Assist Mode

Assist Mode is a mode in Super Mario Odyssey that makes the core gameplay easier in various ways. Its most prominent feature is placing Mario in a bubble and carrying him back to safety if he falls into a void, lava or poison. Due to this bubble feature, Assist Mode is often used to perform certain difficult tricks in isolation in order to reduce the time needed to reset the trick.

Changes

Assist Mode makes the following changes to the gameplay:

• A logo with the words "Assist Mode" is added to the HUD in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
• Visual arrows will appear within the world to guide the player to the next objective. Sometimes, if the player is too far away from the arrow path, a guiding arrow will appear above Mario's head instead.
• Mario has six health points by default, rather than three. Collecting a Life-Up Heart will increase this to nine.
• If Mario stands still for a brief period of time, his health will begin recharging.
• If Mario falls into a void, lava or poison with at least two health remaining, he will be placed into a bubble and carried back to the last "safe spot" he touched on land, at the cost of one health point.
• Mario does not have an oxygen meter while underwater, and therefore cannot drown.
• Mario will automatically grab ledges if the player walks off of them, regardless of speed, unless there is another platform not too far below the ledge.
• Timer Challenges and Taking Notes challenges will have an extended timer.
• While jetting water as a Gushen, 0.13% of the Gushen's total water capacity will be used per frame, rather than 0.2%.
• Within the Jaxi driving course level in Sand Kingdom, the Jaxi will respawn at the beginning of the level if it falls into the void, or if Mario is placed into a bubble.
• When starting a Koopa Freerunning race, the Koopa will inform you that Assist Mode does not work during the race. All Assist Mode effects will be disabled during the race.
• In specific locations, the camera will automatically focus on certain objects.
• In two specific locations, Mario's movement will be locked to a certain plane. One such location is above the quicksand pillars in the Tostarena Ruins, and the other is on the path to the Rango fight above the Water Plaza in the Lake Kingdom (this location only takes effect before Rango has been defeated).
• Bound Bowl racers move at a slower rate.