this post is from awhile ago but i wanna agree that there’s something very mysterious, free and open about Mario 64 and i think that’s why it continues to be so popular with people. it is my favorite Mario game of all-time (more than SMB3 even) because it evokes a very unique/uncanny feeling that’s hard to put into words. and i definitely don’t think that’s just nostalgia talking or whatever.
i was hoping to relive that feeling somewhat with Odyssey when i played it since i missed many many years of Nintendo stuff (i never owned a gamecube or wii) but it felt kind of randomly strung together. when there were mystery side worlds and other things behind the scenes it did call back to Mario 64 but those were few and far between. there are definitely good moments to Odyssey but overall it felt incoherent. i would’ve liked a more contiguous, smaller space that you could explore more deeply and extensively.
like honestly it would’ve been more interesting if Odyssey centered New Donk City as its central setting and like really went as far as it could into the weird jank of that. i was really disappointed to just find that it was a random level midway through the game given how hard they pushed that space in ads/trailers.
but yeah i found Odyssey disappointing overall.