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Nintendo Reveals New Mario Game And His NYC-Based Hometown, New Donk City
By
David Colon
Published Jan 13, 2017
Modified Jan 13, 2017
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By
David Colon
Published Jan 13, 2017
Modified Jan 13, 2017
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Mario, the world's most beloved Italian plumber, is back in his first game for Nintendo's new Switch system, Super Mario Odyssey. And at the risk of making every piece of news about New York City, allow me to point out the very obvious fact that Mario's hometown of "New Donk City" is clearly just NYC with the word "Donk" placed everywhere.
While there isn't much known about Super Mario Odyssey other than that it's an open-world sandbox game similar to Grand Theft Auto or Sonic Adventures, the trailer at least suggests it took some notes from official Super Mario Brothers movie and cartoon canon, and included a New York City-esque environment for Mario to run around in.
As you might remember from the extremely successful film adaptation, Mario and Luigi were DUMBO residents before they wound up magically transported to an alternate Earth run by lizards. And in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon, one episode focused on the vile King Koopa's attempt to take over the People's Playground, Coney Island:
From the looks of it, New Donk City is some kind of alternate version of New York where men and women still dress properly and wear hats when they're outdoors. Given the fact that the only cars in the city are cabs, New Donk City also clearly has some element of a dystopia where Transportation Alternatives and the Bike Lobby have seized power and banned private automobile ownership in Manhattan.
You can also see a bridge that looks exactly like the Brooklyn Bridge off to the side in a scene from the trailer when Mario takes a running leap off a building.
And sure, there are other worlds that Mario visits, as one can see in the trailer, but honestly who cares about them? Why would you even get in your magical flying houseboat thing when you could stick around and explore the greatest city in the video game world, New Donk, New Donk, the city so nice they named it twice? I guess you can find out why when Super Mario Odyssey hits stores during the holiday season this year.
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mario
new donk city
nintendo
nintendo switch
super mario odyssey
video games
David Colon
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