LogFAQs > #948041809

It depends entirely on what you're looking for.

Sunshine is a lot more focused than 64. Levels are a lot more limited in ways you can break them, missions tend to change the layout of levels, and everything revolves around Mario's jetpack. FLUDD generally lets you make more mistakes and course correct easier due to his hover feature. But there are also utterly baffling design decisions, mostly centered around certain missions that you don't have to do to beat the game, but are just strange, unfun, obtuse, and some near requiring a guide in order to get 100% ( "spray this unmarked empty doorway for a blue coin" comes to mind). There's a lot you can do with FLUDD, and if you're someone who likes just jumping around worlds for the feel of it, Sunshine's really good at that, but it's a very specialized game.

Galaxy strips even more away. Levels are often linear shots through interesting geometry with one or two deviations along the way. You'll rarely visit a specific environment or set piece more than twice for any reasonable amount of time. Most of Mario's mobility options other than the long jump and triple jump are stripped away completely. In their place are super tight levels filled with platforming, variety, and constantly trying to one-up its own concepts. Galaxy plays probably the most like a 2D Mario game out of all the 3D games outside of... well, 3D Land/World. That said, I'd pick it up for Wii if possible, as I don't think it's worth picking up the whole 3D Collection just for Galaxy. The game has some Wii-specific gimmicks that are... okay, I guess? And when translated to the Switch's gyro they're... slightly less okay but somewhat serviceable?

Odyssey is a really fun time. Does a good mix of the concepts of 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy - huge worlds with tons of stuff to discover, but each one both having an overarching mission that opens up new content as you go along and with side areas for more condensed challenges. Mario controls fantastically with potentially his widest range of movement options, and presentation is top-notch from start to finish. However, it does run the risk of devaluing accomplishments by having so many little moons. It tends to have the least "staying power" of all the Mario games, I've found - fantastic and fun in the moment, but you do so many little things that only a few big accomplishments stand out per world. Not necessarily a problem for everyone, but something to note, especially if you go completionist with it.

tl;dr, A Hat In Time's cheaper than all of these and within the same conversation, so get that.

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