The first Super Mario game where you don't lose lives when you die. You lose 10 coins instead.
This is the first game in the Super Mario series to have a vocal theme song ("Jump Up, Super Star!").
Super Mario Odyssey returns the sandbox game style similar to Super Mario 64 (1996) and Super Mario Sunshine (2002), though some might say it's a 'reinvention of the sandbox platformer'.
This is the 3rd Mario game to be rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up by the ESRB, after Mario Strikers Charged (2007) and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013), as well as the first 3D Mario game to be rated such.
The Sand Kingdom level was inspired by Mexico. Director Kenta Motokura based this inspiration on his trip to the country.