Theory – Beyond the Odyssey: Super Mario’s curious new caps

Ever since E3, Nintendo has had a Twitter account specifically dedicated to Super Mario Odyssey. Only available in Japanese, the tweets can be taken apart and pieced together thanks to Google Translate, Bing Translate (sometimes with hilarious results), logic and examining the visual media that’s included. With the game’s release less than two months away, tweets have been consistently added every day dropping pieces of information, play methods or even some downloadables.

On Tuesday, September 5th, the account’s tweet of the day was a high quality key art piece of Peach in her wedding dress. The same art was accidentally leaked days prior, due to its use on Wedding Peach’s amiibo box art — plus, the figure itself is in this same pose. Not a big deal, right?

 

ピーチ姫が着ているウェディングドレス。白を基調とした一点もののドレスで、プリンセスラインのシルエットが特徴です。う、美しい！！ pic.twitter.com/6vAb7KfULP

— スーパーマリオ オデッセイ (@mario_odysseyJP) September 5, 2017

 
Well, something finally clicked. Despite seeing Princess Peach wearing a brand new tiara for months in Super Mario Odyssey news and press kits and not questioning it, the light bulb finally turned on.

After posting the tweet in Nintendo Wire’s work chat, fellow Contributor Jared Rutledge typed out the following once I submitted the link, “Haha her tiara looks like it has Cappy eyes.”

That’s all it took for my head to get in the “let’s speculate in this sandbox” mode. Plus, me saying “Jared. You are brilliant[.] That’s not a mistake – that’s done on purpose.” (I have to give credit where credit is due.) Yesterday, three days after this all went down, Editor-in-Chief Jason Ganos noticed that the official site for Super Mario Odyssey was live and an image was changed ever so slightly in the form of magenta eyes and eyelashes being added to Peach’s tiara.

So what?

Based on what we’ve seen so far, we know that Mario and Cappy team up in the Cap Kingdom, specifically in Bonneton. Why would Cappy help Mario out at all? Character motivation is key. Yes, there are characters that will help out due to it being the right thing, or that it’s just their nature, but what does Cappy gain with helping Mario? Cappy must be on a mission of his own. What if he was searching or wanting to rescue someone, too?

Opinions towards certain clichés, tropes and conventions aside, Super Mario games usually involve Mario or the game’s main character rescuing another. Yes, most of the time it’s Mario rescuing Princess Peach. (In fact, next week will mark 32 years of this popular “plumber saves princess” plot.) So if Mario is off to rescue Princess Peach, or at the very least crash the wedding in Super Mario Odyssey, then Cappy must be doing the same — but with a slight difference.

Warning: Theory incoming!

Princess Bonette? That’s what we’re calling her for now, and if we’re right, then Nintendo Wire’s Contributor and PR Manager Ricky Berg is owed a cake for naming the princess of Bonneton. She’s the counterpart to Princess Peach here, and the idea of this crazy theory became solid with just one image. To round out the trifecta, Bowser’s hat must be its own entity and a villain in the eyes of Cap Kingdom. Thus, we have two parallel love triangles going on.

Developers have always said that hats play a big part in Super Mario Odyssey. Bosses wear them, enemies, NPCs — anytime we see someone not wearing a hat we know that they can be controlled. Yet for those who are wearing hats, there has to be a reason why. Following good game design, world building must have a set of rules in place, with sound logic. Okay, sentient hats aren’t real, but in the realm of Super Mario Odyssey they’ll have their own guidelines. For there to be a Cap Kingdom there must be citizens, and for there to be a Cappy there must be others, including a princess and a villain.

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