#1 on gamerankings would be a much more attainable goal. Needs 97.65% for that.

Your track record is well proven, however I feel 99 is to high in this day and age of click bait. SMO does looks awesome though.

I'm expecting somewhere in the low 90's. They're taking a lot of risks with this one, looks good though.

Out of curiosity, what risks?

I don't expect much more than a 95, honestly. Historically, I believe the best-rated Mario game on Metacritic is Mario Galaxy with 97%. Sunshine/64 had low 90's. I'll be content with anything above 90.

I can't imagine the expectations of games nowadays. We're half-way through this year, and ONLY Zelda BOTW (both versions), Shovel Knight, Persona 5 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have gotten above 90 on Metacritic. Nope, HZD didn't even get a 90.

So, can we really jump to the conclusion that this will get a 99? (that was probably a joke). I'm expecting a 94-97 if this lives up to the hype. This has to be decently better than Galaxy, in other words.

Real humans in Mario gives me a sonic adventure vibe, and not in a good way. I just feel the tone of the game is feeeekkkked. It'll easily be 90+ and gameplay-wise it'll be great. But there's going to be reviewers that think it feels off like me. Should have created characters to inhabit the city like on delfino island.

Open world platforming, Mario in realistic settings, unconventional gameplay (Mario being able to take over enemies and inanimate objects), etc.

Just look at how Yooka-Laylee turned out.

Odyssey looks good, but also has a weird vibe to it. I like my Marios more linear, but I'm old school.

I don't think it will but only due to genre.

Open world platforming was done back in 64/Sunshine. Plus this is the main Mario dev team led by Koizumi, who knows Mario as close as his creator, Miyamoto. This isn't the former Rare devs who haven't developed in a while and with the type budget Mario potentially has.