It’s no secret that the Wii U was a failure for Nintendo, standing as one of the company’s worst-selling video game consoles to date. But even though the Wii U struggled to catch on with fans, it still had an impressive library of exclusive games, which Nintendo has been pulling from to bolster the Switch’s own first-party lineup. The latest Wii U game to make the jump to the Nintendo Switch isSuper Mario 3D WorldthroughSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, but it contains a lot more new content than most Wii U Switch ports.
Anyone that’s already extensively played throughSuper Mario 3D Worldon the Wii U will likely be more interested in theBowser’s Furypart of the equation.Bowser’s Furyis a standalone adventure that plays like a mix of the more linearSuper Mario 3D World-style levels and sandboxSuper Mariogames likeSuper Mario 64orSuper Mario Odyssey. It’s a short but sweet adventure, givingSuper Mariofans at least three to five hours of high quality 3D platforming gameplay.
InBowser’s Fury, players explore Lake Lapcat, a large body of water dotted with islands. Each island has its own secrets and platforming challenges for players to complete, with the ultimate goal ofcollecting Cat Shines. It’s like an open world take onSuper Mario, and it shows that there is a ton of potential for a future game in the series to expand on the concept.
Mario is collecting Cat Shines inBowser’s Furyto remove toxic black sludge from the land and drive back the aptly named Fury Bowser. A hulking monstrosity, Fury Bowser looks like he was ripped straight from a kaiju film, with his mere presence summoning violent storms. Fury Bowser will periodically pop up while players areexploring Lake Lapcat, impeding Mario’s progress with fireballs and inclement weather. He’ll leave after a certain amount of time passes, or players can drive him back by collecting a Cat Shine, which also takes a chunk out of his health bar.
Collecting enough Cat Shines lets Mario use the Giga Bell, a brand new powerup exclusive toBowser’s Fury. With the Giga Bell, Mario transforms into a skyscraper-sized version of Cat Mario, with spiky blonde hair that wasclearly inspired byDragon Ball Z’s Super Saiyans. Giga Cat Mario can fight Fury Bowser head on, smashing him with objects and ground-pounding on his exposed stomach to drain his health bar and send him back into the sludge. Doing this enough times will cause Fury Bowser to flee to a new area, which unlocks another portion of the map.
There are three main portions of Lake Lapcat for players to explore inBowser’s Fury, with 100 Cat Shines in total to collect. It’s a great deal of fun while it lasts, and it will leave fans hungry for a fully-fledged open worldSuper Marioexperience. However, there are some quirks toBowser’s Furythat keep it from reaching its full potential, with the game’s flaws all having to do with the Fury Bowser gimmick.
Fury Bowser rises from Lake Lapcat semi-frequently, and while that sounds like it could be annoying, he’s not a big enough threat to really cause players problems. Sometimes it can be difficult to dodge his fire blasts, but getting hit by them doesn’t knock Mario off platforms or anything - it simply causes damage. And with players able to bank up to five of eachBowser’s Furypower-up, it’s easy to pop one right away to nullify any damage Fury Bowser has done.
The problem is that there are certain Cat Shines that can only be collected whenFury Bowseris present. There are Fury Blocks found on each island that can only be destroyed by Bowser’s fire, plus there is a floating island of five Cat Shines, with players only able to collect one at a time before Bowser leaves and the island disappears with him. This means players have to literally stand around and wait for things to happen, which is completely at odds with the rest of the game’s design.Super Mario’s philosophy is go-go-go, so it’s strange that Nintendo included Cat Shines like this. If players prioritize rushing to the Fury Blocks when Bowser is around and heading straight for the floating island, they can save themselves at least some waiting around and doing nothing, however.
While players are hunting down all of the Cat Shines inBowser’s Fury, they can be joined by a second player controlling Bowser Jr. Mario’s longtime enemy is his friend in this latest adventure, with Bowser Jr. able to find secrets in the game world, defeat enemies, and make his way to hard-to-reach spots. AnAI-controlled Bowser Jr.joins Mario if a second player isn’t available, and thankfully players are able to customize how much he tries to help.
Playing as Bowser Jr. inBowser’s Furyis an experience somewhere between a proper co-op mode and the more passive co-op modes seen in pastSuper Mariogames. Playing as Bowser Jr. is much more engaging than, say, playing as the star pointer inSuper Mario Galaxyor as Cappy inSuper Mario Odyssey, but the second player still shouldn’t expect to have nearly as much fun as the person playing as Mario.
Bowser’s Furydoesn’t make playing as Bowser Jr. a full-fledged co-op experience, but it doesn’t need to be. Bowser Jr. is merely there to provide support, assisting Mario so players can have more control over the game’s difficulty. If players want more substantial co-op, they can check out theSuper Mario 3D Worldpart of the package, which offers a ton more content and some noticeable improvements over the original Wii U release.
Super Mario 3D Worldis more or less exactly as fans will remember from 2013. It’s a more linear take onclassicSuper Mario3D platforming gameplay, with the main goal of simply getting to the end of each stage. The difference betweenSuper Mario 3D Worldand otherSuper Mariogames, though, is that it supports up to 4-player co-op throughout the entire game, which can be as fun as it is chaotic.
The Nintendo Switch version ofSuper Mario 3D Worldimproves the co-op experience when compared to the original game, throwing online co-op support in the mix and adding co-op to sections that previously went without it. For instance, theCaptain Toad bonus levels inSuper Mario 3D Worldcan now be played by up to four players, whereas they were restricted to the first player in the Wii U original.
Super Mario 3D Worldon the Switch is a superior co-op experience to the original game, but the improvements don’t stop there. Nintendo has also madeSuper Mario 3D Worldgameplay faster, upping character speed rather significantly. While thefaster characters inSuper Mario 3D Worldon Switchmay not seem like that big of a deal, they go a long way in improving the game’s pacing.
The changes made toSuper Mario 3D Worldon Switch are all mostly positive, though admittedly, the touchscreen functionality of the Wii U Gamepad is missed in certain levels of the game. However, the benefits to the Switch version outweigh the Gamepad, with the upped speed and online co-op support makingSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furythe best way to play the game.
Bowser’s Furyis great while it lasts, but it is admittedly short, and soSuper Mario 3D World’s high price tagon Switch may be hard to swallow for those that have already played through the game on Wii U. Double-dipping makes more sense for someone who is wanting to take advantage ofSuper Mario 3D World’s online co-op functionality, but other returning players may want to wait for a sale. However, anyone that hasn’t playedSuper Mario 3D Worldon the Wii U should go out and buySuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furyon Switch immediately, as it is a fantasticSuper Mario 3Dplatforming experience with enough content to keep fans busy for weeks.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furyis out now, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
