Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:Previously:
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020* indicates a repeat
1.
Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland (PS3)
2.
Portal 2 (PC) *
3.
Atelier Judie: The Alchemist of Gramnad (PS2)
4.
Pipo Saru 2001 (PS2)
5.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (N64)
6.
Atelier Viorate: The Alchemist of Gramnad 2 (PS2)
7.
Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SFC)
8.
The Legend of Mystical Ninja (SFC)
9.
Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg (PS1)
10.
Ganbare Goemon 2 (SFC)
11.
Paper Mario: Origami King (Switch)
12.
Star Fox 64 (N64) *
13.
Super Paper Mario (Wii) *
14.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GC) *
15.
Demon's Crest (SNES)
16.
Cathedral (Switch)
17. Super Mario 3D World (Switch) *
18. Bowser's Fury (Switch)
I've been meaning to replay Mario 3D World for a good while, but with the port to Switch announced last summer, I figured it was best to wait, especially with the Bowser's Fury extra add-on that came with it. It's a game I've nearly beaten all of before, but I didn't have the patience to beat the game with every character to unlock the final, hardest world like you have to do in the Wii U version. However, after Gunstar told me that you don't need to do that anymore, and only need to beat every level up to that point, I was sold and ordered it immediately XD. While I didn't intend to beat the game with every character, I actually ended up having so much fun that I did just that ^^;. It took me some 16 or so hours to beat the game once getting every collectible, and then another 16 or so hours to beat every level with the other four characters. I also played through Bowser's Fury, which, while very different, is also tied to Mario 3D World enough mechanically that I feel tying the former's review to the latter just makes sense. It took me 4 hours or so to 100% Bowser's Fury, and I played through each game in English.
Super Mario 3D World is the Big 3D Mario Game (TM) of the Wii U era, and it opens in a pretty simple fashion as most of them tend to do. Mario, Luigi, a blue Toad, and Peach are walking along outside her castle, when suddenly they come across a weird clear pipe rakishly sticking out of the ground. The plumber bros flex their know-how and repair it properly quick, when a little fairy (apparently called Sprixie) suddenly pops out in great duress. She informs the gang that all of her friends have been captured by Bowser, and just like that Bowser pops out of the pipe in chase, puts her in a jar, glares at the heroes, and runs off down the pipe. Our heroes rush after him to save the Sprixie princesses. It's a very light story (communicated virtually without any text at all) that sets up exactly as much as it needs to. Although I will mention that it's nice that they gave the Bros. another target to save, as Peach's addition to the main cast is much more memorable than just some yellow Toad to go along with the blue one like in previous games.
The gameplay of 3D World is like an expanded edition of the 3DS's Super Mario 3D Land, but this concept for a 3D Mario game is as old as Mario Galaxy. Instead of going through one stage several times but with different missions such as games like Mario 64, Sunshine, and Odyssey do, you go through a series of stages but in a 3D environment. You run around, jump, get power ups, and can even store a power-up for later (just like Super Mario World on the SNES) all on your quest to get to the flag pole at the end of the stage. However, unlike Super Mario World, there are no hidden exits in this game's stages. Much more like Mario 3, while there are some secret warps to be found, they aren't so much tied to stages, so it's one curated experience from beginning to end. And it's a LOT.
The game boasts a hefty 116 stages. While some are simple Mario 3 "Wandering Hammer Bros"-style quick fights, the vast majority are fully fledged stages complete with 3 green stars and a collectible stamp (a remnant of how this used to be a Wii U game connected to Miiverse, but now a simple collectible bit of art) to find in each. There are even some special extra stages such as short, timed platforming or combat trial marathons, or Captain Toad puzzles (just as are found in his own Wii U game that was ported to Switch a couple years back). You'll go through eight worlds to defeat Bowser and rescue the Sprixie princess, but then another four await you. Two of these are brand new stages (granted the hardest world is just three stages), but the other two are full of remixed and more challenging versions of other stages in the game. As to be expected from Nintendo's best, the game's level design is top notch, with each stage feeling on some level different to the others. Simple completionism was definitely not the only reason I chose to spend an entire weekend and some change dedicated to playing through absolutely all the game's content could offer. Even without friends to play with (as the game has 4-player co-op, and you can even do online co-op with an option for two local players and up to two online players), it's just dang fun to play.
What makes it so fun to play is just how different the characters are. Upon beating level 9-2, you unlock Roselina to play as as well, bringing the game's roster up to five playable characters. Much like Mario 2, the game's characters all play similarly but different enough that you'll have a varied time playing as each. Mario is the all-'rounder, Luigi can jump one block higher than him and go a little faster but at the cost of some traction (as is tradition), Toad can't jump quite as high as Mario but he's WAY faster, Peach is pretty slow but she has her Mario 2 brief mid-air hover, and Roselina may be the slowest, but she boasts the ability to attack without powerups as she has Mario's spin attack right out of Mario Galaxy. Especially with the harder stages, getting used to playing as the different characters can take some recalibration of your faculties, and it gives the game great replay value. This is all bolstered by the awesome new powerup of the cat suit. With its ability to let you climb walls and do mid-air pounces and ground-based swipe attacks, it's an excellent companion to the tanooki suit to help you with any platforming challenges you go up against. The only complaint I have is that, like the Switch port of New Super Mario Bros U, you can't pick the same character as a friend in multiplayer.
This is a port in large regard, but there are some pretty significant changes to the game that make it definitive in my mind outside of just the addition of Bowser's Fury. As previously mentioned, the absurd requirement of beating every level with every character to unlock the final world has been removed, but it's a bit more than that. Additionally, getting all the collectibles in the first place has been made easier. You now keep a collectible upon death as long as you don't exit the level. As long as you grab a star or a stamp before you die, you'll still have it when you respawn, and all you have to do is get to the end of the level to keep it. Most importantly on a mechanical level, however, is the change to character speed (which Gunstar very kindly pointed out to me). Every character has been made to move significantly faster than their Wii U counterparts, with even Peach (the otherwise slowest character) moving faster in the Switch port than Toad (the fastest) did in the Wii U original. It doesn't make them unwieldy, and it overall just makes the game feel way better paced and more fun to play.
As for Bowser's Fury, it's short, yes, but it's an excellent addition. Someone on the Slack chat (probably Gunstar) described it as "the Mario Odyssey DLC we never got", and I find that description perfectly apt. You access Bowser's Fury from the main menu, so you actually don't need to play Mario 3D World at all to play it, and the two games actually don't interact content-wise in any way.
Bowser's Fury starts with Mario simply walking along alone outside Peach's Castle when he suddenly comes across some weird black paint. He follows it to its source with is a stylized M just like Shadow Mario made in Mario Sunshine, and it expands and swallows him up taking him to a far off world. On the other side, he finds a fretful Bowser Jr. and a GIANT Bowser who is totally out of control. Bowser Jr. is totally out of his depth, and reluctantly asks Mario for help getting his dad back to reality.
Though only one player (granted a second player can control Baby Bowser with a joycon, not dissimilar to the two-player function in Mario Galaxy) as Mario, Bowser's Fury is effectively Mario Odyssey but with the gameplay of Mario 3D World. You've got all the same power-ups, and even the 3D environment and controls (without a triple jump, just like 3D World does), but now you're out to collect cat shines, because everything is a cat here (the shines, the seagulls, the trees, the enemies, everything). You go around the large lake world to small island challenges or the larger island which sport a series of tasks. There's three tasks specific to that island as well as collecting little tokens hidden around it and even using Bowser's attacks to open up secret hidey-holes that hide Cat Shines.
Because Bowser isn't just sleeping waiting for you to beat him, he's MAD and out there to heck you up. He regains strength in the middle of the map until rain starts to fall. Once he's fully awoken (the rain basically gives you a de facto timer/warning that he's about to wake up), he'll do a big jump near to wherever you are and start launching atomic breath, big fireballs, and other stuff to try and mess up whatever it is you happened to be engaged with at the time. You can make him buzz off by collecting a Cat Shine (whose powerful light they generate from the islands' many lighthouses makes his dark energy feel all icky so he leaves), or if you have enough Shines, you can grab a MEGA BELL to grow into a GIANT cat and go toe to toe with him in a big kaiju battle!
The kaiju fights are really good fun, and it's endlessly cool getting to use the islands themselves as cover from his attacks and such. And if those battles are too hard for you, you can always collect Shines while he's attacking you normally to take chunks out of his health bar to make the actual kaiju fights easier/shorter. You can even make the normal gameplay easier or harder by setting Bowser Jr.'s AI to help you out a lot, a little, or even none at all (I played with him helping a little). There are 100 Shines to collect in total, and it's really good fun, especially as an add-on to Mario 3D World. Whether this is a glimpse of what will be Mario Odyssey 2 (for want of a better title) or just a one-off experiment they did to give the port of Mario 3D World some more appeal, I really enjoyed this little adventure to save Bowser from his angeries.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. The Mario 3D World port makes one of the best games on Wii U (and one of Mario's best games, full stop) even better and packs it in with the cherry on top of Bowser's Fury. If you like 3D Mario games this is an obvious choice to grab. Even if you've already played Mario 3D World and enjoyed it, I'd still recommend this just because of how nice the updated controls feel as well as how fun Bowser's Fury is. One of the Wii U's crowning gems has finally made its way to the Switch, and it's one you definitely shouldn't miss out on if you enjoy platforming games.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
