
The overhead map between stages, for example, looks like a modernized take on the interface that debuted in Super Mario 3.

The design and gameplay aspects of Super Mario 3D World will be familiar to fans of the classic NES and SNES games. Naturally, Mario and Luigi employ their plumbing know-how to fix it, only for Bowser to show up like clockwork to kick off another crisis - this time involving fairy-like characters known as Sprixies. Super Mario 3D World starts with Mario and the gang enjoying another fun day in the Mushroom Kingdom until they run into a mysterious pipe that looks broken. 3 pick back in 2013 for our annual Game of the Year rankings. For fans who enjoyed old-school and new Mario and want to have their cake and eat it, too, Super Mario 3D World would prove to be an enjoyable adventure. games, which used a 3D look alongside classic, side-scrolling 2D gameplay. It’s the natural next step for the series following the success of the New Super Mario Bros.

The followup to 2011’s Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, the original 3D World further fleshed out the hybrid concept from Nintendo’s portable console by blending the look and feel of more modern Mario titles with the gameplay of the classic 2D games. Seven years since it first clawed its way into Nintendo’ Wii U console, Super Mario 3D World still holds up quite well. It’s also akin to a bridge for the long-running series - one that connects its past to the present and what could very well be Mario’s future. It’s a tale of two very similar yet also very different worlds.

On the other hand, there’s Bowser’s fury, a fresh experience that further builds on the more open and free-roaming aspects of Super Mario Odyssey. On one hand, you’ve got the purr-fectly fun Super Mario 3D World, a four-player romp that introduced the series’ now-familiar cat shenanigans. Like the ideal wedding, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury introduces something old and something new. What do you get when you cross an older Mario platformer with an oversized Koopa king who’s literally toxic? That would be Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, a Switch title that reintroduces a Wii U classic to a new generation of gamers while also adding a new Mario experience to tempt 3D World veterans back into the fold.
