The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Super Mario Odyssey feels like the culmination of every Mario game ever made. It not only improves upon the fundamentals that its predecessors established, but borrows from other Nintendo franchises to create something unique on its own. Though some may argue that the game is just a modern version of Super Mario 64, Odyssey is much more than just an update. It simultaneously breaks from tradition while remaining true to itself, utilizing the following list of games as stepping stones for doing so.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was everything the series had wanted to be up until today. Giving players freedom to roam the wide expanse of Hyrule, Breath of the Wild made sure that its open world feature was just as vital as the inclusion of any Link, Zelda, or Ganon. Adventurers were given the opportunity to uncover new artifacts, explore ancient ruins, and collect more of those seemingly infinite Korok seeds as they saw fit, bestowing upon them a genuine sense of intrepidity.
Breath of the Wild was a slick, modern entry for the Zelda series and Super Mario Odyssey works to largely the same effect. Just as how the newest Zelda entry emphasized exploration and implemented a lenient checkpoint system, Odyssey removes the concept of lives and makes losing them quite inconsequential (the player only loses 10 coins). Players are thereby encouraged to be unafraid of trying anything they can do to reach a platforming segment that’s just out of reach or another tantalizing Power Moon. Speaking of these Moons, the fact that there are 836 is very comparable to the 900 Korok seeds found in Breath of the Wild, meaning players will have to spend many hours to try and collect them all. Seeing as how some provide a steep challenge to get to, it most certainly isn’t easy.
