Where will we be plumbing next? It’s a more common question than you might think.

I’ve been catching up on the Nintendo Switch library over the past few months, and as you might imagine, Super Mario Odyssey was pretty high on the list of games I’ve missed out on this generation. So far, Mario’s hat-flying journey really lives up to its name, and that’s no small bit of praise; Greek epic poetry is a high standard.

It was when I hit the world map when something clicked, though, and it led to a question that’s been bouncing around my head ever since: Odyssey is smaller in scope than my beloved Super Mario Galaxy. How does it feel so much bigger?

Well, the easy answer is Odyssey’s structure is different in that it aims for a spread of hefty, open sandboxes instead of a collection of bite-sized platforming puzzles, as seen in Galaxy. But that’s a boring answer; the better one is “Odyssey is just one planet (and a moon).”

It’s a neat change of pace. It’s funny to think back, though, to a time when Galaxy was ostensibly as big in scope as Mario could get; bouncing between orbiting platforms and launching turtles into suns. Now here we are back on the surface, our plumber’s soul is weighed down by gravity, and things seem quaint. Instead of asteroid belts and odd planetoids, Odyssey is back to sprawling, land-based levels that hearken back to good old Super Mario 64.

It’s such a dramatic shift back for the series, both structurally and environmentally, that it begs the question: how big (or small) are we going next time out? Was Galaxy the odd one out? Is the Mario of Odyssey in his natural habitat, confined to a planet? Is this sandbox structure going to stick around? Will the scale of the series continue to shrink until Mario is a mere speck in a single city, closer to Super Mario Sunshine?

It’s not out of the question. Who’s to say the series couldn’t explore the Mushroom Kingdom proper, in more depth than ever before? We got a pretty thrilling look at it in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and confining a game to a dense setting could be another nice change of scenery. I don’t necessarily want to know what horrors the sewers of the Mushroom Kingdom contain, I’m just saying it wouldn’t be the worst underwater level in the series.

But what’s the alternative? We’ve seen the cosmic phenomena of Mario’s world near and far in both Galaxy games. Can the series go much bigger than that? Well, yes, of course. Mario could do what any responsible franchise builder does, and create the Super Mario Multiverse. Now, credit for the concept goes to Captain N: The Game Master, but Super Smash Bros. has also firmly established that Nintendo properties exist within, roughly, the same reality. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, just highly, highly unlikely. But with that said, I think Mario could handle Zebes pretty well.

I will confess a lot of bias toward Super Mario Galaxy. It really brought the series to the big leagues of 3D adventure again. But in terms of scale, in my mind, smaller is better going forward, and Super Mario Odyssey is the first big step. As amusing as it might be to think of our favorite plumber bumming around the entire universe, I do think a little more focus on the Mushroom Kingdom wouldn’t go awry. No starship, no paintings, just Mario, the big city, and three hundred Toads rendered on the big screen at once. Is that too much to ask?

Which side of the fence are you on? Should Mario take on the universe, keep it simple, or is Odyssey “just right” in terms of size? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, or join the Boss Rush Discord to discuss.

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Pow Block Podcast – A Nintendo Podcast by Boss Rush

Pow Block Podcast is the Nintendo podcast for The Boss Rush Network and Boss Rush Media. Each week, Edward Varnell, Corey Dirrig, and their friends from around the internet discuss the week that was in the world of Nintendo, including news, rumors, new and upcoming games, NSO, answer listener questions, discuss their weekly snacks, and more. New episodes now release on Tuesdays for everyone. 

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