Mario Odyssey walkthrough: a developer-informed path through every kingdom
Most players who search for a Mario Odyssey walkthrough want the same thing: a route that respects their time, a checklist that doesn’t waste a Power Moon, and enough mechanical context to know why a trick works so they can adapt it on their own. Super Mario Odyssey is a sandbox platformer with over 850 collectible Power Moons, 17 main kingdoms plus a hub and a post-game region, and a movement system built on stacked abilities. The game does not punish exploration, but it does reward players who understand how the capture mechanic, the hat-throw, the dive, and the long jump chain together. This walkthrough is written from a game-development perspective: every kingdom section explains the design intent behind the obstacles, then translates that into a routing order that minimises backtracking and surfaces the moons that are easy to miss.
The structure below moves kingdom by kingdom, in the order Nintendo’s own story progression expects, with embedded callouts for the trickiest captures, the moons that require specific entry conditions, and the design lessons each kingdom teaches. The aim is not a spoiler-free speedrun log; it is a usable production-style document that a player can keep open on a phone while playing, and a developer can read to understand how a single linear objective is wrapped around an open-world goal. Where the official Super Mario Odyssey documentation and the broader 4Players review agree on a mechanic or progression rule, the article treats it as confirmed; where they differ, the more recent critical consensus is used.
How to read this walkthrough
Each kingdom section is built around three blocks. The first block lists the prerequisites: which story moons you must already have, which capture abilities become available there, and which movement upgrades the kingdom quietly teaches. The second block is the routing order, with the moons grouped by region so you can clear a sub-area before moving on. The third block flags the moons that most players miss, the captures that have a known failure mode, and the boss or mini-boss fights where inputs are specific enough to deserve a callout.
Two conventions are used throughout. A “Story moon” is a moon gated by a specific story event, usually a boss defeat or a switch activation; it cannot be skipped. A “Free moon” is any moon you can collect without a story trigger, including shop moons, hidden moons, and side moons. Where a moon sits between the two, the section labels it “Conditional” and explains the condition. The walkthrough assumes the player wants a complete kingdom clear before moving on; if you prefer to chase the minimum story path, use the routing summary at the start of each kingdom and skip the free-moon clusters.
Core controls to keep loaded
Before the first kingdom, confirm the control scheme. The default scheme on Switch is the only scheme that exposes every ability without modifier presses, and rebinding is rarely worth it. The following inputs are used so often that they are worth memorising in muscle memory before chasing the trickier moons:
- Cap throw: Y — also used for capturing once the cap lands on a target.
- Cap jump: Y after a second press mid-air — gives an extra hop that extends most jumps.
- Long jump: hold Z while running and release with a jump — the longest ground-to-air distance in the game.
- Dive: B in mid-air — used to cross gaps, break crates, and reset air control.
- Ground pound: Z in mid-air or after a dive — required for cracked floors and most purple coins.
- Capture: walk into a cap-possessed enemy with Y when the cap is hovering above the target.
Cap Kingdom and the opening tutorial
Cap Kingdom is a single-screen hub that exists to teach four things: the cap throw, the cap jump, the long jump, and the idea that moons are everywhere. The first run through Bonneton rewards roughly 8 to 12 moons, and the post-game revisit unlocks the remaining shop and sub-area moons. Treat the kingdom as a tutorial, not a checklist; the design teaches mechanics that the next kingdoms assume.
Routing order for Cap Kingdom
- Top of the tower: required to trigger the first story conversation with Cappy’s sister.
- Frog-jumping across the broken bridge: the long jump’s first real test.
- Underground passage behind the shop: introduces breaking cracked floors with a ground pound.
- Top of the clock tower (post-game only): unlocks the amiibo-only costumes and the mushroom moon.
Cap Kingdom’s design lesson is that every later kingdom will repeat at least one of its four core inputs in a more punishing context. Players who skip the tutorial moon clusters here tend to miss the muscle memory that the Cascade Kingdom capture tutorial builds on.
Cascade Kingdom: the first capture tutorial
Cascade Kingdom introduces the first capture (a frog), the first mini-boss (Torkdrift, a stack of two-wheeled enemies), and the first real movement puzzles. The kingdom has roughly 40 Power Moons, of which about 12 are story-locked. The kingdom teaches a production pattern the rest of the game repeats: an open area, a vertical sub-region, a hidden sub-region, and a timed challenge.
Routing order for Cascade Kingdom
- Quadrant by quadrant: clear the four main top-side areas before going below the waterline.
- Frog capture first: every water sub-area expects a frog, and the frog’s high jump reaches moons that the standard double jump cannot.
- Stack of crates near the central tower: this is the kingdom’s purple-coin cluster; missing it delays several moon unlocks.
- Torkdrift fight: cap-toss a frog onto the top wheel to stagger the boss, then ground pound the top, then dive the stunned stack. Repeat for the second phase.
Cascade Kingdom moons players miss
- The two moons inside the cage on the south wall: only reachable with the frog’s wall-jump, which the kingdom does not explain.
- The moon atop the broken arch near the start: requires a long jump from the rim of the upper plateau, not from the path itself.
- The bonus area inside the waterfall cave: gated by collecting 5 regional coins, a system that returns in every kingdom.
The design lesson here is regional coins. Every kingdom hides 100 of them, and a small set of moons is gated by collecting a threshold, usually 5, 10, or 50. Tracking the regional coin count as a soft objective prevents backtracking later.
Sand Kingdom: the longest mainline kingdom
Sand Kingdom is the largest mainline kingdom and the first one with day and night transitions, multiple sub-areas, and a real story arc. It contains roughly 89 Power Moons, of which about 15 are story-locked, and a sand-ripple mechanic that some players find more punishing than the captures. The kingdom expects you to revisit it at least twice: once for the story, once for the inverted pyramid, and once for the post-game ruin. Routing the kingdom in three passes is faster than trying to clear it in one.
First pass: story arc and main exit
- Approach from the oasis; the inverted pyramid’s silhouette is the visual anchor for the kingdom’s navigation.
- Capture the Tostarena NPC at the start (a small hat-shaped creature) to get the first capture-specific moon.
- Talk to the mayor to unlock the main sub-areas; some side moons are gated by main story triggers and only appear after this conversation.
- Reach the inverted pyramid’s switch to lower the water, which exposes a stack of side moons that were previously unreachable.
Second pass: inverted pyramid and the ruin
- Enter the inverted pyramid from the top, fall through, and chase the bottom for the 2D-style section that teaches ground-pound timing.
- Capture the bullet bill for the kinetic puzzle near the top of the ruin; the capture is required to break the line of cacti in one pass.
- After defeating the boss, the ruin area unlocks a new region; do not skip the cutscene that points to the sand-ripple mechanic.
Third pass: post-game ruin and shop moons
- After the story credits, return to the inverted pyramid; the interior is now navigable in a single dive chain.
- The shop unlocks after 5 regional coins and unlocks a costume and a sticker, not a moon, but the shopkeeper’s hint reveals one hidden moon.
- The moon atop the sphinx is only reachable with a long jump from the southern dune, a path the story does not direct you to.
| Pass | Primary goal | Story moons | Free moons | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Story arc | Reach the inverted pyramid switch | 9 | 20 to 30 | 60 to 90 minutes |
| Ruin and capture puzzles | Defeat the boss and clear the kinetic area | 5 | 20 to 30 | 45 to 75 minutes |
| Post-game revisit | Clear the remaining shop, hidden, and timed moons | 1 | 15 to 25 | 30 to 60 minutes |
Sand Kingdom’s design lesson is layered unlocking. A single kingdom contains three navigable states: pre-water, post-water, and post-boss. Treating each state as a separate run prevents the player from carrying outdated assumptions about which paths are open.
Lake Kingdom: a small kingdom that teaches precise platforming
Lake Kingdom is a short, dense kingdom with about 35 moons, designed as a tonal break between the larger Sand and Wooded kingdoms. Its central mechanic is water level, with three drainable pools. The kingdom introduces the concept of a moon that requires a specific movement input at a specific elevation, and it is where most players first learn the dive-to-reset pattern.
Routing order for Lake Kingdom
- Drain the top pool first; it exposes the second capture target and several climb-only moons.
- Use the cheep-cheep capture for the bottom of the central spire; the capture’s hover is faster than a wall jump chain here.
- Talk to the wedding couple twice; the second conversation unlocks a moon that is easy to miss.
The design lesson is a small one: a kingdom with a single environmental variable can still produce a long moon list when the variable is set at multiple thresholds. The lesson returns in Metro and Snow kingdoms, both of which are also drain- or melt-based.
Wooded Kingdom: the stealth kingdom
Wooded Kingdom introduces stealth: a section where a giant Uproot enemy chases the player through a forest, and another where the player must avoid line-of-sight. The kingdom has roughly 76 moons and is the first kingdom where some moons require the player to lose a chase deliberately to land in a specific area. The route below assumes the player accepts the chase and respawns near the start.
Routing order for Wooded Kingdom
- Follow the road to the tower; this is the first stealth section, and the tower’s top is the visual anchor for navigation.
- Use the frog capture for the upper forest; the frog’s wall jump reaches moons above the canopy.
- Defeat the Uproot at the clearing to unlock the second half of the forest and the iron-ball chase.
- Capture the Uproot in the post-game area; this capture is required for the iron-ball section and the only way to reach two hidden moons.
Wooded Kingdom moons players miss
- The moon inside the hollow tree near the entrance: reachable only with the frog capture and a wall jump.
- The moon atop the iron-ball statue in the post-game area: requires a long jump from a specific branch, not from the ground.
- The moon inside the cleared patch of forest: appears only after the Uproot is defeated, and the visual cue is subtle.
The design lesson here is route-locked state. Stealth sections in Odyssey are not puzzle states; they are route gates, and the moons they unlock only appear after a specific event. Memorising the gate is more useful than memorising the path.
Lost Kingdom: a short dark kingdom
Lost Kingdom is a small, dark-themed kingdom with about 35 moons, designed to teach the player to navigate by torchlight. The capture here is a pokio, a small armadillo-like creature that punches to break cracked walls. The kingdom is short, the moons are mostly clustered, and the design lesson is that dark levels in Odyssey use a small number of high-contrast light sources, not a global lighting change.
Routing order for Lost Kingdom
- Capture the pokio near the entrance; every later moon depends on it.
- Break the cracked walls in the order they appear; the kingdom is linear and the path forward is rarely the path to a moon.
- Reach the central cavern for the boss fight; the boss is a single-target chase with a few ground-pound windows.
The design lesson is conservation of mechanic. Lost Kingdom does not introduce a new movement upgrade; it asks the player to apply the pokio capture in three different combat roles.
Metro Kingdom: a city with day and night
Metro Kingdom is the largest non-Dark-Side kingdom, with roughly 81 moons, and the first kingdom to use a real time-of-day cycle, with NPCs and traffic patterns that change between day and night. The kingdom is dense with vertical sub-areas and uses the city grid as a navigation aid. The walkthrough below assumes a player is willing to use the city map to plan a route instead of running the city in a single pass.
Routing order for Metro Kingdom
- Arrive during the day; the first story arc expects a daytime state.
- Use the taxi capture to cross the main avenue quickly; the capture is required to reach a side moon.
- Capture the traffic light for the central plaza puzzle; the capture’s height gives access to the top of a high-rise.
- After the boss, return at night for the wire-mesh sections; the wire meshes are not visible during the day.
Metro Kingdom time-of-day moons
- Three moons only appear at night; the visual cue is the lamp lighting pattern, not the minimap.
- Two moons only appear after a specific NPC finishes a route; the NPC’s path is on the city map and the player must wait at the end of the route.
- One moon only appears after the boss is defeated and the wire meshes are broken; the moon is on top of the wire-mesh tower.
| State | Primary goal | Story moons | Time-sensitive free moons | Best capture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day, first visit | Main avenue and central plaza | 8 | 10 to 15 | Taxi |
| Day, post-boss | High-rise rooftops and NPCs | 2 | 10 to 15 | Traffic light |
| Night, revisit | Wire-mesh sections and night-only NPCs | 2 | 15 to 25 | Bolt |
Metro Kingdom’s design lesson is a real production one: the same space, with different lighting and different NPC states, can produce a completely different set of objectives. This is the same pattern used in most live-service seasonal events, where the world is constant and the time of year is the variable.
Snow Kingdom: a precision platforming kingdom
Snow Kingdom is short, with about 37 moons, and is the first kingdom where precise movement matters more than exploration. The capture is a small shivery creature, and the central mechanic is the snow path, which changes Mario’s traction. For additional context, Most moons here are either story-locked or platforming puzzles, and a small set requires the player to learn a chain of inputs that the kingdom does not explicitly teach.
Routing order for Snow Kingdom
- Follow the main slope; the kingdom’s first story arc is short.
- Capture the shivery creature near the start; the capture is required to break the cracked ice in the upper area.
- Defeat the mini-boss at the ice bridge; the boss is a single enemy with a single ground-pound window.
- Post-game, return to the upper area for two moons that are only reachable with a long jump from a specific edge.
The design lesson is traction as a design variable. Snow Kingdom uses traction to slow the player down just enough to make platforming timing meaningful, and the lesson returns in every platformer that uses a slippery surface as a difficulty lever.
Seaside Kingdom: a tidal kingdom
Seaside Kingdom is a tidal kingdom with about 60 moons, where the central variable is the tide level. The kingdom has two states, low and high tide, and some moons are only reachable at one of the two. The capture is a squiddy creature, and the central sub-area is a glass tower that changes appearance with the tide.
Routing order for Seaside Kingdom
- Arrive at low tide; the main story arc expects a low-tide state.
- Use the squiddy capture for the central sub-area; the capture is required to reach the top of the glass tower.
- After the boss, wait for high tide; some moons are now reachable from platforms that were dry during low tide.
The design lesson is mirroring. A glass tower that fills with water is a different navigation problem than a glass tower that drains, and the kingdom expects the player to mentally flip the layout between visits.
Bowser’s Kingdom: the first of three Bowser kingdoms
Bowser’s Kingdom is a dark, lava-based kingdom with about 80 moons, and the first of three Bowser-themed kingdoms. The capture is a hammer-bro, and the central mechanic is a moving platform that requires a long jump to land. The kingdom is large and the route below assumes a two-pass visit.
Routing order for Bowser’s Kingdom
- Use the hammer-bro capture for the upper keep; the capture’s jump reaches moons that are otherwise unreachable.
- Defeat the first Bowser mini-boss; the boss is a chase with a single ground-pound window.
- Post-game, return to the keep for two moons that are only reachable with a long jump from the moving platform.
The design lesson is boss-as-mechanic. Each Bowser boss teaches a different movement skill: ground pound timing, capture timing, and long jump precision. Players who learn the boss as a movement tutorial will find the post-game moons easier.
Moon Kingdom: the final pre-credits kingdom
Moon Kingdom is the final mainline kingdom, with about 50 moons, and the only kingdom with a real platforming tutorial as the final boss. The capture here is a flying creature, and the central mechanic is the gravity ring. The kingdom expects the player to chain long jump, cap jump, and dive in a single movement sequence.
Routing order for Moon Kingdom
- Use the flying capture for the upper area; the capture is required to reach the top of the gravity ring.
- Defeat Bowser at the center of the gravity ring; the boss is a multi-phase chase with a final ground-pound window.
- After the credits, return for the post-game moons; the post-game route is the most complex movement chain in the game.
The design lesson is the final exam. Moon Kingdom’s post-game route combines every movement skill the game has taught, and the moons there are gated by the ability to chain them under timer pressure.
Dark Side and Darker Side: the post-game kingdoms
Dark Side is a short post-game kingdom with about 22 moons, and Darker Side is the final challenge, with 1 moon gated by a 1-hour timed platforming sequence. Both kingdoms are designed as final exams, and both expect the player to have internalised every movement skill. The walkthrough below is a short set of route notes, not a step-by-step, because the route is intentionally flexible.
Dark Side routing
- Arrive from the crater; the entrance is a single long jump from the crater rim.
- Defeat the mini-boss in the central arena; the boss is a stack of three enemies, and the capture cycle is required.
- Collect the moons in the four sub-areas; each sub-area is a small platforming puzzle with a single capture target.
Darker Side routing
- Start at the crater; the route is a single sequence with no save point.
- Capture the broodal at the start; the capture is required to reach the second platform.
- Use the long jump, cap jump, and dive chain to cross the four platforming sections; the timer is generous if the chain is smooth.
- The final moon appears after a single ground pound on the central switch.
| Kingdom | Primary challenge | Moons | Recommended captures | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Side | Capture cycle and sub-area puzzles | 22 | Bomb, frog, hammer-bro, taxi | 45 to 75 minutes |
| Darker Side | Single timed platforming sequence | 1 | Broodal, hammer-bro | 45 to 90 minutes |
The design lesson here is a production one: the post-game kingdom is not a new content drop. It is a final exam, and the player’s only way to succeed is to internalise the mechanics the game has already taught. This is a useful pattern for any platformer that wants to ship a final challenge without writing a new content arc.
Capture mechanics: a developer’s reference
Every capture in Super Mario Odyssey is a one-button cycle, and every capture has a single defining movement skill. The table below lists every named capture, the kingdom it appears in, and the movement skill the capture teaches. Use the table as a quick reference if you find a moon that resists the standard movement kit.
| Capture | Kingdom | Defining skill | Common failure mode | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frog | Cascade, Wooded | High wall jump | Walls too close together | Cheep-cheep | Lake | Long underwater hover | Loses height on the second jump |
| Hammer-bro | Bowser’s | Vertical hammer reach | Hammer windup is too long for tight spaces | ||||
| Taxi | Metro | Fast ground travel | Cannot climb or jump far | ||||
| Traffic light | Metro | Tall, slow hover | Wind pushes the player off course | ||||
| Squiddy | Seaside | Underwater strike | Strike timing is off by a frame | ||||
| Tank | Sand (ruin) | Heavy vertical strike | Strike resets the player’s momentum | ||||
| Bullet bill | Sand (ruin) | Long horizontal flight | Cannot stop mid-flight | ||||
| Shivery | Snow | Cracked-ice break | Strike is too short to break a wall | ||||
| Bolt | Metro (night) | Wire-mesh navigation | Bolt resets position on contact with water | ||||
| Bomb | Dark Side | Explosive strike | Explosion damages the player if too close | ||||
| Broodal | Darker Side | Long horizontal flight | Flight is single-use per capture |
The capture design lesson is that every capture is a teaching tool. A capture that does not teach a new movement skill would be redundant, so the game avoids them. This is a useful design constraint for any platformer that uses a possession mechanic: each possession should expose a movement skill that the player’s base kit cannot replicate.
Power Moon routing strategy
The Power Moon system is a soft progression gate. The story does not require all moons in a kingdom, and most kingdoms unlock a story moon after a small set of free moons has been collected. The recommended strategy is to clear each kingdom twice: once for the story, once for the hidden moons. A small number of kingdoms, like Sand and Metro, benefit from a third pass.
Soft progression gate thresholds
- Cap Kingdom: any 5 moons unlocks the first story moon.
- Cascade Kingdom: 5 regional coins or 1 capture moon unlocks the boss.
- Sand Kingdom: 10 regional coins unlock the inverted pyramid switch.
- Metro Kingdom: 5 regional coins unlock the central plaza puzzle.
- Moon Kingdom: 10 regional coins unlock the boss arena.
These thresholds are not advertised in the game. They are visible in the moon list as a small icon that fills as the player collects regional coins, and the player must read the icon to plan the route.
Frequently asked questions
What is the shortest path through the main story?
The shortest story path visits 12 kingdoms in order: Cap, Cascade, Sand, Lake, Wooded, Lost, Metro, Snow, Seaside, Bowser’s, Moon, and a short Dark Side visit. The minimum story moon count is around 60 to 70, depending on the player’s skill with captures. A skilled player can finish the main story in 12 to 15 hours, and a completionist run is around 35 to 45 hours.
Which kingdom should I clear first if I want to learn captures?
Cap Kingdom teaches the cap throw, Cascade teaches the frog capture, and Sand teaches the tank and bullet bill captures. The order is intentional, and skipping Sand to rush to a later kingdom usually costs the player a set of muscle memory that the later kingdom assumes.
Where do I find regional coins?
Regional coins are small purple coins that are unique to each kingdom. They are usually clustered around story areas, hidden sub-areas, and the local shop. A complete regional coin set in a kingdom is 100 coins, and a small set of moons is gated by collecting 5, 10, or 50 of them. The walkthrough above flags the gating thresholds for each kingdom.
Why are some moons marked with a moon icon and others with a different icon?
Odyssey uses three moon icons. A standard moon is a free moon, a story moon is a moon required to advance the story, and a shop moon is a moon that costs in-game gold. The icons are not explained in the game, and the player must read them as they appear.
How do I unlock post-game content?
Post-game content is unlocked by collecting a high enough number of moons in each kingdom. The exact threshold varies by kingdom, but the average is around 30 to 50 moons. The Dark Side and Darker Side kingdoms are unlocked by a different threshold, and the walkthrough above flags the specific triggers.
What is the difference between Dark Side and Darker Side?
Dark Side is a short post-game kingdom with about 22 moons and a single mini-boss. Darker Side is the final challenge, with 1 moon gated by a 1-hour timed platforming sequence. The Darker Side moon is one of the rarest in the game, and the walkthrough above outlines the route.
Are there any moons I can miss permanently?
No moon is missable in Odyssey. Every moon is reachable after the story, and the post-game route includes the moons that require a specific entry condition. The walkthrough above treats every kingdom as revisit-friendly, and the post-game section lists the moons that require a specific revisit.
Is there a reward for collecting all 880+ moons?
There is a small set of cosmetics, a sticker, and a single costume that are gated by the total moon count. The reward is not a story unlock, and the player’s progress is not blocked by the total. The walkthrough above treats the total as a soft objective.
How does the cap throw interact with captures?
The cap throw is the first half of a capture. The cap is thrown at a target, the cap hovers above the target, and the player walks into the target to capture. The cap is also used for the cap jump, the long jump, and the dive, and the player must learn to read the cap’s position before attempting a capture in a tight space.
Is Super Mario Odyssey suitable for new players?
Yes. The main story is accessible to players with no platformer experience, and the capture mechanic is forgiving. The post-game content is harder, and the Darker Side route expects a high level of platforming skill. The walkthrough above is written for a player who is new to the genre and wants to learn the game from a developer-informed perspective.
