When it started to become clear that Nintendo was porting many of its Wii U games to the Switch, many fans naturally expected Super Mario 3D World to be one of the games that would make the leap. It’s hard to believe it took almost four years, but we’re finally only a few weeks away before this much-requested Mario jewel has a second chance to be the center of attention, and this time, in the form of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury, brings an extra way to boot.
For those who lost the first time, Super Mario 3D World is the sequel to the brilliant 3DS Super Mario 3D Land game and tries to build a kind of intermediate house between the linear 2D gameplay of New Super Mario Bros. games, and 3D gameplay more free from names like Galaxy and Odyssey.
That said, it leans more towards 2D games. Although each of the more than 100 stages in the game are technically “open” in the sense that you can run wherever you want, each still has a linear path with a mast at the end, instead of several stars or moons with different tasks assigned to them. Your character’s movement is also halted in eight directions to help emphasize that, in essence, this is still a game about running in a straight line, just like your 2D siblings.
If you’ve played the Wii U version, you may notice that some improvements have been made to this Switch port. Many of them are subtle; the UI has been adjusted a bit, the native resolution seems to have been increased and some of the standard camera angles seem to have changed (although we have to spend a little more time comparing the game side by side with the Wii U before we figure out how long the Nintendo spent on it). The cat’s power-up also allows you to climb a little higher before it ends, making it easier to reach higher bumps.
The most obvious difference, however, is the increase in running speed. As brilliant as the Wii U version of 3D World was, its characters could have been improved and that’s exactly what happened here. Granted, each character still has their own unique running speeds (Toad is still the fastest and Peach is still the slowest), but they have all been increased accordingly to make the game a little more demanding. This is particularly welcome when you are revisiting older stages to catch any of the hidden green stars and seals that you have lost along the way.
Speaking of stamps, they are still present here, although they are used for a different purpose. At Wii U games, the stamps you found can be used on Miiverse (oh, remember Miiverse? The glory days) so you can add some style to your posts. Since Miiverse tragically is no longer with us, the stamps are now used in the new Photo Mode. If you’re familiar with the photo mode in Super Mario Odyssey, it’s the same here: you can rotate the camera, zoom in and out, add filters and the like, but this time you can also place your collected stamps directly in the world game (and they are in color this time too).
One of the main selling points of 3D World is its cooperative support for up to four players, and the Switch port has also received a number of improvements on that front (Captain Toad stages, for example, can now be played with four players instead of just one). Considering that the Wii U version required everyone to play on one system, here you also have the option of playing wireless local multiplayer with multiple switches, so that everyone has their own screen.
There is also the online multiplayer mode, but at this stage we only venture a little bit into it. We played a brief four-player session with some other publications and, while it was a fun time, it also highlighted the importance of a strong connection. One of the other players in our group was playing in a shed with a weak Wi-Fi signal, which led to several cases of freezing of the action while its connection was interrupted. However, when things went well, the performance was perfectly good, so we plan to spend a little more time online before giving our final remarks.
So far so good with the main game, but there is also the not-so-minor issue of its new spin-off mode, Bowser’s Fury. From what we’ve played so far, here’s the best way to describe it: do you know how we said 3D World was a mix between Mario’s 3D open world games and 2D linear games, but you leaned more towards 2D? Bowser’s fury is what you would get if he leaned more towards 3D.
The brief section that we can talk about in this view is a small area called Scamper Shores. It is an island on a larger map that acts as its own independent stage. When you pass under a giant cat head arch, the area is “activated” and you can start collecting Cat Shines, the main collector for this mode. Essentially, there is a giant bell called Giga Bell that sits at the end of Scamper Shores. To activate the bell, you must collect a set number of Cat Shines: once you get enough, the bell comes to life and you can collect it, transforming Mario into the giant Giga Cat Mario and allowing you to face the huge Fury Bowser.
Cat Shines are collected in a series of missions, in a vein similar to Super Mario 64 or Sunshine. In Scamper Shores, for example, you can get a Shine arriving at the lighthouse on the stage, and win another one by finding and defeating an evil Shadow Luigi. There are also five smaller Cat Shine Shards hidden around the area, which form another Shine if you find them all.
Although this makes everything look like a complete 3D Mario game, it is worth keeping in mind that, as we say, it is even more a cross between 2D and 3D. Although you can roam freely around Scamper Shores, and although Mario now has 360-degree directional movement instead of being blocked in eight directions, there is still a pretty obvious path around the island: if you could fully zoom in and look at it from a distance, it would still look like a world stage in 3D. It’s just that, instead of pointing at a mast, you’re going back and forth collecting a series of sparkles.
Accompanying you on this adventure is Bowser Jr., which can be controlled by a second player or by AI. You can’t play without him by your side because he needs to discover some secrets with his brush, but you can at least define how much the AI version decides to get involved: a lot, a little or nothing. Opt for at least a little help and Bowser Jr. will launch around, collecting loose coins and beating enemies to make things easier for you. It will also keep all the power-ups you get and keep them in inventory, which means you can build a robust collection of backup power-ups and order them quickly. No more looking for a Boomerang Bro suit when you already have a couple at the bank.
If you don’t like having Bowser Jr. making things easier for you, you can turn off assistance entirely. This even allows you to invoke it by pressing the R button to open a cursor, which can be directed with the gyroscope to point to areas you want it to investigate. By the way, this is also how you activate some of the objects in the main 3D World game that previously required the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen (and yes, you can use the Switch’s touchscreen in portable mode if you prefer) .
At this early stage, it looks like Bowser’s Fury will at least provide something a little different for fans who may have already rinsed 3D World completely when it was originally released seven (!) Years ago. While it is not yet known how long this mode actually lasts, it is safe to say that it looks like an impressive package, especially for those who missed the Wii U game the first time. We will have our final impressions next month around the launch, but so far things look promising.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury will be released on February 12, 2021.
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