And the next Super Mario game should be... (Odyssey spoilers)

A game where you don't play as Mario. Nintendo has toyed around with the idea of making Mario's buddies playable characters before and has done quite well as a result. For the most part, however, it's been there done that. Nintendo could use a breath of fresh air after a hit like Odyssey, which I absolutely love, but basically works because it relies on the nostalgia of many earlier games in the franchise.

At the end of the main story line, as you are in the final steps of beating the game, the developers give you an opportunity to do something you first got the chance to do in the original Super Mario Kart: play as Bowser. It was a great ending to Odyssey and the scene at the end between Bowser, Mario, and Peach is...interesting. I won't go into why or how here, so you'll need to play through to see what I mean.

The next Super Mario Game should be a game where you play as Bowser. I know, I know, sacrilege! For those of you that have beaten Odyssey by this point, you'll understand how much fun it was to play as Bowser. After getting over the initial shock and excitement of taking control of Bowser, You realize you are in a bit of a time crunch and you need to book it to escape. It was amazing being able to spit those fireballs instead of worrying about dodging them for once.

I think it would be great if the premise was to have Bowser out for revenge against Mario. Of course, he's Bowser, so he needs to kidnap Peach in the castle and steal her off to his fortress. Peach would be walled up in the castle protected by a magical barrier being powered by all the stars/power moons Mario collected. In New Donk City (Odyssey), the premise of the moons as a power source is laid out pretty well, so the game could stick with that mindset. Mario and his army of Toad engineers have constructed moon-powered barriers around castles and forts on different worlds to protect them from Bowser and his Koopa troops. As an added measure of safety, Mario instructed the Toads to hide the moons all over the kingdom. In order to get to the princess, Bowser will need to cut the power to the barrier by corrupting the power moons hidden throughout the world. Keep the premise of completing tasks/challenges to get the power moons, but this time, Bowser needs to touch them, turning them black and cutting their power to the barrier. The barrier will then weaken a bit and eventually can be broken through when enough moons are corrupted.

In a nice twist, the barriers can be broken through earlier but at a cost to Bowser, essentially a similar theory to how you can beat BOTW as soon as the game starts, but it's a lot easier to get the help of the Devine Beasts first. For argument's sake, let's say there are 100 moons in a world. Bowser needs to corrupt at least 50 of them before he is strong enough to break through the barrier. In doing so, however, he is exhausted and weakened to the point where he cannot jump as high, or loses his ability to spit fire, or has a sizable chunk of his health zapped away. This would allow for more veteran and hardcore gamers the chance to take on a greater challenge in the fortresses or castles of each world. Perhaps the disadvantage to Bowser caused by breaking through the barrier early can be different in each world. Take away fire in a world were it's much easier to be able to rely on it. This would force the gamers to take longer, more challenging routes to the top of the fortress or castle to capture Peach.

For gamers like myself who like to play games to completion, corrupting all the moons in a given world could allow Bowser to steal the moon's power and use it to power his own airship. Like in Odyssey, collecting a certain number of power moons unlocks new worlds with new and more difficult challenges. In Bowser's game, his airship could be powered up to the point where it has enough energy to travel through space or time or both and return to earlier Mario Games to stop Mario in his tracks. How cool would it be to take control of Bowser in Super Mario Bros. and go through levels stomping Toads to get to take down Mario at the end?

Each world could have a fortress on it protected by someone in the Mario clan. You would need to defeat Luigi, Toad, Mario, and some of their friends to get access to the final world, where you would need to face off against stronger versions of each of them to take down Peach's barrier.

I'm sure there are other ideas and I know there are so many great ways to take a game like this, but I couldn't help but imagine this untapped idea. Please like the post if you'd like to see a Bowser game and comment if you have some ideas for or changes to the game idea I had.