Tag: Super Mario

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury Looks Oh So Good

A Bigger Badder Bowser – Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury Trailer

Super Mario 3D World is another one of those wonderful Wii U games that not enough people played, for obvious reasons. It was a game I poured tons of hours into trying to complete it to 100% (stupid Champion’s Road). When it was announced as the next Wii U game to be ported to the Switch, I was already sold, additional content or not.

Then Nintendo pulled back the curtain on Bowser’s Fury.

Holy smokes! It’s a wacky 3D World, Sunshine, Odyssey fusion. It seems like Bowser waking up from his black, inky slumber is even a bit reminiscent of the blood moon in Breath of the Wild. This expansion seems more meaty than I originally expected, but I can’t imagine it being too substantial. Maybe a few hours of gameplay instead of a handful of levels that I originally expected. It is interesting to see Nintendo taking the gameplay, assets, and design of 3D World and actually making an open 3D environment to explore.

Once this releases next month, the only 3D Mario games missing on the Switch will be Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land. I am eager to dig back into one of my favorite Wii U games.

Remembering Super Mario 64 DS

A great Super Mario 64 port already exists, on the Nintendo DS by Ana Diaz for Polygon

True fans have been asking for the King to return. The impending release of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection has had me walking down memory lane back to the summer after the release of Nintendogs in April 2004. I was getting ready to get my own DS and was extremely excited. One day after church, my Dad took me around town in his truck looking for an Electric Blue Nintendo DS just like my friend had gotten for his birthday. The plan was to buy the Electric Blue DS bundled with Super Mario 64 DS and snag a copy of Nintendogs too.

Unfortunately, the Electric Blue DS was a hot commodity in the summer of 2004 and every store we stopped at was sold out. Our last stop was a Walmart and they too were sold out, but they did have a Titanium Silver DS bundled with the Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt demo. I decided to buy that system instead of waiting to find the Electric Blue. This decision did force me to chose between Super Mario 64 DS and Nintendogs thought; two games I was incredibly eager to play. I ended up choosing Super Mario 64 DS and would end up getting Nintendogs later on.

I had played Super Mario 64 before at neighbor kids’ houses, but I never owned it myself (and wouldn’t until I bought it in college for $15). This portable remaster/upgrade was my first real introduction to the game. I must have played over 100 hours between the main game and all the multiplayer minigames with my friends. I absolutely loved this game growing up.

After the announcement of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I decided to download a copy of Super Mario 64 DS on my Wii U. You read that right. The Wii U has a nicely curated selection of Nintendo DS games for $9.99 or less. I was fiddling around with the game, capturing some footage, and I realized how much this portable version actually changed from the N64 original. Ana Diaz puts highlights the changes in the linked post:

Mario 64 DS wasn’t just a carbon copy of the Nintendo 64 game. It added a plethora of new content. This included a whopping 30 new stars, entirely new areas, and secret stars. It brought in Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario as playable characters. It also boasted a catalog of 36 touchscreen-based minigames. Those are just some of the highlights.

I’m not here to say that more content is inherently better. What made this port work was that the new content enhanced and improved on the experience of the original game.

This strikes me as the kinda of remake in the same vein as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. When remaking Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube, Silicon Knights decided to fuse the gameplay from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty with the original game’s setting and plot. While not necessarily a graphical powerhouse upgrade over the original, Super Mario 64 DS does add new gameplay elements and modernizes some of the original game while keeping its spirit. The one star per level structure was always a perfect format for portable play and Peach’s Castle shined on the DS.

It really is a bummer that Super Mario 64 DS really has never been properly acknowledged after its initial release. Maybe if Nintendo ever decides to truly remake Super Mario 64 (maybe with the Super Mario Odyssey engine), they’ll turn to the DS version instead as their foundation.

Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct – Nintendo

Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct from Nintendo

Sometimes, having hope pans out.

Nintendo sure is acting like Nintendo with some of these Mario 35th anniversary announcements. A Super Mario Bros. 35-player battle royale, Tetris 99 style? Great idea! Let’s only allow people play until March 2021. So Nintendo.

Let’s take three iconic 3D Super Mario games and put them in a single collection for Switch. Swell plan! Let’s also only offer it both physically and digitally until March 2021! Why not?

It would not surprise me if after this March 2021 deadline if Nintendo sells these ports individually and digitally only. Maybe sometime next summer there will be some sort of N64 or GameCube or even Wii virtual console for Switch?

This may also help paint a picture for Nintendo’s plans for The Legend of Zelda and Metroid’s 35th anniversaries, both of which are next year (but who am I kidding, Metroid will get bupkis). There have been rumors of a port of Skyward Sword for Switch for quite a while now. During the Wii U generation, both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess got full HD ports, so I doubt there is a triple pack with those games. Maybe the sequel to Breath of the Wild will release, possibly alongside a new, more powerful Switch?

Speculation and confusion aside, it is great to see Super Mario 3D All-Stars in action and to be able to play in just two weeks! I think this quick turnaround from official announcement to release is a blast. It is a shame we have to wait until February 2021 for Super Mario 3D World+ though.