8 Tiny Gameplay Tweaks That Changed EVERYTHING

7. The Cap Jump - Mario Odyssey

the last of us combat
Nintendo

When it comes to reinvention, Mario truly is the master.

As Sonic looks up from the dumpster he calls his home, surrounded by pictures of human women he's kissed, werehog fur clumps, and that time he became a knight of Arthurian legend, all he can do is try and shield his eyes from the bight wonder that is Marios ever-shifting form.

With meticulous level designs, a phenomenal first 3d outing and constant shifts in gameplay, Mario has rarely ever settled into a groove, but still managed to smash out enough content for a Greatest Hits collection.

For you see, Mario isn't about gimmicks for the sake of them, it's all about how to approach the concept of the movement itself. Galaxy messed with our minds as we tried to figure out how to use gravity and the rotation of objects to our benefit, the FLUDD from Sunshine gave us what was in effect a jetpack to play around with, and in Odyssey, it was like pandora's box being opened.

Yet of all the tweaks and changes, it was the most simple move in Odyssey that broke the mold the most, the Cap Jump, which allowed Mario to use Cappy as a platform to launch him off further into the unknown.

When placed in the hands of pros, this one move opened up the world in ways never seen before, as now Mario could jump higher and leap further, and the best part of it all? It's that Nintendo rewarded you for doing so. This was freedom aking to Spider-Mans web-slinging, and it was so utterly simple it's a wonder the mechanic wasn't introduced much sooner.

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Contributor

Jules Gill hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.