Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury review: Everything old is new again

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  So much fun, you'll be climbing the walls!

If you were one of the few million people who stuck with Nintendo through the Wii U years, the Switch era has likely created a lot of feelings of deja vu for you. For every full-fledged sequel like Super Mario Odyssey or Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Switch, you've had to face at least one warmed-over Wii U port like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker, or Hyrule Warriors Deluxe (to name just a few).

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury [Switch] $60 at Amazon (Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.) While it's nice that these underloved Wii U games are getting a new lease on life (and a new fully portable play option) on the much more popular Switch, the idea of paying full price for a light update to a game you bought less than a decade ago on the Wii U might feel a little grating.

For its latest Wii U rehash, Nintendo seems to have acknowledged this issue to some extent. The Switch port of the excellent Super Mario 3D World comes packaged with Bowser's Fury, a brand-new bit of "open world" content that extends 3D World's gameplay ideas in some interesting new directions. The result is a package that should have any 3D platforming fan at least taking a second look, even if they already bought the game a few years ago.

A new kind of 3D Mario

If you missed out on Super Mario 3D World the first time around, you might have to adjust your expectations for a 3D Mario platform game a little bit. Much like the 3DS's Super Mario 3D Land before it, 3D World generally avoids the wide-open areas and level-specific goals of games like Super Mario 64.

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