When it began to become clear that Nintendo was bringing many of its Wii U games to the Switch, many fans naturally expected Super Mario 3D World to be one of the games that make the leap. It’s hard to believe it took almost four years, but we finally have a matter of weeks before this much sought after jewel of Mario has a second chance in the spotlight, and this time, under the guise of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury, offers an extra boot mode.
For those who missed it for the first time, Super Mario 3D World is the sequel to the brilliant 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land and tries to build a kind of home between the 2D linear game of the New Super Mario Bros. games, and the most itinerant 3D game in 3D, such as Galaxy and Odyssey.
That said, he opts more for 2D games. Although each of the more than 100 stages of the game is technically “open”, as you can run anywhere you want, they still have a linear path with a flagpole at the end, instead of several stars or moons with different ones. assigned tasks. Your character’s movement is also blocked in eight directions to help emphasize that, deep down, this is still a game about running straight, just like your 2D brothers.
If you have already played the Wii U version, you may notice that some improvements have been made to this switching port. Many of them are subtle; the user interface has changed a bit, the native resolution seems to have increased and some of the camera’s default angles seem to have changed (although we’ll have to spend a little more time comparing the game side by side with the Wii U version before we can find out how much time Nintendo spends on this). The cat’s boot also allows you to climb a little higher before it’s over, making it easier to reach higher ledges.
The most obvious difference, however, is the increase in walking speed. As brilliant as the Wii U version of 3D World was, its characters could have done it with a bit of momentum and that’s exactly what happened here. Of course, each character still has their own running speeds (the toad is still the fastest and the peach is still the slowest), but they’ve all been increased accordingly to make the game feel a little more reduced. This is especially welcome when you revisit previous stages to pick up some of the hidden green stars and stamps you missed along the way.
Speaking of stamps, in fact they are still present here, although they are used for a different purpose. In Wii U games, the stamps you found could be used in Miiverse (ah, remember Miiverse? The glory days), so you could add a little style to your posts. Since Miiverse is no longer tragically with us, the stamps are now used in the bright new Photo Mode. If you’re familiar with Super Mario Odyssey photo mode, it’s the same thing you can do here: you can rotate the camera, zoom in and out, add filters and the like, but this time you can also place the collected stamps directly into the game world (and this time they also have color).
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 several improvements on this front (Captain Toad stages, for example, can now be played with four players instead of just one). While the Wii U version insisted that everyone play on one system, here you also have the option to play local wireless multiplayer with multiple switches, so everyone gets their own screen.
There is also online multiplayer, but at this stage we have only devoted ourselves to it a bit. We played a short four-player session with a few more posts 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 caused numerous cases to freeze while their connection was kept up to date. Although when things were running smoothly, the performance was perfectly fine, so we intended to spend a little more time online before thinking.
So far so good with the main game, then, but there’s also the not-so-small issue of its new derivation mode, Bowser’s Fury. From what we’ve played so far, here’s the best way to describe it: you know how we said 3D World was a mix between 3D open world Mario games and 2D linear games, but we opted for more to 2D? Bowser Fury is what you would get if you leaned more towards 3D.
The brief section we can talk about in this preview is a small area called Scamper Shores. It is an island on a larger map that acts as its own autonomous setting. When you pass under a giant cat’s head bow, the area “activates” and you can start collecting Cat Shines, the main collectible for this mode. Basically, there is a giant bell called Giga Bell, which is at the end of Scamper Shores. To activate the bell, you must collect a fixed number of Cat Shines: once you have enough, the bell comes to life and you can pick it up, turning Mario into the massive Giga Cat Mario and letting yourself take on the massive Fury Bowser.
The Cat Shines are collected by taking on a series of missions, in a line similar to that of Super Mario 64 or Sunshine. In Scamper Shores, for example, you can get a Shine by reaching the stage lighthouse and win another by finding and defeating an evil Shadow Luigi. There are also five smaller cat glitter fragments hidden in the area, which constitute another glow if you find them all.
While this makes it all sound like a complete Mario 3D game, it’s worth noting that, as we say, it’s still more than a cross between 2D and 3D. While you can freely traverse the edges of Scamper Shores, and while Mario now has a full 360-degree directional motion instead of blocking it in eight directions, there’s still a pretty obvious path through the island: if you could zoom in and look at it from a distance it would still look like a stage in the 3D world. Is that instead of pointing to a flagpole, you go back and forth picking up a series of Brilliant.
Accompany you on this adventure Bowser Jr., which can be controlled by a second player or AI. You can’t play without him by your side because you need to discover some secrets with the brush, but at least you can establish how much the AI version decides to get involved: a lot, little or nothing. Opt for at least some assistance and Bowser Jr. he will move around, pick up loose coins and sketch enemies to make things easier for you. It will also keep all the powers you get and keep them in an inventory, which means you can build up a strong collection of backup powers and request them on the go. Look no further for a Boomerang Bro dress when you already have a partner on the bench.
If you don’t like Bowser Jr., you can turn off support completely. This still allows you to summon it by pressing the R button to open a cursor, which can be oriented with the gyroscope to mark the 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 touch screen (and yes, you can use the touch screen of the switch in hand mode if you prefer).
In this first stage, it looks like Bowser’s fury will at least provide something different to fans who may have thoroughly rinsed 3D World when it was originally released seven (!) Years ago. While it remains to be seen how long this mode lasts, it is safe to say that this is becoming an impressive package regardless, especially for those who missed the Wii U game the first time. Next month we will have our final impressions closer to the launch, but so far things look promising.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is released on February 12, 2021.
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