The culmination of Mario's journey as a platform franchise so far. Depending on the world I'm currently in, I'd tell you this is a perfect game. The cap mechanic is so fluid it feels like a perfect extension of Mario's jumping abilities and yet it's a ridiculous talking hat with eyeballs that mind-controls anything it wears. I've yet to perfect that triple jump where you jump, dive onto the hat for a second jump, and then dive again. But when I'm able to do it, it's very satisfying. I've played through this game roughly 3 times now, and this time I took it easy like the first time. The second time I tried to get as many moons as possible for the Darker Side of the Moon boss fights (which I've yet to complete after snagging over 600 moons), but going super hard on games isn't my thing. And yet this game is so accessibly designed that you can feel free to play however difficult you want at any time! Nintendo is very good at designing difficulty such that it provides both newcomers and hardcore gamers a fun time: for those who enjoy just jumping around and collecting moons, you only need to get a set amount to progress to the next level, so you should be fine encountering only the moon challenges within the effort of your immediate path and skill level; for those who want to tread off the beaten path, they can find more unique and more difficult platforming challenges. While it provides low skill floor, it also raises the skill ceiling to obtain perfection. You only need 250 moons to beat the game, if you want to play the "easy"/story mode, but you can play hard mode and get additional story challenges by obtaining 250 and/or 500 moons. You can play it exactly how you want and that's what's fun about it to me. But back to the levels, which are of course uniformly excellent. However, I still have my preferences (and I hope for even better worlds in Odyssey 2):
Cap Kingdom: A very good and small tutorial world. The music and theme of it feels Tim Burton-esque in a very fun way. You get an intro to the Hat world and learn how to mind-control (in this case, a small but high-jumping frog), and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Cascade Kingdom: A very good starting "open" world where you can finally run around and collect moons like in the rest of the game. The green grass and waterfalls make the game start to feel like the adventure it is, so it's a very good choice for a starting world. You get to see the potential of mind-control in controlling a massive dinosaur, wrecking blocks and destroying little goombas. This one also feels like a good size, with lots to do but not too much or too little. And it introduces the 2D platforming minigame, which is a delightful bit of nostalgia celebrating Mario's history.
Sand Kingdom: This is where the game starts to lose me a bit. It's unique how a desert of all places has frozen over, but it doesn't add anything unique to how the world looks beyond some ice blocks here and there. It makes sense, since once you reach a certain point it turns back into a normal desert. I appreciate good negative space like in Zelda BOTW, but this one felt a bit too big and empty to appreciate roaming around in. I like the Day of the Dead theming going on with the skeleton characters, but the desert and structures pop less in the midst of all the sand. Also, the dual-sided bit where it has two bosses wasn't my favorite this early in the game, especially when I wasn't super engaged in this level. I would've appreciated interacting with night-time Tosterena and the second boss more as post- or side-game content. And I like the concept behind the music, with the drums and flutes, but I don't love actually listening to it go on and on.
Lake Kingdom: I like the concept of this level, and it's also dual-sided with distinct underwater and land parts, but the cap mechanic feels underutilized in a water level. This theming pairs better in the Seaside Kingdom. Good pacing, however, to go from the waterfalls to desert and then back to an icy lake. A solid variety in here.
Wooded Kingdom: I like the potted plant stretchy guy mechanic and the introduction of the tank shooter mini-game. This one is also on the bigger side compared to Lake Kingdom, so again, a good mix of bigger and smaller so far (even if I didn't like how big the Sand Kingdom was). This one was bigger, but it didn't feel quite as sparse as Sand Kingdom, but perhaps that makes for a good balance in its own way, with Wooded looking overly busy with the plants, poison, robots, tanks, etc. and the Sand Kingdom looking desolate. The way you have to clean up the Poison Piranha Plant's purple goo spit is reminiscent of Sunshine in a fun way. I like how each world has some element of the story rooted in it with regard to Bowser's compulsory wedding with Peach. This world's aptly chosen flowers as its target. The only thing I don't really like about this one is the music, which sounds like something that belongs on a beach. I would expect this bouncy kind of guitar in Seaside, but not in the woods.
Cloud Kingdom: A mini-boss section with Kowser, smartly setting up the final boss. Not much else of note. It does the thing where it starts to suggest you're near the end, and then drops you in a new world--the "lowpoint of the film" sort of deal--but I never enjoy that subversion in a story. I'd rather not feel the movie's about to be over and then find out there's a whole half of it left, for the sake of my mind pacing.
Lost Kingdom: Definitely feels the most bizarre color-wise, so that theming supports the feeling of being "lost" in a nonsensical place. The caterpillars are mildly fun. A bird steals the hat, but it's not taken away long enough to feel like a real challenge or a really unique section of the game. I appreciate the idea, at least. This one's smaller again, and the marimba(?) music suits the exotic jungle feel.
Metro Kingdom: This one seemed like such a bizarre and kind of wrong choice to me leading up to the release of this game, and I was so wrong. This is the best level. Well, after the weird opening centipede fight and the city opens up, that is. It's the densest and the most joyous section of the game. It ends with the most triumphant celebration of Mario that honestly, everything after pales in comparison. There are some good bits after this but since this feels like the climax of the game, the rest feels like an extended epilogue. The density of the city allows you to experiment with the verticality of the hat jump trick in a way that few other levels do. And there are plenty of fun mini games like the rope jump and little avenues of the city to explore. The Pièce de Résistance.
Snow Kingdom: A two-part level with some more low-key moments. Pales in comparison to Metro, but so does everything else. The Shiveria race mini-game is fun, as are the small 4 or so individual areas in which you platform to a moon, but the snow overworld is rather plain. Not much of interest there for me. The blowing clouds were more a nuisance than a fun mechanic.
Seaside Kingdom: The music is very relaxed and beachy in a fun way. I like the volleyball mini-game and the squid squirting mechanic. This one's a bit large for what you can do, and I tend not to like the water levels as much, but the vibe was nice. I found using those gushens (the squid things) to fight the boss kind of awkward. An okay one, but again, why are we still here? Metro Kingdom was an amazing finale.
Luncheon Kingdom: A stranger world shifting away from a nature-based theme to food, but I dig how there are cheese blocks and jelly beans everywhere. It feels like more add-on content than a worthy continuation after Metro and Seaside, and the boss was also a little awkward for me. I didn't much care for swimming around in this world either. It was rather sizable but not in a way that invited further exploration.
Ruined Kingdom: A cool Dark Souls-esque theme for a mini-boss. Don't love the mini boss but it has more of a bullet hell kind of platforming challenge.
Bowser's Kingdom: A series of mini-bosses with a sprawling map and an intense war theme. I like the stabby bird mechanic. I can be occasionally clumsy with 3D platforming controls so I appreciate how forgiving this game is when you die (in comparison to Sunshine where you lose all of your coins, this one just takes a measly 10 of your ostensible thousand at this point in the game). Still, when it's focused on the bosses I'm not really having fun, because the gameplay is basically figure out the moves of the boss and then repeat an attack for 3 or 4 times. My lack of interest in this section and limited understanding of Dark Souls makes me think I probably wouldn't like that style of gameplay.
Moon Kingdom: I really like space themes, so I dug Mario Galaxy and I dug this. It's a bit sparse like a moon would be, but this world is a little more focused on the roaming platforming before the Final Final boss than its predecessor is.
Mushroom Kingdom: A perfect way to end the game and send the player into post-game content should they choose to indulge. And the moons are stars! Yes, it's admittedly a nostalgia blast with 64 but it's a lot of fun to roam around the castle of 64 with Odyssey's butter-smooth controls. And Yoshi's there! The ending left me happy, but I started to get a little impatient with the game design after Metro.
Cap Kingdom: A very good and small tutorial world. The music and theme of it feels Tim Burton-esque in a very fun way. You get an intro to the Hat world and learn how to mind-control (in this case, a small but high-jumping frog), and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Cascade Kingdom: A very good starting "open" world where you can finally run around and collect moons like in the rest of the game. The green grass and waterfalls make the game start to feel like the adventure it is, so it's a very good choice for a starting world. You get to see the potential of mind-control in controlling a massive dinosaur, wrecking blocks and destroying little goombas. This one also feels like a good size, with lots to do but not too much or too little. And it introduces the 2D platforming minigame, which is a delightful bit of nostalgia celebrating Mario's history.
Sand Kingdom: This is where the game starts to lose me a bit. It's unique how a desert of all places has frozen over, but it doesn't add anything unique to how the world looks beyond some ice blocks here and there. It makes sense, since once you reach a certain point it turns back into a normal desert. I appreciate good negative space like in Zelda BOTW, but this one felt a bit too big and empty to appreciate roaming around in. I like the Day of the Dead theming going on with the skeleton characters, but the desert and structures pop less in the midst of all the sand. Also, the dual-sided bit where it has two bosses wasn't my favorite this early in the game, especially when I wasn't super engaged in this level. I would've appreciated interacting with night-time Tosterena and the second boss more as post- or side-game content. And I like the concept behind the music, with the drums and flutes, but I don't love actually listening to it go on and on.
Lake Kingdom: I like the concept of this level, and it's also dual-sided with distinct underwater and land parts, but the cap mechanic feels underutilized in a water level. This theming pairs better in the Seaside Kingdom. Good pacing, however, to go from the waterfalls to desert and then back to an icy lake. A solid variety in here.
Wooded Kingdom: I like the potted plant stretchy guy mechanic and the introduction of the tank shooter mini-game. This one is also on the bigger side compared to Lake Kingdom, so again, a good mix of bigger and smaller so far (even if I didn't like how big the Sand Kingdom was). This one was bigger, but it didn't feel quite as sparse as Sand Kingdom, but perhaps that makes for a good balance in its own way, with Wooded looking overly busy with the plants, poison, robots, tanks, etc. and the Sand Kingdom looking desolate. The way you have to clean up the Poison Piranha Plant's purple goo spit is reminiscent of Sunshine in a fun way. I like how each world has some element of the story rooted in it with regard to Bowser's compulsory wedding with Peach. This world's aptly chosen flowers as its target. The only thing I don't really like about this one is the music, which sounds like something that belongs on a beach. I would expect this bouncy kind of guitar in Seaside, but not in the woods.
Cloud Kingdom: A mini-boss section with Kowser, smartly setting up the final boss. Not much else of note. It does the thing where it starts to suggest you're near the end, and then drops you in a new world--the "lowpoint of the film" sort of deal--but I never enjoy that subversion in a story. I'd rather not feel the movie's about to be over and then find out there's a whole half of it left, for the sake of my mind pacing.
Lost Kingdom: Definitely feels the most bizarre color-wise, so that theming supports the feeling of being "lost" in a nonsensical place. The caterpillars are mildly fun. A bird steals the hat, but it's not taken away long enough to feel like a real challenge or a really unique section of the game. I appreciate the idea, at least. This one's smaller again, and the marimba(?) music suits the exotic jungle feel.
Metro Kingdom: This one seemed like such a bizarre and kind of wrong choice to me leading up to the release of this game, and I was so wrong. This is the best level. Well, after the weird opening centipede fight and the city opens up, that is. It's the densest and the most joyous section of the game. It ends with the most triumphant celebration of Mario that honestly, everything after pales in comparison. There are some good bits after this but since this feels like the climax of the game, the rest feels like an extended epilogue. The density of the city allows you to experiment with the verticality of the hat jump trick in a way that few other levels do. And there are plenty of fun mini games like the rope jump and little avenues of the city to explore. The Pièce de Résistance.
Snow Kingdom: A two-part level with some more low-key moments. Pales in comparison to Metro, but so does everything else. The Shiveria race mini-game is fun, as are the small 4 or so individual areas in which you platform to a moon, but the snow overworld is rather plain. Not much of interest there for me. The blowing clouds were more a nuisance than a fun mechanic.
Seaside Kingdom: The music is very relaxed and beachy in a fun way. I like the volleyball mini-game and the squid squirting mechanic. This one's a bit large for what you can do, and I tend not to like the water levels as much, but the vibe was nice. I found using those gushens (the squid things) to fight the boss kind of awkward. An okay one, but again, why are we still here? Metro Kingdom was an amazing finale.
Luncheon Kingdom: A stranger world shifting away from a nature-based theme to food, but I dig how there are cheese blocks and jelly beans everywhere. It feels like more add-on content than a worthy continuation after Metro and Seaside, and the boss was also a little awkward for me. I didn't much care for swimming around in this world either. It was rather sizable but not in a way that invited further exploration.
Ruined Kingdom: A cool Dark Souls-esque theme for a mini-boss. Don't love the mini boss but it has more of a bullet hell kind of platforming challenge.
Bowser's Kingdom: A series of mini-bosses with a sprawling map and an intense war theme. I like the stabby bird mechanic. I can be occasionally clumsy with 3D platforming controls so I appreciate how forgiving this game is when you die (in comparison to Sunshine where you lose all of your coins, this one just takes a measly 10 of your ostensible thousand at this point in the game). Still, when it's focused on the bosses I'm not really having fun, because the gameplay is basically figure out the moves of the boss and then repeat an attack for 3 or 4 times. My lack of interest in this section and limited understanding of Dark Souls makes me think I probably wouldn't like that style of gameplay.
Moon Kingdom: I really like space themes, so I dug Mario Galaxy and I dug this. It's a bit sparse like a moon would be, but this world is a little more focused on the roaming platforming before the Final Final boss than its predecessor is.
Mushroom Kingdom: A perfect way to end the game and send the player into post-game content should they choose to indulge. And the moons are stars! Yes, it's admittedly a nostalgia blast with 64 but it's a lot of fun to roam around the castle of 64 with Odyssey's butter-smooth controls. And Yoshi's there! The ending left me happy, but I started to get a little impatient with the game design after Metro.