Nintendo Treehouse talks Mario Odyssey’s Snapshot Mode, Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s battle system

The Nintendo Treehouse Log updated this past week with entries for two big entries. Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were both covered.

First, here’s an excerpt about the Snapshot Mode in Super Mario Odyssey:

This game’s all about the fun and excitement of travel, so it makes sense that the dev team created a tool to help you preserve those memories. After all, part of the fun of a journey is sharing photos of the big moments with your friends! But what really surprised me the first time I tried out Snapshot Mode was how robust its toolset was…

It utilizes the same Capture Button you’re used to on your Nintendo Switch, and it lets you share images in all the same ways that’re built into that system, too. But from there, it offers you a whole lot more. I’ve been messing around with Snapshot Mode a bunch since it first got added to the game. Over the next few posts I’ll be sharing a few of my favorite recent shots, and a bit of info about how I captured each one…

And an excerpt about the battle system in Xenoblade Chronicles 2:

To begin with, let’s discuss Blades. Blades are synthetic beings who wield different weapons full of tremendous power. Each Blade is born from what is called a Core Crystal. When a person touches a Blade’s Core Crystal, he or she will bond with that Blade and, as a result, be able to command that Blade in battle. A person who has bonded with a Blade is known as that Blade’s “Driver.”

Here we see a powerful and mysterious Blade, Pyra, alongside her Driver, Rex.
Drivers can bond with many different Blades, but can only command up to three in battle at a time. This is a big point at which strategy comes into play—once you’ve bonded with multiple Blades, which will you take into battle, and who will you start with? An indicator at the lower left of the game screen shows you who your current three Blades are; the top position represents the lead Blade, who always enters battle first.

Here we see Pyra in the first position, with Finch and Kogoku in the second and third positions respectively.
A small amount of time must pass before you can swap to one of your other two Blades. There are ways to shorten this amount of time by using Blades more frequently or completing quests, but there will always be a bit of a wait. And which Blade you choose to start battle with should always be part of your plans.

From there, though, battle strategy gets even more complex. Think of it like peeling an onion—there are lots of layers to go!

You can read Super Mario Odyssey’s full entry on the Nintendo Treehouse Log here. The one for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is here.