Hot on the heels of my editorial lambasting the need to compare any game with difficulty to Dark Souls, Nintendo has gone in the other direction by confirming Super Mario Odyssey won’t have traditional game over screens.
The company posted an update for the game on their Japanese Twitter account in which they note Mario’s traditional “lives” and 1-Up system has been replaced by a health mechanic, where Mario loses 10 coins every time he dies. These coins are also used to buy costumes in game.
Judging from how often you earn coins in a Super Mario game, you’ll never have to worry about running out of coins (unless you’re literally trying to run out). Still, this is an interesting change in mechanics because players no longer have to restart at the beginning of a level, as there’s a checkpoint system too.
Nintendo made a similar change to make another game easier by adding “smart-steering” and “auto-acceleration” to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, features that are turned on by default.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for clarification regarding the change in the mechanic, and we’ll let you know if we hear back.
Super Mario Odyssey launches for the Nintendo Switch on October 27th, worldwide. In case you missed it, you can find our exclusive, hands-on preview for the game (with video) here from this year’s E3.