Super Mario Odyssey / Tropes N to Z

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N

• Named After Their Planet: 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.
• Nature-Loving Robot: 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.
• Nature vs. Technology: Played With in the Wooded Kingdom. It is a forest on the outside, but a giant factory on the inside. Instead of nature and technology working against each other, the kingdom shows nature and technology working together, as the factory helps maintain the outside forest, while the plants help compliment the factory.
• Never Bareheaded:
  • 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 Easter Egg 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.
• Never My Fault: 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.
• New World Tease: 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 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.
• Night of the Living Mooks: 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.
• No Fair Cheating: Assist Mode does not save you from falling on Cappyless challenges, including on the Dark Side of the Moon.
• Non-Appearing Title: 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.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite the levels being called Kingdoms, 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 "Wonderland"), which can be either a country or a kingdom (normally "oukoku" in Japanese).).
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • 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 Tyrannosaurus rex in the trailer that revealed the Capture mechanic. Perhaps even more surprising is Mario's usual dinosaur companion 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 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 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 The Legend of Zelda, The Hobbit, or possibly even The Elder Scrolls or Dark Souls.
• No OSHA Compliance: 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 a chase sequence with a living T-Rex).
  Metro Kingdom Travel Brochure: Unaccustomed travelers should watch out for the cranes, girders, and manholes scattered everywhere.
• No Romantic Resolution: Obviously, the name of the game is to stop Bowser from forcing Peach to marry him. However, in a twist of Status Quo Is God, 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.
• No-Sell: Cappy cannot Capture entities already wearing hats. They have to be knocked off first, if they can be knocked off at all.
• Nostalgia Level:
  • 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.
  • Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom is a loose adaptation of the Super Mario 64 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 Portal Picture. 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 a 3D version of Yoshi's House from Super Mario World, with a sign replacing the message block.
  • Bubblaine has gameplay elements reminiscent of Super Mario Sunshine. 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. Sound familiar?
• Nothing Is Scarier: Surprisingly for a Super Mario game there's a case of this. The Ruined Kingdom is, well, 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...
• Notice This: Rays of light shine gold on areas hiding coins, and in a rainbow of colors on areas hiding power moons.
• No, You: The description of the red-and-white-stripe on blue-and-yellow-plaid Fashionable Outfit.
  Description: I'm not clashing, YOU'RE clashing!

O

• Object-Shaped Landmass: Some of the land masses on the globe map have shapes that reflect the kingdoms within them. For example, the Cap Kingdom is shaped like a top hat, and the Cascade Kingdom is shaped like a triceratops skull; the Mushroom Kingdom, of course, looks like a Super Mushroom.
• Octopoid Aliens: 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.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • 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.
• Ominous Cube: 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.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Bowser's final boss theme contains some pipe organ parts.
• One-Gender Race: The Lochladies are universally female.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: 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 extra-hard platforming challenge that deserves the "prepare to die" tagline as much as Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy.
• Opening the Sandbox: The game is entirely linear through the first two kingdoms. The only part of the Cap Kingdom available is a single route to Topper, and the Cascade Kingdom railroads the player in to getting the first Power Moon and fighting Madame Broode. After that, side Power Moons in the Cascade Kingdom open up, and only one is needed to move on. The player then gets the Odyssey, can backtrack to the Cap Kingdom, or progress to the Sand Kingdom. The Sand Kingdom is comparatively far more open, with several potential Power Moon options and the "story Moons" could be ignored. A set number of Moons per kingdom need to be gathered to unlock the next, but they can be from any number of locations.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: 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.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: The Lochladies of the Lake Kingdom. They all have blue skin, are excellent seamstresses, and can easily maneuver and survive on dry land. Oh, and they're exclusively female.
• Overly Long Gag: 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.
• Oxygen Meter: A return to the roots of 64 and Sunshine necessitated Mario losing his Super Not-Drowning Skills. 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). Assist Mode removes the Oxygen Meter entirely.

P

• Painting the Medium:
  • 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 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.
• Palette Swap:
  • The Musician Hat◊ and Outfit◊, added in patch 1.2.0 for purchase in the postgame, are this to the Black Fedora◊ and 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 Employee Uniform◊ is also a palette swap to both suits, though the Cap◊ is completely different.
  • The 5 unique overalls and caps (Mario's, Luigi's, Wario's, Waluigi's, and 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.
• Palmtree Panic: 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 King Mook Mollusque-Lanceur.
• Permanently Missable Content: 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.
• Photo Mode: The Snapshot Mode comes with camera controls, logo position and a variety of filters.
• Pickup Hierarchy:
  • Primary: Power Moons, Multi Moons.
  • Secondary: Regional coins. Moon Shards. Life-Up Hearts.
  • Tertiary: Coins, Hearts.
  • Extra: Costumes, Balloons (from the Luigi-specific DLC).
• Pictorial Letter Substitution: In the title logo, the O in "Mario" is replaced by a globe, referencing Mario and Cappy hopping from kingdom to kingdom in search of Princess Peach and Tiara.
• Pimped-Out Dress: 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.
• Piñata Enemy: The 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 shoot Coins as an attack.
• Planet of Hats:
  • 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 vine-like legs that can extend, allowing them to reach high places.
• Playable Epilogue: After the credits roll, a few changes happen in the game world. With Bowser defeated, NPCs 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.
• Player-Guided Missile: When Mario captures a Bullet Bill with the help of Cappy, he can take full control of it to redirect it, which becomes useful to reach distant locations.
• Plot Tunnel: 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.
• Point-and-Click Map: Despite the return to the exploration-based style of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, the game still averts Hub Levels in favor of a global map where Mario selects a kingdom to travel to. Unlike the ones from previous games, this one mainly serves a way for Mario to get between kingdoms.
• Point of No Return: Played with. After leaving the Wackyland known as the 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.
• Pop Quiz: The Sphynx appears in a few stages and asks questions about happenings in that stage.
• Portal Picture:
  • 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.
  • In the Mushroom Kingdom, you can access Super Mario 64-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.
  • Culmina Crater has, for its final challenge, a painting you can jump into, which sends you into the last leg of the dungeon as Mario Bowser.
• Power Up Mount: There are jaguar-like creatures called Jaxis that Mario can ride on in the Sand Kingdom.
• Precious Puppies: Adorable, photorealistic Shiba Inu wearing various hats appear in numerous Kingdoms. They follow Mario around :and even help dig for Power Moons.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: 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.
• Pre-Final Boss: 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.
• Premium Currency: 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.
• Projectile Pocketing: 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.
• Promoted to Playable: 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. Bowser is also playable via capture at the final level.
• Psycho for Hire: 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.
• Punny Name:
  • 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 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.
  • Bonneton 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 Capturing.

Q-R

• Quicksand Sucks: 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.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: 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.
• Racing Minigame:
  • 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.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: 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. Gnoggin elaborates here.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: 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.
• Recurring Boss: 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 Boss Rush 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 Boss Rush, 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 Mushroom Kingdom during the post-game.
• Recurring Extra: Captain Toad can be found sightseeing in almost every Kingdom. Talking to him will yield a free Power Moon.
• Red/Green Contrast: Several of the kingdoms have Power Moon colors that contrast with the overall color scheme of the area. The Sand Kingdom uses a red/green constrast, with it having green Moons that stand out against the red-orange desert sands that make up its main landscape.
• Regional Riff: 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.
• Remilitarized Zone: There are tanks and other war machines in the Wooded Kingdom.
• Remixed Level: 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 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 Super Mario Bros., and they move on a 2D plane as well.
  • You can purchase Mario's cap and clothes from Super Mario 64, 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.
• Retaliation Mode:
  • 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 Needle in a Stack of Needles 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 Goomba Stomp.
  • Whenever she takes damage, Madame Broode will get angry enough to throw her pet Chain Chomp at you. Said Chain Chomp — the only means of defeating her — will spin, deflecting Cappy and preventing Mario from 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.
• Retcon: The manual for Donkey Kong Land suggested Big Ape City as the setting of the original Donkey Kong. Super Mario Odyssey instead posits New Donk City as the location of Mario and DK's feud.^note If they're not different names for the same place, that is, considering the girders were present at Big City and New Donk is said to be "always under construction".
• Revisiting the Roots: This game revisits the roots not of Mario as a whole, but of 3D Mario, bringing back the wide open worlds of Super Mario 64 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 Super Mario Sunshine.
• Ribcage Ridge: A Triceratops skeleton crowns the peak of Fossil Falls.
• Riddling Sphinx: 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.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: Madame Broode sics Chain Chompikins, a golden Chain Chomp, on Mario, who Captures him to attack her.
• Rise to the Challenge: A couple of secret areas require you to climb a series of platforms ahead of rising lava.
• Roger Rabbit Effect:
  • The presence of realistic humans next to the bright and cartoonish Mario in New Donk City simulates the effect.
  • This trailer for the game uses it outright, with a CG Mario dancing with live action dancers in New Donk City.
• Role-Reversal Boss: 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 being harmed by their own attacks. This culminates in the finale, where the player takes control of Bowser himself, in order to escape the collapsing ruins of his hideout.
• Rolling Attack: Mario has one in this game. Unlike previous games, this time he can use it to go into a continuous roll.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake:
  • 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.
• Rule of Three: 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.
• Rump Roast: 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.
• Running Gag:
  • 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 Brutal Bonus Level for a quiz.

S

• Same Content, Different Rating: 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.
• Scenery Gorn: The Ruined Kingdom has been ravaged to pieces, and it looks absolutely stunning.
• Scenery Porn: 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 commenting on its beauty.
• Say My Name: Peach calls out for Mario at certain points in the game as usual, but in a late game cutscene, Mario actually calls out to Peach, the first time he's done so in a mainstream Mario game.
• Schizo Tech: 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 Turn of the Millennium), 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 they didn't want the city to feel anchored in any particular era.
• Secret A.I. Moves: Inverted, because some player-controlled enemies (made possible through Mario's 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 Spin Attack.
• See the Invisible: The Moe-Eye is a friendly Moai statue with special sunglasses that can be possessed by Mario. When that happens, Mario can make it put on the sunglasses and see things that are invisible, such as passageways, coins and blocks; as a tradeoff, he'll much much more slowly until he puts away the sunglasses (which makes the aforementioned elements invisible again).
• Self-Deprecation:
  • The 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 Take That! to PETA.
• Sequence Breaking:
  • 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^*though Ruined Kingdom is more because you literally can't get enough Moons without beating the boss), 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 the game never tells you about, the final leg of Culmina Crater via gaining enough altitude with Glydon to fly over the entire area. This includes the Mario Bowser segment, which cannot be skipped otherwise. Seen here.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Bowser's wedding suit◊ is pristine, sharp, and deadly. Mario can wear a similar suit, has an additional pinstriped suit, and can wear a tuxedo.
• Shell Backpack: Bowser wears a white and purple tuxedo with the back of his shell showing.
• Shifting Sand Land: 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 Easter Egg, 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.
• Shipshape Shipwreck: 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.
• Ship Tease: There's a Cat Mario and Cat Peach sprite hidden in each level. In the Moon Kingdom, they're found together, at the top of the chapel.
• Shout-Out:
  • 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 Rolling Attack, again, and this time, he can roll continuously and build momentum for it, essentially giving him the same Signature Attack as his biggest mascot rival. Donkey Kong can do a similar maneuver in the Donkey Kong Country series.
  • The Broodals share the same colors as the original Super Sentai team, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger.
  • The description for Luigi's Hat (which is unlockable in the the post-game) says that the "L" stands for "winner". Pit says the same thing in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
  • All the minigame icons at the bottom of the screen while playing them are based on Game & Watch characters, but with a cap.
  • In the postgame, a Cap Kingdom inhabitant will wonder aloud if capturing creatures 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 The Legend of Zelda games.
  • The citizens of Seaside Kingdom speak similar Simlish to the Inklings.
  • One Power Moon found in the Sand Kingdom is named Jaxi Driver.
  • A Mexican-looking Tostarenan declares that he's feeling "de... de... dehydrated."
• Single-Species Nations: 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.
• Skull for a Head: Tostarenans have heads themed on Mexican sugar skulls, with the rest of the body lacking a skeletal appearance, such as having black Rubber-Hose Limbs. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, Tostarenans are a very nice and friendly bunch of people.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: 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.
• The Smurfette Principle: Of the five Broodals, Hariet is the only girl. When adding their boss, Madame Broode, to the mix, they became Two Girls to a Team.
• Snowy Sleigh Bells: The rhythm from Shiveria's theme is provided by prominent jingle bells. Also, when in the blizzard, distant sleigh bells can be heard in the wind.
• Solid Clouds: 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. The cloud platforms (and other solid clouds) in the Mushroom World aren't made out of water vapor, but rather a type of solid material similar in behavior to real clouds.
• Sore Loser: 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.
• Sound Test: 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.
• Source Music:
  • 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 Super Mario Bros. theme. And then they play "Jump Up, Super Star!" for the festival level, as musical accompaniment to Mario's athletics.
• South of the Border: 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.
• Space Zone: 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.
• Spam Attack: While Button Mashing 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.
• Speaking Simlish: 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!".
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: 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.
• Splash of Color: Bonneton is mostly black-and-white, but has gold/yellow accents.
• Springs, Springs Everywhere: The game features numerous objects that are far bouncier than their real-life counterparts, especially in Metro Kingdom. Examples include awnings, flowers and cars.
• Stalactite Spite: 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.
• Standard Hero Reward: Subverted in the ending. 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.
• Stat Overflow: The Life-Up Hearts work similarly to Super Mario Galaxy's Life Mushrooms. When collected, they will increase Mario's HP to 6, wearing off once it drops back to 3 or less. They're uncommon in the field, but any Crazy Cap store will have them for sale.
• Status Quo Is God: Like always, Peach is saved, and she decides not to marry either Mario or Bowser, rejecting both of their proposals.
• The Stinger: The credits ends with a scene of some Bonneters investigating the Moon Rock in Bonneton, which is now radiating golden energy.
• Stop Hitting Yourself: Knucklotec is defeated by capturing one of his fists and then piloting it directly into his face.
• Sudden Name Change: 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.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: The Air meter will be turned off in Assist Mode, allowing you to stay underwater forever.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: 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.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • The Broodals seem to be this to the Koopalings, as they ride an airship similar to them (but with a silver rabbit head with 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 Wild Hair, single sharp front tooth, and large build.
  • Cookatiel bears a resemblance to Wingo.
  • The Chincho enemies manage to be one for both the Mud Troopers and the Mummy Mes.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Played for Laughs in the ending. 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.

T-U

• Tactical Suicide Boss:
  • 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.
• Tail Slap: One of Bowser's attacks is igniting his tail before spinning to swing it at Mario.
• Tank Goodness: 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.
• Tears from a Stone: Knucklotec, the giant Olmec head statue boss, sheds some tears upon its defeat. And then it explodes.
• Temporary Platform:
  • 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.
• Tentacled Terror: 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.
• Thanking the Viewer: The game ends with the iconic "Thank you so much for playing my game." And just like Special 8-Crown and Champion's Road, the final stretch of the Brutal Bonus Level has level elements (in this case, spark pylon lines) that spell "THANK YOU!".
• That Was Not a Dream: 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.
• Thematic Sequel Logo Change: The logo contains a globe to represent the globetrotting nature of the game, and has Cappy to represent the capture mechanic.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Downplayed: "Break Free (Lead the Way)", the song that plays during the final section of the story, uses snippets of Bowser's leitmotif from Super Mario 64, as you're controlling Bowser Captured by Mario, but the song itself isn't just a rendition of said song.
• Too Dumb to Live: 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.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • 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. It can also be used to Capture other beings, controlling them through the cap until you decide to stop.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Early trailers went out of their way to avoid spoiling the cap-themed characters and mechanics.
• Trapped in TV Land: 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 Super Mario Bros. on the screen.
• Travel Transformation: Along with Ride the Lightning: 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.
• Tropical Island Adventure: 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.
• Tutorial Level: 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.
• Underground Level:
  • 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.
  • The Metro Kingdom has a power plant underground that must be traversed through as part of the kingdom's main questline. It is filled with rotating platforms over poison and several poison-spewing Piranha Plants.
• Under the Sea: 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.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Everybody in New Donk City loves Mayor Pauline. She even has her face on the local currency.
• Unskilled, but Strong: 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.

V

• Variable Mix:
  • 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.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: 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.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • 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 Super Mario 64, 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.
• Video Game Flight: 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.
• Video-Game Lives: Breaking from Mario tradition, lives are absent in this one; dying instead comes with a ten-coin penalty.
• Villain Ball: 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. If he's a king, can't he just buy all the stuff he needs?
• Virtual Paper Doll: 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.
• Visual Pun:
  • 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. Seashells, that is.
  • The postgame has 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.
• Vocal Evolution: Mario's voice in Odyssey is noticeably deeper than usual and doesn't go as high, and when listening to the voice clips, it's clear that Charles Martinet has aged. Of course, Martinet has been voicing Mario for 25 years by that point, and it has been 20 years since he first lent his voice to him for a major project with the franchise in Super Mario 64. This was back when he was about 40 years old, and voicing the character for so long means that his voice changes over time. By the time Odyssey came out, Charles was 62 years old, and while his Mario voice remained consistent over the years, reaching past the age of 60 was slowly starting to affect his voice, with the deeper tone showing this change, something that would also apply to his performance in Luigi's Mansion 3 and with the alts in Mario Kart Tour a couple of years later as both Mario and Luigi. He would then stop voicing the character six years later, likely because his age was starting to make it difficult for him to keep the Mario voice for long periods of time.
• Voices Are Not Mental: If Mario captures something with its own distinct voice, they'll keep their voice. This includes Bowser and Yoshi's iconic voices.
• V-Sign: After nearly two decades of disuse (mostly due to Shigeru Miyamoto 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 Super Mario 64 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.

W-Z

• Wake-Up Call Boss: 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."
• Walking Shirtless Scene: One of Mario's outfits is a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. And yes, he has visible nipples.
• Wall Crawl: 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.
• Wall Jump: Strangely, Yoshi, of all characters, has gained this ability. 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.
• Warm-Up Boss: Topper of the Broodals serves as such at the beginning of the game.
• Warp Whistle: By touching Checkpoint Flags in each level, you can use the map to quickly teleport to it once it's activated.
• Weaponized Headgear: 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.
• Wedding Smashers: 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 Final Boss 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 WEREN'T INVITED! So now it's time for you to make like a bouquet and get thrown out! Get ready, Mario! Here's your happily ever after!
• Weird World, Weird Food: 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.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: 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 The Darker Side of the Moon, which doesn’t explain how he got there or what happened to him after.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: 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.
• Why Waste a Wedding?: Subverted. 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.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: This game strikes a balance between the styles of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, 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 Hub Level 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.
• Wingding Eyes: The Tostarenans have different-shaped glowing eyes depending on their mood, such as pink flowers when happy and yellow starbusts when hurt.
• Wintry Auroral Sky: 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.
• With This Ring: 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.
• Wolverine Publicity: 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 Raijin and Fujin modeled after Bowser.
• You All Look Familiar: 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.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One:
  • 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... until Bowser decides to just bomb him out of the sky, dropping Cappy, the Odyssey, and Mario into the Lost Kingdom.
• You Dont Look Like Yourself: Pauline has a new look (her features are softer)◊ she was promptly changed back to her Mario vs. Donkey Kong look starting in Mario Kart Tour though she has her Odyssey look in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Klepto looks like an actual vulture◊. He has his 64 appearance in Mario Tennis Aces and his design from this game in Mario Strikers: Battle League.
• You No Take Candle: Knucklotec, the boss of the Sand Kingdom, speaks in broken English lacking any conjunctions or interjections.
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: 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.
• Your Size May Vary:
  • 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 Satellaview Suit Lampshades this with its description: "This outfit represents what the future used to look like."
• Zerg Rush: 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 bounced off of, which means that stomping one Chincho can leave you wide open for adjacent Chinchos to attack).