BinaryMessiah Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Review

There was never a time when a mainstream Mario platformer was bad—2D or 3D. In the early 2010s, Nintendo was dialing back the more open 3D Mario adventures in favor of more linear 2.5D platforming titles. This was sparked by the popularity of the New Super Mario Bros. series, which then spun off two 3D Mario games that were kind of in between that and Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario 3D Land was a 3DS exclusive, and while a lot of fun, it was way too easy and felt more for kids. The levels were super short; they could be completed in a matter of a couple of minutes, and overall, the game was a nice weekend rental. Mario games are something you don't really need to 100% complete, as there isn't any reward outside of personal satisfaction, but Nintendo also tried to change that with Super Mario Galaxy. The reward is the challenge. 3D World is 3D Land's bigger console cousin. Released for the Wii U two years after 3D Land, and being the only mainstream 3D Mario title on the system, it was a huge success. Implementing a four-player couch co-op mode and introducing new power-ups while maintaining the short levels from 3D Land seemed to be a perfect match for most people. The game pushed the Wii U to its limits and looked fantastic, and it still holds up today on the Switch. Bright, colorful visuals similar to Mario Galaxy were a winning combination. The game's world map has the same standard Mario layout we've seen since the beginning. You navigate a map in 3D that has each has a stage you can enter. There are some small things to do on the map, like enter slot machines to win power-ups and coins, bonus stages, Toad houses with presents, etc. These are neat but don't really add anything to the game overall. The 3D map works well and is fine and gets its job done. Mario can store one power-up while also using one in this game. Power-ups are suits with some old and a new like the Cat power-up, which allows you to sprint faster, swipe at enemies, and run up walls, which not only opens up new gameplay possibilities but can also make levels and challenging spots easier. Each stage flows like a typical Mario game. There are constant obstacles to jump across, pits to avoid, enemy patterns to learn, and coins to collect. Coins are simply used to give you lives. 100 coins equals one life, so don't feel obligated to hit every single question mark block. Some of the later stages can be really tough, but nothing that can't be managed if you are careful. What makes Mario games so beloved is how well balanced everything is, and there's always something new coming at you. No two levels are the same. While many obstacles and hazards are the same, they are always used in unique ways. This is just the Mario design language that has been unable to be replicated to this day. It's literally perfect. You also get to ride a water Plessie, which has his own levels and areas. He's a bit tricky to learn how to ride and steer, but the sense of speed is awesome. There is a huge variety of levels ranging from lava, ice, clouds, mountain peaks, and many other types of terrain. Big cities, dark mansions, spooky caverns, underwater caves. I can't think of a single type of level that isn't in this game. Most levels flow similarly, though. You get a couple of sections that show you what to expect in the stage. Is there a lot of platforming, enemy stomping, running, and dashing? Each level has three hidden green stars to collect and a stamp. This is your completionist objective to get them all. You do have to get some extra stars, as later boss stages require unlocking them with stars. Some of the stars are very well hidden or incredibly tricky to get without dying. If you die, you keep everything you found and can restart at the checkpoint or back at the beginning of the stage, but they are so short that this isn't a huge deal. Of course, there are the occasional levels that are incredibly frustrating. Either a group of enemies is just in the wrong place or something just isn't designed well within the level. Mario can attack enemies with stomps, but if you have a power-up, you can attack from a distance or with swiping. The Fire Flower can throw fireballs, the Koopa suit can throw boomerangs, and the Tanooki suit can give you some extra distance, and if you die at least five times, you get the white Tanooki suit, which makes you invincible. This is optional as a box that sits at the checkpoint. This is great to use if you just want to power through a level and get the stars and stamp. Just remember if you get a single hit, you lose the power-up, and another hit makes you tiny. Three hits and you're done. The boss fights are really disappointing, incredibly easy, and repeated often, which seems to be a trend with 3D Mario games at this time. I keep saying Mario, but there are other characters, and they all feel different to play. Luigi jumps higher, Peach jumps farther, and Toad is faster. Some secret areas require specific characters or multiple characters to activate. In single-player you can pick up the new cherry power-up to multiply yourself for these puzzles. However, controlling a bunch of characters at once is tricky. Bowser's Fury If you don't 100% the game, you can blow through the entire thing in less than 6 hours. It's a very short game. Thankfully, the Bowser's Fury DLC was included, and this is like a whole new mini Mario adventure on its own. You break away from the classic linear levels and are dumped into a small 3D map that has islands that play out similar to the 3D World levels. You can explore the areas surrounding these islands for small mini-games that award Cat Shrines, which are the new stars in this DLC. You need 40 to fight the final Bowser boss, but there are 100 in total. It's a massive DLC that's pretty much another game all on its own. There's no new focus on new power-ups. They just took the 3D World stuff and threw it into an open-world design, and it works. The start of each "stage" is marked by a gate you can walk through, which will tell you what the Cat Shrine goal name is and how many are left. Each island has five Cat Cards you can find, which will award a Cat Shrine. Each new run in the level allows for a new way to navigate the level. One might be platforming focused, while the next gives you a helicopter box, and you have to fly around the small island finding a key to open the cage to the Cat Shrine. The levels are just as well designed as the main game, and the final few stages are tough but fun. The new element here is that Bowser is a massive Kaiju monster, and every few minutes a rainstorm starts, and Bowser will start throwing stuff at you, and this also opens up gameplay opportunities. There are Bowser blocks hidden around some islands, and if you stand by them while Bowser is out, he will breathe fire on them and break them, usually revealing a Cat Shrine. The number of shrines hidden throughout this DLC is massive, and it can easily take a good 6 hours just to find all of them with a guide. Once you do get enough Cat Shrines, you can fight Bowser in a new Giga fight. There's a massive Cat Bell at the center of each of the three islands, and when Bowser comes out, this will light up and ring. Grab it, and you will grow into Kaiju Mario and can brawl Bowser. Here you need to dodge his attacks, swipe at him in any of the power-up suits, and power stomp him when he's belly up. Throughout the storms, if you clear a lighthouse while he's out, it will take some health away so he's easier when you fight him. This is a really clever way to change up the gameplay, and this is something that has never been seen in other Mario games before. Of course, the same old bosses from the main game are found throughout the DLC, which sucks, but you get Bowser Jr. to tag along with you, and he can assist in combat, or you can tap on giant question mark graffiti icons to get a power-up. A second player can control Bowser Jr. too, so this is obviously a more single-player focused DLC. In this DLC you can hold as many of each power as you want. Since you are on a giant set of islands, the entire game takes place in the ocean, so to get across large distances, you can use a Plessie, who also has his own sprinting mini-games to get Cat Shrines. Overall, Super Mario 3D World feels great to play and is a lot of fun, especially with four players. My biggest gripe is that the game is way too easy and the stages are too short. After Mario Galaxy, I feel like the series hadn't quite hit that stride until Odyssey came out. The physics of the game also feel a bit off. I often had some perspective issues where I fell off ledges and misjudged jumps because of the camera angle. These are just level design quirks that were overlooked or couldn't be helped. I also dislike just how repetitive and easy the boss fights are. By the 6th world, I kind of felt like I was done with the game, and the final areas dragged a bit. Bowser's Fury is a fantastic DLC that feels like it bridged the gap between 3D World and Odyssey. Overall, this is a solid game packed with content.