In many ways, the Super Mario Bros. franchise has always been a prime candidate for supporting cooperative multiplayer. It's based around a pair of brothers, Mario and Luigi, after all. Yet surprisingly few Mario games support full co-op, especially when it comes to Mario's 3D games. Some talented fans have decided to do something about that. A newly released mod has enabled co-op play in the Nintendo Switch exclusive 3D platformer Super Mario Odyssey.
The mod's name is simply Super Mario Odyssey Online Multiplayer, developed by modder CraftyBoss. The idea is simple; It's Super Mario Odyssey with support for cooperative multiplayer. CraftyBoss didn't settle for just one co-op partner, however, or even up to four players. The mod has gone above all expectations and supports up to ten players together in Super Mario Odyssey at one time. It isn't just a co-op game now; it has the potential to be a Super Mario party game.
Before getting into potential opportunities for changing how Super Mario Odyssey works, however, CraftyBoss focused on ensuring the Super Mario Odyssey Online Multiplayer mod worked with the basic structure of the game it modded. As such, the mod supports shared Moon collection between all players. Regardless of who finds the moon, progress will be shared between the full team. Further, "nearly" every Capture in the game is shared between players, so if one person becomes a Chain Chomp, then the full team will, too.
To help players stand out from each other, CraftyBoss has also implemented a system allowing players to choose different costumes for 3D Mario. Everyone is still Mario, but they can wear their unlocked costumes as they please, and it will sync via multiplayer so that everyone can recognize each other. There's also room for new 3D models to be added in the future.
While the focus of the Super Mario Odyssey Online Multiplayer mod is to focus on playing through Super Mario Odyssey cooperatively, CraftyBoss knows this is just a foundation for future fun mods. That's why they've added support for custom game modes to be added at a later date. Some examples of custom game modes include a working hide and seek mini-game in Super Mario Odyssey with ten players, games of tag, racing, or other fun game modes for a big 3D platformer.
Needless to say, the Super Mario Odyssey Online Multiplayer mod is a very exciting creation and also technically very impressive, too. Unfortunately, since Super Mario Odyssey is a Nintendo Switch-exclusive game, figuring out how to mod the game will be out of reach for a lot of potential players. There's also the threat of Nintendo shutting the project down if it decides it's too close to something it wants to do in the future. Regardless, CraftyBoss has created something special, and Super Mario Odyssey fans will certainly appreciate the product.
Super Mario Odyssey is available now on Nintendo Switch.