10 Things You Didn't Know About Super Mario Odyssey
5. The Luncheon Kingdom Is Supposed To Be ...Italy?
Bit of a weird one, this.
While a number of Odyssey's Kingdoms revisit environments familiar to anyone who has delved into Mario's past -- there's a desert, a beach, a certain iconic castle -- Luncheon Kingdom stands out in that it's a bit... strange.
The bright location abounds with randomly placed tomatoes, giant cobs of corn stewing in molten lava made of soup, and quirky characters which are nothing more than forks dressed in chef's hats. Right.
Even odder still, there are buildings scattered all over the place which are more than a little reminiscent of Ancient Roman villas and palaces, held up by iconic columns from the classical world.
According to an interview conducted at Gamescom 2017, the Kingdom was inspired by Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi's love for trying new foods while travelling. The whole of Odyssey is themed around travel, of course, but Koizumi noted that Luncheon Kingdom attempted to capture the aesthetics of Europe, especially Italy.
Makes sense, given that the plumber himself was named after the Italian-American landlord of Nintendo of America's office.