Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury: With cat ears to the Jump & Run reference? Our test!

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Slowly but surely, Nintendo has ported almost every game that had a reputation for being on the Wii U to the light-years more successful Switch - mostly with a few innovations and still at full price. So it is hardly surprising that at some point Super Mario 3D World would also get a second chance, after all, the excellent Jump & Run made it into second place of the best-selling Wii U titles.

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For the 35th anniversary of the company mascot, Switch owners who have not had enough of the jumping Italians and their friends even after the 3D Allstars collection have, look forward to an expanded version of 3D World - including the new bonus adventure Bowser's Fury. Is the new acquisition worthwhile for those familiar with the original? Does Bowser's Fury even reach the quality level of Super Mario Odyssey? And how many cat word games are hidden in this test? Let's find out!

Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. If you want to experience Mario's new adventure directly, you can start Bowser's Fury from the main menu immediately after starting the game. Since the story can be described in a few sentences, as is typical for Mario, and the two Jump & Runs have their own self-contained actions, no prior knowledge is required. The eponymous rage-Bowser has run a decent louse over the liver, which is why he is now, accompanied by smoking black slime, tyrannized the archipelago of the Schmusekatzensee. Plumber and anti-aggression trainer Mario (this time without his friends) is sucked into the cat dimension by the dark soup and is supposed to bring the villain icon back onto the carpet. You quickly notice: The name of this lake is no coincidence!

Katz-Scenes

In Bowser's Fury you can also dive into danger with Plessie. If you jump out of the water with the right timing, you'll get a boost in speed. Source: PC Games Absolutely everything and everyone in your new environment has been given pointy ears. Trees, bushes, rainbows, clouds, and also all opponents had to undergo the catification. Why all that? We suspect that Nintendo wants to pay due respect to the famous cat costume from Super Mario 3D World and is therefore presenting Bowser's Fury under the sign of the fluffy four-legged friends. After just a few steps in the cute new world, you will meet the newly designed Bowser for the first time, who awakens strong Godzilla associations with its pitch black armor and bright orange eyes. Just like the Japanese cult monster, the angry toad rises from the sea, then glowing spines herald a destructive jet of fire. It's high time to collect your first cat insignia and use it to activate the nearby lighthouse, because Anger-Bowser is sensitive to light. With that you have already understood the basic gameplay of Bowser's Fury: you travel to different islands, collect several copies of the hungover star or moon variant and unlock more areas of the archipelago - so far, so used.

Four fins against four paws: On the back of Plessie, you hunt giant rabbits to steal their cat insignia. Source: PC Games What turns the expansion into an almost full-fledged 3D Mario adventure, which in its freedom of movement even trumps the big Switch brother Odyssey, is the structure of the game world. You don't jump through demarcated levels, but can explore a world map with many unique islands in relatively any order! The new feeling of freedom is reinforced by the camera, which, compared to 3D World, is not only closer to the action, but can also be rotated freely, so you don't have to jump into the unknown as often. Thematically, the island groups that are gradually unlocked follow a jump & run-typical structure of beach, ice and lava world, but in terms of diversity, the zones do not show any nakedness. In the launch area you jump meters high through the air with the launching platforms of the Boing Boing Islands, the floor folds away from under you on the cliff-top cliffs and on the Velvet Paw Coast you climb rotating walls. You move between the compact islands on the back of Plessie, your swimming dinosaur friend. Later, fun areas such as an invisible tower, an icy slide corridor or the rotating platform axis over molten rock require a little more jump & run expertise, but Bowser's Fury is rarely really demanding. This is mainly due to the many auxiliary mechanics with which you can make the game easier, as with 3D World.

Two like dog and cat

In the Schmusekatzensee the name says it all. The ears only increase the cuddle factor, otherwise the opponents behave as one is used to. Source: PC Games Your smallest helper is Bowser Jr., whom you met shortly after the start of Bowser's Fury on the beach. This time, Mario's former opponent is forced to ask the man in the dungarees for help, as he no longer seems to feel safe during his father's outbursts. From now on, the lizard floats next to you in the egg cup and can be commanded around using the movement cursor in TV mode or using the touchscreen on the handheld. You can send the Koopa Prince to enemies, floating items or graffiti, which he then works on more or less quickly with his huge brush. Although the AI ​​does not always recognize immediately what you have clicked, especially when there are differences in altitude, you rarely have to use the direct control for your partner anyway. How often and how quickly a computer-controlled Bowser Jr. supports you in combat can be set in the options menu. If you want a lot of help, it will even repel projectiles fired at you, but it is not particularly reliable. If you wish, you can also replace the AI ​​with a human player, who then controls the invulnerable companion. The control of the camera remains with the Mario player, but since your floating friend can teleport to you at any time, the chaos factor in Bowser's Fury is still limited. Co-op partners with a sure instinct turn Bowser Jr. into a movable jump block and thus reach greater heights. Similar tactics can be used here as with Mario and Cappy in Odyssey, even if Bowser Jr. has less on the box overall - the ability to control opponents definitely made the hat that came to life a more versatile companion. The murals, on which Bowser Jr. can be artistically active, at least provide useful power-up costumes, the other great auxiliary mechanics in the game.

You can also have your companion collect some items. The control of the cursor is noticeably easier with the touchscreen. Source: PC Games Here, 3D World and the expansion are relatively congruent: In both adventures, you can dress up to expand your attack and movement options. Whoever collects the fire flower shoots burning balls, the blue turtle shell equips you with boomerangs and in tanooki fur you escape hairy situations with a full blow and glide jump. However, you will spend the lion's share of your playing time in a yellow cat suit, as you can not only give a swift swipe of the paw, but also climb walls for an astonishingly long time and overcome some jump & run passages with ease. In this point, too, Bowser's Fury shines with more flexibility: there is space for up to five pieces of each costume in your inventory, which means that you can approach the varied situations on the islands in an even more versatile manner. The compensation for the further reduced level of difficulty is Bowser, who in his rage form not only acts as a boss opponent, but also as a recurring threat in the open world.

The helpful villain

In sections With push buttons it is important to plan the most efficient route possible in order to activate every button in one run. It's rarely difficult. Source: PC Games If it starts to rain on the otherwise sunny islands, it's not just the holiday mood for the cat: the weather change announces that your giant antagonist is about to break out of his tank and the next few minutes with a blaze of flames and a meteor shower Makes fire under the bum. You have to reckon with the appearance of Wut-Bowser for the entire season, regardless of whether you are just exploring the area or are in a tricky jump passage. The additional threat factor is never great enough to completely prevent you from your current task, but you still have to avoid a lot of additional obstacles. If you collect one of the insignia mentioned at the beginning, which are usually only a few steps away from each other, the lizard disappears in the slimy waters and leaves you alone for a few minutes.

So that the sting monster does not degenerate into a nerve factor , Nintendo has placed special rage blocks on almost every island that can only be destroyed by Bowser's fire jet and behind which secrets, insignia and entire level sections are hidden. The Bowser appearances are therefore not just a cool staged distraction, but an elementary play element for collecting all collectables. If you have bagged enough cat badges, the giant bell in the center of each archipelago comes to life and you can strike back in a gigantic cat costume. The power-up turns you into a four-legged friend as high as a house and transforms the entire world map into a single, large battle arena. A courageous design decision, which on the one hand impressively visualizes the gigantic dimensions of your exchange of blows, on the other hand is probably partly responsible for the rather compact size of the game world.