Super Mario Odyssey’s co-op has one player be Mario’s hat

Is it really a Nintendo game if it doesn’t have local co-op?

There’s been a lot of talk about Super Mario Odyssey ever since it was showcased in a big way at E3 2017. Nintendo closed out its presentation with the upcoming title at the gaming conference on Tuesday.

Since then, gameplay videos from Nintendo Treehouse and a plethora of other gaming news outlets have given us a glimpse of some of what we can expect from this new sandbox Mario game. We say some because we’re sure Nintendo wouldn’t allow us to see all of the cool new features already.

Some things should remain a mystery until launch day.

Next: Someone modded Super Mario Odyssey hat powers into Super Mario 64

But what we have seen is already pretty incredible. The open world feel of each location and the innovative level design is just part of it. What we’ve all been most focused on is Mario’s new hat, Cappy, which he uses to take control of various items in the surrounding world.

Notably absent, however, is something that’s become a bit of a hallmark for Nintendo games: local co-op. Past Mario, Yoshi and Kirby titles, among others, all have capacities for you and your friends to play together side-by-side. So will that be possible in Super Mario Odyssey?

It turns out that local co-op will indeed be a possibility. While the only fully fleshed out character will still be Mario, player two will have the ability to control Cappy. Cappy will be able to fly around on its (his?) own, and can both protect Mario from enemies and help Mario solve puzzles, as shown a bit in this GIF.

While this may not feel like true co-op, it does open up the game to those who may not be too familiar with playing games. It doesn’t take highly honed gaming skills to navigate a sentient hat around a screen, and because of this, Super Mario Odyssey can essentially welcome gamers both new and old to its following.