SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY.

• Author: Soave, Robby
• Position: VIDEO GAME - Brief article - Product/service evaluation

Super Mario Bros. 3--released 28 years ago on the Nintendo Entertainment System--was the first Mario game to envision the eponymous plumber as a globe-trotting explorer. No longer confined to the generic and sparsely populated hills of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario was thrust into a world of vast deserts, lush forests, and snow-covered mountains.

Subsequent games have continued to flesh out Mario's world, making it even more pleasantly weird. But Super Mario Odyssey, released in late 2017 for the Nintendo Switch game system, takes the cake, literally--there's actually a cake chase. Each new destination contains not just an original setting but an entire culture. The desert world, for instance, is filled with sombrero-wearing skeleton creatures inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, and its pyramid-esque dungeon is equal parts Egyptian tomb, Aztec temple, and classic Mario level.

Best of all, the locals...