‘Mario’ and ‘Zelda’ are both fantastic, but one of them is slightly better
Even if it’s based highly on personal preference, I’ve made my decision *Spoiler-free*
This spring and summer, I sunk countless hours into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s a fantastic game, as many have said, but it also was only roughly half of Nintendo’s plan to release titles from two enormously-popular franchises to support the Switch. Super Mario Odyssey released on October 27, and immediately launched to roughly the same level of critical and commercial success as Zelda.
Zelda and Mario each have a score of 97 on Metacritic, a number that places both at the top of the list for video games released in 2017. It’s impressive that Nintendo decided to release games from its two biggest franchises in the same year, a decision that speaks to the company’s dedication to making the Switch a success after the failed Wii U. It’s also impressive that these two iconic series have managed to rake in such exceptionally high scores. They’re technically sequels, but this year’s Mario and Zelda both feel “new” in nearly every sense of the word.
My opinion of these games is that they are both phenomenal, and I have enjoyed nearly ever second I have spent with both of them. My hours clocked with Zelda are far greater than those with Mario, but I attribute this to the former’s earlier release rather than anything else. However, I do think that Zelda is slightly better than Mario. Both games are great, and anyone who says that comparing them is somewhat unnecessary has a valid argument. Ultimately, my choice here probably says more about my personal preference than these to games. From world, to gameplay, to player freedom though, I found Zelda to be a slightly more enjoyable experience.
World: Hyrule vs. Kingdoms
Although Zelda is famously open-ended and free, every player has the same breath-taking experience of running out into the world of Hyrule for the first time. It’s at this moment that the scope and beauty of the world become truly apparent, and the desire to explore every single inch of it takes off. Zelda is built around this feeling of excitement and discovery, and the game that follows these first few moments fulfills the lofty promise it makes when Link emerges out of the cave. Many games show off enormous set pieces that turn out to be standard and boring. In Zelda, it often seems like every moment of discovery is better than the last.
Mario’s incredible kingdoms are both similar and different to Hyrule. The kingdoms are all much smaller than Link’s home world, but the sheer number of these places, and the density of things to do while visiting them, makes up for the size discrepancy to a large extent. As players run and jump their way through the story with Mario, they experience much of the same joy that came from climbing mountains and riding horses with Link. The kingdoms are a beautiful mix of color, design, and unique gameplay options. For Mario, they’re nearly perfect.
I love my time spent in every kingdom with Mario, but I have to give the nod to Hyrule here because of its sheer breadth and character. The different sections of the map are meaningfully distinct from one another both visually and tactically, and having them all form part of one whole sets the experience slightly above the different kingdoms. This is almost certainly preference speaking, but I prefer the sense of continuity that I got with Zelda.
Gameplay: jumping, capturing, and gliding
The central new gameplay mechanic in Mario is the capture motion. Mario can throw his hat at nearly any NPC on screen to “capture” this individual and gain new skills. This allows for some truly amazing levels, and throwing the hat around the screen never really gets old. Partially because of the variety of characters that Mario can capture in this way, every level feels like a fresh experience in a way that would be nearly impossible otherwise.
Link never captures anything. Instead, movement and gameplay in Zelda are built around moving freely and quickly. Link can climb almost any surface, meaning that the only barrier to jumping up a mountain side is his level of stamina (which can be upgraded). He can also glide down off of any surface with the paraglider, which makes climbing to the top of giant towers and then gliding off one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. When I was a child, one of my favorite activities was riding my bicycle up (and then back down) a hill. Zelda gives me that same kind of feeling.
Here, once again, I give the edge to Zelda. Mario’s set of moves and capture mechanic are great, and some of the later platforming challenges are wonderful and nearly impossible. I slightly prefer Link’s moves though, especially after failing a level in Mario for something like the 20th time. Perhaps I just don’t enjoy platformers quite as much as many other people.
Player Freedom: wide-open vs multiple paths
Zelda allows for a little more freedom than Mario does. This is partially due to the vast size of Hyrule, but it’s also partially due to the structure of the story and levels. In Mario, you have to progress through each level before getting to the end. The game opens up significantly after the story portion is over, but Zelda allows this amount of freedom from the beginning. Link is able to fight Ganon almost immediately, something the game communicates openly, even if this decision would almost surely end poorly.
Of course, the amount to which players should care about freedom and open-world design is entirely subjective. Uncharted and The Last of Us are two of my favorite games ever, and both franchises are extremely linear. The reason I even use this category in this essay is because both Zelda and Mario make openness and freedom selling points. For each game, this is a reason to buy the title, and I think Zelda does a slightly better job.
Final thoughts
I enjoyed Zelda a little more than Mario. On the one hand, this is subjective reasoning. I like open-ended adventure games more than platformers, so this genre advantage put Mario slightly behind from the start. Both games are also my first exposure to each respective franchises, meaning that a level of nostalgia for Link and Mario that most gamers have is entirely absent for me. I also cannot stress enough how much I loved each game. They both fantastic reasons to own a Switch, and Mario deserves every ounce of the praise it has received.
When I think of my favorite games from 2017 though, Zelda continues to stand out the most. I had played open-world games before, but never games with a world this good and this realized. I’ll continue to play both of these titles for a while, and hopefully I’ll never fully stop loving either one. Right now though, Link and Hyrule reign.
