Super Mario Odyssey vs. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I basically stopped gaming sometime after finishing Monkey Island 2 and only started again for Ocarina of Time & Goldeneye, and then Breath of the Wild, and now I have two dozen Switch games I barely play, while I’m still dipping into BoTW, finding new things and loving every minute. So it’s no competition for me - Mario Odyssey is one of the greatest games ever, but BoTW is one of the greatest *things* ever, a lifetime companion.

That said, a critique might be that BoTW is a better holistic experience, and Odyssey has better individual set pieces, but I guess I value the former over the latter.

Incidentally Josh I also found Odyssey really annoying at first, and the first levels are probably the worst designed. It gets better!

Going Mario here.

i voted botw. both amazing games with tons of replay value, BOTW gets the edge bc you can go in there and do nothing in particular, just ride your horse around or whatever, and chill out. SMO is never completely chill.

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the Fang and Bone

I vote both, Nintendo firing on all cylinders in these games and likely forestalling for many years their long-predicted slide into irrelevancy

Both great games. I voted for Zelda because BotW soundtrack >>> SMO soundtrack.

possibly New Donk City and Pauline's fault entirely

BoTW is one of the greatest *things* ever, a lifetime companion.

i just said this to my dog, and she answered, "even greater than Doggy Breath of the Domestic? haw hawwww"

xp the new donk city festival song is stuck in my head constantly lol

i think everyone agrees that the best odyssey song is the wooded kingdom theme

The Donk musical stage is SMO's peak for me. I mean, I'm sure the song is annoying, but I can't remember it. (In my head it's "Doop" by Doop.)

i grinned like an idiot throughout new donk city, especially that crowded subway station where you bounce on people’s heads

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If they return to the classic dungeon format, offer 8-12 dungeons instead of 120 shrines and 4 bosses, then BOTW 2 might end up being the best game ever

yes

otm and seems likely considering the teaser for it took place underground

its cool its taking place on the same map but different i bet the villagers will all be talking about the events

BOTW but in a dungeon with a hookshot

I would like to posit in a thread where people are justifiably praising New Donk City that BOTW's Hyrule Castle may be the greatest game scenario yet devised

elaborate!

do you mean the fact that the final boss and boss level is just *there* the whole time for you to attempt when you feel you're ready?

after getting the master sword and the divine beasts i laboriously climbed and glided my way to the front door of the castle, unknowingly completely bypassing the entire interior and buildup to the calamity ganon fight. it was awesome and memorable. was totally surprised when i walked in and it popped off.

but the new donk city festival is a staggeringly constructed work of art/set piece. different types of experiences, equally concentrated video game pleasure

climbing and gliding were my favorite parts of that game, you did it right.

the fact that you can just go kill the main boss in a half an hour is really cool, you play rest of the game because you want to

I tried going straight from the Great Plateau to Ganon on a recent playthrough and got my butt whooped

Oh, I just meant that the size and detail of Hyrule Castle-- which was especially "concentrated with content" compared to the rest of a rather breezy and spacious game-- felt like such a true "final level" and also a satisfying culmination of decades of versions of the place. The closest analog I can think of design-wise is the palace in Ico

New Donk City was fine, it felt like GTA in a snowglobe with Gap commercial big band accompaniment

the level itself is middle-of-the-pack for odyssey (wooded and luncheon are kings of kingdoms) but the Gap Band is on fire imo

the botw hyrule castle theme is also one of the great pieces of zelda music, i believe, and that's a rarified list

if Odyssey were soundtracked by the Gap Band it would have won my vote

i like new donk more than luncheon but agree that wooded kingdom is the best in that game

in large part because its the one that feels most like a 64 level

I really enjoyed Bowser's Kingdom in Odyssey

It is interesting to me that I have only vague recollections of Snow Kingdom and Lost Kingdom, i.e., especially compared to pretty-much everywhere in BOTW. I remember every labyrinth and beach from BOTW, the only unmemorable part of that game was that weird beachside town where it felt kinda un-adventurous.

I'm a big Galaxy 1/2 stan and idk Odyssey's levels were just so un-inventive... they felt like throwbacks to 64 but without the magic of 64

idk I definitely had a moment where I tripped over a moon on the.. moon, and said ffs these moons are basically Yugoslavian dinars

BOTW is the better complete package, but Odyssey has better individual moments. Especially when you possess Bowser in the finale and it plays that sick power-pop song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN6MwwnDmTI

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RIP Mario

mario has died

this thread is starting to feel unwelcoming and in fact even unsafe for mario and mario fans, mods

Fear not! On the third day, Mario will rise again in glory

wait, I'm a day off. ffs

you publicly predicted a resurrection but were 1 day off. everybody is focusing on how you were 1 day off. nobody congratulates you for calling the resurrection!

Oh wow yeah I forgot about the final boss fight in Odyssey, that was amazing. Prob my favourite Bowser since Yoshi's Island

the bowser escape song gives me "kids in america" vibes, not the kim wilde version but the muffs' version that was in clueless

cant wait to do things by thinking whats even possible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6qna-ZCbxA

oops worng zelda thread

Unused Mario model found in the files of Mario Superstar Baseball. The model assigns a skin texture to Mario's mustache, hair, eyebrows and shoes. pic.twitter.com/yPavMUP5gd

— Supper Mario Broth (@MarioBrothBlog) April 30, 2023

nice, lookin good