Getting to the end of the main story campaign in Super Mario Odyssey is just the beginning of the mission to fully complete the game 100%. Apart from knowing that there are hundreds of Power Moons collect and even more purple coins, there a lot to take in along the way, so we’ve put together a list of 10 things you should know to help you on your way.
1. Picture Frame warp Power Moons
First up, you should be ready to hunt down and use the Picture Frame painting warp portals to pick up obscure Power Moons from other Kingdoms. These will essentially transport you from on Kingdom to a remote area of another Kingdom, usually a floating island in the sky that you can’t get through by any other way, and from here you’ll be able to pick up a Power Moon that is impossible to get from within the Kingdom itself.
The first one that you’ll find is the Cascade Kingdom Painting, which will kind of throw you a little, because it’s blank. It won’t become active until you’ve completed the main campaign and rescued the Princess from Bowser’s clutches. However, the paintings in subsequent levels are activated earlier, either straight away, or after you complete objectives in the Kingdom, so you’ll be able to grab the moons.
2. Roving Koopa races
These are yet another type of regular Power Moon challenge that you’ll face in every Kingdom. They’re essentially foot races with a group of hat flipping Koopa Troopas always by a course within the Kingdom. If you just st run, then you’ve got no chance of beating them, even if you use the Mario roll to perfection. However, each one can be won with ease if you can work out the knack, which is subtly different in each Kingdom.
Some, like the one in Mushroom Kingdom, can be won by using Cappy to pick up the speed flowers that grow in the grass. While others, like the Cascade Kingdom Regular Cup in the video above, require a shortcut to guarantee a win.
3. Looks to the sky with binoculars
If you’ve played Super Mario 64 then you’ll know that the sky can hold a lot of rewards if you know where to look. In this case, it’s usually through the binoculars and you’re usually looking for an object, like the Sphinx in the video above, which will give you a Power Moon. It’s a trick that is repeated throughout all of the kingdoms in the game, so make sure you hit them up to find them.
There is another “look up” challenge in Princess Peach’s castle in Mushroom Kingdom, but you won’t need the binoculars for that.
4. Costumes = Power Moons
While the costumes in Super Mario Odyssey are a lot of fun to run around in, they’re also occassionally functional in picking up Power Moons. This usually comes in the form of a guarded room like in the Loch Lady Dress room in Lake Kingdom, where you’ll only get into the room if you’re wearing the swim suit and snorkel set, which you can pick up from the Crazy Cap store.
You’ll also need to be a costume hunter for a number of the Toadette challenges, which we’ll talk you through in the section below on Mushroom Kingdom, so it really does pay pick up those costumes.
5. Follow the Taxi Guy
Another regular Moon type that you’ll find eventually in each of the Kingdoms is the Taxi Guy meet-ups. These don’t start until you get to Sand Kingdom after you’ve completed all of the objectives, when you’ll find a Tostarenan next to a Metro Kingdom taxi. When you speak to him, he tells you that he wants to see the lights of the city, so you’ll be able to catch up with him next in Metro City, where he’ll give you a Power Moon and a hint about where he’ll be going next.
However, you might get wind of something with Cascade Kingdom Moon 19, which isn’t possible to get without first going to the Sand Kingdom to start the Taxi Guy off and then going to speak to him again in Metro Kingdom. After that, he’ll show up in Cascade Kingdom ready to hand over the Moon.
6. There are a lot of boss battles
This is one of the best elements of the game as you get to face all kinds of bosses as you make your way through Super Mario Odyssey. In addition to the Broodals clan, who crop up more often than not, each level usually features another boss battle. The roster of bosses is genuinely epic, whether it’s the Seaside Kingdom Octopus, the Luncheon Kingdom Bird Boss or the Ruined Kingdom Dragon.
However, things get taken up a notch in Mushroom Kingdom, which sees you heading through painting portals to face rematches with more powerful variants of them all. You’ll also have to do something similar with the Broodals in The Dark Side – Rabbit Ridge.
7. Mushroom Kingdom has a huge number of Power Moons
When you eventually complete the main story for the game and rescue Princess Peach and Tiara from Bowser’s clutches, you get access to Mushroom Kingdom, which has a lot of Power Moons to pick up. This is because, in addition to its main bait however of Moons, it also plays host to Toadette and he array of Moon challenges. These range from collecting 10,000 gold coins to picking up costumes and various kinds of Power Moons. You can check out our coin farming tips below to help you with the gold coin challenge.
In addition to the Toadette challenges and the triple Moons that you can get by facing the tougher bosses through the warp paintings, Mushroom Kingdom also kicks off a new regular Moon type in the rest of the locations. This comes when you get to the Princess’ Castle and discover that she’s headed out on her travels to see the Kingdoms without having the sweaty lump of Bowser around for the ride. Find her in each of the Kingdoms and you’ll get a Moon each time.
8. Moon Rock Power Moon spree
When you complete the main game, you’ll findthat each time you return to a Kingdom, Cappy talks about investigating the Moon Rocks. These will essentially unlock a whole load of new Power Moons in each area, so simply head up to them, jump on top and give them a ground pound to get a boat load of more great Moons to go after.
This means that you can’t get all of the Moons for any one Kingdom before you complete the main game, and it also means that the mysterious rocks can be ignored until you’ve taken out Bowser. However, it also means that there’s a shed load of new content to play even after you rescue the Princess, which is a lot of fun.
9. Be ready for confusion and misdirection
Not everything is what it seems in Super Mario Odyssey, so if you can’t get a Moon doing the obvious, you might be better off trying to do something new. A great example of this is Moon 12 in Cascade Kingdom in the video above, where it’s easy to be fooled into thinkers no you need to use the T-Rex to break all of the blocks in the room. What you actually need to do, though, is stomp all of the enemies.
Equally, Sand Kingdom Moon 76 is probably the hardest to get to in the game and can hoover up time as you try all manner of jumps and Cappy tricks to get up to it. We even tried stacking Goombas, but to no avail and Bullet Bills didn’t seem to have enough juice to make it all of the way to the pillar. However, when we started to use the Bills to get to the pillars a little closer first and use them to leap from Bills and max out Joy Con acceleration, we managed to make it.
10. Extend your cap flip
Continuing for with the confusion theme, the first real baffled we found was the Loch Lady Dress Moon, which we just couldn’t get, no matter what we did. It wasn’t until we got to the Mushroom Kingdom at the end of the game that we figured it out trying to get the Tanooki tail tree Moon. It turns out it’s just a case of holding the Cap flip for longer by holding the Y button.
This is a Moon type that you’ll find throughout the many Kingdoms, so if you see a similar object sparkling away, try spinning Cappy around it with an extended Y hold to pick up the Moon.
11. More repeat offenders
There are plenty more repeat Moon types in the game, so it’s worthwhile getting used to finding these in each Kingdom. You’ll find yourself rounding up sheep, chasing the rabbit, planting seeds, kicking rolling rocks and ground pounding glowing mounds in each and every Kingdom.
12. 2D madness
If you’re an old school Super Mario gamer then you’ll know that there are plenty of secrets to be found in 2D form. In Super Mario Odyssey, this usually comes in the form of a hidden route, which will give up yet another Power Moon in addition to the main one that you can find. Try jumping up against walls to find hidden blocks or leaping to the hard to get to areas in the 2D sections and you’ll pick up some of the more illusive Power Moons in the game.
13. Make sure you use all of Cappy’s abilities
It’s not just extending Cappy’s spin on the likes of the Loch Lady Dress stand that will get you Moons as Cappy’s full range of abilities will be needed to get all kinds of moons. This ranges from the simple flips and spins to more complicated hat jumps and the tricky switch press in the wind.
14. It pays to experiment with your Cappy captures
Sand Kingdom Moon 76 isn’t the only situation where you’ll benefit from having a rounded knowledge of your capture capabilities. The game is filled with Moons that you can only pick up by harnessing their powers, whether it’s the Lakitu fishing move or the extra jump you get from a Goomba stack by shaking the Joy Con.
