Both Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Super Mario Odyssey were great, standout titles for Switch, and both games have similar qualities and were a joy to play. Both are some of my favorite 3D platformers — but which is better? I’ve put in 7 categories: story, power-ups/abilities, levels, graphics/control, ending, new edition to series, and bonus content. Whatever game has the better account in a category gets the point, and whoever has the most after the 7 rounds is declared the winner. So without further ado, here is Kirby and the Forgotten Land vs. Super Mario Odyssey.
ROUND 1: Story
Both the story from Odyssey and Forgotten Land were interesting. For Forgotten Land, Kirby’s home, Planet Popstar gets taken over and the Waddle-Dees are taken. Now Kirby ends up in a new world and must find the Waddle-Dees. For Odyssey, the story includes Bowser taking Peach to marry her. Then you meet Cappy, who works as an extra platform and captures enemies to control. Boat stories are simple yet intriguing, but Super Mario Odyssey seems to expand the story as it goes along, while nothing of that happens in Forgotten Land. So I have to give this point to Odyssey. Kirby-0, Mario-1.
ROUND 2: Power-Ups/Abilities
The abilities in Kirby or captures in Odyssey are very different. For Kirby, he can (like usual) inhale enemies to absorb their powers. Some of the highlights to me were fire, ranger, sword, and ice. Fire allows for precise aiming of a fiery attack, ranger has you firing cannonballs for quick-shots or long-range, sword is the normal sword attack, and ice allows for skating over lava and freezing enemies. Plus, there’s only 12 and I didn’t like most others such as tornado, needle, and bomb. For Odyssey, Cappy allows for capturing enemies to gain control, and there are a lot of captures: ## to be exact. However, their powers are somewhat blan, and they aren’t much use. Some are, like the bullet bill or podoboo. But some are just dumb, such as the cactus, tree, or boulder. Plus, Kirby has the new Mouthful Mode, which easily makes it the top spot for power-ups. Kirby-1, Mario-1.
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ROUND 3: Levels
Both Kirby and Odyssey had some pretty great levels. The levels in both games include platforming, but also contain exploration. You’re supposed to explore the levels in-depth to get 100% of all the conditions. Odyssey is built with about 10-15 bigger worlds in kingdoms that are more exploration but also have platforming. Both games have similar levels, being big and exploratory, but Odyssey’s bigger, more open-world levels and their own worlds exceed Forgotten Land’s more linear level structure. So Odyssey gets the point here. Kirby-1, Odyssey-2.
ROUND 4: Graphics/Controls
Forgotten Land has a very cutesy look, with amazing animation that makes Kirby look even more adorable in 3D. He controls very nicely, with physics feeling very floaty (no pun intended). However, his mid-air flight is way shorter than most Kirby games. But it’s hardly noticeable while playing unless you’re pushing it. Odyssey’s controls are fluent and precise, especially with Cappy. Making advanced jumps is a breeze. The graphics however are beautiful including great textures and animation with much detail, but it looked better in Forgotten Land. While Odyssey’s control is better, not by much, and the graphics in Kirby are a bigger difference, so Kirby wins here. Kirby-2, Mario-2.
ROUND 5: Ending
Admittedly, both games have great endings to the main story. In Forgotten Land, you explore Lab Discovera by fighting three bosses: Leongar, a giant lion; Fecto Forgo, a weird mixture of bosses that follows you through a narrow hallway; and Fecto Elfilis, a technologically advanced lifeform powered by Elfilin. After all of this, you Mouthful a giant truck called Big-Rig and you drive through giant patches of concrete blocking the way. In Odyssey, you first do the normal Bowser battle on the Moon in which he attacks with his hat that you must use against him. After that, unlike Cloud Kingdom’s encounter, you are taken to a part of the Moon’s core in which you capture Bowser to avoid falling fire, break concrete, and later activate a(n) spark pylon and shoot off back to Earth. While both endings are epic and are great ways to end their game, Odyssey’s had a more epic fight and mixing that with an up-beat song makes Odyssey’s ending better than Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Kirby-2, Mario-3.
ROUND 6: New Edition to Series
Both Odyssey and Forgotten Land add something new and unique to their respective series. In Forgotten Land, it’s the Mouthful Mode (and I would accept that it’s now in 3D). Mouthful Mode allows Kirby to inhale bigger objects and use it to your advantage (more about it on Monday for my Mouthful Modes ranking) against enemies and to solve puzzles. Odyssey introduces Cappy, who I already explained is a joy to use. While this was a tough choice, in the end Odyssey’s new edition to the Mario series was more fun and utilized than Mouthful Mode. However, Kirby was also in 3D, a game-change for the series. So, I think Kirby’s jump into 3D was way bigger than Cappy, despite how great he was. Kirby-3, Mario-3.
ROUND 7: Bonus Content
Ooh, a tiebreaker. Last category, winner takes all. Both Odyssey and Forgotten Land had extra worlds and 100% missions to complete per level. Forgotten Land had 5 missions per level to complete in order to find all the Waddle-Dees trapped in the stage. However, there’s also the Isolated Isles levels to finish the last 50% of the game. Odyssey had tons to do after the main story. Two extra kingdoms, over a thousand moons to find per level, and thousands of purple coins to find to buy every kingdom’s souvenir. And if you’re really aiming for 100%, find coins to buy every costume. Even after 5 years, I’m still not even close to 100%, only a bit close with moons. Overall, Odyssey had more to do and what was in the bonus content was more fun (especially Darker Side). Kirby-3, Mario-4.
WINNER: Super Mario Odyssey
While it was extremely close, Odyssey does exceed Forgotten Land by a bit. While it might be one of my top 3 favorite Switch games, you can’t be Odyssey. It’s way too special. Don’t get me wrong, Forgotten Land was great. It really was. I just think that Odyssey is better by just a little bit. End score: 4-3, with Odyssey at 4.