Super Mario 3D World is fine. It is a completely adequate game, that I believe is a bit overhyped if anything. The gameplay is largely fun, with mostly good levels (there are a bunch of gigatoxic levels in World 4). It bothers me a bit that several of the world's themes are basically given up on after the first level in that world is completed, but that's fine I guess. The cat powerup is okay, tanuki being there is great, I like boomerang, and fire flower is a classic. It's a good time, falling just shy of a great one, at least in the singleplayer campaign, and I'd probably rate this a 3.5* if it were packaged alone.
However, Bowser's Fury exists. And honestly, Bowser's Fury kind of rules. It may be somewhat packaged as "hey, here's bonus content so that this isn't just a port", but honestly, there's a ton of content here. 100 cat shines falls just short of the star count in Super Mario 64, and most of them are spread across sub-zones in a larger hub world. The best part is that the hub zones evolve as you collect cat shines, so the world is very dynamic. I don't really love the fury blocks and having to time out Bowser, but honestly this part of the game rules and very much merits that extra half star bump. I hope more 3D mario games go in its type of direction in the future - I unironically like type of world this more than Odyssey's.
However, Bowser's Fury exists. And honestly, Bowser's Fury kind of rules. It may be somewhat packaged as "hey, here's bonus content so that this isn't just a port", but honestly, there's a ton of content here. 100 cat shines falls just short of the star count in Super Mario 64, and most of them are spread across sub-zones in a larger hub world. The best part is that the hub zones evolve as you collect cat shines, so the world is very dynamic. I don't really love the fury blocks and having to time out Bowser, but honestly this part of the game rules and very much merits that extra half star bump. I hope more 3D mario games go in its type of direction in the future - I unironically like type of world this more than Odyssey's.
Reviewed on May 31, 2023