Blambo! Hello, my giant, spiky, goopy friends! Arlo here, and today we are reviewing...Super
Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. 3D World was of course originally on the Wii
U, and it’s actually the first game I’ve ever reviewed twice! Which is funny, because that initial review
also happened to be my first one ever! Since then I’ve grown MUCH more long-winded,
so it’s been a lot of fun to return to the game and review it all over again. Of course, this isn’t just a straight port. There are plenty of fun changes to the Switch
version, not least of which is the inclusion of a brand new side story. So please join me in answering the question:
is this 3D world one worth revisiting...or did it leave me furious? Let’s find out. Woosh! The general consensus is that Super Mario
3D World is a terrific game. Some Grumpy Guses didn’t like how it looked
when it was first revealed, but after further marketing and release, people realized how
great it was, and those Guses were proven wrong. Well, my friends, I have a confession to make:
I was one of those Grumpy Guses. Frankly, after Sunshine and the Galaxy games,
I was APPALLED that this was the first big 3D Mario game in the HD era. 3D Land on the 3DS with its mix of 2D and
3D conventions made sense because of the system’s limitations. But continuing that formula on a home console? I was not happy. Aaaand I have another confession to make. Unfortunately, I can’t really say I ended
up coming around completely to the game over time like most other people did. It fails to satisfy me on a pretty deep, fundamental
level. However, over the years I have indeed grown
to better appreciate the game, and even if I complain about it, I do LIKE it. I said as much in my review of the original
game. And especially in the current context, with
Odyssey finally lifting Mario to the heights I had been hoping for--albeit a generation
later than I expected--it’s easier to just take 3D World as its own kind of thing. But let’s get the bad stuff out of the way
first. I promise I won’t go on about it for too
long. The main reason I love 3D Mario and really
just don’t care that much about 2D Mario is that the latter is just a bit too simple
for me. I want to explore, I want the gameplay to
change, I want to play at my own pace, I want to move in more than two directions. 3D movement certainly puts 3D World far, far
above 2D Marios in my book, but otherwise the experience just feels so limited. Every stage is entirely linear. Just get to the end. Collect stars and stamps if ya wanna. It’s not very engaging to me, it’s not
very stimulating. And if I ever DO find myself wanting to explore
what little there is to explore, oh look at that, I’m timed. Why? I don’t know. Just to make it less fun? Or something? I can’t really think of a good reason. So the basic premise is already disappointing,
but then there’s other stuff that stacks against it too. Nintendo wanted people to be able to play
with a Wii remote, so they chose to have the player move in a limited number of directions. With the camera at a locked isometric angle
this can be a plus, because it’s easier to aim and run along narrow paths without
succumbing to slight errors. But the rest of the time I dislike how you
snap between directions, so it’s just this little bit of unpleasantness that runs through
the whole experience. Like I get why it is the way it is, but that
don’t mean it feels good. Then I feel that the multiplayer element impacts
the level design. Sometimes it’s far too simplistic, and kinda
spread out to leave room for people to fumble over each other. Like requiring space for four people sort
of limited what they were able to accomplish in some cases. And perhaps as a result, the game is far too
easy for my liking. There are some tricky challenges especially
in the special worlds, and I know that Nintendo is all about making games accessible for any
age, but it just feels like they went a little too far in this case. I can burn through most of the game in just
a few hours, and that includes picking up most of the stars and stamps. Then, of course, there’s the creativity
thing. It already feels unfair to take 3D Mario and
apply all the limitations of 2D Mario to it, but then to also carry over the blandness
of the New Super Mario Bros. games is just a slap in the face. It’s hard to go from something like Super
Mario Galaxy with its story and its gravity mechanic and its epic scope to this… They’re cats now! That’s the thing, of the whole game! None of the environments or themes stray very
far from standard Mario fare. It’s all very geometrical and manufactured,
with a weird kind of plasticy, candy-coated shine on everything. The game just doesn’t do anything particularly
interesting from a visual standpoint, and it doesn’t have much of an identity. In nearly every category it’s just 3D Mario,
but less good. However I must put emphasis on that “NEARLY.” Because there is one category where 3D World
excels, and fortunately it’s one of the most important ones: the level design. Too easy most of the time? Yes. A little too simplistic a little too often
to accommodate for hectic multiplayer? Yes. But the level-specific mechanics on display
and how they’re utilized probably represent Mario at his absolute best, honestly. Galaxy and Galaxy 2 moved away from the sandbox
formula and Nintendo seemed to have had some sort of level design epiphany, and it absolutely
carries over into 3D World. Seeing as Odyssey went back to sandboxes and
its linear platforming challenges suffered a little because of it, it almost seems like
the less Nintendo has to focus on the “other stuff,” the better they are at just makin’
runny jumpy levels. And seeing as 3D World is pretty much devoid
of anything BUT runny jumpy levels, they were able to create an incredibly pure, condensed
Mario experience. Every single level has its own unique mechanic
or idea, and with all the powerups in the game you’re looking at a really good amount
of variety, even if the basic concept of “getting to the end” never changes. Nintendo’s four-step design structure of
introduction, development, twist and wrap-up is present here in full force, and it’s
an incredible thing to watch play out in some of these levels. Then to swing back around to the visuals,
it might sound like I really dislike the way the game looks based on what I said earlier,
but that’s not true. While I lament the lack of unique visuals
and strong thematic identity, and feel that it’s very far below what Nintendo is capable
of doing with Mario, 3D World still looks really, really nice. The geometric nature of the world makes it
feel less real and interesting, but all the exact angles and parallel lines are very pleasant
in their own way. It’s so easy to take in, so easy for the
brain to process. It’s so clean and organized. And as I touched on with the limited movement
directions, such a geometric world does make a lot of tasks more intuitive. It’s easier to see where you’re going,
where something is going to land when you throw it, where an enemy is going to move
next, that kind of thing. None of the bosses in 3D World are anything
PARTICULARLY special, and they can’t really stand up to the epic bosses in some of Mario’s
other games, AND they’re so easy that they’re usually behind me in mere moments. BUT they’re still Mario bosses, which means
they’re still a lot of fun to trounce and equally fun to look at. The visual designs are solid and the animations
are all super fluid. Most of the Bowser fights utilize this car,
which I really don’t understand the significance of. (I want to say it ties into some sort of “rich
Bowser” kinda theme, with the theme park and the skyscraper? If so, that really does not land with me.) Point is, I don’t quite get it, but gosh
it’s just so funny. Like Bowser just loves his new car, and it
doesn’t even do anything, it just trundles along while he throws soccer balls at you,
but he just thought it was so cool he had to use it anyway. That’s very specific, I’m not even sure
why I’m bringing it up, but I love it. Oh boy, and if we’re talking about stuff
I like about 3D World, I absolutely CANNOT forget the music. This is something I didn’t really appreciate
until a good while after my initial playthrough, when I was trying to find nice music for my
Youtube videos. I was digging through soundtracks and slowly
realized how AMAZING the music in this game is. Mario music is ALWAYS good, but here it’s
at its absolute best. I don’t know, maybe it’s the level design
thing all over again; like they had less to work with in terms of theming, so they just
focused super hard on what they had and made it all as good as possible? I really don’t know, but it’s phenomenal. It’s probably my number one Mario soundtrack. (Well...3D Mario, at least…) Now, this is of course not only a review of
Super Mario 3D World, but ALSO a review of…...the SWITCH version of Super Mario 3D World! And there are some great improvements here,
but also some small yet annoying issues. Visually the game is identical apart from
a higher resolution in docked mode, which is obviously very much appreciated. Games with very simple and smooth visuals
like this benefit particularly from higher pixel counts if you ask me, and if Mario’s
gonna look plain, he might as well look sharp, too! Then the framerate is identical to the original,
but it was perfect in the original, so no complaints there. The game still runs smooth as butter. And speakin’ o’ RUNNIN’, here’s an
improvement that’s quite literally a game changer. I don’t actually understand WHY Nintendo
did this, because for some reason it just seems… I don’t know, kind of un-Nintendo-ey? I mean minor tweaks here and there, those
are understandable. But this is not minor. Movement speed is DRAMATICALLY faster in this
version! Across the board, every character moves SO
MUCH faster, and that includes both walking and running. Peach is the slowest character and Toad is
the fastest, and Peach is now basically as fast as Toad used to be. And toad, of course, is a SPEED DEMON. And this one thing alone makes this the superior
version of the game, and a much better value for anyone who already has the original. It really helps the easiness issue, especially
if you still play as Toad (which I do). It makes the whole experience so much more
zippy and fun, like a proper Mario game instead of kind of a silly, casual party game. It also helps alleviate another issue I had
with the original game that I didn’t mention earlier. So...run buttons. In games where you can use a control stick. I’m not usually a fan. I want to run 99% of the time. If I wanted to walk, I could just tilt the
stick a little less, couldn’t I? Why do I need to be holding down a button
ALL THE TIME. This was yet another weird limitation thanks
to the desire to emulate the 2D games, and also to accommodate for people playing with
Wii remotes. That run button is still present here, but
with the increased movement speed, running is no longer something I want to do 99% of
the time. It’s way too hard to control in tight spots. The regular movement speed is now perfectly
comfortable, and I can use the run button selectively whenever I need the boost. Again, this makes a massive difference in
the raw enjoyability of the game for me. Though unfortunately I do still have issues
with the run button. Mainly, with Nintendo’s weird insistence
on two-button control schemes. We’ve got four face buttons, and we’ve
had them for an awfully long time now, but still the run and grab buttons are one and
the same. This leads to a lot of fumbling whenever there’s
stuff to carry around, and of course a lot of accidentally throwing your friends off
ledges. It’s a pretty big annoyance, and one that
I’m sad to see unchanged. One change I didn’t expect to see in the
game is the inclusion of a few little tidbits from Odyssey. On the more minor end, ground pounding into
a pipe will now give you a faster little animation and a different sound, which is fun. More substantial though, is a new mid-air
dive move, obviously reminiscent of the one in Odyssey. It’s not quite as useful here as it is in
that game; it doesn’t give you nearly as much coverage, and it leads into a roll that
can make it more difficult to stick a landing. But the importance of the ability to suddenly
change directions in mid-air cannot be understated. As with its Odyssey counterpart it requires
quick reflexes, so it doesn’t feel like you’re cheating. It’s tricky enough to pull off that when
it saves you, you feel like you deserved it. This little dive might not be as massive a
change as the movement speed, but it’s another reason this feels like the superior version
of the game. Speaking of controls, some changes obviously
had to be made to account for the removal of the Wii U gamepad. Platforms that once required blowing into
the microphone are now simply automated, which is 100% fine by me, and touch platforms now
use a gyro cursor in docked mode, as is standard practice now. This is the best they could manage, I’m
sure, and it doesn’t get in the way TOO much, but it’s a little annoying. The touch stuff is just kind of something
to get through and be done with. Kinda makes you wonder if these were good
ideas in the first place if only a few years later they’ve become problems we have to
work around. But that’s its own whole discussion right
there, I guess. The last big change is the addition of a photo
mode, and while this isn’t something I find myself interested in messing with in my old
age, I must say, what a cool addition! The collectible stamps wouldn’t mean anything
without Miiverse integration, so Nintendo went ahead and gave them an even BETTER use
than before! The level design doesn’t allow for as much
camera freedom as you usually get with photo modes, but it’s still a very welcome feature
that no doubt plenty of folks are enjoying. Oh wait, I guess online play is technically
a new thing too, isn’t it? I have a super good internet connection now
and I played a handful of levels with Kane and it was laggy and not worth dealing with
in the slightest, so...no surprises there. Nintendo takes time developing features that
don’t work ‘cause they think it’s fun, I guess. Moving on. Ultimately, Super Mario 3D World is enjoyable. Its shallowness, unnecessary limitations and
lack of creative flair all mean that it’s just not possible for me to enjoy it NEARLY
as much as the other 3D Marios. The very foundation it’s been built upon
only allows the fun factor to reach a certain height. But within its limitations, it does everything
it possibly can. If there’s an enjoyment ceiling it can’t
rise above, it at least smashes into that ceiling and fills every space of the room. The slick Nintendo polish; the expert level
design; the pure, concentrated Mario fun… It’s all present here, and even a Grumpy
Gus like me can have a terrific time with it. Well, that’s it for my review of Super Mario
3D World on Switch! See you later! [GASP] Wait! What is that ominous music? Why has it started raining? It must be that it’s finally time to talk
about Bowser’s Fury, and it’s probably no surprise that this is the part of the review
I’ve been dying to get to. I do not understand why Bowser’s Fury is
a thing. I just don’t get it. Why would Nintendo take the most simplistic,
linear, anti-Arlo 3D Mario and turn it into a free-roam sandbox with super epic boss fights? It’s like they knew I was disappointed with
3D World and were trying to make it up to me, specifically! Whatever the reason though, it was certainly
a pleasant surprise, because Bowser’s Fury is so very, INTENSELY good. The story sees Mario getting yanked into a
weird cat lake place that’s either a mile away or in another reality entirely, who knows
with Mario. Bowser has gone all big scary bad, and Bowser
Jr. needs Mario to help turn him back to normal. It’s a little weird though, because instead
of Bowser Jr. just talking, the game narrates and tells you what he’s saying, like it’s
a story being told. Is this because none of the characters talk
in 3D World and they didn’t want to be inconsistent so they thought this was a workaround? Not sure, but it’s a little awkward. Also, I didn’t expect any real story going
in, but I was at least hoping there was SOME semi-interesting reason why Bowser got all
weird. But, slight spoilers, there really isn’t. I can imagine the scenario writer working
at his desk, being like, “Fawful travels between dimensions, and as a ploy to steal
Bowser’s Castle infects him him with a modified version of the black paint from Color Splash…”
and then Shiggy slides up to him and is like, “Heh heh heh heh…iie.” Those are microscopic nitpicks though, because
the gameplay in Bowser’s Fury is a breath of fresh air. Gone are the isolated linear levels. Gone is the inflexible camera. Gone are the time limits. Gone is the limited directional movement. The running and grabbing issue is still there,
which is annoying, but so is the little Odyssey dive! With the wide open environments and the free
camera, it feels like the shackles of 3D World have been cast off. People say Bowser’s Fury plays more like
an Odyssey DLC, but I disagree. Apart from the dive and the little animation
when you grab a cat shine, this is 3D World through and through. Its mechanics come from 3D World, its cat
theme comes from 3D World, its visuals come from 3D World or are brand new. This is just what Mario feels like when he’s
free to move around as he pleases, and you can turn the camera wherever you want. This is how it feels to be in a wide open,
visually stimulating area. Speaking of which, the world design is positively
superb. Similarly to Odyssey it strings together a
series of more linear platforming challenges across an open area, and honestly...it might
do it a little better. Odyssey’s individual challenges were a little
lacking, but this is all of the expert level design of 3D World AND the benefit of an open
format with none of the common pitfalls of either formula. There’s no compromise on either front. I worried that these challenges would be kind
of awkward, just sort of sitting next to each other in a big area without any sort of cohesion,
but I was very much wrong there. It all feels really natural, the progression
between challenges is very smooth. There was definitely a risk of making the
player have to do a lot of annoying backtracking and running around if the designers didn’t
marry the two formats properly. You don’t want to fall off a ledge during
a sequence and have to trek all the way back to the spot where you can get back up again. And you don’t want to have to spend a ton
of time running from one challenge to another. Well in addition to everything just being
arranged really intuitively, they decided to borrow an idea from Odyssey’s Sand Kingdom
and give Mario a mount. And I must apologize to Plessie. I’ve said a lot of very bad things about
Plessie. I did not like Plessie when 3D World first
released. She’s a big, freakish, balloon animal Barnie
the Dinosaur kinda monster, and she gave me a bad vibe. But she’s just so helpful in Bowser’s
Fury, I can’t help but love her. She turns what would have already been a breezy,
refreshing sandbox experience into an exhilarating adventure. She pops up whenever you need her, so no matter
where you are you can get moving to your next destination in a jiffy. It never feels like a chore to travel, because
she moves so fast and she’s just so fun to control. Giving the player constant access to such
speed allowed the designers to spread everything out across a super wide area, giving the world
a wonderfully big scope. Looking out over the water and zipping off
into the distance is a joy. And of course there are plenty of Plessie-specific
challenges to do, so there’s always fun to be had wherever you’re going and whatever
you’re doing. The same can be said when you’re off of
Plessie as well, because Bowser’s Fury does an incredible job of making the most out of
each area and structure. There are lots of cat shines and cat coins
to collect and lots of secrets to uncover, naturally. You’ll find many challenges just sort of
sitting there, waiting for you to come and press a button to start things off. And most importantly, each major area offers
different challenges and shines whenever you return. One might call reusing sequences multiple
times cheap, but I call it economical. And really, I hate when a fun challenge is
behind me forever in a flash. I love to see a good idea iterated upon. And even though these additional challenges
are presented to you in a linear order, they actually contribute to the overall feeling
of freedom. There’s always something new to do. You’ll pass by an old area and be like,
“Woah, there’s still another new thing to do here? Awesome!” Like with any good sandbox, you can just kind
of float around, doing whatever you feel like, following leads whenever you find them. This isn’t a TRUE open world at first, because
the different areas start out covered in Bowser goo and open up as you play. This is another example of progression that
is technically linear, but ends up adding to the overall feel. There’s enough to do at any given time that
you never feel confined, but then you get the satisfaction of opening up and diving
into new places, and by the end you get to enjoy having a great big world to move freely
about. Alright, it’s finally time to address the
colossal, fire-breathing turtle dragon in the room. In terms of format and design, Bowser’s
Fury is positively exceptional. But Bowser himself is what ties the whole
experience together and gives it its creative identity. He sits there in the middle of the map at
all times, slowly rising up out of the goo until he’s floating like some kind of creature
in a stasis chamber. It’s incredibly menacing, but again I must
say, not having a good narrative reason for him to look so creepy is a little disappointing. It limits the cool factor a bit. That’s okay though, because the sense of
impending doom is still very strong, especially early on. If there’s nothing obstructing your view,
you can ALWAYS see him, and you know it’s only a matter of time before he pops out and
all heck breaks loose. I especially love when the weather turns bad
and the music grows all ominous. Then of course when he finally comes out,
it’s very exciting. I absolutely LOVE big, grand spectacles in
games, and I particularly love huge enemies. The map is very big, but Fury Bowser is so
massive that you can’t possibly get away from him. He towers above you, making you feel absolutely
microscopic, and being PURSUED by a monster that big is terrifying. He turns the whole world into a hellscape,
raining fireballs and rocks all around you, blasting you with his fire breath from a mile
away. I’ve had nightmares like this, and this
is a MARIO game! I honestly don’t think I could have played
this as a kid, it would have been too scary! These sequences are interesting mechanically,
because while these rocks try to crush you, they also act as platforms, allowing you to
get around more quickly. This is good, because you can make Bowser
go back to sleep by collecting a shine. And because no good Mario concept serves only
one purpose, there are some blocks that can only be broken using Bowser’s fire, and
trying to trick him into breaking them is a fun and frantic activity in itself. I will admit, the more I experienced this
whole Fury Bowser thing the more the novelty wore off, which is only natural I suppose. Once you realize how low the stakes actually
are, it loses a lot of its scare factor. If you die, everything goes back to normal
and the wait for him to pop up resets and there’s no real penalty beyond losing some
coins. It’s actually the quickest way to get rid
of him. Sometimes he even just gets bored and leaves
after like a minute, which is often welcome but also a little anticlimactic. The further you get in the game the more frequent
his “visits” become, and there were at least a handful of times the rain started
and the music changed and I was like, “Ugh, again?” If you’re in the middle of something it
can be a little annoying. Overall though, I really like the mechanic. It’s something really interesting and new
that Mario’s never done before, and the real-time element lends an immediacy and strong
sense of motivation to the experience that I greatly enjoy. And I love games where you’re menaced by
a big enemy, and there’s all this buildup to the point where you finally get to take
them on. I won’t show the actual encounters with
Bowser here, but they’re great. A little too easy once I figured out a certain
way to attack him, but nevertheless just as spectacular and exciting as you would expect
from a final Bowser fight in any Mario game. Another interesting thing about Bowser’s
Fury that we haven’t talked about yet is the inclusion of Bowser Jr. as a partner. A second player can control him, which was
at least a little fun for the brief time I tried it. If you’re alone though he’ll just follow
you around, and he can attack stuff for you and grab coins and create powerups by painting
these spots. This is something that easily could have harmed
the game, and quite dramatically. Nothing is more annoying than CPUs who do
everything for you before you even get a chance to try AHEM. Miraculously though, Nintendo thought of this
and gave us the option to use Bowser’s Jr.s help a lot, a little, or none! Problem solved! What problem? There is no problem! And the great thing is, you can still use
the gyro cursor to make him paint those powerups, so you get all the benefit with zero of the
annoyance. And speaking of powerups, Bowser’s Fury
uses them in a very interesting way. Plenty of Mario games have allowed the player
to store a powerup, but here you can store a BUNCH. Also, whenever you get a hundred coins you
earn one for the bank. On one hand, this does make the game a whole
lot easier. The abundance of powerups is one of the reasons
3D World is so easy, and they certainly make things easier here. There are even a few platforming challenges
that are essentially rendered meaningless with the cat suit. But that’s not TOO common, and actually,
being able to call upon a specific powerup as needed lends to the sense of freedom. If you’re in a situation where you could
really use the boomerang suit, it’s nice to just have it right there. You can trade powerups around and play with
whatever you want. And of course there’s the silly satisfaction
that comes from collecting a bunch of stuff and knowing you have it if you need it, I
always like that. And finally we come to how the game looks
and sounds and runs. Bowser’s Fury looks pretty darn nice. As I said, the size of the world is very thrilling,
and all the water with the mountains all around gives it an incredibly serene feel. But the game probably looks its best when
Bowser is up to no good. The rain and all the rocks and fire and stuff
look great, and I particularly love the way his fire blast lights everything up. It’s phenomenal. The rest of the game however just kind of
looks good. I mean it’s the same as with 3D World; it’s
nothing technically impressive, but it’s undeniably pleasant. Though apart from the cool spectacles, it
actually looks LESS good. The resolution is significantly lower in Bowser’s
Fury, and it makes for a super jaggy, muddy image when played on a big TV. It’s also disappointing to see how the game
runs. I feel like Odyssey looks a lot better than
this most of the time, yet this runs significantly worse. I suppose it’s because of how big the world
is, but framerate drops are fairly common. During Bowser attacks things naturally are
most likely to slow down, what with all the fire and rain and the giant Bowser and everything. None of it is enough to seriously hamper the
experience, but it’s definitely disappointing. It seems that the Switch hardware is having
a hard time keeping up with Nintendo’s vision for some of its games, and Bowser’s Fury
is the latest title to make me long for something more powerful. Super Mario 3D World is a good time, and the
Switch version offers a pretty great improvement over the original. All by itself, considering how quickly I can
burn through it, I’d think this was a hard sell at full price, especially seeing as I
already played the Wii U version. But the inclusion of Bowser’s Fury makes
it easily worth the asking price. Whether you’re more into linear Mario or
sandbox Mario, the package offers something for everyone. Even beyond just adding enough content to
make it feel like a good value, it’s nice that Nintendo went the extra mile and actually
created something genuinely special that I’m sure I’ll be returning to for years. In fact I made an entire separate video on
how I hope that Bowser’s Fury acts as a blueprint for future Nintendo experiences. Taking a really solid formula and reshaping
it into something new is a terrific concept, and the idea of creating bite-sized stories
is very refreshing and fun. Could these little side games potentially
be sold as standalone products, or will Nintendo only staple them onto old games so they can
charge sixty bucks for them? Who knows, but I do know that I just paid
sixty bucks for a game that I already own and that I don’t even love, and I did it
gladly. Well played, Nintendo. Well played. Well that’s it for my review! Please make your way down to the comments
and tell me how wrong I am about 3D World. I mean just go to town. Who DOESN’T like 3D World? Forget the Bowser’s Fury stuff, there’s
somethin’ wrong with this blue guy. We gotta… We gotta GET ‘im. Anyway thank you for watching, have a wonderful
day, goodbye, thank you for watching, have a wonderful day, have a great day, goodbye,
thanks so much for watching… Goodbye.
