Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, review: Jazzed-up re-release shines in multiplayer

One of Nintendo's lesser-known Mario titles gets a splashy makeover for a new console generation

Sandwiched between the rollicking commercial successes of the NintendoWii and the Switch, the low-selling Wii U wasn’t so much a black sheep as a black hole – the console equivalent of a 404 “File Not Found” error. From 2012 to 2017, an entire generation of games, in some of Nintendo’s most popular franchises, simply passed large swathes of players by, unnoticed. This goes a long way to explaining the alacrity with which Nintendo have been re-releasing Wii U games on the Switch. Games such as Mario Kart 8 and Pikmin 3 have received augmented Switch versions; the latest, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, out 12 February, could well be the best, most invigorating re-release yet.

The game is split into two halves, as its cumbersome title suggests. The first, Super Mario 3D World, is lifted from the old Wii U game, and comprises a cross between the classic, linear platforming of the original Super Mario Bros, and the 3D style of Super Marios 64, Galaxy, Odyssey, etc. The game will seem immediately and intimately familiar to any seasoned Mario-heads, even if you weren’t acquainted with the Wii U version. From arid deserts to haunted mansions, the levels are, by and large, decorated and booby-trapped with the same ornaments that the franchise has been using for decades.

Where this mode really clicks is as a multiplayer experience. 3D World can be played by 1-4 people, either locally or online, and traversing the levels together strikes an enjoyable balance between cooperation and competition. Mario games, outside of a few multiplayer spin-offs like the Kart and Party series, are mostly solitary affairs. Odyssey was a great game, for instance, but was drastically less fun if you played through its entirety as Player Two, controlling only Mario’s hat. 3D World’s mad scramble for coins, power-ups and collectables has been slickened in the transition from Wii U to Switch, too: the characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad) move faster than before, making the action that bit trickier.

Mario evades his enemy's blast in the Bowser's Fury expansion game (Nintendo)

Bowser’s Fury is another beast, an add-on created entirely for the Switch re-release. It’s not quite substantial enough to justify its own separate release, but packaged with the sizable 3D World, this is an expansion pack with some serious legs on it. In a novel twist on Mario’s traditional level- or world-based setup, Bowser’s Fury places Mario in an open environment, free to wander around a number of different islands. The multiplayer aspect here is less robust, however, and limited to two players, losing some of the core game’s distinctive appeal.

There’s something to be said for reliability, and Nintendo has been one of the most solid games publishers around for years. 3D World is a worthwhile addition to their canon, a body well worth exhuming; Nintendo haven’t quite reinvented the wheel here, but they’ve given it a good old spit-shine.