You'll never see a Game Over screen in Super Mario Odyssey
No matter how many times you fail.
Super Mario Odyssey players will never see a Game Over screen, Nintendo has revealed.
Posting on the official Japanese Super Mario Odyssey Twitter page, Nintendo said players lose coins when they fail - and that's it.
マリオの体力が0になったり、奈落に落ちると、持っているコインが10枚減ってしまいます。ただし…！いくらミスしてもGAME OVERはありません。 pic.twitter.com/6oEia6LcVr
— スーパーマリオ オデッセイ (@mario_odysseyJP) July 4, 2017
I asked John Linneman, Digital Foundry reporter extraordinaire and Japan expert, to translate the tweet for Eurogamer. Here's what it says:
"Even if Mario's health drops to zero, you'll just lose 10 of your coins. No matter how many times you fail, though, there is no Game Over!"
Then, in a follow-up tweet:
"By the way, if you fail with nine coins or less, it won't be Game Over. Please enjoy exploring without worry!"
For years, Super Mario games have featured a Game Over screen, which you see after you die and have no lives left. Super Mario Odyssey ditches lives for a coins system. Super Mario Odyssey, then, offers a significantly different system clearly designed to keep players in the virtual world at all costs, and to inspire a sense of freedom in the player, not just in terms of the exploration of the open world but a willingness to try things out without the spectre of a Game Over screen ending the fun.
For more on Super Mario Odyssey, be sure to check out Tom Phillips' hands-on impressions from E3.
