• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Steam Gardens is my favorite SMO level-what's yours?

Deleted member 29354

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
490
As I continue to chase down my last 200 moons in Super Mario Odyssey, I fondly look back at the stages that left the biggest impression on me as I played. Cascade Kingdom was an awesome first level; there was plenty of nooks and crannies to explore right off the bat and the larger space helped hone your acrobatics and cap-throwing skills. However, my favorite Kingdom in the game has to be Wooded Kingdom's Steam Gardens level for several reasons.

1. The music. Good gosh, the music is so groovy.



2. The Moons. Some of my favorite Moons I snagged throughout the course of my adventure came from Steam Gardens. Especially those utilizing the delightfully nostalgic, white-petaled Rocket Flowers (notice the sound it makes when Mario runs is extremely similar to the full Power meter sound from SMB3). Also, I just love the Steam Gardeners chatty, robotic dialogue!



3. The actual level design itself. I love the color palette they chose for everything, and Steam Garden Moons are my favorite shade of blue. Most impressive though, is what my brother and I believe to be the real-world inspiration for the Wooded Kingdom's Steam Garden humid paradise, Gas Works Park in Seattle, WA. Nestled at the tip of the north shore of Lake Union in Seattle is a defunct gasification plant that was converted into a public park. Looking at some of the pictures below, it is easy to draw comparisons to the moss-covered rivets and pipes of Steam Garden in SMO. And it just so happens that NOA HQ is in Redmond, WA (Seattle's neighboring city). Coincidence? Perhaps, but I like to think that the developers of SMO really did take designs, landmarks, and ideas from all around this great big world of ours to help build an awesome game.
wl1pow5.png


2HKZDjl.png


0qaJzE9.png


What do you think Era members? Do you see some similarities? What are some of your favorite levels in SMO and why?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 29354

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
490
Bumping for visibility and because I'm extremely bored at work looking for a good dialogue between Era members :D
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,782
I'm at work so I can't do a whole write up, but New Donk is my favorite Kingdom for sure. There's just so much there, even if it isn't insanely complex. I just enjoy being in that level, which isn't something I can say about all the Kingdoms.
 
Injustice45

Injustice45

Member
Oct 29, 2017
357
I really like Cascade Kingdom. The music's so good! Also, finding the dinosaur there was a neat touch. My favorite level is probably the Honeylune Caves. It's a great challenge before facing Bowser again. Also has some pretty kick-ass music.
 
ghostemoji

ghostemoji

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,818
The surf rock music loops to quickly and too often. I find it grating.

I think Sand Kingdom is the high point of the game for myself personally. I stayed there until I got every moon I possibly could and was thinking that I was playing one of the best games ever, but I don't think any of the worlds that followed ever got close to that again.
 

Deleted member 2145

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
29,223
the Luncheon Kingdom

felt like the level with the most actual platforming, both in the main level and the secret areas

also being able to turn into a lava ball and swim in lava really messed with my decades of conditioning from the Super Mario games. you look out at that vast sea of lava and just file it under the "cannot interact with, please avoid" pile but it's all open for you to explore. really neat level.
 
Vivian-Pogo

Vivian-Pogo

Member
Jan 9, 2018
2,036
It's probably not a popular choice, but my favorite is the Lost Kingdom. It's small and cozy to me despite the purple poison liquid of death everywhere. I found some of the moons to be pretty clever with the exploding cap-tossing enemies. And the music reminds me of Mario Sunshine.
 
Fuchsia

Fuchsia

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,649
Vivian-Pogo said:
It's probably not a popular choice, but my favorite is the Lost Kingdom. It's small and cozy to me despite the purple poison liquid of death everywhere. I found some of the moons to be pretty clever with the exploding cap-tossing enemies. And the music reminds me of Mario Sunshine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Lost Kingdom is my favorite as well. It just oozes atmosphere. The lighting, the art design with those beautifully chunky looking trees, the inspired choice of color palette, the cozy size, the first encounter with the glider, the adorable little accordion monsters...

It's all great. This kingdom doesn't get enough love.
 
Ac30

Ac30

Member
Oct 30, 2017
14,527
London
Vivian-Pogo said:
It's probably not a popular choice, but my favorite is the Lost Kingdom. It's small and cozy to me despite the purple poison liquid of death everywhere. I found some of the moons to be pretty clever with the exploding cap-tossing enemies. And the music reminds me of Mario Sunshine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yep, they packed a shit ton of platforming into a small area. My fav as well
 
Piscus

Piscus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,768
Man, this game had some great kingdoms and some great music. My knee-jerk response is Bowser's Kingdom. The music during the second phase is so incredible!



However, I still really loved Cascade Kingdom, Lake Kingdom, Metro Kingdom, and
Moon Kingdom.

And of course, who could forget

Mushroom Kingdom.

I went nuts when I saw that warp painting!!

edit: and the Seaside Kingdom, duh doi!
 
Last edited:
Ms.Galaxy

Ms.Galaxy

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,653
New Donk is my home, I spend hours just jumping around the place for fun. I also have a soft spot for the Sand Kingdom, love the DĂ­a de los Muertos look of the village and the residents.
 
Kurtikeya

Kurtikeya

One Winged Slayer
Member
Dec 2, 2017
4,449
Fuchsia said:
Lost Kingdom is my favorite as well. It just oozes atmosphere. The lighting, the art design with those beautifully chunky looking trees, the inspired choice of color palette, the cozy size, the first encounter with the glider, the adorable little accordion monsters...

It's all great. This kingdom doesn't get enough love.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes, yes, yes. My favorite music, too.

Honorable mention goes to the
Mushroom Kingdom.
because it's just so much fun waddling around
as Yoshi.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 29354

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
490
Vivian-Pogo said:
It's probably not a popular choice, but my favorite is the Lost Kingdom. It's small and cozy to me despite the purple poison liquid of death everywhere. I found some of the moons to be pretty clever with the exploding cap-tossing enemies. And the music reminds me of Mario Sunshine.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
A sleeper kingdom for sure. I love that fife playing in the background
 

Deleted member 3017

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,653
Seaside Kingdom. Probably the single greatest 3D Mario level ever made.

I also loved the Luncheon Kingdom for many of the reasons phanphare mentioned.
 
catboy

catboy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,322
The music in this level is abhorrent, sorry.

Serving shitty compressed elevator music. It doesn't even fit with the level. Like what does this weird 60s TV show guitar riff have to do with steam gardens?
 
Phendrift

Phendrift

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,304
Probably Tostarena or NDC, but Lost Kingdom really doesn't get enough love. It's so cozy and tightly designed. It was the only kingdom I felt compelled to get all the moons I could on my first visit.
 
wholahay

wholahay

Member
Dec 18, 2017
708
Seconding New Donk City. I've been waiting for a properly urban Mario level for a long time. It's just a natural fit for platforming (see: Mirror's Edge).

As an aside, that park in Seattle looks fucking incredible. So into that vibe.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 29354

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
490
o k said:
The music in this level is abhorrent, sorry.

Serving shitty compressed elevator music. It doesn't even fit with the level. Like what does this weird 60s TV show guitar riff have to do with steam gardens?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I gotta disagree with you there. It's a deep cut and a bit of stretch, but based on my theory in the OP, the surfer guitar riffs on the early-to-mid 1960s matches up very well with the retro aesthetic of the gasification industrial setting it was borrowed heavily from. Not to mention it's comparison to a 1972 science fiction film Silent Running, which features robots that bear a resemblance to those Steam Gardeners in Odyssey and a geodesic dome setting. Odyssey devs borrowed from various forms of pop culture in the past.
 
Calamari41

Calamari41

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,099
OrbitalBeard said:
Seaside Kingdom. Probably the single greatest 3D Mario level ever made.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Absolutely. Great traversal mechanics, great variety of different things that you can do, great size, great theme, great music, it really has it all. It's one of those levels that you go into for the first time and screw around for hours before you're ready to leave.
 

Deleted member 13370

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
683
Steam Gardens is definitely up there, fantastic level in every way.
I really liked Seaside Kingdom and Bowser's Kingdom as well.

But I think my favorite is Lost Kingdom. It's such a small level but crammed with content, and absolutely no filler whatsoever.

EDIT: And of course Luncheon is incredible as well. Too many fantastic maps...
 
mute

mute

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,099
Mine is that or Luncheon Kingdom. Wasn't all that crazy about the rest of the maps.

Only thing I don't like about Steam Gardens is not being able to get to the very top. Unless I have more work to do.
 
BriGuy

BriGuy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,275
I don't know if I have one. Thinking back on the game makes me feel kind of bored and meh on everything in it.
 
No Depth

No Depth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,298
o k said:
The music in this level is abhorrent, sorry.

Serving shitty compressed elevator music. It doesn't even fit with the level. Like what does this weird 60s TV show guitar riff have to do with steam gardens?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I don't think it was abhorrent, but it was one of the few stages I purposefully muted the music or put on a different track because the surf guitar definitely didn't vibe with the level much at all. That really bothered me too.
 
Undeniablybiased

Undeniablybiased

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,535
Yeah, probably Steam Gardens. It just kept getting bigger and bigger the more you explored. Felt like it had more nooks and crannies than other levels. It also probably has my favorite implementation of shortcuts. As it seems like there's one major way to go, but of course you can platform your way out of the normal sequence. Whereas levels like new donk and seaside are more obviously open. Seaside is definitely the best water level Mario's ever had.
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,895
Hard to pick one.

I will go with Luncheon and the one you get right after beating the game.
 
Sebastopa

Sebastopa

Member
Apr 27, 2018
1,782
Tostarena and Luncheon kingdom are easily my favorite locations, fantastic desert and weird lava settings that gave me a very Mario feeling, colorful and varied with tons of interesting moons to explore.
 
Pancracio17

Pancracio17

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
18,786
New Donk is probably the best designed 3D mario level yet. Its the perfect playground.
Another favourite of mine was Bowser's Castle, it had a bunch of fun gimmicks and I really liked the japanese aesthetic.
 
Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
I thought most of the kingdoms were pretty weak. A lot of them are too small or just not that interesting to explore. Luncheon, New Donk, Bowser's, and Sand to an extent were pretty good, and Steam Gardens is good design-wise, but too much green and burnt orange to really be pleasant to run around in for me. Everything else I could take or leave. Ruined Kingdom was a nice surprise; I wish there was more to it.
 

Deleted member 24540

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,599
Luncheon had some neat things going for it and felt like the type of level I was expecting from the game beforehand. I liked the interplay between ground and lava: the fact that Mario can't touch lava but also that the capture target wasn't allowed to touch ground, and the twist of using tomato pools as lava spots after kiting them into place. The boss fight was one of the better ones as well. As a late game Kingdom it is rather disappointing though, it should be a lot closer to the first.

Cascade Kingdom is a strong opening level that I have nothing negative to say about.
 

Deleted member 176

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
37,160
Lost Kingdom for sure, Steam Garden was actually my least favorite and the point where I stopped trying to 100%
 
RecRoulette

RecRoulette

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,044
Bowser's Castle. Was absolutely blown away the first time going through it. Never seemed to get old either like New Donk City did after the festival
 
You must log in or register to reply here.