What exactly does Super Mario Odyssey consider a jump? And is it possible to beat the game without jumping? The answer to the second question is yes, and the answer to the first question takes approximately 14 minutes to explain.
The video above by Gamechamp3000 sets up what should be an impossible challenge -- to finish the game without jumping — and goes incredibly deep into the game’s logic to figure out how to make it happen. Super Mario Odyssey actually counts jumps for you, so it’s possible to figure out what the game itself does and does not consider a jump.
So bouncing off Cappy? That’s not a jump. But talking to an NPC? That’s definitely a jump. Waking up at the beginning of the game? The prompt says to jump, you’re hitting a button marked jump, but due to a technicality ... it’s not actually counted by the game as a jump.
It all makes sense within the game’s own systems, and the video does a good job of breaking down what is likely to be happening behind the scenes. That’s why the challenge becomes so interesting despite also being both self-imposed and somewhat nonsensical; the creator of the video was able to take an idea that should be impossible and, after a ridiculous amount of trial and error, ends up teaching us a few things about how the game itself is thinking.
It’s all very silly, but you’re going to learn at least one or two things about game design and logic if you watch the whole thing. It is absolutely possible to finish Super Mario Odyssey without jumping, and the world is a better place due to someone figuring this out.
