Michael Curran
Contributing Writer
Super Mario 3D World was originally released in late November 2013 on the Wii U. As a sort of spiritual successor to Super Mario 3D Land, it is a 3D platforming game whose design is a mishmash of 2D and 3D Mario elements. It has the style of 2D Mario platformers with power-ups signifying the number of hits you can take (instead of a health meter), flagpoles at the end of levels and a linear level layout but with the movement and space of 3D Mario games (excluding double and triple jumps and having fixed camera controls).
This Switch port of the game made a number of small improvements to the main campaign. Perhaps most noticeable is the increased walk and run speed of the characters. In both versions, Toad is the fastest character while Peach is the slowest (though she has the ability to hover briefly). Peach’s Switch run speed is about the same as Toad’s Wii U speed which is a significant difference. It definitely makes gameplay quicker. Another small but handy addition is the ability to do a Super Mario Odyssey-style dive. You can do a small rolling dive out from a ground pound by pressing the run button. This can help you gain a little bit of extra height, distance and, in some situations, access places (without a Super Bell) that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach in the original Wii U version.
One of the neat things that 3D World picked up from 3D Land is that the theme of a world doesn’t necessarily correlate with the theme of individual levels. In a way, this leaves for more creative freedom within the levels. Super Mario 3D World takes full advantage of this masterfully. Many different concepts (such as Plessie, Switch Panels, Beep Blocks, etc.) are introduced (a few are borrowed from 3D Land and Super Mario Galaxy) but they are well-spaced and never overstay their welcome. Alongside regular gameplay are Captain Toad levels which are small puzzle levels in which you, as Captain Toad, must recover all of the Green Stars to finish the stage. These serve as nice breaks in the flow of the game. Furthermore, there’s a whole litany of levels to play plus, without giving spoilers, there are extra worlds after beating the main game. On top of this, the whole game can be played with up to four players.
Super Mario 3D World bursts forth with creativity and fulfilling gameplay and the small improvements (of which I have only mentioned a few) certainly makes this reboot on the Nintendo Switch worthwhile. How well a Mario game performs is usually closely tied to how well the console sells. The Wii U wasn’t exactly a smash hit. Nevertheless, there are plenty of great games on the Wii U worthy of a wider audience, with 3D World being one of them. So far, I haven’t mentioned the extra adventure Bowser’s Fury which itself is another big reason to pick up this game (even if you’ve played the original Wii U version).