(Some of) The Birds of Super Mario Odyssey

 Thanks to my three-year-old son Ryan, Super Mario Odyssey is now the only game I have ever 100% completed...twice. We had a bit of a rough patch this year where he decided the most fun thing to do in Mario Odyssey was to restart from the beginning, and even though the kid can't read, he did figure out how to navigate through four submenus to delete my save file and start a new game. And then Nintendo very helpfully overwrote my cloud backup with his new game.

So, we played the whole thing again. This was probably for the best, because my boy is very into Mario, and it's much more fun for him when there are moons to collect. It's so boring after you finished the whole game and already found all 999 of them. So, yeah, let's start over!

When you play a game as much as I've played Mario Odyssey, you start to notice little details you didn't see before. And when you're me--especially this year--the little details you notice are birds. Shockingly, I was not able to find a list anywhere on the internet identifying the real species behind the birds in Super Mario Odyssey, so it is now my moral imperative to create it. Here we go.

Wingspan: This Isn't Just a Game Anymore

Late in 2018, I saw a preview video for a board game. It was an absolutely gorgeous game in every aspect--artwork, components, design, just everything--and I immediately knew I wanted it, even though it wasn't going to be out for a while and I wasn't even fully sure of all the rules or even the price yet. My reaction was so immediate and so strong that it took me awhile to fully unpack it.