A huge shift in the Super Mario style is taking place in Nintendo’s upcoming flagship Switch game, Super Mario Odyssey . Since the beginning, Mario games have stuck to a lives system, meaning players will eventually get a Game Over screen if they run out of 1-ups. That’s all changing.
Now, if Mario takes too many hits, he’ll certainly get knocked out. Players will see a “death” sequence. However, instead of losing a life, Mario will lose ten coins and get to start back over where he left off, presumably at a checkpoint.
This is a huge departure from Mario games past, but makes the game fit more in line with many other modern games. Games now, especially open world-style games (which Super Mario Odyssey is definitely inspired by), a small penalty is much more common to punish mistakes.
This may seem too easy for more skilled players, but an open world game having something more punishing in place could turn off tons of players. Also, coins are used as currency for buying outfits and other goodies in Super Mario Odyssey , so losing then ten at a time in challenging sections will hurt just as well.
Source: Twitter