As the kind of Mario fan who created a successful Super Mario Bros. fan site at age 15 , I'm pretty familiar with how the series has slowly evolved over the years. It's striking, looking back, how Mario's standard repertoire of moves, abilities, and power-ups grows slowly with each new title, integrating novel gameplay that immediately feels as tried-and-true as Mario's standard jump.

Super Mario Odyssey continues this tradition with a larger-than-normal expansion of Mario's abilities, something that's apparent even in a too-short E3 hands-on demo of the game. I thought I'd summarize my time with Odyssey by going over the additions that made the biggest impression on me.

Hats off

It's hard to understate how huge a change it is for Mario to have an effective projectile attack at all times via a simple throw of a boomerang-like cap. In a game like Super Mario 64, Mario's lateral punch was a risky move, requiring precise placement and timing that put you at risk of damage if you missed.

Mario's hat throw removes that risk handily. With a quick flick of the Joy-Cons (or more complex analog stick motions absent motion controls), the hat can fly off in a spiraling circle and easily dispatch small bands of goombas or destroy breakable blocks on the ground. For enemy removal, this powerful spin seems much less risky than jumping on enemies, which can be tough to position in 3D.

Other controller motions can roll the hat forward, upward, or downward at quite a distance, letting Mario avoid coming anywhere close to direct contact with a lot of foes. Being able to twist the hat's direction to the side after a throw doesn't hurt either. I'm sure there will be some enemies that won't be so easy to take out with a remote hat throw. For now, the move feels like an incredibly powerful way to manage risk in a 3D world.

Taking (mind) control

The first time I took control of a Bullet Bill by throwing Mario's hat on his head, it was impossible to rip the smile off my face. Making wide bank turns, dashing through coin rings, and eventually exploding into another Bullet Bill captured the joy of the unknown I felt the first time I played a Mario game.

Super Mario Odyssey's demo already takes this ability to some weird places. At one point, I took control of a man who was controlling his own toy car, putting a fine point on the existential quandary of replacing the will of another living being. At other points, I became an electrical spark on a wire, zipping across gaps or up skyscrapers at speed. A tourist-attraction telescope, under Mario's magical hat, can fly up into the sky to provide an overview of an entire level.

The new technique is so magical that it gets a little frustrating when you can't take control of absolutely everything around you. I want to be able to take over every goomba, every taxi, every human, every animate and inanimate object I see. I want to be a walking coin, even if that makes no sense!

By limiting Mario's mind-control abilities, the addition feels a bit more like a gimmick, to be inserted only when needed for specific puzzles, rather than an emergent technique that can take unexpected, emergent turns throughout the game. Still, any gimmick that promises to let me turn into a frog and a giant dinosaur in the same game is OK by me.

Dressing up

Outfit changes that don't offer Mario any new powers directly is a weird feeling. Instead, dressing up in new outfits in Super Mario Odyssey seems to be key to the game's more adventure-like quest system.

In the demo, for instance, I couldn't get into a building under construction until I bought an outfit that made me look like a building inspector (which just so happens to look like the Super Mario Maker outfit). Another quest line in the demo involves finding musicians for an event held by Mayor Pauline, requiring Mario to get in a very dapper suit straight out of the flapper era.

To get that uniform from the shop, though, I had to find 15 of the 100 purple coins hidden throughout the level. That gave me more specific incentive than usual to search for secrets in every nook and cranny. Just being able to play dress-up is nice, but I'm glad Nintendo is integrating the cosmetic changes into the gameplay as well.

Other tidbits I loved from our short demo:

Riding around on a European-style scooter—complete with the ability to jump on top of taxis as I ride—is way more fun than it should be.

Tucking into a ball and rolling around is a fun and fast alternative to endless long jumping, especially when going downhill. I was surprised when the rolling didn't damage enemies when I bumped into them, à la Sonic or Donkey Kong Country. Mario needs to up his rolling game.

Tons of great animation touches make Mario seem truly alive. He sticks his arms out like an airplane after landing a long jump. He does a jaunty little pirouette if you turn 360 degrees quickly. He even does a happy dance if he's standing next to a band.

It has been noted before, but seeing Mario next to humans with realistic proportions is incredibly weird.

Listing image by Nintendo