8 years later, Enormous Mario Odyssey gamers are mute getting awed by the discovery that you might perchance perchance waste metal crates by changing steady into a bird and pecking them 200 times

It has now been nearly eight years since Super Mario Odyssey debuted on the Nintendo Switch back in 2017, and even today, players are dissecting the game, transforming it into one of the most remarkable speedrun titles ever (just behind its predecessor, Super Mario 64).

We’ve reached a point where new revelations about the game are rare, with the current speedrun record standing at just under an hour set by Tyron18. Nevertheless, with such a high level of speedrun refinement and the absence of a legitimate new 3D Mario title (Bowser’s Fury was merely too brief), players are making unexpected discoveries.

Renowned Mario expert and curator Supper Mario Broth shared a video on Twitter demonstrating that the beloved Mario Odyssey companion, Pokio (the small bird that pecks at walls), can break the metal blocks found in the Bowser’s Kingdom stage. These blocks are typically meant to be destroyed by bomb blasts, but apparently, with enough persistence, Pokio can smash them open – it just needs to peck at them 200 times consecutively.

When you consider this, someone decided to utilize Pokio to attack that block, and not only that, they persevered until it had been pecked 200 times. This unusual feat generated quite a stir within the community, leading to responses like that of Nintendo YouTuber Akfamilyhome, who tweeted, “Nintendo, you need to announce the next 3D Mario right now. Fans are discovering things like this,” in response to the video.

What makes this even more amusing is that this was not a new revelation for the Super Mario Odyssey community. According to the original post by Supper Mario Broth, another user, DetectiveClipp, shared evidence that they actually discovered this crucial detail… back in December 2017… less than two months after the game’s release. Although this is hardly a time-saver for speedruns of Super Mario Odyssey, it’s not surprising that it wasn’t widely recognized. However, it highlights how much Odyssey had going for it, containing numerous secrets and tricks (likely unintentional, nonetheless).

And to give credit to the 3D Mario community, despite nearing a decade without a genuine follow-up to Odyssey, they appear to be handling it quite well. Just look at some of the antics Pikmin fans engaged in while awaiting Pikmin 4. Then there’s the Batman Arkham subreddit, which has more in common with the titular asylum than the games it is based on – for instance, the second most liked (and possibly least NSFW) post of all time there is a picture of a bird mixed with a tennis ball which – from what I can gather – has no connection to these games.

Speaking of unintentional ways to play Mario, a blindfolded Super Mario 64 speedrunner has recently achieved three world records in just four days.