Super Mario Odyssey

In Super Mario Odyssey, the first world that Mario and Cappy visit after the grey, London-esque Cap Kingdom is the lush, colourful Cascade Kingdom. This is the greater location of Fossil Falls, a prehistoric dinosaur-themed area – a wild, vibrant, grass-covered mountainside nestled in a basin surrounded by towering, roaring waterfalls. It is these waterfalls that give the kingdom its name. The most majestic of them all is the Great Falls, the region’s central landmark. There are few sights in nature as magnificent as millions of gallons of water pouring every second from between the rib bones of a giant Triceratops skeleton.

Fossil Falls is a very majestic and dynamic setting, a dramatic contrast to what the player has just seen in the Cap Kingdom. ‘Moving from a closed-off monochrome space to this vivid natural expanse gives the uplifting feeling of embarking on a great adventure,’ says art director Rikuto Yoshida, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. To give the impression of a grand adventure, Fossils Falls was designed with lots of large, impressive, exciting elements, such as a spreading blue sky, a massive waterfall, and a realistic-looking T. rex. The background, with its ring of roaring falls, appears to have been inspired by the real-life Iguazú Falls, located on the border between Argentina and Brazil in South America.

Interestingly, it is in the wilderness of South America that one can find massive mile-high plateaus called tepuis (‘house of the gods’), which are among the most uncharted places on Earth. Many rise almost vertically from the rainforest a mile below, jutting above the mist so that they are like islands in the sky. Just as oceanic islands have their own unique inhabitants, many of these tepuis host creatures found nowhere else in the world. Some are so remote and inaccessible that humans have never explored them. They really are lost worlds. In fact, they make up the Lost World – the place where Arthur Conan Doyle imagined dinosaurs still inhabited the Earth in his classic 1912 book of the same name.

The signs of the Cascade Kingdom’s early inhabitants are everywhere. In addition to giant fossils that dot the landscape, smaller fossils are embedded in rocks and stone walls, reinforcing the prehistoric vibe. But Fossil Falls is a land that time forgot, and there are still living dinosaurs here – prehistoric rulers of a bygone age – and they are a big draw for tourists. Many people willingly put themselves at considerable risk for a glimpse of the ancient ‘terrible lizards.’ T. rex, the most fearsome of all dinosaurs, can pulverise a boulder with a single blow. On the other hand, most people don’t realise how much time they spend napping.

The T. rex is a surprisingly realistic-looking creature, in contrast to the fantastical designs of most characters in the Super Mario franchise. According to Super Mario Odyssey director Kenta Motokura, the T. rex’s design (and the Cascade Kingdom in general) was partly influenced by Super Mario World, another game in which Mario encounters dinosaurs. The development team wanted to include a dinosaur not seen in a Super Mario game before, in the hope of surprising players; they therefore steered away from the more cartoonish, caricatured dinosaur designs used in Super Mario World.

There’s a blend of majestic beauty and raw power in Fossils Falls. Soft mist from the thundering waterfall drifts through the air, and sunlight glints off wet rocks. There is also a sense of isolation and grandeur; this kingdom feels ancient, rugged, and untamed, ripe for exploration. And although there are dinosaurs living here, the Cascade Kingdom feels more welcoming than threatening.

Having said that, there are enemies in this elevated landscape to be wary of, including a brand-new enemy to the Super Mario franchise: spiky, seed-like beings called Burrbos. Goombas may be the quintessential ‘basic enemy’ of the Mario games, but the developers of Super Mario Odyssey wanted a new enemy that went a step even below them. ‘We wanted players to defeat [Burrbos] with a cap, so we gave them spikes to prevent Mario from jumping on them,’ says character art lead Sho Murata. They were designed like the burrs of unpeeled chestnuts, hence the name ‘Burrbo’. They are quite cute, in my opinion – their colourful spiky bodies bunched up together resemble the traditional Japanese sugar candy konpeitō (which, interestingly, is also what the Star Bits from Super Mario Galaxy are modelled after).

The Cascade Kingdom is one of the few kingdoms in Super Mario Odyssey without a local population. However, it is strongly implied that people did live here in the past. Mario and Cappy find an old, rusted Bonneton-style structure in Fossil Falls, half-buried in the ground, and this becomes the Odyssey that Mario uses to fly between kingdoms. The ruins of other Bonneton architecture can be seen elsewhere in the kingdom. Bonneters travel often, so they may have voyaged here – and even lived here – long ago. More recently, the Bonneters have opened a Crazy Cap store in the region in the hopes of attracting business from tourists.

As you make your way around Fossil Falls, you will come across the Ancient Wall. No ordinary cliff face, the Ancient Wall was painstakingly carved out over many long years by people unknown. The wall is composed mainly of fossils, and evidence suggests it has been broken many times, causing some to theorise that something is buried inside. If you destroy the fossil-laden wall, you will see a working, fully functional ode to Mario’s early beginnings. Enter the 8-bit pipe for a brief sample of the past as 2D Mario side-scrolls his way across the flat wall.

In addition to Burrbos and a sleepy T. rex, you’ll also encounter Chain Chomps in Fossil Falls. A Chain Chomp is basically a large ball with sharp teeth chained to a block, and it will lunge at you when you go near it. It behaves a lot like a chained-up dog – and, in fact, that’s precisely what the Chain Chomp is based on. When Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario franchise, was a young boy, a dog ran up to him and tried to bite him, but the dog’s chain held it back. As a result, Chain Chomps possess some canine qualities, such as loud barking, and are commonly used as ‘guard dogs’ throughout the Mario series. It’s the perfect monster to protect your castle because it can’t run amok and cause chaos. Who chained up the Chain Chomps in Fossil Falls, however, remains unknown.

Interestingly, Miyamoto initially conceived Chain Chomps for The Legend of Zelda series, but they were put to one side to potentially be used at a later time. Before that could happen, however, a developer came across the concept art for these enemies and decided to implement them into Super Mario Bros. 3 instead. Despite this, Chain Chomps did eventually make cameos in several Zelda games, starting with A Link to the Past.

During his first visit to the Cascade Kingdom, Mario must defeat Madame Broode, who resides on top of Fossil Falls, to collect a Multi Moon. This is then used to power up the Odyssey, allowing it and its passengers, Mario and Cappy, to travel to their next destination – the vast Sand Kingdom.