It is a dark and misty night. A monochrome landscape surrounds you in this eerie, hat-themed kingdom. You can see a large tower topped with a top hat in the distance. It is surrounded by the golden glow of the moon, illuminating it and the rest of the land.
You're not in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore. Welcome to Bonneton, the land of haberdashed dreams, and welcome to the start of a brand new, globe-trotting adventure.
The Cap Kingdom is the perfect introduction to Super Mario Odyssey. Following his initial bout with Bowser, Mario is left stranded in a strange land. No colorful landscapes or cheery atmosphere to be found here. The mood is mysterious, pensive even. The landscape is black and white with only occasional splashes of lights and metallic colors, the golden moon in the background serving as the main point of contrast. When you first arrive, Bonneton is wrecked from Bowser's mischief, and his minions await you in an airship - already, Mario is in danger. But this is still a Super Mario game, and there is still fun to be had. This London-esque land may be gloomy and gray, but it's also completely themed after hats. Hat people, hat lights, hat houses, a hat tower...it's silly and a little weird, a fun complement to the dreary circumstances that keeps things from getting too dark too early on. All of this is backed up by the haunting yet whimsical background music that sets the scene perfectly.
As a tutorial level, the Cap Kingdom follows an effective structure by breaking itself up into distinct segments. We start with an open area with hills, perfect for testing Mario's basic movement and how he reacts to terrain. Mario meets Cappy on the bridge before the town entrance, and then the town proper gives plenty of opportunities to test out Mario's jumping and the Cap Throw to collect coins. There's lots of nooks and crannies to enter, emphasizing the need to explore to find all of the game's secrets, but it leaves it up to the player to see them - they can also just go right to Top-Hat Tower if they wish. And once inside the tower, we get our introduction to the capture mechanic in the form of a frog capture. It's a simple capture, making your lighter and allowing for much higher jumps than normal, but it shows that these captures will change how you move and how you interact with the environment. The climax of the kingdom brings us to the top of the tower, where Bowser's newly hired minions, the Broodals, await, leading to a boss fight against Topper, putting what you've learned about jumping and using Cappy to a simple test. All this occurs while primarily letting the player...well, play the game. There's brief story segments, but with open spaces that give plenty of opportunities to play around with Mario's controls and abilities, players can take things at their own pace so that they can feel ready for the adventure ahead.
Unlike most kingdoms, you need to come back to the Cap Kingdom later on to collect Power Moons and Regional Coins, as those concepts are first introduced in the Cascade Kingdom. Going back is completely optional, but I find myself doing so as soon as I can. The Regional Coins let Mario purchase a spiffy looking suit and top hat, and the actual level design, while simple, is enjoyable to explore, especially when you can capture Winged Goombas and explore the misty abyss for more Power Moons. A fun, familiar element in a sea of new beginnings.
Next up, it's time to start the adventure for real - we're going to the Cascade Kingdom!
"Qui est Monsieur Schmitt ?" de Sébastien Thiéry avec Stéphane de Groodt, Valérie Bonneton, Alain Doutey, Chick Ortega et Steven Dagrou, Théâtre Edouard VII, mars 2022.
