section is a traditional set of Japanese screens, some of the sound effects are replaced by a samisen, the enemies wear traditional Japanese ''jingasa'' and ''sandogasa'' hats, and you can capture ''jizo'' statues common throughout Japan. The main keep is guarded by thunder and wind guardian statues found at Japanese temples and shrines, there are two large shrine buildings visible in the castle, and the entire level is filled with waving Japanese battle flags and festival banners.
%%* FascinatingEyebrow: Cappy makes this face every so often, even in the official artwork.
* FinishingStomp: At the beginning of the story, Mario and Bowser fight on the latter's airship above Peach's Castle, with the Koopa King coming out on top by throwing his hat like a boomerang and landing a hit on the plumber, sending him flying and causing him to lose his hat in the process. It lands in front of Bowser's feet, who stomps on it before gloating about his impending marriage to Peach and letting it glide away to be shredded to bits by the ship's propellers as he flies off to make his preparations.
%%* FireForgedFriends: [[spoiler:Peach and Tiara, if the way they always appear together in various places during the post-game is anything to go by.]]
* FlyingFlightlessBird: Each level has different small birds roaming them; they fly away as Mario approaches. The birds in Shiveria are tiny penguins, which fly just as well as the others.
* FlyingSaucer:
** A big, daisy-like [=UFO=] named Torkdrift appears as a boss in Steam Gardens, where he is found [[IllFatedFlowerbed vacuuming all the flowers from the secret flower fields]].
** Much, much smaller flying saucers appear in [[spoiler:both the Moon Kingdom and the Mushroom Kingdom]], acting like the various birds from other regions. Close inspection reveals that they are miniature Torkdrifts, with a single white flower inside of them.
** Also, when the Broodals get hit, they retreat into their hats, making them look like miniature flying saucers. Fitting, since they actually come from the Moon.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III, the gigantic octopus boss fought in Bubblaine, hovers above the water during the fight between him and Mario.
* FloatingPlatforms: While some platforms are contextual, others hang mid-air. Floating platforms are most prominent in abstract areas.
* AFoggyDayInLondonTown: Bonneton in the Cap Kingdom seems to be based on London, and it's just as foggy as its real-life counterpart.
* FollowTheMoney: In addition to the traditional yellow coins, each kingdom (except the Cloud Kingdom, Ruined Kingdom, Dark Side, and Darker Side) has 50 or 100 purple coins that act as local currency. They're different in each world: the Metro Kingdom has purple pennies, the Sand Kingdom uses coins modeled after the Inverted Pyramid, the Luncheon Kingdom has tomatoes, the Wooded Kingdom uses mechanical nuts, and so on.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Within the Sand Kingdom, the ancient architecture contains carvings everywhere of a face and some fists amid jewels and Jaxis. It turns out that face and the fists are the three pieces of Knucklotec, the guardian and boss of the ancient kingdom.
** The finale taking place on the moon is heavily hinted at throughout the game:
*** The moon is very prominent in cutscenes and on the world map, and the main collectibles are moons.
*** Looking at the moon in each world will also let you know how many moons you have left to collect there.
*** In any cutscene where Bowser's airship is present, the last shot of the airship is it heading in the direction of the moon in the sky. Ditto for any travel eastward made by Mario.
*** The song "Jump Up, Super Star!" features the line, "Oh we can zoom all the way to the moon / From this great wide wacky world", though it may be hard to notice as the song is first heard in-game during a coin-heavy 2D section.
*** In Japanese folklore, the image of a rabbit can be seen on the moon's surface, instead of the face that Western audiences see; the miniboss squad are a group of rabbits, who are revealed to be from the moon.
** [[spoiler:Mario and Bowser vying for Peach's hand was foreshadowed by the poses of the Wedding amiibo, and [[https://www.pidgi.net/wiki/File:Mario,_Peach_and_Bowser_-_Super_Mario_Odyssey.png the corresponding official art]].]]
** At various points during the Broodals' battles, they'll weaponize their hats, and once the hats start spinning, they take on a distinct resemblance to flying saucers. Fitting, as the Broodals are from the Moon.
** The very first Power Moon you get is encased in a structure that has weird silver squares poking out of it. Those are moon rocks.
* FrenchAccordion: While the Seaside Kingdom is refreshingly subtle in its French references, based on the French Riviera instead of Paris, its bossa nova music manages to slip in an accordion part near the end of the loop.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: Try Frothy Ocean of Water, as the Seaside Kingdom has an ocean of "fizzy water" that the boss creature is trying to suck up. Given the cork-popping symbolism of the cannon fountains, and the wedding themes of all the other stolen items, this is family-friendly champagne.
* FryingPanOfDoom: In the Luncheon Kingdom, Hammer Bros. throw pans at Mario.
* FunnyRobot: The Steam Gardeners, who talk about flowers and silly stuff in RoboSpeak.
-->"We are programmed to grow flowers. The flowers are programmed to grow."\\
"The Steam Gardens are objectively superior to other regions! Wooo."
* FurryConfusion: The Dark Side is home to normal rabbits and the Broodals, who are FunnyAnimal rabbits.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G]]
* GameBreakingBug: If you capture a stack of Goombas and touch a Life-Up Heart at the same time, most of the game will freeze, allowing Mario to run around without getting hit or respawning, but because objects' interactivity is disabled by the freeze, progress is barred, and falling off the level means falling forever with no death to reset things. (No, you cannot open up the menu in this state.)
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: It's noted that the Crazy Cap in Bowser's Kingdom doesn't get a lot of customers. Sure enough in the postgame unlike the other Kingdoms, no tourists are seen wandering around aside from Peach.
* GatelessGhetto: New Donk City is a sprawling metropolis... of about seven or eight blocks at best, surrounded by Bottomless Pits. More of the city is visible in the distance, past the pits, but the only part you're allowed to visit is a tiny group of buildings situated on top of a huge concrete block in the middle of what appears to be a harbor.
* GenreThrowback: While the previous "course-clear" style 3D ''Mario'' games (''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', and the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 duology]]) were driven by linear level design meant to mirror the 2D classics, this game features bigger, more open worlds akin to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''. [[note]]The ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games did have a few open-ended levels, but those were the exception rather than the rule.[[/note]]
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: The Ruined Dragon. How did Bowser know where to find it and why did it agree to help him interfere with Mario? It shows up for one battle and then immediately vacates the story (though you can visit it again during the post-game). It also has a completely different aesthetic from the rest of the game, adding to its feeling of being out of place.
* GirlsStareAtSceneryBoysStareAtGirls: During the post-game, you can find two Bubblainian tourists, one male and one female, in the Lake Kingdom. The female one is commenting on the beautiful scenery, while the male says that he only has [[{{Pun}} eyestalks]] for the female.
* GlobalAirship: The eponymous ''Odyssey'', after being repaired in Cascade Kingdom, allows Mario and Cappy to travel from kingdom to kingdom to chase Bowser and foil his plan to forcefully marry Princess Peach. They do need to gather Power Moons to fuel the vehicle, but as they do so the balloon-like orb on top of it will gradually fill up. By the end of the game, when they have enough Power Moons to unlock the BrutalBonusLevel, the orb is ''massive''.
* GlobalCurrencyException: Each world's Crazy Cap shop has a counter that uses the standard golden coins, and another that only accepts the purple coins specific to each world.
* GoFetch: You can play this with the Shiba Inu pups, using Cappy in lieu of a ball or Frisbee.
* GoldenEnding: The Darker Side features a surprise ending sequence when you finally reach the end of the course, where, as you ascend the skyscraper, Cappy reflects on the adventures he and Mario had together. As you climb the pillar to the top, a music box rendition of Cascade Kingdom starts playing, and keeps slowing down the higher you go until you collect the Multi Moon. It really emphasizes this being the "Long Journey's End."
* TheGoomba: Micro-Goombas take on the role of the first, easiest-to-deal-with enemy; they're also too small to be Captured. Actual Goombas are a Capture target, as are Paragoombas.
* GoombaSpringboard: At the ending, [[spoiler:Mario jumps on Bowser to reach the Odyssey in the sky]].
* GorgeousGarmentGeneration: Before taking off for the Moon Kingdom, Cappy changes Mario's clothes into a white tuxedo. If you didn't have the amiibo to get it early, this is when you obtain Mario's wedding outfit.
* GrandTheftMe: By throwing Cappy, Mario can Capture things to temporarily hijack them. He can do this on frogs, Goombas, Koopas, Cheep Cheeps, the RC car-controlling citizens of New Donk City[[note]]every single other New Donker has a hat[[/note]], and even a ''T. rex''. Even inanimate objects aren't immune: trees, binoculars, taxis, enemy tanks, and manhole covers can come under his control. [[spoiler:And Bowser himself, when he loses the only protection he has and is unconscious but needed to break the group out of the caverns they're trapped in.]]
* GreenHillZone:
** Cascade Kingdom mixes this with {{Prehistoria}} as, on top of being a grassy hill with waterfalls, it houses two dinosaurs (one outdoors in the Fossil Falls and the other in a cave); it is actually the second world visited in the game. In comparison, Cap Kingdom (the true first world) is more of a tutorial area and a Gray Hill Zone (mixed with BigBoosHaunt).
** At the very end, the game features [[spoiler:Mushroom Kingdom, featuring Peach's Castle from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', accessible after Bowser is defeated for the last time]].
* GrimyWater: Poison water can be found in at least one sub-area of most kingdoms, in isolated "lakes" in the Sand Kingdom, in moats in Bowser's Kingdom, and utterly surrounding the Lost Kingdom. Per tradition, falling into it is instantly fatal.
* GroinAttack: It's how you take down old-school Donkey Kong during the final 8-bit segment in the New Donk City festival. And Bowser, for that matter; due to the height difference, when you put on his boxing glove hat, it essentially results in Mario punching Bowser in the balls.
* GuideDangIt:
** There is no way to get hints for the local currency locations without the Bowser amiibo. If you don't have one, better hope you like poking your nose into every single nook and cranny looking for those last few coins.
** The Hint Art Moons. Barring those that feature Poochy, which are screenshots of actual overworld locations (and not even those are very helpful sometimes), some of the Hint Art can be ''very'' obtuse, ranging from hard-to-read illusions to spot-the-difference puzzles (the difference marking the spot, of course). Hint Art Moons also count as a different Kingdom's Moon than the one they're found in, meaning that using Uncle amiibo or Hint Toad won't do you any good. The "bonus" Hint Art images released online and through the Switch's news feature are even tougher, but they just grant coin rewards and aren't needed for getting a hundred percent completion.
** A handful of Captures don't tell you all the possible moves you can execute, or that there are alternate ways of executing others. Some examples of the former include the game never stating that you can spin as a Pokio by shaking the Joy-Con, which functions as a DoubleJump when jumping normally, a sweeping attack when your beak is extended on the ground, and as a high-jump when your nose is embedded in a wall, or explaining that both Cheep Cheeps can do a dashing spin by pressing the dive and surface buttons at the same time. For an example of the latter, when you're a Spark Pylon (the electricity wires), you can pick up coins and collectibles around the wires by pressing any button in addition to shaking the controller. Some of these cases can be found out by experimenting, but it isn't always easy to guess.
** There is a Power Moon found in Steam Gardens's Deep Woods that involves Capturing a Coin Coffer, then finding a sapling and spitting ''700 coins'' at it (granted, the sapling is surrounded by a few coins lying in the brook, and uncollectable coins never appear anywhere else). Even if you've stumbled onto every step but the last, it takes a particularly persistent and stubborn player to keep at it for ''that'' long, especially since there's no visible progress after about one-fifth of the way through. Also, just entering the Deep Woods requires [[ViolationOfCommonSense jumping off the edge of the level in the landing area]], which would kill Mario in any other kingdom.
** In various kingdoms, to get a specific Power Moon, you need to use binoculars to look in the sky at the flying ships in the background. But one of those ships is actually a ''taxi'' (or, in the postgame, the Sphynx) and you have to stare at it for a few seconds. You would not even think of doing that the first time you're in the kingdom.
** The Power Moon ''On The Eastern Pillar'' is a bit tricky, and if you try all the Bullet Bills in the Sand Kingdom, their time limits don't get them close enough to break the block the Moon is hidden in. What you're supposed to do is to capture a Bullet Bill, wait a bit so it shoots another, lure it to one of the pillars to the right of the ruins (on the map), jump out of the original Bill, capture the second Bill before it explodes, and go as fast as you can to break the block and get the moon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:H]]
* HailfirePeaks: Many of the levels were designed with this kind of contrast in mind.
** The Cap Kingdom, the first level of the game, is a unique combination of GreenHillZone and BigBoosHaunt. It's essentially your typical first ''Mario'' level, but painted black. It works because the resident ghosts are friendly, and the spookiness stops at its colors and residents.
** The Cascade Kingdom is a [[GreenHillZone grassy plain]] with lots of [[{{Prehistoria}} dinosaurs]], both living and [[RibcageRidge dead]].
** The Sand Kingdom is (obviously) a [[ShiftingSandLand desert area]] with heavy {{Mayincatec}} influences and several [[SlippySlideyIceWorld masses of ice.]]
** The Wooded Kingdom is a [[TheLostWoods large forest]] filled with [[RemilitarizedZone vaguely military-looking]] [[EternalEngine machinery]].
** The Lost Kingdom is a [[JungleJapes tropical jungle]] surrounded by [[BubblegloopSwamp poisonous swamp water]], though these two settings are frequently combined in video games.
** The Snow Kingdom is a [[SlippySlideyIceWorld snow-and-ice world]], but has a [[AthleticArenaLevel racetrack]] that dominates the playable area by land size and is the central trait of Shiverian culture.
** The Luncheon Kingdom seems to be a LevelAte, but all the food-based objects are heavily stylized and polygonal, and [[LethalLavaLand the place has an active volcano]] that erupts [[LavaIsBoilingKoolAid bright pink lava]].
** The Moon Kingdom and the Darker Side of the Moon are SpaceZone combined with LethalLavaLand in the underground areas.
** The Dark Side of the Moon is a combination of SpaceZone and LevelAte, with giant stone vegetables.
* HairRaisingHare: The Broodals, a group of fancy-dressed but mean-looking rabbits who serve as Bowser's [[TheDragon personal wedding planners]].
* HairReboot: After the FinalBoss, when Bowser flies into a wall and his tuxedo explodes off of him, his hair, which had previously been coiffed for the wedding, goes back to his usual mohawk.
* HatOfPower: [[IconicItem Mario's Cap]] was just really spiffy before, but now it has eyes, courtesy of its inhabitant, Cappy. He gives the hat the utility of functioning like a boomerang weapon, and as an object that Mario can throw, then jump on, to use as a springboard. And of course, Mario can [[GrandTheftMe Capture]] things using his hat, too.
* HeartContainer: The gold-crowned hearts extend Mario's life meter from 3 to 6 hit points, but losing the extra health will revert the maximum to the standard 3. Fortunately, the hearts allow the effect to be carried over across levels.
* HeartsAreHealth: Rather unusually for the series, there are heart items to heal you instead of hit points being restored by a coin each, and there are also Life-Up Hearts which add three temporary hit points like the ''Galaxy'' Life Mushrooms. This is likely because the amount of coins in the game is greater, more comparable to the 2D ''Mario'' formula, and as such, they'd make healing too easy. Checkpoint flags (when first activated), Moons, and returns to the Odyssey will also heal Mario.
* HeCleansUpNicely:
** Bowser cuts a rather striking figure in his [[https://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Art_-_Bowser.png white wedding outfit]]. The in-game description for Mario's version of said outfit even states that Bowser cleans up nicely for a fire-breathing monster covered in spikes, while Bowser himself will compliment you on your choice of clothing before the final fight.
** Mario's [[https://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Art_-_Wedding_Mario.png no slouch either]], Cappy even comments on how dapper the white tuxedo makes Mario look.
** And, of course, Princess Peach looks stunning in a white wedding dress. It helps that this dress isn't just a PaletteSwap of her normal gown like in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''.
* HelpfulMook: The usually antagonistic Koopa Troopa and Lakitu enemies actually appear as friendly [=NPCs=]. The former often gives Mario challenges, including [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 Koopa the Quick]]-type races, while Lakitus can be captured to fish up hidden items. Other [=NPCs=] in the area also don't react in fear if Mario approaches while capturing a Lakitu as they would when he captures other mooks near them.
* HerdingMission: In the Sand, Wooded, and Mushroom Kingdoms, there are a Tostarenan, a Steam Gardener, and a Toad whose sheep have wandered away from them. Mario can find them and return them to their owners for Power Moons.
* HeroesLoveDogs: More like "Dogs Love Heroes". The Shiba Inu that shows up in some of the kingdoms will follow Mario around after it unearths a treasure, play fetch with Cappy, and curl up to sleep next to Mario if he nods off.
* HighAltitudeBattle:
** The rematch with Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III has the starting platform with a single Gushen, a Glass Tower replica you can't climb, and nothing else. The fight is in the sky during a rainstorm (so you don't run out of water), with that starting platform as the only place to rest.
** The initial battle with Bowser in the [[LevelInTheClouds Cloud Kingdom]] is this in its entirety, though you're on a flat arena and can't see the ground through the clouds.
* HolyPipeOrgan: The church where Bowser plans to marry Peach has [[https://youtu.be/TY-Pk0Xi660 some reverent organ music]] playing inside. But once you confront Bowser, there is a cutscene just before fighting him where the organ switches to [[OminousPipeOrgan playing more sinister music]] as Bowser sends Mario down a trapdoor in the church's floor to the battlefield.
* HomingProjectile: If you shake the Joy-Con while Cappy is in flight, Cappy will home in on the nearest valid target, be it a collectible or enemy. You can use this to compensate for bad aim or squeeze a little extra distance out of your throws.
* HumongousMecha: One boss battle involves Mario fighting a giant robotic Wiggler by Capturing a tank enemy to attack it. Another boss battle involves a gigantic wooden robot which is piloted by all the Broodals together, and it must be defeated by knocking bombs at its legs and climbing the fallen machine to attack the cockpits that the Broodals are in.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:I]]
* IdiosyncraticWipe:
** The scene change transition is an IrisOut with Mario's hat, twirling like he's throwing it away from the screen.
** The wipe when you skip the cutscenes is crescent-shaped, much like the Power Moons.
* IdleAnimation:
** Mario [[VideoGame/SuperMario64 once again]] eventually falls asleep and dreams about pasta if you stand still for long enough. Leave him long enough after that and a bird (type varying by location) will land on his nose.
** On his bed in the Odyssey, he will go to sleep more quickly, and if left idle on any kind of chair, he will sit down on it. Mario can also doze off momentarily on one of the chairs in the ship, but he wakes himself up after a while, unlike when on the bed. During this, Cappy will float around admiring any decorations you’ve placed inside the ship as well.
** Mario will shiver and try to warm his hands in a cold enough area, while he'll wipe sweat off his brow and fan himself in a hot enough area. Though if he's wearing an appropriate outfit, such as the jacket while it's cold, or the boxers while it's hot, he'll go back to his regular idle animation.
** If Mario's standing next to SourceMusic, such as a radio, or the live band in New Donk City, he'll begin dancing to it.
* IFellForHours: Some areas are really tall, even into account that most of the stages seem like islands suspended in the sky like in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. Since Mario doesn't take fall damage in ''Odyssey'', one can take a plunge from such places (such as the top floor of New Donk City Hall or the Moon Kingdom Wedding Hall) and wait a good few seconds before hitting the ground.
* IllFatedFlowerbed: The Steam Gardens feature a secret flower field that is very dear to the Steam Gardeners' robotic hearts. Unfortunately, the field has been found by Torkdrift, a daisy-like [=UFO=] that vacuums up all of its flowers. Mario manages to destroy the monstrosity, but not before it managed to destroy most of the parterre. You can return to restore the field and get a Power Moon, though.
* ImprovisedPlatform: An unusual case. Magmatoes are Luncheon Kingdom enemies which melt into a pool of lava when hit, making them a hazard... to anything except a Captured Lava Bubble, which can swim in their puddles to cross solid ground that would vaporize the Lava Bubble otherwise.
* InASingleBound:
** In this game, Mario can use springy poles to launch his way up and across the New Donk City skyscrapers, and can land safely after leaping from them to street-level.
** A skilled player can make Mario pull off insanely long distance leaps in this game; it's possible to bypass most sections where you have to Capture a creature to progress by pulling off said insane jumps, and many platforming challenges can likewise be made much easier with skilled enough jumps.
%%* InCaseOfBossFightBreakGlass: Torkdrift, the Mechawiggler, and the [=RoboBrood=] all are defeated this way.
* InMediasRes: The game starts with Mario fighting Bowser aboard his airship.
* InsertSong: It ultimately turns out that "Jump Up, Super Star!" isn't the main theme some people thought it was.[[note]]Not only that, but a slightly different version of the song (i.e., from the single version) plays in-game.[[/note]] It plays when Mario gets the band back together, and then goes though the VideoGame/DonkeyKong-inspired {{Retraux}} section during the festival. There's also one other one that plays when [[spoiler:Mario captures Bowser, and he and Princess Peach make their escape from the underground lair under the wedding hall. To be exact, it plays in the last area when Mario has to destroy the four columns]].
* InsistentTerminology:
** Bowser is largely referred to as a monster by other characters.
** [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom's]] collectibles are still called Power Moons, despite the fact that [[spoiler:they're in the form of ''Power Stars'']].
* InterfaceSpoiler: A minor one, but looking at the Moon lists reveals all the potential moons that the world has, including ones that can only be found in the post-game.
* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: You can buy souvenirs from the various kingdoms to customize the interior of the Odyssey, though they all have predetermined spots, so the customization is limited to what you buy, since you cannot decide where the items will be placed or remove them after they're bought.
* InterspeciesRomance:
** If you revisit the final level after beating Bowser, two guys, a snail-like Bubblainian and a fork-like Volbonan, can be seen competing for the affections of a female New Donker, who, like all other New Donkers, looks like a realistic human. Her body language indicates that she's rather flattered.
** In the Moon's chapel after beating Bowser, a skeleton-like Tostarenan and a mermaid-like Lochlady discuss the posibility of getting married in the chapel.
* IntrepidMerchant: Subverted. The Crazy Cap location in Bowser's Kingdom doesn't get a lot of customers due to being located in a very unsafe location filled with dangerous enemies and the entirety of the Kingdom is floating, meaning that you'd need the ability to use a Spark Pylon to even reach the shop.
* InvincibilityPowerUp: Starmen are notably absent, but scanning a Mario Toys/{{amiibo}} achieves a similar effect by granting you a brief period of invincibility.
* InvisibilityCloak: [[spoiler:The Invisibility Hat that Mario gets by collecting the Multi Moon in Cumina Crater.]]
* InvisibleWall: Surrounds the Cap Kingdom and Seaside Kingdom, to prevent Paragoombas and Cheep Cheeps/Gushens from flying/swimming (respectively) out into the distance forever.
* {{Irony}}: The song "Jump Up, Super Star" features "1-Up Girl" and "1-Up Boy" as lyrics, though this is the first main-series game without a lives system.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J-L]]
* JigglePhysics:
** Oddly, the game features this for, [[GagNose of all things]], ''[[http://www.suppermariobroth.com/post/156819276305/in-the-super-mario-odyssey-trailer-marios-new Mario's nose.]]''
** Mario's hats are also affected, bouncing slightly off his head with every step, practically flying off as he runs, and even exposing the hair underneath as it bounces.
** The typical application of the trope is found here, too, with Madame Broode's chest and stomach. [[FanDisservice It's not sexy.]]
* JungleJapes: The Lost Kingdom is a tropical island jungle with a lot of interesting plants.
* KabukiSounds: Stairface Ogres utter a kabuki-like "Yoooooo" when they're defeated.
* KaizoTrap: Inverted. The final battle ''begins'' with Bowser already attacking you, so if you don't move or counter quickly, you'll take damage as soon as it starts. The cutscene right before the boss battle ends with Bowser initiating this attack, making it a small case of GameplayAndStoryIntegration.
* KickTheDog: After Mario's hat is knocked off, Bowser crushes it with his foot. Funnily enough, though, it rebounds right back with no visible damage after he steps off; it's not until it is left to fly into the airship propellers that it gets destroyed.
* KingMook: Mollusque-Lanceur, the boss of the Sea Kingdom, is an adult specimen of the Gushen (and by extension the Astro-Lanceur).
* KungFuProofMook:
** The ''Piranha Plant'', of all enemies, can counter [[GrandTheftMe Capturing]] because it can just eat Mario's hat when he tries to throw it. It is possible to Capture it if you feed it a rock first.
** Trapeetles are also immune to Capturing. Not only can they grab Cappy from any direction, they will then throw Cappy back at Mario as an explosive projectile. Cappy is not harmed, but this move can easily catch you off guard if you're not prepared for it.
* LastEpisodeThemeReprise: "Jump Up, Super Star!" gets an encore performance right before the BrutalBonusLevel.
* LastLousyPoint:
** Because they are scattered widely across kingdoms, chasing down purple coins in each of them can get to be a hassle as they start to dwindle in number.
** If you're trying to fill out the Capture list, Piranha Plants can be tricky to get because they normally eat Cappy when he's thrown at them. The only way to Capture them is to feed them a rock, ''then'' throw Cappy at them.
** One music track can be very hard to track down if you're not the type to mess around throwing Cappy at things: [[spoiler:"Honeylune Ridge: Escape (Japanese)" is obtained in the post-game by throwing Cappy at any radio that normally plays the Crazy Cap theme. Prior to the post-game, hitting said radios will instead play a clip of Bowser kidnapping Peach.]]
** Talkatoo and Hint Toad exist to make exploration easier, as they give free hints to those who interact with them. Talkatoo gives the name of a random unobtained Moon (which can be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty on-the-nose at times]]), while Hint Toad will mark a Moon location on the map for the price of 50 coins.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness:
** [[VideoGameLives 1-up lives]] and {{Game Over}}s are completely done away with for the first time in the core games, instead having Mario lose 10 coins upon death.
** None of the typical ''Mario'' power-ups, such as Mushrooms or Starmen, are ever seen in the game; the only recurring items that appear are Coins.
** Though Starmen no longer appear, temporary invincibility is still possible through scanning any Mario amiibo[[note]]This includes Mario, [[Franchise/SuperSmashBros Smash]] Mario, 8-bit Mario (classic or modern), Gold or Silver Mario, and of course, Wedding Mario.[[/note]].
** While the game does use the exploration-based gameplay of ''64'' and ''Sunshine'', the game does not boot players out of the level after collecting a Power Moon, making it more similar to collectathons like ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''. Also in that vein, there are no selectable story missions for each moon — instead, the area's plot advances permanently upon collecting certain primary objective moons. This also means that one cannot redo certain major objectives or refight certain bosses, until the rematches in the post-game, including the Dark Side for the Broodals and the Moon Kingdom on re-visit for Bowser.
* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: The lava in this game looks pretty normal, with the exception of the strange solid-pink lava in the Luncheon Kingdom, which may literally be boiling Kool-Aid.
* LazyDragon: The Ruined Dragon in the post-game. He hangs off the tower where Mario first fought him and complains of tiredness. (Said tiredness may also explain his Tactical Suicide during the boss fight.)
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
** The theme song as a whole, along with uses some clever wordplay to reference everything from ''Odyssey''[='=]s relationship to past 3D ''Mario'' installments, staples of the franchise such as coins and mushrooms, and even the dedication and skill of long-time ''Mario'' fans themselves.
** The brochure for New Donk City mentions that the NDC Festival's schedule is subject to frequent changes, since the player can choose to replay the festival any time they like.
** The fossils in the rocks of the Cascade Kingdom are classic 8-bit enemy sprites, and [[spoiler:there are costumes which re-create Mario's ''64'' model and the 3D form of his 8-bit sprite — one Toad even has nostalgia for Mario looking as he did in ''64'']], implying that the changes in the series' art style are in some way part of the universe's history.
* LeaningTowerOfMooks: Mario can can encounter Goombas standing on top of one another, and can also {{Invoke|d Trope}} this trope by capturing a Goomba and making it jump on another one. That Goomba can them jump on another one, and so on, and so forth, to make a tower of Goombas.
* LeapOfFaith: One Moon in New Donk City, appropriately titled "Leap of Faith", involves attempting to get a scooter into a parking spot situated on top of a roof. The thing is, there is no way to get to the rooftop from ground level[[note]]outside of [[GoodBadBugs performing a certain glitch]][[/note]]. You are thus required to go to the very top of City Hall, where you can find a scooter, and ''drive straight off.'' Thankfully, you can control your aerial momentum so you can aim for the rooftop in question.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** Captain Toad's theme tune plays every time he appears.
** The melody from Fossil Falls is recurring: examples include the map selection screen, getting a Life-Up Heart, or activating a switch. It's also featured in the second Bowser battle, the moon cave escape sequence, and the credits.
* LethalLavaLand:
** Mount Volbono of the Luncheon Kingdom erupts bright pink lava, which the whole level is surrounded by.
** Additionally, there is the Lava Crater inside the Moon Kingdom, which is a more traditional lava-filled corridor.
** Lava is present outside the intended levels as well. In the Seaside Kingdom, Mollusque-Lanceur fills the hot springs with lava and generates lava on his head, and a couple of sublevel challenge areas are surrounded by lava.
* LevelAte: The Luncheon Kingdom is made of heavily stylized food, has living utensils as [=NPCs=], and features [[FryingPanOfDoom pan-tossing Hammer Bros.]] There's even a giant bird dressed in chef attire named Cookatiel menacing the place by cluelessly taking over the cooking.
* LevelInTheClouds: The Cloud Kingdom is located in the cloudy skies above another kingdom. It is here where Mario fights Bowser for the first time in the game, as well as the first level where certain cloud platforms can be activated by hitting their "null" forms with Cappy.
* LifeMeter: While the graphics are different, this game's life meter is functionally identical to the ''Galaxy'' games', with just three hit points, but a power-up[[note]]the ''Galaxy'' games had Life Mushrooms, and ''Odyssey'' has Life-Up Hearts[[/note]] which will add three for as long as the player can keep them.
* LightningBruiser: [[spoiler:The Captured version of Bowser is as fast as Mario, can jump as high as Mario, is strong enough to destroy giant, stone blocks with a single swipe, and starts with doubled [=HP=].]]
* LimitedWardrobe: A significant aversion, for, unusually for a mainline ''Mario'' platformer, not only can Mario can dress up in different outfits, but Peach will do so as well when she tours the different kingdoms in the post-game.
* LivingDinosaurs: The Cascade Kingdom is known for having these. More ''Tyrannosaurus'' can be found in the Wooded Kingdom and the Metro Kingdom, though only the Wooded and Cascade Kingdom ones can be Captured.
* LivingStatue: The Moe-Eyes are walking moai statues with sunglasses. If Mario captures one, he can toggle its sunglasses to see invisible platforms.
* LoadBearingBoss: After the final fight with Bowser in the Moon Kingdom, the interior of the moon begins to collapse, prompting an EscapeSequence. Justified by Bowser hitting and shattering a background pillar when Mario delivers the final punch to knock him out of the arena, which, if it were load-bearing, would in turn destabilize the cavern.
* LoneWolfBoss: Some of the bosses, such as Knucklotec and Cookatiel, don't work with Bowser. The former only fights Mario because he mistakes him for the thieves, and Cookatiel is a random stupid bird who probably doesn't even know that she's a menace to the stew she's taken over.
* LongSongShortScene:
** It's very easy to miss hearing the 8-bit version of "Mollusque-Lanceur Battle" at the only opportunity to hear it, as it only plays when Mario is in an 8-bit area that he has no reason to be in at the time (since, well, an octopus is rampaging around Bubblaine). Fortunately, the song appears in the sound test after beating Mollusque-Lanceur regardless of whether it played or not.
** If you're really good at the game, you won't get to hear much of the second InsertSong that plays when [[spoiler:Mario (who has captured Bowser at this point) has to claw his way through the four columns as he and Princess Peach make their escape from the underground lair under the wedding hall]].
* LostInACrowd: One area in New Donk City features a MobstacleCourse that makes Mario run through a crowd to get to a timed Power Moon. In the postgame, one of the new Power Moon challenges is to find the single New Donker in that crowd who is wearing a Bonneter instead of a normal hat.
* LostTechnology:
** The Steam Gardens are an ancient, high-tech greenhouse tended by watering can robots. These robots are advanced enough to have sentience and free will (think WesternAnimation/WallE but better-spoken). According to the kingdom's Crazy Cap brochure, nobody knows who built the gardens, but they took off centuries ago, leaving the self-sustaining gardens behind.
** Knucklotec, the boss of the Sand Kingdom, seems to be partly robotic — capturing its fists causes them to reveal rocket boosters.
* TheLostWoods: The Wooded Kingdom is a typical forest area, but with a lot of machinery thrown in as well. The semi-hidden Deep Woods area beneath the Steam Gardens is far more natural in appearance.
* {{Lunacy}}: Instead of Power Stars or Shine Sprites, the main collectibles in ''Odyssey'' are Power Moons. [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom has ''64''-style Power Stars, but they're still called "moons", theorized by Cappy to be a different shape for the same object.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M]]
* {{MacGuffin}}: Most of the Kingdoms that Bowser passes through have something he wants to steal to furnish his wedding with.
** He kidnapped Cappy's sister Tiara from the Cap Kingdom to serve as Peach's tiara/wedding veil.
** He stole the Binding Band from the Sand Kingdom's pyramid to act as Peach's wedding ring.
** He stole the Lochlady Dress from the Lake Kingdom to be Peach's wedding dress.
** The Wooden Kingdom's Soirée Bouquet field was picked to be Peach's bouquet, though Bowser added some Piranha Plants to it.
** Bowser tried to siphon electricity from the Metro Kingdom for an unspecified purpose.
** The prize for the Snow Kingdom's big race, the Frost-Frosted Cake, was stolen to be Bowser's wedding cake.
** Much of the Seaside Kingdom's Sparkle Water was drained so that Bowser could use it to make a toast at his reception.
** A large amount of Stupendous Stew was stolen from the Luncheon Kingdom to be served at the wedding.
** And, of course, he stole Peach herself from the Mushroom Kingdom.
* MadBomber: Hariet, one of the Broodals, attacks by throwing bombs, and has an ability where she flies around while dropping bombs, laughing crazily in the process.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Since there is no GameOver in this game, and DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist, there are many different ways to off poor Mario in this game, and different animations to boot. Getting hit by a Bullet Bill or falling into lava, in particular, gives Mario an AshFace as he falls off the screen.
* MarathonLevel: This is a large part of the difficulty behind Darker Side of the Moon. It's 14 sections without checkpoints, with many being about the length of a full Power Moon mission elsewhere in the game.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The primary theme of the Sand Kingdom, in the first departure from ''Mario'' deserts' ubiquitous Egyptian theming. Here, the most Egyptian feature is a Sphynx, but the rest is based on Mesoamerican history, with the pyramid being a step pyramid common to Mayan, Aztec, and other societies, and the boss being based on Olmec statues. There's also a more modern-day Mexican town, a cowboy outfit bought there and moai creatures, further distancing the theme from Egypt.
* MeaningfulName: Tostarena, the village in Sand Kingdom. The first syllable comes from "tostado" (Spanish for "toasted" or "burnt" in some cases), referring to the kingdom's toasty, arid climate (after both its bosses have been defeated) & "arena" is Spanish for "sand", as in the landscape.
* MechaMooks: The game features the Sherm, a tank enemy that shoots explosives at Mario. They can be captured with the help of Cappy (and doing so is necessary to defeat Mechawiggler).
* MechanicalMonster: Mechawiggler is a large robotic specimen of Wiggler which is terrorizing New Donk City and its people, and is capable of attacking with energy spheres as well as warping from one spot to another with portals.
* MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The prevalence of 8-bit areas means that enemies get to be seen in slightly dated designs; Mario also has his old sprite, but it's recolored to match his modern look (and also changes to show most of the outfits he can wear). [[spoiler:In the 8-bit segment of Honeylune Ridge's finale, Peach and Mario-as-Bowser keep their ''Super Mario Bros.'' looks unchanged.]]
** [[spoiler:The Mushroom Kingdom's purple coin outfit is the ''[[VideoGame/SuperMario64 Mario 64]]'' hat and suit. Wearing them gives Mario an updated version of his ''64'' look — an update that keeps its blockiness, lack of mouth, blank stare, and fingerless hands, all combining to make him look incredibly weird next to the game's SceneryPorn. Wearing the outfit also opens up a bonus area in Mushroom Kingdom that recreates the fountain area in Peach's Castle, complete with [[SpritePolygonMix the perpetually-frontward tree sprites]] (opening Snapshot Mode lets you break their illusion and see them at an angle). [[ChromeChampion Metal Mario]] also appears as an unlockable outfit.]]
* MercyMode: Failing enough times in certain sections of the game will eventually trigger a Crazy Cap employee to appear nearby, offering items such as Life-Up Hearts for coins. Also, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Assist Mode]] acts as an optional one, wherein Mario will have 3 extra health points, [[BottomlessPitRescueService is saved by a bubble if he falls off of a level]], has arrows that tell him where certain plot-centric objectives are, and ''regains lost health if left idle for a few seconds''. That last one makes getting through [[ThatOneLevel certain levels]] much easier.
* MetropolisLevel: New Donk City is a SkyscraperCity based off of metropolitan New York City, where Mario must navigate a vertical maze of stairways, construction frameworks, skyscraper exteriors, precipitous drops and hanging girders, all while dodging enemies such as giant flies and Goombas in hard hats. Besides the [[NonstandardCharacterDesign realistically proportioned New Donker humans]], it's generally played as cartoonishly silly as any other level theme in the series: the entire level is surrounded with a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} with roads that just drive off into nothingness, the side "island" is actually just a really tall skyscraper below the main area's foundation, and a ton of [=NPCs=] are actively engaging in blatant ArtificialAtmosphericActions, like two people in the park spinning a jump rope around by themselves with nobody jumping over it, or the endless crowd of people leaving one storefront and flowing into another in a singular direction, [[AlienGeometries which you find by walking into a much smaller building]].
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Subtly used. At times, it almost seems like Mario's compelled to act like whatever he's inhabiting when he first inhabits it.
* MiniBoss: The Broodals, which are fought halfway through the Kingdoms' corresponding story arcs, in a fashion similar to the minibosses from the 2D games. In the penultimate level, they realize they're individually no match for Mario, so they join forces as they pilot the Robobrood to face him in a full-fledged boss battle.
* MinskyPickup: One of these begins the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16LDAEkfWkA theme]] used in Koopa Freerunning and Luigi's Balloon World.
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Banktoad mentions that he and the other members of the Toad Brigade haven't found out where Captain Toad went when Mario finds him on the summit of Forgotten Isle. If you went to the cave the Captain was hiding out in before climbing the mountain, it invokes this trope.
* MisterMuffykins: Madame Broode's Chain Chomp pet is named Chain Chompikins, and has a higher-pitched yap than most Chomps.
* MobstacleCourse: One TimedMission involves Mario running through (or jumping over, if you prefer) a large crowd of New Donkers to get to a Power Moon.
* MoneyForNothing: The only things coins are used for are Life-Up Hearts, outfits, and Power Moons. Outfits and Power Moons only need to be bought once and Life-Up Hearts can be found for free in the open world. Because collecting coins are no longer used for earning extra lives, it's easy to wind up with hundreds, even thousands of coins with little to spend on.
* MoneySink: Once you hit the post-game, Crazy Cap ''really'' opens up with its stock. Not only is the purchase limit on Power Moons removed, allowing you to buy as many Power Moons as your wallet allows, but earning more Power Moons progressively adds more and more outfits and hats to buy, including the amiibo outfits and a Skeleton outfit that costs a whopping '''9999 Coins!''' Several outfits were also added post-launch, with many of them going for a thousand coins or more.
* MoodWhiplash:
** Not so much one that suddenly makes the game dark out of nowhere but traveling to the Metro Kingdom is a bit jarring at first. The people there are proportioned like real people, the vehicles are conventional cars, and the building designs have none of the whimsy the series is known for, being very brick-and-mortar city skyscrapers. This is contrasted against locales such as the Sand Kingdom with its cartoonish Dia de Muertos-like skeleton citizens and stylized Mexican-esque dwellings. The robot centipede that takes over the New Donk City Hall is also grimly cold and mechanical in design as opposed to the less sci-fi robots you might see elsewhere. The place is also initially raining, at night, and infested with mosquito-like enemies called Urban Stingbies.
** Within the Snow Kingdom, you start in a dark blizzard with no visibility that does a great job at masking the tiny size of the area and making the player feel lost and unwelcome, but then you end up falling into the cheery, cozy underground town and meet its adorable NPC inhabitants and the tone has completely changed.
** For a more traditional example, after exploring the cold but cuddly Snow Kingdom, the relaxing Seaside Kingdom, and the cheery, goofy Luncheon Kingdom, you're then attacked by a terrifying dragon, and end up in the Ruined Kingdom, which is dark, moody, and very creepy.
** There's also the Deep Woods, deep in the cheery, lively Wooded Kingdom. o get there, you have to jump off the undulating cliff next to the Odyssey, [[ViolationOfCommonSense which wouldn't at all come to mind]].
* MoonRabbit: The Broodals apparently hail from the Dark Side of the moon, more specifically Rabbit Ridge. Rabbit Ridge is also filled with bunnies wearing top hats.
* MoralMyopia: Bowser has transgressed against every civilized Kingdom on the planet by terrorizing the locals and stealing something from them as part of the necessary preparations for his wedding. Then he "invites" some special guests from each of the Kingdoms to bear witness to the marital union between him and Princess Peach and acts like there's nothing wrong about it. All the while obstructing and condemning Mario for being the "bad guy" who has to go out of his way to ruin all of his hard work.
* MorphicResonance: Anything captured by Mario will feature his red hat, mustache, and blue eyes. Including a ''dinosaur''.
* {{Motifs}}:
** As Tanooki tails were to ''3D Land'' and cats were to ''3D World'', hats are to this game. Many [=NPCs=] wear them, the Crazy Cap store appears in many of the worlds, and Mario's airship, the Odyssey, is even shaped like a top hat. And of course, Mario and Peach's hats are possessed by spirits named Cappy and Tiara, respectively.
** The moon. Mario collects moons instead of stars, the moon is visible in every stage, the Broodals are a gang of rabbits [[MoonRabbit who hail from the moon]], "Jump Up, Super Star!" mentions you can zoom all the way to the moon, and there's also the pun of a wedding honey''moon''. And the final kingdom? Moon Kingdom.
* MundaneFantastic: The Moon Kingdom in spades. It's a popular tourist location which also warranted a brochure from Crazy Cap and equally popular for hosting weddings, and the kicker is that it's perfectly accessible by ''taxi'' (but doing so would require a lot of fuel to be replenished) and [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace wearing a space suit or at least a helmet is optional]].
* MundaneUtility: Some Power Moons require you to use Captured enemies for basic tasks, like using a Fire Bro to light a campfire or warming up stew pots by hopping in as a Lava Bubble.
* MusicalNod:
** If you go into the deepest level of the pause menu and back[[note]]activate the menu, go to Options, then Controls[[/note]], you'll notice that the selection jingles form the melody of [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy "Rosalina in the Observatory"]]. In addition, pausing and then quickly unpausing will form the classic 1-Up jingle, which is otherwise absent due to this game's lack of VideoGameLives.
** The bassline in the bridge of "Jump Up, Super Star!", the game's main theme, is a variation on the music for the first level from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' (AKA 25m). The "item get" sound is also worked into the bridge during the version played in "A Traditional Festival!".
** Similarly, the bridge for "Break Free (Lead the Way)" is Bowser's {{Leitmotif}} from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', and the version that plays over the final cutscene also contains 25m in the second bridge.
** Various radios in New Donk City play [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bixxb8jSxSg piano versions of the ''Super Mario World'' overworld theme.]]
** Uniquely, a song from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' is prominently referenced; cutscenes involving Bowser's airship use an orchestrated version of that game's opening riffs for the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' airship theme.
** The music during the second half of Bowser's Kingdom is an orchestrated remix of Bowser's boss fight theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''.
** Bonus rooms have mostly original music. However, the exceptions are NPC minigame challenges like Slots (''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' minigame theme), the RC Car challenge (which uses ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'''s Mario Circuit theme), and those accessed through beanstalks (cue the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' bonus room theme).
** [[spoiler:In the Mushroom Kingdom, the victory theme that plays for getting Power Moons is swapped out for a new arrangement of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'''s Power Star theme. Peach's Castle also uses an orchestrated arrangement of "Inside the Castle Walls" from the same game]].
** The racing theme that plays during the Koopa Freerunning and Shiverian races sounds remarkably similar to "Full of Vigor" from ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Mario Party 4]]''.
* MyNaymeIs: "Hariet" is usually spelled with two R's, but has just one to aid the rabbit pun ("hare").
* MythologyGag:
** Various preceding works in the franchise, such as ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'', ''ComicBook/SuperMarioAdventures'', and ''Anime/TheGreatMissionToSavePrincessPeach'' had Bowser trying to marry Peach by force.
** The BigApplesauce-ness of New Donk City recalls the original backstory of Mario and Luigi coming from Brooklyn and ending up stranded in the Mushroom Kingdom by Warp Pipe. Mario has finally come home!
** A few of Mario's outfits are taken from [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:2016_Club_Nintendo_Calendar_Art.jpg the 2016 Club Nintendo calendar]]:
*** The Swim Goggles and Swimwear come from June.
*** The Painter Outfit comes from September, with extra inspiration from ''VideoGame/MarioPaint''. The accompanying cap, however, comes from ''VideoGame/MarioArtist''.
*** The Samurai Helmet and Armor come from May.
*** The Hakama comes from January.
*** The Santa Hat and Outfit come from December.
** [[spoiler:The Mario 64 and Metal Mario clothes change Mario to his low-poly model from his early 3D days.]]
** New Donk City has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVBtEo-egk?t=2m28s some graffiti]] of original DK and Pauline's old [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/7/7b/DKNESDonkeyKongPaulineArt.png "Lady"]] design. Upon closer inspection of the [[https://tcrf.net/images/1/13/Super-Mario-Odyssey-New-Donk-graffitiFinal.png text]] underneath it, "New Donk City" was scratched out to say "New Donk [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry Cranky]]".
** The ambiguous plaque from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' rumored to say "L is real 2401" is back and [[TheUnreveal just as blurry as before.]]
** The women running the jumprope minigame prompt Mario to "Jump, man!", with "Jumpman" being an earlier concept name.
** Mario's dancing animation has him swinging his arms from side to side; in other words, doing "[[WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow The Mario]]".
** Bowser's Kingdom's main export is Hanafuda cards, referencing Nintendo's own origins as a Hanafuda card manufacturer.
** A side area in New Donk City has Mario escape from a ''Tyrannosaurus'' in a New York-esque city, much like in [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 the live-action movie]].[[note]]The ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' cartoon also features the Mario brothers running into dinosaurs on occasion, justifying the location being called "Dinosaur Land".[[/note]] [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere No explanation]] is given as to why [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a T-Rex is running around]] in an area [[RuleOfFunny inspired by New York City]].
** One of Pauline's animations during the festival has her turning to the side and kicking her legs in a weird manner... which is actually a recreation of her animation from the original ''Donkey Kong''.
** When the player reaches a certain rank in Balloon World, Luigi will have three balloons, colored blue, red, and yellow. Combined with his green hat, [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/b6d06ae8792a6621e4c7dfa754bb3eb4/tumblr_inline_p4mx2sLrGB1ra17z7_540.jpg it altogether resembles the buttons on a Super Famicom/European/Australian SNES controller turned sideways]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N]]
* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Most of the races introduced in this game are named after their homelands; New Donkers are from New Donk City, Bonneters are from Bonneton, etc. The only exception is the Lochladies from Lake Lamode.
* NatureLovingRobot: The Steam Gardeners are robots that were explicitly built by {{precursors}} to take care of the plants in the Wooded Kingdom's Steam Gardens. Long after the precursors have disappeared, the Steam Gardeners are autonomous, and the gardens are thriving.
* NeverBareheaded:
** While this is hardly the first time we've seen Mario without his hat, this is the first time he's been hatless (or headgearless at all, for that matter) on the cover of a game, and the fact that he isn't wearing a hat actually has significance, rather than being an EasterEgg or something similar. He also spends long stretches of time hatless while Cappy is doing his own thing, and, if you use co-op, can spend the entire game without wearing Cappy.
** This also applies to most [=NPCs=], who also wear hats. In addition to fitting with the game's theme, it also indicates what characters can be captured: if they're not wearing hats or caps, you can capture them.
* NeverMyFault: In the post-game, the Broodals complain that, even though they followed Bowser's orders perfectly, no one wants to hire them anymore. They blame Mario for this, despite the fact that they stole valuable treasures from every Kingdom and left a path of destruction and mayhem in their wake. Such things are never good for anyone's reputation.
* NewWorldTease: Most worlds have a painting to another world somewhere, and some of those paintings will take you to a place you haven't been yet (such as the Luncheon Kingdom painting warping you to [[spoiler:Yoshi's House, floating in the distance from the Mushroom Kingdom]]). In all instances, all you get is a high and far vantage point of the world in question, with no way to access it.
* NightOfTheLivingMooks: Chinchos are mummified, undead Tostarenans that overrun the Sand Kingdom during night, though they can be found in lesser quantities in other worlds. They chase Mario and can't be defeated with a cap throw, but they can be stomped easily to temporarily put them out of commission.
* NoFairCheating: [[MercyMode Assist Mode]] does not save you from falling on Cappyless challenges, including on the Dark Side of the Moon.
* NonAppearingTitle: Played with. One lyric for "Jump Up, Super Star" says "It's time to 'jump up' in the air", while another says "you're my super star", but both phrases never get put together in the song itself.
* NonIndicativeName: Despite the levels being called Kingdoms, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/6h9s6l/hi_im_mr_koizumi_producer_of_super_mario_odyssey/diwof8s/ they don't necessarily have royalty]] or even leaders at all. The only kingdoms that have leaders of any kind are the Mushroom Kingdom (ruled by Princess Peach), the Metro Kingdom (which is run by Mayor Pauline), the Snow Kingdom (which is presided by the Shiverian Elder), and Bowser's Kingdom (take a guess). In Japanese and some other languages, however, the worlds are more broadly called Countries ("kuni" in Japanese[[note]]This can refer to a country or even a "land" (e.g., "Fushigi no Kuni", or [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland "Wonderland"]]), which can be either a country or a kingdom (normally "oukoku" in Japanese).[[/note]]).
* NonStandardCharacterDesign:
** New Donk City features realistically proportioned humans who contrast with the cartoony Mario.
** The Mechawiggler has a very detailed, complex design compared to other machines in the series, and doesn't resemble a Wiggler much at all.
** The dinosaurs in Fossil Falls are also depicted in realistic detail, making it surprising when Mario was revealed to be possessing a ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' in the trailer that revealed the Capture mechanic. Perhaps even more surprising is Mario's usual dinosaur companion [[spoiler:Yoshi being Capturable in the same game]].
** Several kingdoms feature a realistic Shiba Inu that can find treasure for Mario.
** The Sand Kingdom has a realistic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppe_eagle steppe eagle]] that Mario has to hit in order to gain a Power Moon.
** The frogs in the Cap Kingdom are also realistic.
** Some of the background animals (small lizards, palm squirrels, pigeons, doves, bats, seagulls, crabs, and [[NoCartoonFish various small fish]]) are realistically proportioned compared to the others.
** The Ruined Dragon has a more realistic looking design compared to other dragons in the Mario series that would more likely fit in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'', ''Film/TheHobbit'', or possibly even ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' or ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''.
* NoOSHACompliance: New Donk City is rather tame platforming-wise for a mid-game area, but as a population center, it is an OSHA inspector's nightmare. Residents casually hang around construction sites (some of them right over large drops) with no railing or safety gear (when they do wear it, it boils down to just a helmet), and according to the brochure, the city is ''always'' under construction. When Mario first comes to New Donk City, he'll inevitably have to do platforming on swaying girders ''while it's raining''. Other potential civilian hazards include low-hanging powerlines (which Mario uses for quick travel), uncovered manholes, and abruptly ending roads with flimsy road block signs placed near the ledges of the city. And this is without mentioning that some of the buildings have open-to-the-public doorways leading to places with the stranger hazards typical of Mario platformers (including [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a chase sequence with a living T-Rex]]).
-->'''Metro Kingdom Travel Brochure:''' [[LampshadeHanging Unaccustomed travelers should watch out for the cranes, girders, and manholes scattered everywhere.]]
* NoRomanticResolution: Obviously, the name of the game is to stop Bowser from forcing Peach to marry him. [[spoiler:However, in a twist of StatusQuoIsGod, when ''Mario'' goes to propose to Peach after Bowser is defeated, the Koopa King gets back in there for another attempt. Peach, overwhelmed by the two shoving flowers in her face and demanding she choose between them, puts her foot down and storms off in a huff. She does invite them to board ''Odyssey'' as it prepares to take off a few moments later, however, implying there are no hard feelings.]]
* NoSell: Cappy cannot Capture entities already wearing hats. They have to be knocked off first, if they can be knocked off at all.
* NostalgiaLevel:
** One of the sub-levels in New Donk City features the obligatory World 1-1 cameo as a "movie" in a theater. You can jump into the Pipe and play it to get two Power Moons, and the audience will clap for you when you find collectibles.
** The festival in New Donk City ends with a recreation of the original ''Donkey Kong'', which includes knocking him off his platform. A more unique variant is used near the end of Culmina Crater.
** [[spoiler:Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom is a loose adaptation of the ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' one. The local coins are shaped like the coins from that game, Power Moons are shaped like Power Stars and Yoshi can be found on top of the roof. The game reuses the ''64'' Power Star jingle when Mario gets a Moon, the unlocking jingle when Mario drains the moat, and the jingle from the mission select screen when he enters a PortalPicture. There is also a room that replicates the courtyard from ''Super Mario 64'' almost entirely, with the same textures, sprites and low-poly models.]] An alternate entrance to the same area takes you to [[spoiler:a 3D version of Yoshi's House from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', with a sign replacing the message block]].
** Bubblaine has gameplay elements reminiscent of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''. One of the enemies you can Capture gives you a water jet you can use to hover, dash, and clean up lava, similar to FLUDD's various nozzles.
** The beginning of the game sees Mario blasted away to an unfamiliar place by the bad guys, where he is met with a strange white creature upon waking up. After chasing said creature down, he teams up with Mario and inhabits his hat, granting him his primary abilities for the game. [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Sound familiar?]]
* NothingIsScarier: Surprisingly for a ''Super Mario'' game there's a case of this. The Ruined Kingdom is, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ruined]], with no enemies, only a big, more realistically-rendered dragon. ''Why'' it's ruined and what role, if any, the dragon played, plus how the dragon became Bowser's minion is never revealed and you spend the least time on it of all the Kingdoms. Even the brochure can only provide theories and speculations. There are also a lot of swords with Bowser's emblem on them littering the place...
* NoticeThis: Rays of light shine gold on areas hiding coins, and in a rainbow of colors on areas hiding power moons.
* NoYou: The description of the red-and-white-stripe on blue-and-yellow-plaid Fashionable Outfit.
-->'''Description:''' I'm not clashing, YOU'RE clashing!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O]]
* OctopoidAliens: The Astro-Lanceur enemies are enormous octopus aliens found hovering over the Moon Kingdom. They notably look an awful lot like Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III, which is fought in Bubblaine. Ironically, however, despite being aliens, they are the only beings in the game that cannot breathe on the Moon without space helmets, as Mario smashing through theirs kills them.
* OhCrap:
** Madame Broode has a moment of panic when you Capture her Chain Chompikins, and she desperately tries to chase after it to smack Mario out.
** Hariet of the Broodals freaks out if you knock off her hat during the second fight against her, since she knows she's about to get a stomping from Mario.
** The look of ''absolute sheer terror'' on Bowser's face when his hat is grabbed during his boss fights.
* OminousCube: The Power Moons that Mario and Cappy collect throughout the game are revealed to come from cube-shaped moon rocks that fall to the Earth and explode, scattering the Power Moons across the region.
* OminousPipeOrgan: Bowser's final boss theme contains some pipe organ parts.
* OneGenderRace: The [[MeaningfulName Lochladies]] are universally female.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Not for the characters, but for the levels. Each part of each level is lovingly handcrafted to match the theme, with beautiful scenery and intricate detail. Until you get to the end-game and find bonus levels in plain, textureless blocks in an empty void. Congratulations, you are now up for an [[PlatformHell extra-hard platforming challenge]] that deserves the "prepare to die" tagline as much as ''Dark Souls'' or ''Super Meat Boy''.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Cappy is a hat ghost that possesses Mario's hats and allow him the ability to use it as a weapon and even possess people and things with it.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The Lochladies of the Lake Kingdom. They all have [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation blue skin]], are excellent seamstresses, and can easily maneuver and survive on dry land. [[OneGenderRace Oh, and they're exclusively female.]]
* OverlyLongGag: One of the moons in the Deep Woods involves capturing a Coin Coffer and feeding a specific sprout coins. It's not a prompt. You just need to sit there and spit coins out at it as it slowly grows. ''500'' coins, to be exact.
* OxygenMeter: A return to the roots of ''64'' and ''Sunshine'' necessitated Mario losing his SuperNotDrowningSkills. Once your Air meter runs out, you'll start taking actual damage. Predictably, capturing aquatic enemies will negate the need for oxygen (and when you hop back out, Mario’s oxygen will be topped off again). [[MercyMode Assist Mode]] removes the OxygenMeter entirely.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P]]
* PaintingTheMedium:
** Reflecting the age of the location, the music for the Steam Gardens sounds as though it's coming from an old record player.
** While standing outside of certain buildings (such as in front of New Donk City Hall in the Metro Kingdom and [[spoiler:Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom]]), you can hear the interior's music quietly muffled.
** Some of the "instruments" used in the Luncheon Kingdom music were kitchen knives, ladles, and pot lids.
** The music in Top-Hat Tower adds a guiro (percussion scraper) instrument when you're capturing a frog. A popular shape for guiros? Frogs.
* PaletteSwap:
** The [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Musician_Hat.png Musician Hat]] and [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Musician_Outfit.png Outfit]], added in patch 1.2.0 for purchase in the postgame, are this to the [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Black_Fedora.png Black Fedora]] and [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Black_Suit.png Black Suit]]. The Musician Hat's band is silver whereas the Black Fedora's is blue, and the Musician Outfit is a red pinstripe suit with a red button, black undershirt, white tie and low collar, while the Black Suit is a black pinstripe suit with a blue button, white undershirt, red-and-white striped tie, and a white collar. The [[https://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Employee_Uniform.png Employee Uniform]] is also a palette swap to both suits, though the [[https://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMO_Employee_Cap.png Cap]] is completely different.
** The 5 unique overalls and caps (Mario's, Luigi's, Wario's, Waluigi's, and [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong the classic pair]]) are all swaps of each other, with the only other change being the letter on the cap.
** Naturally, the Black Tuxedo and Mario's Tuxedo are swaps of each other, with one being black with gray accents, and the other being primarily white with a bit of brown on the shoes. However, they both have gold buttons and a red bow tie, and the hats are completely different.
* PalmtreePanic: The Seaside Kingdom is a French Mediterranean-style beach with carbonated water. It is home to the snail-like Bubblainians, but also overrun by the squid-like Gushens and their KingMook Mollusque-Lanceur.
* PermanentlyMissableContent: It's possible to miss out on three of the checkpoint flags if they aren't triggered before the plot progresses. There's one in Cascade Kingdom (Waterfall Basin) that vanishes as soon as Mario departs from it on the Odyssey for the first time, and two others (Construction Access and City Outskirts) only exist in the rainy nighttime version of Metro Kingdom before Mario destroys Mechawiggler. Since these flags don't exist on the map after they despawn, the only indication that the player hasn't activated them all is by checking the relevant entry that lists how many have been activated to see if it's lower than the highest total of 85. Fortunately, the corresponding Power Moon from Toadette only requires that 80 checkpoint flags be activated.
* PhotoMode: The Snapshot Mode comes with camera controls, logo position and a variety of filters.
* PickupHierarchy:
** '''Primary''': Power Moons, Multi Moons.
** '''Secondary''': Regional coins. Moon Shards. Life-Up Hearts.
** '''Tertiary''': Coins, Hearts.
** '''Extra''': Costumes, Balloons (from the Luigi-specific DLC).
* PimpedOutDress: The Lake Kingdom's treasured Lochlady Dress, which is a bouffant wedding gown that according to the brochure, wearing it brings eternal happiness. Bowser steals it for Peach to wear for their wedding. Humourously, Mario can get a copy to wear himself.
* PinataEnemy: The [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand Coin Coffer]] returns in this game. The strategies for earning Coins from it remain from previous games, but this time, you can Capture the Coin Coffer. While you control a Coin Coffer, you will earn Coins simply by walking for a brief period of time, and you can [[CastFromMoney shoot Coins]] [[AbnormalAmmo as an attack.]]
* PlanetOfHats:
** Most levels have a specific theme which applies to their architecture and inhabitants alike.
** The Cap Kingdom is a ''literal'' Kingdom of Hats.
* {{Planimal}}: The Uproots from the Wooded Kingdom resemble walking onions or some other type of bulb vegetable, with red eyes and [[ExtendableArms vine-like legs that can extend]], allowing them to reach high places.
* PlayableEpilogue: After the credits roll, a few changes happen in the game world. With Bowser defeated, [=NPC=]s including Princess Peach travel to the various kingdoms, and the moon rock in each Kingdom can be activated to pepper the kingdom with new Power Moons to collect. Also, every kingdom has its own main path of Power Moons to collect that, when completed, causes some kind of positive change in that kingdom that is observable while running around in it.
* PlotTunnel:
** The first time you attempt to travel to the Metro Kingdom, you're intercepted by Bowser and forced into a boss battle, then shot down to the Lost Kingdom. You can't go back to any previous areas until you've collected enough moons in the Lost Kingdom to repair the Odyssey.
** After leaving the {{Wackyland}} known as the [[LevelAte Luncheon Kingdom]], you're intercepted by Bowser again, which begins a portion of the game where you cannot return to any prior kingdom until you land on the Moon Kingdom. After defeating the Ruined Dragon, you head straight to Bowser's Kingdom, and throwing Cappy on the Odyssey's globe will simply have him say "Let's hurry after those two!" and pop back off. Upon defeating the [=RoboBrood=] and fixing the Odyssey, you're taken to the world map, but can only select the Moon Kingdom; Cappy will tell you "Let's hurry on ahead!" if you try any other option. However, upon landing in the Moon Kingdom itself, Cappy will only say "But... Bowser! HERE!" if you try to leave, but ultimately he'll relent and ask if you need to do stuff in other kingdoms.
* PointAndClickMap: Despite the return to the exploration-based style of ''Super Mario 64'' and ''Super Mario Sunshine'', the game still averts {{Hub Level}}s in favor of a global map where Mario selects a kingdom to travel to. Unlike the ones [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 from]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand previous]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld games]], this one mainly serves a way for Mario to get between kingdoms.
* PopQuiz: The Sphynx appears in a few stages and asks questions about happenings in that stage.
* PortalPicture:
** Most kingdoms have at least one hidden painting that depicts a different kingdom in the game. These can be jumped into to teleport you to an otherwise impossible-to-access area in the depicted kingdom that holds a Power Moon.
** A large painting of Bowser and Peach appears in the final area of the game so you can battle the final boss again.
** [[spoiler:In the Mushroom Kingdom, you can access ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''-styled painting rooms (complete with music and relevant jingles) with giant paintings depicting the game's main bosses; jumping into them will take you to souped-up rematches of the boss fights that earns you Multi Moons.]]
** [[BrutalBonusLevel Culmina Crater]] has, for its final challenge, a painting you can jump into, which sends you into the last leg of the dungeon [[spoiler:as Mario Bowser.]]
* PowerUpMount: There are jaguar-like creatures called Jaxis that Mario can ride on in the Sand Kingdom.
* PreciousPuppies: Adorable, photorealistic Shiba Inu wearing various hats appear in numerous Kingdoms. They follow Mario around :and even help dig for Power Moons.
* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: Mario can throw his hat friend at enemies. You can also make it stop in midair and platform off it. Justified in that Cappy is a sentient being and is returning to Mario of his own volition.
* {{Precursors}}: The Crazy Cap brochures for both the Wooded Kingdom and the:Ruined Kingdom state that there used to be people inhabiting these kingdoms before… ''something'' happened and they took off.
* PreFinalBoss: Shortly before Mario exits the Moon Kingdom's crater to access the chapel where Bowser is planning to consumate his marriage with Peach, he has to defeat Madame Broode.
* {{Prehistoria}}: There are plenty of dinosaurs in the Cascade Kingdom, though the only living one seen there in the game is a ''Tyrannosaurus'' which Mario can Capture.
* PremiumCurrency: In addition to the standard Super Mario coins, each kingdom has 100 purple coins (or 50, for smaller kingdoms), which can be redeemed at Crazy Hat shops for exclusive costumes and souvenirs.
* ProjectilePocketing: Cappy and certain Capture projectiles like Sherms' cannon shells can be used to pick up items like coins, music notes, Moon Shards, and the like — the only thing they can't collect are Power Moons.
* PromotedToPlayable: The game has several classic enemies that Mario can control such as Goombas, Charging Chucks, Hammer Bros. (that wield frying pans, but it's basically the same concept), Bullet Bills, and so on, which makes them playable for the first time in a mainstream ''Mario'' title. [[spoiler:Bowser is also playable via capture at the final level.]]
* PsychoForHire: Of a sort. The Broodals are a ''wedding planning firm'', and they're '''extremely''' dedicated to their job. If that means trying to brutally murder anyone who's opposed to your wedding, well, that's just part of the service they provide.
* PunnyName:
** The Broodals' name is a pun/portmanteau on bridal, brutal, and brood.
*** Hariet is a twofer — not only is she a rabbit ("hare"-iet), but she uses her [[BraidsOfAction Braid of Action]] as a mace.
*** Topper is the only one in the group that wears a top hat.
*** Spewart fights by spewing toxic liquid.
*** Rango uses his hats like a boomerang.
** Knucklotec comes from knuckle, Olmec, and Aztec.
** Cookatiel is based on cook and cockatiel.
** '''Bonnet'''on in the Cap Kingdom, New Donk City in the Metro Kingdom, Shiveria in the Snow Kingdom...
** Honeylune Ridge is a play on both "lunar" and "honeymoon", as it's a popular wedding site on the Moon.
** Culmina Crater, the last and most difficult level, is the culmination of everything leading up to it.
** Mario's ability to possess objects and creatures with his cap is known as '''Cap'''turing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Q-R]]
* QuicksandSucks: A single pool of quicksand appears in Tostarena Ruins within Sand Kingdom. The nearby sinkhole isn't lethal; in fact, entering it is necessary to get a Power Moon.
* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Broodals are a group of anthropomorphic rabbits that act as Bowser's wedding planners. They harass you throughout the game as they collect supplies for the wedding and try to stop Mario from intervening.
* RacingMinigame:
** The Metro Kingdom has an RC car track. Mario has to possess a hatless New Donker since he's holding the remote.
** The Bound Bowl Grand Prix, celebrated in the Snow Kingdom. Since only Shiverians are allowed to participate, Mario has to possess one of them with the help of Cappy in order to play.
** The Koopa Freerunning challenges, where Mario has to compete in each kingdom against a group of Koopa Troopas in a race. In each kingdom, the challenge has two versions: The normal version which is available as soon as the story missions are complete, and a harder rematch available after the game is cleared for the first time.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: The fact that life can exist on the Moon, unlike in real life, is explained rather handily by the volcanic activity happening underground on the Moon, which is more similar to the volcanic activity of our Earth than to the volcanic activity of our Moon. [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WfF99qV4tD4 Gnoggin elaborates here.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Pauline is now mayor of New Donk City as well as the lead singer of a band, requesting Mario's help to get it back together.
* RecurringBoss: Every boss has two or three variants, with the toughest being rematchable:
** The Broodals will each be fought twice throughout the game, once in the first half and once in the second. They come back later for a replayable BossRush in the postgame, mostly unchanged from the second encounters (with the main difference being moon gravity), with no healing in between.
** Madame Broode is fought in the Cascade Kingdom at the beginning of the game and returns as the penultimate boss in the Underground Moon Caverns; she'll respawn at the latter location in the postgame for rematches.
** Bowser is fought halfway through the game at the Cloud Kingdom and again at the very end. By getting enough Moons and completing Culmina Crater, a tougher version is unlocked, and you have the choice of rematching the second or third variants.
** [=RoboBrood=] is first fought at Bowser's Kingdom late in the game. In the post-game, it's fought after beating all of the Broodals in the BossRush, with only one heart of healing before the fight (though you can find Captain Toad for a full heal right before the fight). The boss itself is unchanged between fights, with the only change being the enemy Captured.
** The remaining six bosses are fought throughout the game once each and can be rematched in tougher fights in the [[spoiler:Mushroom Kingdom]] during the post-game.
* RecurringExtra: Captain Toad can be found sightseeing in almost every Kingdom. Talking to him will yield a free Power Moon.
* RegionalRiff: The music that plays during the second half of the Japanese-inspired Bowser's Castle features a small excerpt from "Sakura Sakura", a famous Japanese folk song.
* RemilitarizedZone: There are tanks and other war machines in the Wooded Kingdom.
* RemixedLevel: Many of the sub-levels on the dark side of the moon are previous sub-levels with a twist, such as a timed scooter-riding challenge that [[NoGearLevel takes away the scooter]]. Also included are many levels that were much easier when you had Cappy... that you have to do cap-less.
* {{Retraux}}:
** Mario can enter murals in which he and the enemies look like they came straight from the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1,'' and they move on a 2D plane as well.
** [[spoiler:You can purchase Mario's cap and clothes from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', low-poly textures and all, from the Mushroom Kingdom Crazy Cap, which alters Mario's model completely into his ''64'' look when worn together. Earning enough Power Moons also lets you unlock the Metal Mario Hat and Suit from the generic Crazy Cap store, which gives Mario the appearance of Metal Mario from ''64''.]]
** Parodied with the 8-Bit Mario Cap, which turns Mario into a blocky 3D rendition of his Small Mario form (with modern colors) that's perpetually stuck in a jumping pose.
** The Steam Gardens' music is styled like 1960s surf rock, and even sounds like it's playing on a record player.
* RetaliationMode:
** All four Broodals retreat into their hats and bounce around their arenas when hit. Unlike most examples, Mario can actually knock all of them out of Retaliation Mode before it ends; attacking the last remaining hat in Topper's NeedleInAStackOfNeedles attack is guaranteed to expose him once more, stomping on Spewart's attack where he leaves a trail of poison around the arena will expose him again, jumping on Rango right before he begins bouncing around will prevent the process entirely, and knocking one of Hariet's bombs back at her as she flies around bombing the arena will send her plummeting from the sky, making her vulnerable to another GoombaStomp.
** Whenever she takes damage, Madame Broode will get angry enough to [[FastballSpecial throw her pet Chain Chomp at you]]. Said Chain Chomp -- the only means of defeating her -- will [[SpinToDeflectStuff spin]], deflecting Cappy and preventing Mario from [[BodySnatcher Capturing]] it.
** Knucklotec launches a fast punch that deflects Cappy once he's hit.
** Mollusque-Lanceur performs a spinning attack once he's damaged, nullifying any damage done to his head; if you're using a Gushen to damage him instead of a ground-pound, he actually starts using the spinning attack before you can damage him fully.
** Mecha-Wiggler closes all its weak points before performing a charge attack through several portals.
* RevisitingTheRoots: This game revisits the roots not of ''Mario'' as a whole, but of 3D ''Mario'', bringing back the wide open worlds of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' that are full of collectibles that can be gathered in any order. This reverses of the trend of increasingly linear level design that started with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''.
* RibcageRidge: A ''Triceratops'' skeleton crowns the peak of Fossil Falls.
* RiddlingSphinx: A Sphynx appears in almost every area, usually asking questions. When met near the outskirts of Steam Gardens, it blocks the platforming area unless Mario can answer why the Steam Gardeners are worried.It even shows up in Culmina Crater, with one final quiz you only get one shot at per life that requires you to remember all of its previous appearances and have a good grasp on its personality.
* RightHandAttackDog: Madame Broode sics Chain Chompikins, a golden Chain Chomp, on Mario, who [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Captures him to attack her]].
* RiseToTheChallenge: A couple of secret areas require you to climb a series of platforms ahead of rising lava.
* RogerRabbitEffect:
** The presence of realistic humans next to the bright and cartoonish Mario in New Donk City simulates the effect.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xW9aCg2zY This]] trailer for the game uses it outright, with a CG Mario dancing with live action dancers in New Donk City.
* RoleReversalBoss: This is a core mechanic, since Mario's new hat Cappy allows him to control any enemy that it's thrown at — even bosses. Several bosses thus have to be defeated by taking direct control of either them or some other aspect of their abilities and guiding the boss into [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard being harmed by their own attacks]]. This culminates in the finale, [[spoiler:where the player takes control of [[BigBad Bowser]] himself, in order to escape the collapsing ruins of his hideout]].
* RollingAttack: Mario has one in this game. Unlike [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand previous]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld games]], this time he can use it to go into a continuous roll.
* RuinsForRuinsSake:
** In the Sand Kingdom, just outside of Tostarena. Except for the Inverted Pyramid, which has a backstory, the rest of the ruins are just… here.
** The same goes for the Cloud and Ruined Kingdoms, both of which are ruins which serve as imposing arenas for their respective boss battles. Their brochures posit some theories about their origins, but even these are just educated guesses. The true origins of these locations remain shrouded in mystery.
* RuleOfThree: Most of the bosses are defeated after running through their routines and hitting them where it counts three times, with the exception of the [=RoboBrood=], which needs four, one for each Broodal.
* RumpRoast: If Mario lands into lava or a pot of hot soup in the Luncheon Kingdom, he jumps high up with his derriere burning and runs amok for a few seconds until the flame is extinguished.
* RunningGag:
** Mario can expect to get knocked off of the tallest building in the area or the Odyssey itself at least once per kingdom.
** The Sphynx first appears in the Sand Kingdom before randomly showing up in a bunch of other, less fitting Kingdoms later on to ask more questions. In the postgame, it can be seen in most kingdoms it doesn't initially appear in flying on a Cap Kingdom airship sail. It gets to the point where it shows up in the BrutalBonusLevel for a quiz.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S]]
* SameContentDifferentRating: This game has a B rating (ages 12 and up) in Japan, a PEGI 7 rating in the U.K., a PG rating in Australia and an E10 rating in North America despite the content of this game being no different from any other Mario game.
* SceneryGorn: The Ruined Kingdom has been ravaged to pieces, and it looks absolutely stunning.
* SceneryPorn: The Kingdoms in the game are large, intricate and quite beautiful.
** The Luncheon Kingdom is quite intricate and the level of detail reveals that while the hills look like food, they're actually stylized and polygonal.
** The Cap Kingdom looks gloomy but eerily beautiful and whimsical, with its Tim Burton-esque monochromatic aesthetic.
** The Moon Kingdom's view of the earth from space is breathtaking, with various [=NPCs=] even [[LampshadeHanging commenting]] on its beauty.
* SayMyName: Peach calls out for Mario at certain points in the game as usual, but in a late game cutscene, [[spoiler:Mario actually calls out to Peach, the first time he's done so in a mainstream Mario game.]]
* SchizoTech: The clothing and architecture of New Donk City are reminiscent of the late 1940s or early 1950s, however the taxicabs driving around the city are based off the second generation Ford Crown Victoria (most prominent during the TurnOfTheMillennium), RC cars are available as toys (not available commercially until the 1970s) and you can see a few citizens using laptop computers (rare until the 1990s). The developers said [[AmbiguousTimePeriod they didn't want the city to feel anchored in any particular era]].
* SecretAIMoves: Inverted, because some player-controlled enemies (made possible through Mario's [[BodySurf Capture]] mechanic) can perform actions that the computer-controlled versions won't do on their own, such as the Bullet Bill's acceleration boost and the Pokio's SpinAttack.
* SelfDeprecation:
** The UsefulNotes/{{Satellaview}} helmet's description simply reads "A memento of some forgotten service."
** After defeating Bowser, you can return to the Metro Kingdom and talk to Pauline to take a quiz about her. One question asks something she used to do. The correct answer is "Captured by Ape", but another answer is "Wear a Raccoon Suit", and Pauline reacts with disgust asking who would wear something like that. Although it could also be a TakeThat to PETA.
* SequenceBreaking:
** You can skip most of the main storylines of the regular kingdoms and go onto the next just by collecting enough sidequest Power Moons to move on. The only exceptions are kingdoms that have forced boss fights (Cloud Kingdom and Ruined Kingdom[[labelnote:*]]though Ruined Kingdom is more because you literally can't get enough Moons without beating the boss[[/labelnote]]), and Bowser's Kingdom, as Cappy didn't know that Bowser was going to keep running away to the Moon Kingdom.
** By using a move that [[GuideDangIt the game never tells you about]], the final leg of Culmina Crater via gaining enough altitude with Glydon to fly over the entire area. [[spoiler:This includes the Mario Bowser segment, which cannot be skipped otherwise. Seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv98dLDU0w0 here]]]].
* SharpDressedMan: Bowser's [[http://i.imgur.com/teQNvAh.png wedding suit]] is pristine, sharp, and deadly. Mario can wear a similar suit, has an additional pinstriped suit, and can wear a tuxedo.
* ShellBackpack: Bowser wears a white and purple tuxedo with the back of his shell showing.
* ShiftingSandLand: The Sand Kingdom is a Mesoamerican-themed desert with a Mexican town, in a sharp contrast to the usual Egyptian-themed deserts throughout the series. Tostarena is the main city, inhabited by sombrero-wearing sugar skull inhabitants. It's the third world (followng up the Cap and Cascade Kingdoms), and is unique in that the desert is initially ''cold'' (to the point some ice crystals are formed), though this is reversed later when the heat is restored. Outside this kingdom, and as an EasterEgg, [[spoiler:at the ''very'' edge of the grasslands surrounding Peach's Castle you can see a desert, a reference to how desert worlds often come after grass ones in the ''Mario'' series.]]
* ShipshapeShipwreck: The Odyssey is first found in the Cascade Kingdom, embedded in a rock wall, layered with heavy rust and out of power. Otherwise, it's in pretty good shape and only requires :a few Power Moons to make it look and run as good as new again.
* ShipTease: There's a [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld Cat Mario and Cat Peach]] sprite hidden in each level. In the Moon Kingdom, they're found together, at the top of the chapel.
* ShoutOut:
** Just as New York City is called "The City that Never Sleeps", New Donk City is called "The City that Never Leaps". It's also referred to as "The Big Banana", just like how New York City is "The Big Apple".
** Mario can use his RollingAttack, again, and this time, he can roll continuously and build momentum for it, essentially giving him the same SignatureAttack as [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog his biggest mascot rival]]. Donkey Kong can do a similar maneuver in the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series.
** The Broodals share the same colors as the original ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' team, ''Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger''.
** The description for Luigi's Hat (which is unlockable in the the post-game) says that the "L" stands for "winner". [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]] says the same thing in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]]''.
** All the minigame icons at the bottom of the screen while playing them are based on ''UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch'' characters, but with a cap.
** In the postgame, a Cap Kingdom inhabitant will wonder aloud if [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} capturing creatures]] [[ItWillNeverCatchOn will ever become popular]].
** In Tostarena at night, the undead Chinchos will pop out of the ground and slowly walk over to attack Mario, just like the Stalchildren at night in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games.
** The citizens of Seaside Kingdom [[SpeakingSimlish speak similar Simlish]] to the [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]].
** One Power Moon found in the Sand Kingdom is named [[Film/TaxiDriver Jaxi Driver]].
** A Mexican-looking Tostarenan declares that [[Series/MindOfMencia he's feeling "de... de... dehydrated."]]
* SingleSpeciesNations: Many of the Kingdoms that Mario and Cappy visit during their adventure have one species as their main inhabitants. These include the skeletal Tosterians of the Sand Kingdom; the molluscan Bubblainians in the Seaside Kingdom; the robotic Steam Gardeners in the Wooded Kingdom; the human-like New Donkers from the Metro Kingdom; and others.
* SkullForAHead: Tostarenans have heads themed on Mexican sugar skulls, with the rest of the body lacking a skeletal appearance, such as having black RubberHoseLimbs. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, Tostarenans are a very nice and friendly bunch of people.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The game has the underground tunnel of Sand Kingdom (from which the unusual cold comes from, though Mario manages to revert this), and all of Snow Kingdom (which is also home to a village where the residents love racing). Goombas are surprisingly sure-footed on ice, which carries over to their captured state.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Of the five Broodals, Hariet is the only girl. When adding their boss, Madame Broode, to the mix, they became TwoGirlsToATeam.
* SnowySleighBells: The rhythm from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2E6MsGg9Wo Shiveria's theme]] is provided by prominent jingle bells. Also, when in the blizzard, distant sleigh bells can be heard in the wind.
* SolidClouds: Aside from Cloud Kingdom, solid clouds can also be seen in kingdoms like Cascade Kingdom, where they act as temporary platforms that need to be activated with a hat throw.
* SoreLoser: When you encounter Bowser at the Nimbus Arena, Mario beats him pretty thoroughly, but rather than take the easy way out, he runs back to his ship and bombards Mario with cannonballs in order to escape, which damages the Odyssey and plunges Mario and Cappy into the Lost Kingdom, all while Peach begs him to stop.
* SoundTest: After beating the main story, a new page is added to the menu that allows players to play any song they wish, overriding any music that normally plays in the level.
* SourceMusic:
** Jukeboxes and radios seen throughout the various worlds play different tunes, which Mario can change by throwing his cap at them.
** A series of missions in New Donk City involve assembling a band for a festival. You'll see various musicians through the area, and they all play their respective instruments as you pass by them. As they join together in the concert hall, they'll start with a simple backing tune and end up with a lively rendition of the original ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' theme. And then they play "Jump Up, Super Star!" for the festival level, as musical accompaniment to Mario's athletics.
* SouthOfTheBorder: The Sand Kingdom, particularly the town of Tostarena, is a huge red desert populated by sombrero-wearing skeleton folk with designs straight from the Day of the Dead.
* SpaceZone: The Moon Kingdom, which has a boiling hot interior. Also, by extension, the Dark Side of the moon and the Darker Side of the moon.
* SpamAttack: While ButtonMashing with a Hammer Bro. causes them to chuck hammers at a ridiculously fast rate, shaking the Joycon continuously will cause them to chuck hammers ''even faster.''
* SpeakingSimlish: Used extensively. All of the spoken dialogue in cutscenes is accompanied by Bowser, the Broodals, and Cappy speaking gibberish, though you can make out characters' names being said. Additionally, when talking to an NPC (or even standing near ones who can't be talked to directly), their dialogue will be accompanied by a couple simlish clips. Each race has their own "set" of simlish, with a handful of lines, in a couple of voices. Mario, Peach, and Pauline are they only characters who ''don't'' speak in some form of gibberish, though they're limited to a small handful of phrases, such as Mario's usual catchphrases. There's also a single line of intelligible dialogue introducing Pauline before she sings "Jump Up, Super Star!".
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Stopping Bowser from forcing Peach to marry him is the driving goal of the entire game, and Mario dramatically bursts into the wedding chapel where the wedding is being held just as Bowser's trying to put the ring on Peach.
* SplashOfColor: Bonneton is mostly black-and-white, but has gold/yellow accents.
* SpringsSpringsEverywhere: The game features numerous objects that are far bouncier than their real-life counterparts, especially in Metro Kingdom. Examples include awnings, flowers and cars.
* StalactiteSpite: One room in Shiveria has circular shadows on the floor. Should Mario stand too long in them, a big stalactite will come down crashing on his unfortunate head.
* StandardHeroReward: Subverted in the ending. [[spoiler:Mario approaches Peach with intent to propose, only for Bowser to butt in and propose as well. Mario competes with Bowser for her hand, but Peach rejects them both and leaves in a huff.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: Like always, Peach is saved, [[spoiler:and she decides not to marry either Mario or Bowser, rejecting both of their proposals]].
* TheStinger: The credits ends with a scene of some Bonneters investigating the Moon Rock in Bonneton, which is now radiating golden energy.
* StopHittingYourself: Knucklotec is defeated by capturing one of his fists and then piloting it directly into his face.
* SuddenNameChange: The Unagis are now called Maw-Rays.
* {{Superboss}}: Collecting all 880 listed Power Moons unlocks a rematch against Bowser (specifically the Moon Kingdom fight), though this version is tougher.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: The Air meter will be turned off in Assist Mode, allowing you to stay underwater forever.
* SurpriseCreepy: This game is as fun as the other ''Mario'' games, but it has surprisingly creepy and dark areas like the Deep Woods and the completely desolated Ruined Kingdom.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** The Broodals seem to be this to the Koopalings, as they ride an airship similar to them (but with a silver rabbit head with [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]]). In addition, Hariet is the only girl in the group, just like Wendy, and Spewart bears a striking resemblance to Ludwig, between the WildHair, single sharp front tooth, and large build.
** Cookatiel bears a resemblance to [[VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker Wingo]].
** The Chincho enemies manage to be one for both [[VideoGame/CaptainToadTreasureTracker the Mud Troopers and the Mummy Mes]].
* SympathyForTheDevil: PlayedForLaughs in the ending. [[spoiler:After saving Peach, Mario proposes to her, only to be butted out of the way by Bowser as he makes his own proposal. The two of them keep shoving flowers in Peach's face until she tells them to stop and storms off. Bowser collapses to the ground crying and Mario, who is similarly sad, comforts Bowser by patting his back. The whole thing is dropped when Peach has the Odyssey take off, prompting Mario to use Bowser as a springboard to get on board.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T-U]]
* TacticalSuicideBoss:
** Two of the Broodals do this. Hariet attacks with spiked bombs either thrown by her or tethered to her hair, which Cappy can knock back into her to remove her hat. Rango leaves his head unprotected when he tosses his hat, and it so happens that the underside of the hat reveals a jump-boosting flower when hit by Cappy.
** Madame Broode's golden Chain Chomp is more threatening to herself than Mario, as he can Capture it and, when she refuses to let go of the chain, slingshot it back at her.
** Knucklotec can't be damaged normally, but his fist attacks will eventually open up an opportunity to Capture one of them and pilot it directly into his face.
** Cookatiel starts spewing Mount Volbono's signature pink lava once Lava Bubble Mario bothers her enough. As a Lava Bubble, Mario can ride that lava upwards and jump into her head at the top.
** The Ruined Dragon, from the Ruined Kingdom, will tire itself out after his massive shockwave attack, letting Mario climb onto its head and start pulling swords from it.
** [=RoboBrood=]'s body is impervious to all attacks and moves too fast to climb onto. Both of these problems are solved by it occasionally spawning Pokios and constantly dropping rolling bombs. Though they rectify this in the second meeting on top of the carrot tower on Rabbit Ridge, they're still vulnerable to the Hammer Bros also found up there.
** In both encounters with him, Bowser's undoing proves to be his insistence on throwing his own hat at Mario.
* TailSlap: One of Bowser's attacks is ''igniting'' his tail before spinning to swing it at Mario.
* TankGoodness: The Sherm, an enemy based on an M4 Sherman tank that Mario can capture, most notably to battle the Mechawiggler during its boss battle in New Donk City.
* TearsFromAStone: Knucklotec, the giant Olmec head statue boss, sheds some tears upon its defeat. And then [[YourHeadAsplode it explodes]].
* TemporaryPlatform:
** Some platforms disappear when stepped on. Examples include rusty metal in Metro Kingdom.
** Some platforms are timed and activated via hat throw, either by starting a platform challenge or throwing a hat at them directly.
* TentacledTerror: Brigadier Mollusque-Lanceur III, Dauphin of Bubblaine, is a jumbo-sized purple octopus that seized the Bubblainian Glass Palace and drank its Sparkle Water. His title, which hints at a French origin, indicates that he is of high nobility, and he, therefore, sports a very fancy appearance, with noble clothes, an epic 'stache and hair curls.
* ThankingTheViewer: The game ends with the iconic "Thank you so much for playing my game." And just like [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand Special 8-Crown]] and [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld Champion's Road]], the final stretch of the BrutalBonusLevel has level elements (in this case, spark pylon lines) that spell "THANK YOU!".
* ThatWasNotADream: [[spoiler:After the credits, it cuts to Mario sleeping in the Mushroom Kingdom, and Cappy suggests that their trip to the Moon Kingdom was all a dream. Mario then immediately wakes up, and Cappy states that it's a good thing that it wasn't]].
* ThematicSequelLogoChange: The logo contains a globe to represent the globetrotting nature of the game, and has Cappy to represent the capture mechanic.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Downplayed: "Break Free (Lead the Way)", the song that plays during the final section of the story, uses snippets of [[spoiler:Bowser's leitmotif from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', as you're controlling Bowser Captured by Mario]], but the song itself isn't just a rendition of said song.
* TooDumbToLive: While en route to Bowser's Kingdom, the Odyssey is intercepted by Bowser, with the help of the Ruined Dragon, and blasted out of the sky because Mario and Cappy just stood there and didn't think to take any evasive maneuvers.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Of all things, Mario's cap. In previous games, the most importance it's ever had is slowly draining Mario's health or decreasing his defense if he's not wearing it anymore. Thanks to Cappy, Mario can throw it like a boomerang and jump on it to reach areas usually out of his reach. [[BodySurf It can also be used to Capture other beings]], controlling them through the cap until you decide to stop.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Early trailers went out of their way to avoid spoiling the cap-themed characters and mechanics.
* TrappedInTVLand: The "Up on the Big Screen" power moon has Mario step into a warp pipe in a cinema and play a recreation of the first level of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' on the screen.
* TravelTransformation: Along with RideTheLightning: Mario can throw Cappy at a power line which will transform him into a ball of electricity and allow him to travel along the wires.
* TropicalIslandAdventure: The midway point of the game has Mario crash-landing in the Lost Kingdom, a series of tropical islands in a sea of poison, after the Odyssey is shot down by Bowser when he is defeated for the first time, and Mario exploring the islands and searching for Power Moons in order to repair it and head to the Metro Kingdom.
* TutorialLevel: The Cap Kingdom starts off as this, being a short and simple stage with few enemies, and all the time and space you need to get accustomed to the game's controls. Then, after the Odyssey is salvaged and Mario's journey begins properly, you can go back to it to find its hidden secrets.
* UndergroundLevel: The icy underground area of Sand Kingdom, where much of the terrain is slippery. The safest way to traverse them is by possessing a stack of Goombas nearby.
* UnderTheSea: The game has the underwater body of Seaside Kingdom and nearly all of Lake Kingdom. In both levels, Mario can possess Cheep Cheeps thanks to Cappy, allowing him to swim indefinitely without having to worry about oxygen.
* UniversallyBelovedLeader: Everybody in New Donk City loves Mayor Pauline. She even has her face on the local currency.
* UnskilledButStrong: [[spoiler:Mario-Captured Bowser]] can run as fast, and jump as high, as Mario, starts with double health, and he can destroy giant stone blocks, but his triple jump is nowhere near as graceful as Mario's.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V]]
* VariableMix:
** Areas where Mario goes into a 2D {{Retraux}} wall area have the music change to a retro chiptune-style; the live instruments are still there, but muffled back in the mix.
** The music in New Donk City starts out as a simple piano tune with light percussion, but as Mario finds and assembles band members, their instruments are added to the theme — the drum player adds heavier percussion, the bass player adds bass, the guitar player adds jazz guitar, and the trumpet player adds a whole brass section. When the full band is assembled, the tune becomes very lively.
** Capturing certain creatures in certain areas will add instruments into the mix. For example, Capturing a frog in the Cap Kingdom's Frog Pond adds a guiro, and Capturing a Sherm in the Steam Gardens adds various techno instruments. On a related note, travelling through powerlines with spark pylons plays an electronic sound in tune with the music currently playing. In Bowser's Kingdom, the added sound comes from a shamisen instead, following the kingdom's {{Wutai}} theme. The sound of the Rocket Flower will also stay in tune with the music of the area. Interestingly, changing the BGM using the in-game music player will cause most (but not all) of these accompaniments to change to match whatever song is playing.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The Moon Kingdom, where Bowser is planning to have his wedding with Peach. The game introduces it by, instead of playing any music or fanfare, simply showing the sound of the wedding church's bells, audible all across the surface of the area.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** Mario can bounce off characters' heads like in ''Sunshine'' and ''Galaxy,'' though unlike in those games he uses his hands to vault off of them, rather than stomping like he does with enemies.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMario64,'' Mario could drop a penguin off a cliff. In this game, he can send sheep flying into the bottomless pits by hitting their rump with Cappy. They eventually spawn back in their initial positions.
** You can make Mario wear Boxer Shorts in the Snow Kingdom and a Snow Outfit in the Sand Kingdom, among other combinations. Doing the former even nets you a Power Moon!
** You can march the entity you're "Capturing" off a cliff. Although, since their pain is pain Mario also feels, it's still not good for Mario unless he jumps back onto the stage after uncapturing them.
** You can toss Cappy into the hungry mouth of a Piranha Plant, accidentally or not. Either way, it's a viable option to stun them and leave them open for an attack.
* VideoGameFlight: Mario can Capture many flying enemies, but they're generally limited in some way. Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills stay level and explode after a short amount of time. Paragoombas and Parabones can fly forever, but their max altitude is limited depending on where they start flying from. Ty-foos can only float at their starting altitude and can't move any higher or lower. Gushens have the greatest flight potential, but they need to land on higher platforms to be able to boost farther upwards, and they have a limited water supply.
* VideoGameLives: Breaking from ''Mario'' tradition, lives are absent in this one; dying instead comes with a ten-coin penalty.
* VillainBall: Bowser undoes his own plans by taking wedding items from each kingdom by force and in a hasty way that causes further problems in each area, angering the citizens of every kingdom and ensuring that they'll do what they can to assist Mario. The first thing he takes is Tiara, which gets her brother Cappy to join Mario, who would have been stranded at the Cap Kingdom without Cappy's powers. [[CutLexLuthorACheck If he's a king, can't he just buy all the stuff he needs?]]
* VirtualPaperDoll: You can buy caps and outfits for Mario, and mix them together as you please. This has a gameplay effect, too: Mario needs specific outfits to access certain missions in each world.
* VisualPun:
** Madame Broode throws her pet Chain Chomp like a yo-yo...thus, "walking the dog".
** Mollusque-Lanceur and the Astro-Lanceurs shoot explosive shells at you. ''Sea''shells, that is.
** The postgame has [[spoiler:Peach on her personal world trip while wearing various outfits, one of which worn in the Cap Kingdom being a fancy black coat, which heavily resembles a ''princess coat''.]]
* VoicesAreNotMental: If Mario captures something with its own distinct voice, they'll keep their voice. [[spoiler:This includes Bowser and Yoshi's iconic voices.]]
* VSign: After nearly two decades of disuse (mostly due to Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto not wanting the gesture to be the only thing Mario would be known for), this classic victory pose is finally brought back for the first time since ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' as one of the three poses Mario can make when collecting a "lesser" Moon (i.e. not a Multi Moon or tied to a major objective). The other two poses (an open palm and a fist) are call backs to ''Sunshine'' and ''Galaxy''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:W-Z]]
* WakeUpCallBoss: Madame Broode may be the first boss you come across that requires you to Capture something in order to win (Chain Chompikins), but Knucklotec is the first boss that requires you to do so while under a time limit. In Knucklotec's fight, you have to get him to attack one of the ice crystals in the arena in order to give yourself the opportunity to Capture one of his hands. Afterwards, you only have about as much time as when you Capture a Bullet Bill to charge right into Knucklotec's face. Sounds easy, except Knucklotec will also start throwing ice crystals that won't hurt you but will slow you down. That means you have to boost the whole time while dodging the ice crystals, meaning that bosses from here onward won't be as easy as "Throw Cappy to win."
* WalkingShirtlessScene: One of Mario's outfits is a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. And yes, he has visible nipples.
* WallCrawl: Mechawiggler can crawl across the buildings' walls when fought in New Donk City, and Mario (while possessing a Sherm) has to shoot at its glowing weak points.
* WallJump: [[GuideDangIt Strangely]], [[spoiler:''Yoshi'', of all characters]], has gained this ability. [[spoiler:If Yoshi's tongue comes in direct contact with a wall, Yoshi can latch onto the wall like a gecko, and he does not slide off them like Mario does and can hang indefinitely until he jumps off or is forced off. If Yoshi does so between walls, he can keep licking back and forth to climb much like Mario's wall jumps.]]
* WarmUpBoss: Topper of the Broodals serves as such at the beginning of the game.
* WarpWhistle: By touching Checkpoint Flags in each level, you can use the map to quickly teleport to it once it's activated.
* WeaponizedHeadgear: One of the big gimmicks of the game is for Mario to throw his hat at enemies as a boomerang. Bowser likewise utilizes his top hat at the start of the game and in his boss fights, which you must take command of to fight against him.
* WeddingSmashers: The entire point of the story is to stop Bowser from marrying Peach. When Mario finally catches up to him in the wedding hall, the Koopa King and the princess are seen endlessly tugging on the huge wedding ring, but they both stop, and the FinalBoss fight begins shortly thereafter.
-->'''Bowser:''' Crashing the wedding, Mario? That's tacky, even for you! Also, your outfit isn't halfway fancy enough for the occasion! Not that it matters, since you [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking WEREN'T INVITED!]] So now it's time for you to make like a bouquet and get thrown out! [[PrepareToDie Get ready, Mario! Here's your happily ever after!]]
* WeirdWorldWeirdFood: The Luncheon Kingdom, which includes Mt. Volbo, is entirely based around the combination of "volcanic activity" and "food". The world is filled with giant, low-poly vegetables and giant lumps of Swiss cheese that can be chiseled like rocks. The local fork people use these ingredients to make stew, which is boiled in cauldrons heated by pink lava.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: After Bowser is stranded on the moon during the ending, we don’t learn what happened to him after that as he’s hardly mentioned and doesn’t show up in any of the 3 moon kingdoms, barring a section where you control him at the very end of [[BrutalBonusLevel The Darker Side of the Moon]], which doesn’t explain how he got there or what happened to him after.]]
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Mario can wear a replica of Peach's Wedding Dress (altered to meet his measurements) after using the Wedding Peach amiibo or after a certain moon total is reached. A game update would later also allow him to wear a replica of Hariet's dress.
* WhyWasteAWedding: [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}}. The end of the main story is set up with Mario apparently about to ask for Peach's hand, only for Bowser to butt in and cause a childish squabble between him and Mario for Peach, who outright rejects both of them for that and decides that it's best for everyone to just go home.]]
* WideOpenSandbox: This game strikes a balance between the styles of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', generally following the former. While both of those games had a few major collectibles per area, ''Odyssey'' has many more that are less-involved to collect, encouraging lots of exploration, and you can collect them in any order like ''64''[='=]s Power Stars. More in line with ''Sunshine'' are special Power Moons that can be collected to open up more of the world, and there is a storyline path for each kingdom, though unlike ''Sunshine'', it's not necessary to complete that path to make progress. World sizes range from the small size of ''64'' to the large size of ''Sunshine'', but there is no HubLevel and you access the levels in a specific order (even the two split-path choices require you to complete both branches); like ''Sunshine'' (where you had to collect a certain Shine Sprite in each world to unlock the final level), a specific amount of Power Moons need to be collected in each world to progress. There's also a way to "expand" each world; after beating the game, Moon Rocks activate in every kingdom, and breaking them will spread several more Power Moons and secret area pipes across the world.
* WingdingEyes: The Tostarenans have different-shaped glowing eyes depending on their mood, such as pink flowers when happy and yellow starbusts when hurt.
* WintryAuroralSky: While most of Shiveria is explored by aurora-less daylight, the Iceburn Circuit — the second Bound Bowl Grand Prix racetrack — is visited at night and is bathed by green and pink auroras.
* WithThisRing: The Broodals are searching the Sand Kingdom for a legendary wedding ring; one that's said to keep the bride and groom together "even if the world is turned upside-down." Ironically, the thing is so completely gigantic that Bowser has to hold it with two hands while utterly failing at putting it on Peach's hand. The most he can do with it is just use it as a bind to hold Peach and Tiara during the final boss fight.
* WolverinePublicity: Much of the marketing focuses on characters and elements of specific worlds that don't contribute much to the overall plot, but are meant to be attractive to players, such as the T-Rex in Fossil Falls, as well as Pauline and her theme song "Jump Up, Super Star!".
* {{Wutai}}: Bowser's Kingdom's design is based on a feudal Japanese castle, and there are even statues inside depicting [[Myth/JapaneseMythology Raijin and Fujin]] modeled after Bowser.
* YouAllLookFamiliar: Done with nearly all of the different [=NPCs=], as is to be expected, but it's particularly jarring with the New Donkers; despite being realistic humans hailing from easily the most heavily populated kingdom in the game, they have only around six different faces, meaning you'll start to notice them repeating ''very'' early on.
* YouCantThwartStageOne:
** The Broodals will have stolen the six items necessary for Bowser and Peach's wedding before you even set foot in each of the kingdoms they loot for the first time. In particular, they manage to get out of Seaside Kingdom before Mario even sees them, leaving Mollusque-Lanceur as the sole boss of that kingdom.
** En route to the Metro Kingdom, Mario manages to catch up to Bowser's airship and forces him into a confrontation in the Cloud Kingdom. After a boss fight, Mario is victorious... [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim until Bowser decides to just bomb him out of the sky]], dropping Cappy, the Odyssey, and Mario into the Lost Kingdom.
* YouNoTakeCandle: Knucklotec, the boss of the Sand Kingdom, speaks in broken English lacking any conjunctions or interjections.
* YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: Most buried Moons that are unearthed via ground pound do not spawn until you actually are told in-game that they are placed there. This includes the Hint Art pictures — their corresponding Moons cannot be dug up until you actually examine the art yourself.
* {{Youkai}}: Not only are Bonneters based on tsukumogami, but the Stairface Ogres found in Bowser's Kingdom are Whomps modeled directly after {{Oni}}.
* YourSizeMayVary:
** Pauline is a lot taller now, probably to emphasize that she's the same "species" as the New Donk City Residents.
** As usual, Bowser's size changes depending on the scene. He can be massive in his fights, and then only just taller than Mario in cutscenes.
** Mario seems much shorter than usual; things like Toads, Goombas, and Koopa Troopas should be smaller than he is, but they're all nearly his size or larger in this game.
* {{Zeerust}}: The UsefulNotes/{{Satellaview}} Suit {{Lampshade}}s this with its description: "This outfit represents what the future used to look like."
* ZergRush: The preferred style of Chinchos, who appear out of the ground in large quantities without end. Individually, they're as weak as a Goomba and a lot slower, but they can become quite dangerous in quantity (especially since they ''cannot'' be [[GoombaSpringboard bounced off of]], which means that stomping one Chincho can leave you wide open for adjacent Chinchos to attack).
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* BlackComedy: After defeating Cookatiel, it falls into the stew arena and gets ''cooked alive'', and the people at Mount Volbono remark that the stew is "chewier" and "stewier".

* NoOSHACompliance: New Donk City is rather tame platforming-wise for a mid-game area, but you'll still see the residents casually hanging around construction sites (some of them right over large drops) with no railing or safety gear, and to make matters even more outlandish, the city is ''always'' under construction according to the brochure. When Mario first comes to New Donk City, he'll inevitably have to do platforming on hanging girders ''while it's raining''. And this is without mentioning that some of the buildings have open-to-the-public doorways leading to places with the stranger hazards typical of Mario platformers ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext including a chase sequence with a T-Rex]]).

* NoOSHACompliance: New Donk City is rather tame platforming-wise for a mid-game area, but you'll still see the residents casually hanging around construction sites (some of them right over large drops) with no railing or safety gear. According to the brochure, the city is ''always'' under construction. And some of the buildings have open-to-the-public doorways leading to places with the strange hazards typical of Mario platformers ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext including a chase sequence with a T-Rex]]).