Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is effectively the console version of Super Mario 3D Land. Of course it’s not the same game, and doesn’t share any of the levels, but it’s more so the spiritual successor. Originally for the Wii U, unsurprisingly, it was finally ported to Switch. It’s designed to have four play co-op but can be played singe player. As a result of that co-op focus, there are four different characters to choose from: Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad. Each character has slightly different movesets and jumps differently.
As with all Mario platformers, there is a simple story to put things into perspective. In this one, Mario sets off to save the Sprixies who has been captured by Bowser. Mario travels through the land and through the levels to save them. The early worlds and pretty much the whole story mode, are designed to be easy to help ease you into the game. The platforming in these levels doesn’t require too much finesse or precise timing.
If you’ve ever played a Mario game, you’ll feel right at home since the controls as mostly the same. By default, Mario can jump, run and air slam. Jumping on most enemies can defeat them. However, get some power-ups and Mario can transform and gain different abilities. Returning abilities including Mario being able to throw fireballs and floating a bit longer in the air. The new ability that this game introduces is a cat costume and allows Mario to climb up walls. You can’t climb up to the top of every wall though, since he'll eventually lose grip.
Unfortunately, like 3D Land, the camera is fixed in an isometric like view. You can rotate the view using the right stick at times. Unlike 3D Land though, the game lacks any real 3D effect, so this camera angle hinders the platforming. It makes it harder to judge the depth and distance of a jump, even with the shadow underneath Mario to help guide you. Suddenly, jumping onto an enemy or to a platform becomes much harder and you die because of missing your landing.
The game is structured like most Mario games. There is a hub world where you select the levels to go in. Each level is not massively long; most can be finished between five to ten minutes. Each level is timed, and combined with the coins you collect, the secrets you find, and the enemies you defeat, will result in a score at the end of the level. The levels are a combination of side scrolling and larger 3D areas. It’s not completely free roam, and there are clear boundaries of the levels (they basically float in midair). The bright and colorful graphics make it nice to look at though.
The levels themselves will have the usual obstacles like jumping onto moving platforms, enemies roaming about, underwater sections, and the like. There are collectible green stars in each level, and you will need to collect a certain amount to continue to progress through the game. There is also another collectible, being stamps, which aren’t hidden as much as the green stars. Due to the Wii U roots, there are some sections where it requires the touchscreen to interact with the objects. If you’re playing the game docked, you can use the controller to mimic the touchscreen but no matter which method you use, it just feels awkward and breaks the flow of the game.
There are other types of levels that help to increase the variety. An example is the Toad levels, where you move Toad around a small stage to collect everywhere. The difference comes in that Toad cannot jump and you can rotate the small area to find the paths that crisscross around. These levels inspired a spin-off game (Captain Toad Treasure Tracker). There are also plenty of boss battles but most of these are easy and simple 3-staged affairs.
The final worlds of story mode are harder, and you may have to retry a few times, although a lot of them are still the camera perspective causing issues, which combined with levels where there is a fixed scrolling progress, can make is frustrating. Getting to the credits takes around six to eight hours, depending on how fast you progress and whether you would like to go for all the collectibles. After beating the final boss, it unlocks new worlds, with harder levels, which can be somewhat annoying. There’s also a tendency for those bonus levels to be modified versions of earlier levels, reusing a lot of the level designs.
Instead of only porting the original game from the Wii U, this version includes additional content. It’s selectable via the title screen and is a completely different mode called Bowser’s Fury. Instead of being additional levels in the same vein as the original game, it’s more like a proper 3D Mario. Instead of selectable levels to clear within a time limit, it’s more open, taking place completely on what is effectively a hub world.
The story has Bowser being taken over by something dark (and oily), and Mario partners with Bowser Jr. to find and collect enough Cat Shines to heal Bowser. You’re free to roam the world, or what’s unlocked of it (since more will appear as you progress through the game). Bowser, who is in a giant size and in a rage, constantly shows up and attacks Mario. This is used to find some of the Cat Shines. However, Bowser appears too frequently when you don’t want him to (i.e. when you’re exploring), and too infrequently when you do need him to break something. It’s not a great mix and is bordering on annoying, especially towards the end of the content.
Given there are no levels to load, it’s all within the same open world, just represented as islands separated by water. It feels seamless, even though granted, this probably means you use time traveling between the islands. The other cool thing is that when you collect Cat Shinies, the islands will change, and new challenges reveal themselves. All in all, this is a fun teaser of what is to come for the future of 3D Mario and takes around three hours to complete the story content, double that if you want to collect everything. That’s a lot more additional content than you’d expect for a Wii U port.
Overall, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a fun port of the Wii U game that a lot of people would have missed. The camera perspective can throw you off, and you may never get used to it, and the story levels are quite easy. This isn’t a bad thing as you’ll never get properly stuck without being able to progress. The bonus levels are where the challenges lie and those can get frustrating. The additional content Bowser’s Fury is a fantastic addition, plonking Mario’s abilities from this game into a 3D open world. It’s a great package overall and packs in a lot of content.
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