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Wait, is SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY a Game About Hijacking Consciousness?

Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, needed to come out of the corner swinging at this year’s E3. It had a very strong launch thanks to the masterpiece that is Breath of the Wild, but the games bringing up the rear were…meh. That’s why this morning Nintendo announced a new title for just about every one of their major IPs, including an epic new adventure for Mario: Super Mario Odyssey. In it you fight Bowser, attempt to rescue Peach, and…and…oh god are you hijacking the minds of other creatures against their will?

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The internet is currently meme-ifying everything about the new trailer for Odyssey, not only because the gameplay looks great, but because it appears the core mechanic is inserting your mind and body into animate and inanimate objects without permission, to further your own ends. You can mind-control a damn Tyrannosaurus.

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At the heart of much of what scares us is the fear of loss of autonomy. Body-snatchers, demonic possession, brain-washing, becoming a zombie…we define ourselves through consciousness, and so the loss of it is terrifying. Imagine losing free will, against your will, and to a mustachioed plumber who punts turtles. When he leaves his victims, do they return to normal? Is their consciousness damaged, or disrupted, when it is so unceremoniously forced out of their head by some tiny anthropomorphized overalls?

What does it feel like, to lose yourself?

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Try to remember what it felt like last night, when you were sound asleep. It felt like nothing; the absence of consciousness, perceptively indistinguishable from death. Is that what having a mind-stealing hat-spirit enter your body feels like? Death?

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Maybe you’re trapped inside yourself, sharing space with Mario when he steals you. Imagine all the hair follicles on your lip suddenly and at once sprouting very thick hair. “This is-a good body,” Mario thinks to himself, also yourself. “Imma gonna like this one.”

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