Road To Nintendo Switch 2: ‘Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury'
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Nintendo's highly anticipated Switch 2 is due for release on June 5 of this year (disastrous US pre-orders went live today), and with the launch date rapidly approaching, I thought it might be fun to tackle my sizeable legacy Switch backlog and document my ongoing impressions. These games aren't going to play themselves, man. Plus, I need to mentally prepare myself for those $90 Switch 2 software prices. Yikes.
PlayStation, Xbox and PC have admittedly dominated my gaming attention this entire generation (and the last), so I've only occasionally turned on either of my Switch consoles. When I do, it's mostly to see which retro titles have been added to Nintendo Switch Online. I'm old. I like N64.
Come to think of it, I was actually rather late to the Switch party in general, starting with a yellow Switch Lite back in 2019 and then a docked OLED model sometime later, probably in 2023. The Switch initially released back in 2017, which according to my writer math, now makes the hardware over eight years old. The passage of time is a terrifying thing.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
To kick things off right, I thought I'd revisit and finally finish Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, which isn't a proper Switch game at all, if you think about it, but rather a remastered port of a 2013 Wii U title. Which, in turn, was a console sequel to a 2011 3DS game. The Switch port is divided into two pieces of software: The re-polished Super Mario 3D World and the brand new quasi-open world Bowser's Fury.
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If you didn't play it on the Wii U—and who could blame you, honestly—Super Mario 3D World is essentially a 3D old-school Mario game. There's a world map clustered with individual stages, wherein you choose between Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad, then make your way through retro-inspired obstacle courses to find green stars and collectible stamps.
The visuals are immediately striking in their brightness; they look like they're coated in delicious candy. In fact, the whole game simply welcomes you in with that classic Nintendo aesthetic, excitedly inviting you to come play and explore. It sort of feels like the kid next door waving you down to the street so you can all ride bikes together. Each stage is full of puzzles and surprises and secrets. The levels feel completely handmade, challenging yet encouraging.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
The game presents itself in an isometric fashion, and this is my main gripe, actually. The viewpoint makes calculating jumps rather difficult. I think this perspective is a holdover from the 3DS title and it just doesn't work very well, resulting in lots of cheap deaths, especially when combined with the game's annoyingly restricted camera movement. The characters' slippery momentum doesn't help matters much, either.
Despite the nagging camera and control issues, Super Mario 3D World is still a blast to play, and that's a real testament to Nintendo's impeccable design. The good news is that these input problems are mostly resolved in Bowser's Fury, which I guess shows how far the industry has come since 2013. The initial boot-up load time is strangely long, though. Load times on a cartridge? Insanity.
Gone are the restricted camera and odd perspectives of Super Mario 3D World; now we have a more refined, modern sense of control and a beautifully clear view that collectively feel fantastic. You're sort of cleaning up a sprawling map in Bowser's Fury, not unlike Super Mario Sunshine, and also fighting a hulking, raging Bowser while collecting trinkets called Cat Shines. There are some motion controls here that are a little annoying, but overall, it's an utter joy to play.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
In all its colorful exploration and buttery controls, Bowser's Fury makes me yearn for the next proper Mario game, and I hope we'll see one on the Switch 2. It took me around 15 hours to complete both experiences in this Switch bundle, but of course, I'll be going back in and trying to gather the rest of the collectibles, which could take me a while. Both games are just so fun to play, I think I'll attempt 100% runs for each. This has renewed my love for the Pro controller, too. What a hardware masterpiece!
While the remaster portion of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury can be a bit frustrating due to some outdated controls and camera jank, I think its relentless charm ultimately outweighs these problems. Plus, the add-on Bowser game, while short, injects some serious value, all while correcting a lot of the base software's frustrating issues.
There you have it, the first entry in my Road to Nintendo Switch 2 series. Stay tuned for the next article, which will be a really good one, no cap.
('No cap' is a clue, by the way, not a 'how do you do, fellow kids?' moment, I swear).
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