{"id":92658,"date":"2019-04-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/04\/hands_on_super_mario_odyssey_vr_-_a_non-essential_but_pleasant_return_trip"},"modified":"2019-04-27T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T11:00:00","slug":"hands-on-super-mario-odyssey-vr-a-non-essential-but-pleasant-return-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/04\/27\/hands-on-super-mario-odyssey-vr-a-non-essential-but-pleasant-return-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands On: Super Mario Odyssey VR &#8211; A Non-Essential But Pleasant Return Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4be58d809e47f\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4be58d809e47f\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<div class=\"youtube\">[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NgQVlC0n7fk?rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;showinfo=0&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;autohide=1&#038;w=900&#038;h=507]<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/04\/hands_on_legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild_vr_made_us_want_to_puke\">losing our lunch<\/a> with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild\"><strong>Breath of the Wild<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s VR mode update, we entered the Cap Kingdom in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/super_mario_odyssey\">Super Mario Odyssey<\/a><\/strong> with a sense of trepidation, as well as a slight headache. We\u2019d been excited to explore Hyrule with the Labo VR Goggles and it was disappointing to have our latent fears concerning the Switch\u2019s limited VR prowess confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Happily, then, it was most pleasant to discover that Mario\u2019s tailor-made mini-missions are <em>far<\/em> better suited to prolonged play sessions. The bite-sized nature of these trips to the Cap, Seaside and Luncheon Kingdoms means you won\u2019t be spending very long with the Goggles held to your face, but even so, you\u2019re unlikely to experience dizziness or pain in your temples either.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve downloaded the update you can access the VR levels from the main menu. Starting in the Cap Kingdom, the camera is rooted to a fixed point in the middle of the level from which you control the plumber and guide him to close-by treble clefs. Collecting the notes that appear after touching them reveals a musical instrument to deliver to one of three musicians milling around.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"Wahoo\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/808c2748af01d\/wahoo.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/808c2748af01d\/wahoo.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Wahoo\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s it. You shouldn\u2019t go in expecting much \u2013 you\u2019ll visit three kingdoms in total but the whole thing will probably take you 15 minutes, if that. However, that\u2019s 15 fresh minutes in the delightful world of Super Mario Odyssey, and compared to the migraine that is the Breath of the Wild VR update, this is a lovely little treat.<\/p>\n<p>Having the camera stuck in the same spot means Mario can move pretty far away \u2013 far enough that you\u2019ll be able to count the pixels in his cap \u2013 but fortunately hitting \u2018L\u2019 or \u2018R\u2019 zooms to give a better view of distant detail. If you lose sight of Mario at any time, clicking the right stick will snap the camera round to frame him in the centre again, otherwise an onscreen indicator points you in the right direction. Get too far away and you&#8217;ll be plucked up and delivered back to the play field. Slingshots exist which fling you to other small areas of the level and there are a handful of secreted coins to discover, but you won\u2019t be staying anywhere very long.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you don\u2019t own the requisite Labo kit to enjoy the VR, you can still play using the console\u2019s gyroscope. You might lose that feeling of immersion, but you\u2019ll gain a <em>massive<\/em> increase in resolution and it plays just fine outside of VR, too.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"Jump around\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/36ea4c0a17b60\/jump-around.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/36ea4c0a17b60\/jump-around.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Jump around\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve found the musicians in the three kingdoms it\u2019s off to the concert with you for <em>another<\/em> encore of Odyssey\u2019s signature song. We remember &#8216;Jump Up, Super Star!&#8217; bringing a tear to the eye the first time we heard it, although it doesn\u2019t quite have the same effect the 562nd time. Pauline takes centre stage, of course, and you still have control over Mario. Jumping on Pauline\u2019s head causes her to stop singing, which we found hilarious for some reason.<\/p>\n<p>Also viewable in stereoscopic 3D are the opening and closing cutscenes. Presented in \u2018Theater\u2019 mode, you can&#8217;t move your head and it feels almost identical to watching cutscenes on a 3DS. A nice extra, but hardly scintillating.<\/p>\n<p>The patented Nintendo \u2018take a break\u2019 advice screens are present and correct which is a tad irritating when the whole mode is so slight, but Super Mario\u2019s Odyssey\u2019s micro-brand of VR is very pleasant indeed, especially coming after the disappointing implementation in Zelda. It\u2019s a fluffy, throwaway thing, but cute nonetheless, and the fact that its also available <em>without<\/em> VR means there\u2019s no reason not to give it a try. We wouldn\u2019t buy Labo VR just to play this update, but the cumulative value of this and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/nintendo_labo_toy-con_04_vr_kit\"><strong>Labo VR Kit<\/strong><\/a> itself (specifically the Starter Kit + Blaster) makes Switch\u2019s VR experience worth investigating if you are at all curious. On the strength of this, we&#8217;d be up for seeing more VR novelty updates for other Nintendo games &#8211; a blaster-based on-rails update for <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/splatoon_2\">Splatoon 2<\/a><\/strong>, for example, wouldn&#8217;t go amiss.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"Hot\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4be58d809e47f\/hot.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4be58d809e47f\/hot.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Hot\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p><em>How did you find Super Mario Odyssey&#8217;s VR update? What other games could benefit from a little Labo VR seasoning? As always, let us know below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NgQVlC0n7fk?rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;showinfo=0&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;autohide=1&#038;w=900&#038;h=507] After losing our lunch with Breath of the Wild&#8216;s VR mode update, we entered the Cap Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey with a sense of trepidation, as well as a slight headache. We\u2019d been excited to explore Hyrule with the Labo VR Goggles and it was disappointing to have our latent fears concerning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}