Super Mario Odyssey

Chaining radial menus with the bumpers keeps many items in reach. Odyssey links several radial menus, switched with the bumpers, which Mark Brown points to as a way a radial design could keep every echo available in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Mario plays differently with and without the hat. Having or lacking the hat changes how Mario plays, giving two distinct modes to move between.

Mark Brown used this as the model for his own game Mind Over Magnet, where the character is nimble and jumps high without the magnet and slow and leaden with it. "I really like games where you move back and forth between two distinct types of gameplay."

Odyssey gives several distinct jumps that chain into longer routes. Mario has tall, long, fast and last-minute-save jumps, and jump, dive and hat throw link together to bound across the New Donk City rooftops.

Mark Brown counts chaining as one of six building blocks of fun movement, alongside environment, timing, momentum, trajectories and physics. "It's about knowing which move to use, and when."

Generous mid-air steering lets the player shape the path. Mario's mid-air control is an example of analogue input: the player steers the arc instead of triggering a fixed animation.

It sits alongside Titanfall 2's steerable grapple, Ori's bash in any direction and Rocket League's granular physics, contrasted with Zelda's hookshot that follows one fixed path.

Odyssey is the first major Mario game without lives. Lives had come to mean almost nothing, and removing them lets difficulty come from the level design rather than the penalty of restarting.

Most indie platformers had already dropped lives, an approach argued for by Super Meat Boy's Edmund McMillen.

A signature tool with many uses never gets put away. Cappy is cited with Prey's Gloo cannon and Kratos' Leviathan Axe as a tool that solves so many kinds of problems the player always keeps it ready.

Assist Mode draws blue arrows on the floor toward the next goal. The optional navigation aid points players to the next part of the game, helping those who struggle to know where to go.

It is offered as an example of toggleable aids, like Red Dead Redemption 2's GPS line, for players with cognitive disabilities.

Demanding movement is what makes success feel rewarding. Odyssey asks players to read the level, chain actions and move precisely to reach the right spot, so getting it right feels earned.

Brown contrasts it with Spider-Man's web-swinging, which looks and sounds right but asks so little that it satisfies less. "And because it's quite tough, it's immensely rewarding when you get it right."

Simple jumps finish the game; advanced moves unlock the extras. Basic jumps are enough to complete Odyssey, while advanced manoeuvres find secret coin stashes, skip parts of levels and win golden Koopa races.

Newcomers get the fantasy right away and skilled players get depth, the same split Spider-Man uses by putting its hard swinging in optional time challenges.

Odyssey called its easier setting Assist Mode, not cheat or easy mode. The name frames it as help for players who need it rather than a judgement, and in Odyssey it let a four year old finish the game.

Celeste's team had considered "cheat mode" but found it judgemental; seeing Odyssey ship a mode with the same name soon after confirmed their choice.

Super Mario 3D World layers stars and stamps over easy completion. Finishing a level is easy, but collecting every star and stamp takes a keen eye and good control, so players choose how deeply to engage.

Metal Gear Solid V does the same with S ranks on top of sloppy, helicopter-assisted play.