I have been waiting for a new entry into the Mario franchise since Super Mario Odyssey and I still have yet to have that request fully fulfilled.
Back in September, Nintendo released their Mario 35th anniversary collection, this collection included Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. While this kept my attention for months, it wasn’t new or anything special.
Alongside the announcement of their 35th anniversary collection they teased a port of Super Mario 3D World with an expansion called Bowser’s Fury that released on Feb. 12.
I luckily got a launch day copy and have played through both the main story and Bowser’s Fury. I haven’t previously experienced this game as I never owned a Wii U, so I got a fresh first play.
The main story was fantastic, I don’t tend to enjoy the 2D Mario games as I struggle with the timing, however, this game beautifully melds together the 2D style with the amazing 3D control scheme. It still for the most part runs like a platformer, but Nintendo added dimension but letting the player move in all four directions even if it is limited.
The main powerup promoted for this game is Cat Mario and it actually is woven into the story well. Usually I find these powerups gimmicky, but Nintendo did a good job at adding in instances where it’s actually very useful even if another non-climbing route is available. Furthermore, in some levels you need it to get one of the three greens stars.
Speaking of green stars, three of them are placed throughout most levels and while they’re not required to complete the main storyline, they do unlock certain levels in each world.
As for Bowser’s Fury, I wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped I would be. It has really good controls and the boss battles are difficult, it just feels too small to justify the purchase of this game if you already previously owned it for the Wii U. There are sections to a large map where you complete a challenge and get a shine with intermittent boss battles, it got very repetitive very quickly.
I went into this knowing that it wasn’t a “new” game, but I did have high hopes for the expansion, but to me, if you already own a copy for the Wii U, don’t waste your $60. However, if you are like me and have yet to play this, run, don’t walk to your nearest game retailer and pick up a copy.