Sonic Frontiers is a game that offers players huge islands to explore in their own self-contained environment, making them feel like their own little worlds. If this sounds familiar, it may be because Super Mario Odyssey's kingdoms could be described the same way. While many players would be quick to liken the atmosphere and aesthetics of Sonic's latest adventure to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there's just about the same amount as evidence that Sonic Team took inspiration from Odyssey as well.
It could be said that Super Mario Odyssey's kingdoms were the basis for the Starfall Islands of Sonic Frontiers as they're both small, closed off little worlds existing in their own space. They both have collectibles scattered everywhere with no set order on where and how to grab them, so players can explore their surroundings at their leisure. However, as much as the islands were right to borrow from Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Team could have really taken notes from Super Mario Odyssey's customization as well.
Super Mario Odyssey's Customization
In Super Mario Odyssey, players go on a globe-trotting adventure with a little hat ghost named Cappy to save Princess Peach and Cappy's sister. The duo stop in numerous different kingdoms along the way, filled with their own NPCs and enemies. Many of these detours feature their own cultures to make the areas come alive, and the game reflects that by having each place offer different, unique outfits for Mario to wear.
Customizable costumes and hats are yet another collectible that players can gather during Mario's travels in numerous different ways, such as buying them or even accomplishing secret goals such as reaching specific Power Moon milestones. This feature is one of the many things that gives one of the highest rated Nintendo Switch games ever a ton of charm.
Sonic Frontiers' Lack of Outfits
Like one would expect from any game that's looked to Super Mario Odyssey for inspiration, Sonic Frontiers offers costumes for the blue blur to wear, but there's a catch. Unless fans pre-ordered the game or signed up for the official newsletter to get Sonic's shoes from Sonic Adventure 2, there's a chance players might miss out on the feature due to the fact that the costumes are only a toggle in the extras menu, completely out of sight.
On top of that, unlike Mario Odyssey, none of these costumes are earned in the base game -- not even as a reward for completing the story or reaching 100% completion. All the outfits in Sonic Frontiers are only available through DLC, which means that there's a possibility that future online storefront shutdowns might make the costumes inaccessible someday.
There's a lot more that could be done with these costumes as well, apart from the fact that they're not part of the base Sonic Frontiers experience. The Monster Hunter DLC teases fans with the concept of giving Sonic full costumes to wear, which could have led to cool alternate skins such as the look from Sonic Riders or even the old Sonic the Sketchog from the series' level design concept art. With this in mind, as well as the sheer number of costumes Super Mario Odyssey offered in comparison, it makes the cosmetic customization in Sonic Frontiers feel lackluster. It's clear just by what Nintendo could do that there was far more potential in the idea than what Sonic Team actually used.
However, despite all the costumes being DLC, what's offered is still the best customization options that Sonic himself has ever had. Fans had been wanting customizable shoes and gloves for the blue blur for decades now, and Sonic Frontiers delivers in ways fans never expected, such as bringing back the fan-favorite Soap Shoes after twenty years. Considering Frontiers' success, the customization features have nowhere to go but up in the next Sonic game.
Sonic Frontiers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
