Super Mario 3D World (2013), once exclusive to the Wii U, was ported and released on the Nintendo Switch this February. During its entire lifetime, the Wii U moved 13.6 million units. The Switch, meanwhile, is the best-selling console in the company’s history—79.8 million units thus far—and hasn’t even reached the end of its life cycle. The math is self-evident—if you own a Switch, there’s a good chance you’ve never played Super Mario 3D World, despite it being one of the best titles on its original console. Add in the DLC-sized Bowser’s Fury, a standalone adventure featuring an uneasy Mario and Bowser, Jr. partnership, and you have a 2-in-1 package that’s well worth the $59.99 price of admission.
We will be reviewing both titles separately, and include some final thoughts at the end.
'Super Mario 3D World'
The first thing to understand about Super Mario 3D World is that its name is more a formality than an accurate description. It is the sequel to Super Mario 3D Land (2011), released on the 3DS in 2011, but the graphics are not ‘3D’ in the way a modern player would typically understand them. You cannot, for example, move the camera 360 degrees around you, which would allow you to fully explore a level from every perspective and angle.
Instead, the best way to think of this game is to imagine the dioramas you made in elementary school—when you took a shoebox, turned it on its side, and filled it with characters, details, and scenery. Now imagine that shoebox, stretched out to the length of a Mario level. Mario can move into the background of this theoretical diorama, but the effect is largely cosmetic. You can pivot the camera, but usually only 180 degrees or less.
Similar to a diorama, there is no ‘back’ to these levels, and you can only observe them ‘head-on.’ Super Mario 3D World has more in common with the 2D side-scrolling Mario games, and their linear get-to-the-flagpole gameplay, than a 3D Mario game like Super Mario Odyssey (2017) or even Super Mario 64 (1996).
But this is not a criticism; it is simply a clarifying of expectations. Super Mario 3D World is enormously fun. It may lack the trippy level design of a game like Galaxy. And the chaotic multiplayer mode—which allows up to four players to be on the screen simultaneously, either in person or online—was innovated by New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009). Instead of breaking new ground, Super Mario 3D World makes art out of playing it safe. The game takes the old Mario tropes that existed up to 2018, and blends them together into an experience that feels new and never gets dull. Every level has a gimmick, like a seesaw platform or a maze of suctioning pipes. And most of the levels are on the short side. If you’re not having fun on one particular level, know that once you defeat it, you’ll move onto something completely different, and you won’t be required to revisit it again.
The single innovation of Super Mario 3D World—and it was big enough that Nintendo based its entire marketing campaign around it—is the Cat Mario suit, a power-up that allows you to claw, pounce, and climb walls. It fundamentally changes the game, from one that is goal-oriented to one that is exploratory, where you focus on finding hidden coin caches and Green Stars.
The time limit, however, is ever-present, which cuts any true expedition short. And the lives system is also still there, although it’s been rendered near pointless; a Game Over now sends you back to the beginning of the level where you died, as opposed to the beginning of the world.
It doesn’t quite break free of its narrative constraints. But Super Mario 3D World shows the Mario franchise heading towards the investigative, open-world style of gameplay exemplified by Super Mario Odyssey and now reinforced by Bowser’s Fury.
'Bowser's Fury'
Bowser’s Fury, while containing the powerups, visual style, and character abilities of Super Mario 3D World, is completely different with regards to its gameplay. It is a true 3D game, for one, with a camera that moves 360 degrees and follows Mario in any direction. It does away with the lives system too; instead, there is a simple coin penalty each time you die.
There are no flagpole goals, instead, there are 100 “Cat Shines,” which are scattered and puzzled into a massive water-themed world. You use your animal buddy, Plessie, to island-hop and take on self-contained challenges to earn these rewards. Sometimes, it’s completing a timed challenge. Sometimes, it’s a puzzle where the Cat Shine is hidden in plain sight. And sometimes, it’s a narrative, like when you reunite a mother cat and her kitten. It’s exactly like Super Mario Odyssey’s Power Moons; collecting a moon does not send you to the start of the level or to the ‘next’ level. You simply continue from that point, in search of more Cat Shines.
The premise of Bowser’s Fury is that Bowser has been corrupted by a mysterious black goo, turning him into a massive rage monster with glowing eyes and Godzilla breath. Bowser Jr., with nowhere else to turn, seeks out Mario for help. Together, they collect Cat Shines, necessary to cure Bowser; you can set Bowser Jr.’s AI to help you a lot or a little. He’ll beat up enemies, reveal hidden blocks, and uncover powerups with his paintbrush. If you have a second player, he’s controllable as a co-op assist.
Intermittently, the massive, corrupted Bowser rises out of the water, and all hell breaks loose. Fire rains down from the sky, and Bowser, if he glimpses you, targets you with his fire breath. One of the best things you can do in this scenario is hide and find shelter. After about a minute and a half, Bowser will cool down and retreat to the water. And you continue your exploration.
Collect enough Cat Shines and you’ll trigger the Giga Bell, a power-up that transforms you into a massive Cat Mario. And then, you can confront Bowser on his own terms in a massive kaiju battle.
If Super Mario 3D World is Mario at the crossroads, then Bowser’s Fury is the Mario of the future. It shows that Super Mario Odyssey’s open-world approach to gameplay was no fluke; this is going to be the modus operandi for 3D Mario games moving forward. One noteworthy, new wrinkle; you can now store powerups and switch them at will during gameplay, which allows for maximum flexibility.
The one flaw in Bowser’s Fury, ironically enough, is the frequent use of Bowser himself. His rages go from scary, to routine, to mundane and annoying by the game’s end. And it begins to get in the way of your exploration, which you’re thoroughly engrossed in before Bowser comes in and wrecks everything you’re doing.
No doubt, that is the point. But I would argue that the developers don’t have the balance quite right. The gameplay tradeoff—of dealing with Bowser’s tantrums versus searching for Cat Shines—is not even, and the game is not equally compelling on both fronts. Perhaps in a DLC, they could include a New Game Plus Mode without Bowser constantly looming over your shoulder. Maybe customizable settings could make the Bowser appearances less frequent? The developers have crafted a beautiful tropical setting in Lake Lapcat, begging for a more laid-back vibe.
'The verdict
