Board 8 > Whiskey Nick and MSG Rank Super Mario Odyssey things! [Spoilers] #SmartWhiskey

(+) Yeah! (+)

what are we at

top 15 captures
top 5 bosses
top 7 songs

I guess I need to catch up
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15. Fire Bro

Hop hop hop hop. Wish they were used in more spots. I would love some platforming sections with these guys. We are getting to a point where I could totally play a stand alone game for each capture.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9541281/mario_odyssey_review_screen_6.jpg
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14. Moe-Eye

This dude is the epitome of cool.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mario/images/1/12/Moe-Eye_Mario.png/revision/latest?cb=20170614234109
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Whiskey_Nick posted...

18. Lava Bubble

Man am I ever glad they went with the Super Mario World style of more mobile Lava Bubble. This could have been a really dull ability, but jumping all over the place and being able to dash is great.

http://www.jtyaku.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Capture-Lava-Mario.jpg

Ive been wondering since I played the game why they scrapped the Podobo name for these guys

Or is there some canonical difference?
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Lava Bubbles (sometimes called Podoboos, Sparkies, Spark Spooks, or simply Bubbles) are living fireballs that emerge from lava. They are commonly depicted as a large fireball with two black eyes or also as only a large fireball. Lava Bubbles mainly appear in the Mario platformers but occasionally appear in several Mario sub-series, such as the Mario Party series, the Mario Kart series, and the Paper Mario series. Lava Bubbles can only be destroyed by using a Super Star, Gold Flower, Hammer Suit, Penguin Suit, or an Ice Flower.
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7. New Donk City: Daytime

Honestly, I don't actually have much to say about this one. It's just a super catchy, toe-tappin', jazzy song that I could listen to for hours. It's exactly what you'd want to hear if you grew up in a weird world full of mushroom people and circular trees, and then you spent a day wandering around the streets in bewilderment at the scope of the skyscrapers around you in a jovial, bustling city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM4R_8WjPoI
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5. The Ruined Dragon

There was no way a boss that looks this impressive was going to live up to expectations in a Mario game, but it felt like they barely tried to do anything cool with him and he was just another simple "wait then attack" boss. The rematch didn't fix the problem but it was at least a little harder.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/8/84/Lord_of_Lightning.png/revision/latest?cb=20171118170317
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13. Chargin Chuck

OMG THIS SECTION WAS THE FUN! Super Mario Football yes plz. I wish we got more chances to play as Chuck. Also I wish he had the ability to punt like in SMW.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-YM_yvxN08M/maxresdefault.jpg
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Shonen_Bat posted...

5. The Ruined Dragon

There was no way a boss that looks this impressive was going to live up to expectations in a Mario game, but it felt like they barely tried to do anything cool with him and he was just another simple "wait then attack" boss. The rematch didn't fix the problem but it was at least a little harder.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/8/84/Lord_of_Lightning.png/revision/latest?cb=20171118170317

I took it as lighthearted silly commentary on Dark Souls and video game difficulty

These tough looking enemies would be easy if you just jumped on their head! Thats how you are supposed to stop bad guys!
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Chuck too low
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6. Fossil Falls

What a beautiful song. This has to be the quintessential exploration tune of the game. To be honest, if my in-game music player got stuck on one song for the entire game, for some reason, I would want it to be this one. 1:27 to 1:56 in the video is just sublime.

The major thing that brings it down a bit for me is the one guy who suddenly wants to play Flight of the Bumblebee in the middle of the song at 0:42. I get that it's supposed to be fleeting and whimsical, but I wanna hear the gorgeous melody better, dammit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ60KLh3I18
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Recap time!

25. Mount Volbono: Town
24. Torkdrift Battle
23. Above the Clouds
22. Ruined Dragon Battle
21. Tostarena Town
20. Broodals Battle
19. Peach's Castle
18. Shiveria Town
17. Lake Lamode 2
16. Bonneton
15. Tostarena Ruins
14. Bowser Battle 2
13. Tostarena: Jaxi
12. Bubblaine
11. Bowser's Castle 2
10. Mollusque-Lanceur Battle
9. Madame Broode Battle
8. New Donk City Festival
7. New Donk City: Daytime
6. Fossil Falls

Should be fairly obvious what the top 5 is at this point, though I expect one may be somewhat of a surprise.
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5. Robobrood Battle

The base song is already an incredible boss theme by itself. You just can't help but move your head in rhythm. But when paired with the alternate version that plays when you knock him over and the flute and the chanting starts, it's absolutely top-tier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyN8XY7El64
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12. Banzai Bill

Omg pure heaven here. Just massacre everything forever. Well almost forever. Sadly not very many chances to control this wonder.

https://nintendowire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SuperMarioOdyssey-banzai_bill_mario.jpg
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11. Hammer Bro

Tossing hammers as fast as you can brings me all the joy. Better than Fire Bro in every conceivable way.


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Hammer Bro was fun until you had to pinpoint his shots to hit the cheese. It's two feet away from you, quit chuckin' em like god damn Brett Favre!
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Bump.

I'd like to finish my list in the next few days but I'm having trouble actually writing things. Will do at least one today, hopefully.
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10. Goomba

Once again I could play an entire stand alone game as a Goomba. Stacking is so fun!

https://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/articles/Super%20Mario%20Odyssey%20Goomba%20Stack.jpg
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9. T-Rex

That trailer man... when you see the T-Rex and its just like oh what game is ... MARIO!? Stomping around slaughtering everything is lots of fun. Also when it sneaks up on you in the woods, was not expecting that.

https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/4/45/SMO_Art_-_E3_Char2.png/200px-SMO_Art_-_E3_Char2.png
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8. Gushen

And here we are, the elite of the elite. All of the top 8 are truly fantastic captures. Gushen has some awesome dynamics and opens all sorts of speed and exploring. Great boss fight too! Took me a little while to realize these guys were so cool. My initial feeling was meh, how wrong I was.

https://media-mercury.cursecdn.com/attachments/thumbnails/7/120/530/530/lucubm6vavepjkusc6vjdh.jpg
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Fuck I've had these ranked from the beginning, but now that I'm at this point, I really can't decide which one goes where. The top 4 are all amazing. Can I just put 1a through 1d?
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After doing a full listen-through of all the songs left, painstakingly, I have decided that I must follow my heart and say....

4. Steam Gardens

When I first entered Iron Road, and the music started playing a huge range of emotions swelled up within me. The first 7 seconds reminded me a whole lot of Fossil Falls, which I had just come from. Then the bass comes in and I think this is really funky and I can't believe a Mario song was headed this direction. Then the real melody starts 21 seconds in, and I can't fucking believe how instantly the song had hooked me.

"Why did they have to waste the best song in the whole game a whole 3 kingdoms in?!" I asked myself six or seven kingdoms later. Little did I know that there was somehow a few songs even better to come....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFecEIv5TEw
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7. Pokio

I feel like this guy is top 3 on many lists, and sure whatever. This is a supremely fun capture. They also did lots with it. Wall climbs, poke a hole, attacking, bomb pool, WADDLE. Some of the best platforming in the game is Pokio related. I did have issues with accidentally falling off walls.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EOCkkEmV8jw/maxresdefault.jpg
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6. Uproot

Wow who the hell thought these would be so fun? I mean really when I first saw it, it's a turnip or whatever. Omg the extendo legs and jumping.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHX1I7oXUAA6Hrp.jpg
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Whoooaaa! Fossil Falls and Pokio way too low!
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Is Cheep Cheep in the top 5? Wouldn't have guessed that to be above Pokio and Uproot.

4. Mollusque-Lanceur
Chasing him down with Gushen is a fun and fitting use for the capture, the fight is hurt a little by a low variety of attacks though. His design is pretty goofy, but it certainly works well for a Mario boss. The rematch in the sky is a cool idea but not much is done with it.

https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/0/01/Mollosque-Lanceur_Artwork_SMO.jpg/250px-Mollosque-Lanceur_Artwork_SMO.jpg
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3. Honeylune Ridge: Escape

I didn't realize Mario Odyssey was a stealth Sonic Adventure game until it was too late. It's like how PT was secretly Silent Hill the whole time.

The entire sequence of events after the final boss was probably my favorite gaming moment of all of 2017. It was already incredible up until this point, then the guitar riff hits and I'm just sitting there with the biggest, dumbest smile on my face. When the vocals started, I just wanted to scream I was fangirling so hard. When the SM64 Bowser jingle dropped, I may have overloaded for a bit.

There is no song, possibly in the world, that makes me happier to just think about than this one. With Nintendo being such a stuck-in-the-mud, refuses-to-try-anything-new company, how did this song even come to exist? I actually can't believe both Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey became what they were. Judging from their track record, how did this even happen?

I haven't even gone over the lyrics of the song yet. They're so cheesy, they hurt, but in all the right ways. They're either fourth-walling game mechanics or talking about shining love and walled gardens and reaching for the goal and shaking off chains and running free. "Follow the brick path straight to my heart, and we'll grab the flag together; the fireworks are gonna start." QUIT WITH THE FEELS NINTENDO I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rFXw9C3dtw

Had to do an extended version this time, because the only shorter version I could find was the ending cinematic version with the weird interlude when flowers are being shoved into Peach's face.
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the song is called Break Free (Lead the Way)

I mean if you wanna find a not super long version.....

also it is easily my #1 song from this game and one of the best songs ever. Yeah not just video game songs, all songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l336PRGCRvA
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KICK UP THE WALL AND TAKE THE PLUNGE!
Jumping through two dimensions!
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CLIMB UP THE VINE LAND IN THE CLOUDS!
Maybe then we'll swap up for down!
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5. Cheep Cheep (Snow Kingdom)

Okay so admittedly there is very little to do with these in the Snow Kingdom but....

http://mariopartylegacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/cap35.png

4. Cheep Cheep

Heaven thy name is Cheep Cheep. I absolutely loathe swimming in 3D video games. It is always awful. Including as Mario in this game. BUT OMG CHEEP CHEEPS ARE PERFECT. Until 2017 no 3D game had ever done underwater travel properly. Cheep Cheep Racing plz.

https://tinyurl.com/ycz9cmwe
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I kinda took Cheep Cheep for granted in seaside kingdom but that level would have been way worse without it.

3. Knucklotec
The rocket fist capture is used really well here, it's just a simple and fun fight. Would have been nice for the rematch to build on it, but most of the rematches are wasted potential so oh well.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cHg5S_aZEdY/maxresdefault.jpg

The top four were hard to rank, they're all pretty good bosses.
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3. Yoshi

We need a proper Yoshi game. The gameplay with Yoshi in Odyssey is fantastic. Give him some of his Smash Bros abilities too to flesh it out. I was so happy to find this little bugger on the roof right where we left him 20 years ago.

https://orig00.deviantart.net/d03e/f/2017/300/c/8/yoshi_captured_render__super_mario_odyssey__by_nintega_dario-dbrx93t.png
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2. Tropical Wiggler

Omg I had way too much fun with these guys. The sound they make is perfect. I would do Wiggler puzzles all day and night if I could. A Wiggler bullet hell game. Wiggler was never an enemy I was super keen on or whatever, but man Odyssey really raised the bar.

https://i1.wp.com/operationrainfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Super_Mario_Odyssey_-_Screenshot_039.png
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1. Bowser

So yeah best part of the entire game, was the very end. I want a Bowser game. That's it. That's all. Give me a Bowser game, with that gameplay. Nintendo get on it. Everything about this was amazing. The best song in a Mario game EVER. The awesome scene as you become Bowser and see King Koopa and 8 bit stuff. I have always preferred Bowser to Mario, and this just verified that even more. Toss in some of his Smash Bros skills and GIGA BOWSER, and you'll have your GotY 2019.

https://media-mercury.cursecdn.com/attachments/thumbnails/7/121/530/530/mario_odyssey_bowser_capture.jpg
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2. Bowser

Bowser's hat powerup was a great addition to these fights, instead of waiting around for a weak point you just run up and get into a punching match with him. The battles are as easy and samey as usual but they're fun enough that it doesn't matter that much. And Bowser himself is awesome, like always.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5d-qx1U4MY/maxresdefault.jpg
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1. RoboBrood
Taking down this giant robot with Pokio is pretty great, fighting it with a hammer bro in the rematch is fun too. The Broodals could have brought this fight down but they aren't really involved in it, and taking them out one by one is kinda satisfying. I haven't brought up the music since that's already being ranked, but it works amazingly well for this battle and the whole thing ends up being one of the funnest parts of the game.

http://cdn3.twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/robobrood.jpg
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Shonen_Bat posted...

1. RoboBrood

Taking down this giant robot with Pokio is pretty great, fighting it with a hammer bro in the rematch is fun too. The Broodals could have brought this fight down but they aren't really involved in it, and taking them out one by one is kinda satisfying. I haven't brought up the music since that's already being ranked, but it works amazingly well for this battle and the whole thing ends up being one of the funnest parts of the game.

http://cdn3.twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/robobrood.jpg

try it captureless
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2. Mount Volbono

When I came up with the idea for the music rankings, I didn't remember this song at all. For the sake of completeness, I went through every song in the game in full to make sure my rankings were as accurate as possible. When I got to Mount Volbono, my initial thought was "Yeah, this one didn't stick out to me at all, guess I need to make sure it doesn't crack the top 25."

Oh how wrong I was. I want to know exactly how many instruments got used in this song, because there isn't a single one I would take out. I've never really been a fan of drum lines or percussion-focused tracks in general (as noted in my first post, I generally favor songs with catchy melodies), and I'm also not terribly fond of most lava-centered themes, but this one is out of this world. The rhythm is all over the place, the back-and-forth of instruments is absurd, and then the woodwinds come in and just blow you away. I can't help but whistle along. If I had to wager a guess on which song I've listened to the most from this game, I would honestly guess this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUKBUUneB9E
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1. Honeylune Ridge: Caves

Just when you thought you were out of level themes, turns out they saved the best for last. What a track. I'm a sucker for guitars and trumpets, and this song indulges exactly what I want in a song so fucking hard, I about can't stand it. Even the rhythm guitar section is stupidly good.

When you fall down that hole and this track hits, you know you're in for some serious shit. Outside of the aforementioned Bowser section, I think the Cave was easily the most fun section in the entire game. Jumping in and out of enemies, blasting through everything with the Chuck and the Bills, shooting shit up with the Sterms, you almost never got a chance to catch your breath, and it was wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBZPSjF982E
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wow so many quality lists
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