Kotaku game diaryThe last thoughts of a Kotaku employee about a game we’re playing.Nintendo’s first major launch in 2021, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury, brings together a relaunch of a seven-year game alongside a new but small adventure. The main attraction is the latter, which offers a showcase of what an open world Mario game could be. What else, Bowser’s Fury technically it has a cooperative sofa mode. But you are planning to take the collection because of this and just for that, follow this simple advice: Don’t do this.
Like you i love Mario games. I love the great couch co-op. (Living in a crowded house of four is one of the few things helping me to overcome the pandemic.) So I took it Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury almost the second I heard that there was a local cooperative.
That’s how it works. You, as player one, are cast as Mario. You are strolling and see a little paint that reminds a lot of graffiti from Shadow Mario, the villain of Super Mario Sunshine. Before long, you are taken to another realm, where you are faced with Bowser Jr. (as if the sunshinepainting style was not a clue). It’s who player two controls.
Bowser Jr. is less of an entity and more of a fly. As usual, he is confined to his cart, which player two uses to fly, collecting coins and the like, all to help player one. Player two cannot tamper with the precision platform that is set Mario games since the Paleolithic. In fact, from what I have experienced, there is little or no risk for anyone controlling Bowser Jr. Worse yet, it is very easy to fly off the screen with nothing but a small indicator pointing to the location of Bowser Jr., at least in local co-op. (Bowser’s Fury has online co-op, but you would need two Switch consoles for that. I couldn’t try that.)
It’s the perfect “cooperative” type of for, say, a younger sibling or child – just interactive enough to make them feel like they are actually playing. At the same time, it is not so invasive as to allow player two to ruin everything, either by accident or on purpose, for player one.
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Now, that doesn’t mean Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury it is a total failure in terms of sofa co-op. I, in my eternal essence, just used my Wii U to play Super Smash Bros.and therefore lost Super Mario 3D Worldoriginal race of. Uh, why didn’t you all tell me that Super Mario 3D World is a phenomenal cooperative game? We play every night at my house and have a lot of fun.
For those like me who jumped the first time, you would be forgiven for thinking Super Mario 3D World is yet another Mario platform with a fixed perspective. The trick is that you can play with up to four players, each assuming the roles of Mario, Peach, Toad and that other guy with the green hat and tight gym shorts. Each character plays a little differently. Toad, for example, runs faster, while Luigi has a little more airtime while jumping. Your objective is the same as in many of these games: to reach the end of the stage and jump on a mast. As you complete the levels in a given region, you will unlock the castle level for that region. Completing this will allow you to proceed to the next area.
But here’s the problem: you’re marked. Every star you encounter, every Goomba you step on, gives you points. There is a shared team score, but whoever scores more individually receives a literal crown. Furthermore, whoever jumps higher on the flagpole at the end will have that flag marked with a symbol of their character in the upper world. You can forget the scores, but there is always some kind of visual reminder of who you are same winning all these steps. At any level, yes, you are working together, but you are also working against each other.
Better yet, as with all the best local cooperative games, you can ruin your team’s day. With the push of a button, you can take any of the other players and, I don’t know, throw them at an enemy or a cliff. However, you share lives as a team, so you often have to choose between sowing chaos and actually playing the game as intended. (Always choose chaos, folks.)
But Super Mario 3D World is smart enough to force them to work together on some points. On one level, you and your team control an aquatic dinosaur steed while crossing rapids. If you coordinate when you turn or jump, you have more control, thus minimizing the chance of getting off the side of the stage. Another stage requires players to navigate on platforms marked with two opposite arrows. To make any progress, you will have to jump on the same arrow at the same time.
Bowser’s Fury it may indeed be a disappointment in terms of cooperative play. But, if you’re looking forward to a new cooperative sofa game and missed the first time, Super Mario 3D World It is worth checking.