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Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Wii-U/Switch) - It's the cat's meow!


Nintendoga

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1 hour ago, Son-icka said:

Oh god, this means we're in for a resurgence / Fury of Bowsette's again soon aren't we... 

Well...

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(Created by TannithArt)

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My word.

Although the unfortunate colour scheme (not the artists fault) makes the 'fire breath" look like peach has an Eggman moustache. XD  

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1 hour ago, Son-icka said:

Oh god, this means we're in for a resurgence / Fury of Bowsette's again soon aren't we... 

It's already begun:

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Just to show off a few.

This one's my favorite just for Bowser Jr. and his car's face:

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Spoiler

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Salvage the pride kid. Salvage the pride.

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27 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

You found the best one at least.

Which one is that?

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2 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

The last one...expressions are key.

Ah yes, my favorite one indeed.

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That Bowser's Fury trailer is simply amazing, the music and visuals are just spot on.

Also call me delusional but I really did get Sonic vibes from this, it felt like 2000s Sonic collecting the Chaos Emeralds to deal with a giant calamity again.

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My interest for main Mario games is practically null nowadays, but this trailer is very interesting to see from a development perspective. Yoshiaki Koizumi's style and ambitions are very different from Shigeru Miyamoto's and it shows.

If his work with Galaxy 1, Odyssey and Bowser's Fury can be used as examples, 3D Mario will have huge changes in the future and I'm very curious to see what he will do for the next game.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • The title was changed to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Wii-U/Switch) - It's the cat's meow!
  • 2 weeks later...

So as expected - this game is (still) awesome, definately don't regret double dripping into this for £39.99.  

The main game is still a real gem for me... which is surprising considering that I really hated the more linear approach they started taking in Mario Galaxy 2. But for the 3D series I just don't mind it as this it is exactly what it is supposed to be - and that's essentially Super Mario Bros 3/World... but in 3D. The creativity on offer and the large variety of courses are just fun to play about in and complete all in all, and with the QOL improvements I was surprised to find that I'm enjoying this even more so a second time round (or 6th time considering what they made us do 8 years ago). 

Of course, the real prize here is Bowsers Fury - and I did not expect this to be what it turned out to be.

Whilst I'm sure there are those that are annoyed that it's not separated or available from the base game, in truth it's a tad too short to be released as a pricey entity by itself... but is long enough to be considered a reasonably large adventure than a bolt on of extra levels). It's more the platformer equivalent of Xenoblade Chronicles 'Future Connected' epilogue when that released. If Nintendo could do more of this sort of thing with their ports in future to help justify selling it at full price, then I'm certainly more for it. 

What's great though is how much it actually compliments the 3D World package considering it's built off that game and contains almost all it's signature features, enemies, power-up, and moves... but in full 3D explorational roam mode now (gracefully Mario isn't locked to 8 directions for this part of the game either). So it's kinda now a middle ground between 3DWorld and Odyssey - suffice to say, this could have easily served as a DLC world for that game (and I wouldn't be surprised if it started off that way) because Lake Lapcat is one big ass Kingdom, and the CatShines and methods of acquisition are pretty much in line with the Moon system from Odyssey (in that you collect them and continue on with your quest and aren't "thrown back or out of a level'). 

Obviously the big difference for this game involves helping Bowser Jr to light the lighthouses of each hub island/level with the shines you collect - and these varied little self contained themed island levels are a real treat to explore. But of course the main USP of the game is the ticking time bomb of Fury Bowser who shows up at every inopportune moment to rain down hell down upon you. The entire landscape of how you play this game changes dramatically when he appears (and this does happen, frequently)... however this oddly never becomes annoying. Sure, there are times when I want to just chill and glide around Lake Lapcat uninterrupted, but more often than not Fury Bowser is integral to the overall world design, his constant re-appearance forces drastic recalculations of your goals, and he can actually help with the acquisition of certain catshines or reaching new or far off places. So the reality is that it's never a dull moment here. 

Even getting that Gigabell to go full into Super Saiyen Godzilla Titan Mario is the freakin' nuts. It's ridiculously stupid but I've also never had so much fun with a (continuous) boss battle before so it's always a delight whenever the moment arises to be able to take him head on. 

I think last things I should mention is how ridiculously gorgeous the game looks, runs, and sounds. I had my concerns when I read they were using 3D World's assets for the open world part of this game (because we all know how bad Sprawling Savanna's pop up was) - but thankfully the game appears to run in a different engine altogether, it's smooth and delightful at 60FPS (docked) with lots going on in the foreground and background. I'll never quite get my head around how they do this sort of thing on Switch that other Studio's struggle with on this system. The Soundtrack is also my new favourite thing, once again they gone and done a good tune... many good tunes in fact. I'll be humming these for months on end.

I can say safely that this is a rock solid porting effort from Nintendo here of one of Wii U best games. The inclusion of Bowser's Fury is the icing on the cake and is a great (and unique) standalone 3D Platformer to help bide the time whilst we wait for the next Mario Mainline Adventure. The package as a whole helps make up for the disappointing 3D Allstars porting last year at the very least. 
 

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4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

(gracefully Mario isn't locked to 8 directions for this part of the game either

He's not locked to 8 directions in general in this port

In terms of movement the only difference is in the swimming

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8 hours ago, StaticMania said:

He's not locked to 8 directions in general in this port

In terms of movement the only difference is in the swimming

No, the characters are defo still locked to the 8 directional movement for the 3D World port part of the game, which makes sense for the level design. 

Bowsers Fury however is different thankfully, and also makes sense considering the design landscape of that adventure is fully open world 🙂 

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4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

No, the characters are defo still locked to the 8 directional movement for the 3D World port part of the game, which makes sense for the level design. 

Bowsers Fury however is different thankfully, and also makes sense considering the design landscape of that adventure is fully open world 🙂 

Yeah, I was gonna say this too. Movement is still 8-directional in 3DW and it needs to be. The game is built for 8 directional movement. BF on the other hand lifts a lot of its design inspiration from 3DW but 8-directional movement would be a hindrance, so Nintendo removed it for that game only. 

So I'm up to World-Bowser in 3DW, and it's been years since I played the Wii U original. If not for the fact that everyone online has been harping on about it, I'd honestly probably not have noticed the speed increase simply because it's been so long since I bothered with the original. I definitely enjoy the speed at which everyone moves now, but it's not really making the game any better or worse for me. 3DW always was a blast just the way it was.

This whole package is just wonderful really. It's one of my favourite 3D Mario games coupled with an almost perfect pint-sized new 3D Mario game. 3DW may have come out at a time of peak generic and bland Mario, but simply from the perspective of gameplay there's something about this one that I just love. 2D Mario has never been my jam, and 3DL is completely unlikeable to me. But 3DW just hits all the right notes. It's basically just a level-pack Mario game with absolutely no frills or innovations beyond a couple of new power ups. And it just manages to work out brilliantly. The right balance of difficulty, it's always pleasant to look at and listen to and very easy to drop in and out of. 

Bowser's Fury is a real treat too, it must be said. It's everything that I wanted Oddysee to be, and everything that I didn't expect it to be. Oddysee bores and irritates me. It's style and quantity over substance and quality. BF on the other hand feels like a true continuation of the Sunshine/64 model. It's one seamless open world, and yet it's still expertly divided up into 64-esque levels with the tighter platforming of 3DW. And I really love the Fury Bowser mechanic. What's so nice about BF is just how chill it all is. It's so hands-off in terms of rail-roading, all whilst maintaining proper missions and goals with substantial rewards unlike Oddysee's misisons. I don't feel like any of the missions here are busy work to just pad out the Shine count like the vast majority of Oddysee (apart from the lost kitten tasks which are rather unfun). And it doesn't split off the real platforming into silly little sub-areas like Oddysee either. It's all right there, fully integrated into the main exploration. Such a wonderful game. 

Admittedly the fights against him as Giga Cat Mario are cliché and boring, but those are secondary to having him appear every few minutes to attack. I haven't quite figured out how regularly he spawns, but I think that the more Cat Shines you have towards re-awakening the Giga Bell the sooner he spawns.

Great package all-round. Basically with the Switch I can get almost my entire 3D Mario fix. It's got 3DW, BF, Sunshine, Galaxy 1 and 64. The only one I'd like adding is 64DS, but 64 is there so it's not a huge omission. I'm not missing 3DL or Galaxy 2 personally.

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Did my best not to rush through it so I could really enjoy it due to it's short length, but 100%'d Bowser's Fury today.  Yeah... really excellent little game.  I really hope this is a testbed for something more in the future.  All the individual level designs were great, glad it had an original soundtrack too, and fairly unique aesthetics unlike anything we've seen in Mario before, which was refreshing, it really wouldn't have been out of the question for them to re-use aesthetics from 3D World too, so it's cool that they didn't.

But yeah, I'd love to see this concept expanded.  The fact that every challenge was platforming-based using a consistent moveset is an absolute boon over Odyssey's busywork and gimmicky capture characters with simplistic moves, and while I wouldn't want them to just repeat the angry Bowser concept again, I love the idea of a timed event system that changes the state of the entire world like was done here, with certain advantages and disadvantages that are learned over time and can be planned around (or come up at the worst possible time and force the player to improvise).  The only critique I'd level is that having to travel away from courses and back again to get them to assume a new state is a little clunky and takes away from the "just carry on where you left off" appeal of Odyssey's collectables.  Even that game knew sometimes it was essential if the state of the world was due to change.  Having said THAT... it did lend itself to a slightly more non-linear progression where you're discouraged from playing the same course over and over again to get all the shines in one go.  Instead, there is usually always something interesting to investigate in the overworld to take you away from the course for a moment so it can reset.

But yeah, overall short but very sweet.  Next time I play, I'm tempted to try a challenge run in which I don't allow myself to use the inventory system (or at least, only allow myself to use it when I NEED a certain ability, no using it just to get my hit points back up to 3).  If I had paid £20 for this as DLC, I'd have been satisfied. On that basis I think the game is really decent value as an overall product (though it is a shame they didn't make Bowser's Fury available standalone, I worry some 3D World-loathing folks might miss out on experiencing the game properly - 3D Mario really isn't something you should get a second-hand account of).

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Off topic to the main game myself, but I want to say how super disappointing the online is, and entirely for the wrong reasons. I've played the original game through to the last Bowser fight on Wii U, so I decided to hop into the Switch version with co-op because I'd never got to play that much on Wii U.

I've played with @Sonictrainer @Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon @Winston @DanJ86 and @NegaMix - and I need to make it clear - the online in of itself is a great time, playing the game with friends in co-op is a chaotic mess, but the right kind of chaos where it's actually really fun to screw around, and laugh at how you can intentionally or not screw others over - and when everything clicks and you pull off some super good teamwork to pull off tricky green stars, it is insane fun. Especially during the times everyone else has bit the dust and everything's riding on one person to finish a level off. 

To be frank - I've actually had vastly more fun playing this game with these guys than I did solo on Wii U, solely because all of the wacky scenarios you can end up in online is heaps of fun. 

But as per usual, Nintendo's netcode is just atrocious. It's rare to get a two player co-op game going with reasonable stability, let alone four player co-op, even though something as relatively simple as a Mario co-op affaire should not be this difficult to keep non-laggy. It's super choppy, the input lag makes controls feel utterly heavy, and the lag is beyond inconsistent. Sometimes it'll inch close to stability, other times it'll lag to the point you'd swear the game was running at sub-10fps. But with all the inconsistencies, I've never actually noticed it running perfectly without a hitch, with two people, three or even four. 

It genuinely baffles and angers me that it's 2021, Nintendo are charging for online services, they bring out games with online functionality that would actually be a great time online with buddies, and yet they still can't bother to fix their shit netcode and deliver stable experiences. If I can play 12 player Overwatch games on Switch with minimal lag, it shouldn't be that much of an ask for Nintendo to pull off a four player fighting game like Smash, or a co-op platformer. If you're gonna have the nerve to charge for your crappy online, at least make sure it's stable. 

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Never played the original but will definitely get this point at sometime in the near future. All I'm hearing is excellent reviews of it.

It seems Nintendo tests their new Mario spin-offs from this game. First, Captain Toad, who got his own game (and presumably, series if they make more).

Now there could end up being something from Bowser's Fury in this port.

 

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I completed Bowser's Fury and never noticed this detail until it was pointed out in a video. Bowser Jr. laughs at you when you get hit. Such a minor detail that didn't need to be added, really pleases me for some reason. Also, that little sh*t!! I'm trying to help him and he has the nerve to enjoy my failures!?

Granted, I did hit him a lot with random items in my run,  like fireballs, boomerangs, koopa shells and a cat that one time but some of them were unintentional.

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