Episode 117 - Snow Ass Peaks - Super Mario 3D World (and Bowser's Fury)

Mario, this podcast is out of control! I tried to help it but it’s too big and mad. Welcome back to the podcast! It’s been a long time since we’ve talked about a Mario platformer (depending on if you could Mario Maker, it’s been two to three years), so with Nintendo celebrating the 35th anniversary last year and releasing the Switch port of 3D World, it seemed like a good time. So we waited a year and then did it. Our lack of timeliness aside, 3D Word was the Wii U’s entry into the world of 3D Mario platformers, and like the console it was originally on it was, let’s say, differently appreciated. 3D World follows the design sense of Super Mario 3D Land, a game that was on the 3DS and tried to merge the 3D and 2D Mario titles in the way it was presented and designed and this felt normal and pretty good on a handheld console. 3D World, however, puts the spotlight on some of the stranger aspects of this choice now that it sits in the same circle as games like Mario Galaxy or 64. It being different than Mario’s other 3D outings is not inherently a bad thing, though, and the game is still as charming and polished as you’ve come to expect, but whether or not it’s what you’re looking for in a Mario game will be up to you to decide. As an added bonus, we’ll be talking about Bowser’s Fury, a game that is more in the design space of Mario Sunshine et al., which came packed in with the Switch port of 3D World. We’re going to be talking about camera controls and perspective in a game that is trying to be a hybrid of 2D and 3D platformer design, presentation and absolutely nailing the musical interpretation of Mario, a game series that helped create the video game music paradigm, and we try for several minutes to remember the names of some Mario 64 levels. Thank you for joining us again this week! It really has been a startlingly long time since we’ve discussed a Mario game, and despite this being a newer title (in the form of the Switch port), it’s still one of the more off-beat games and one we probably would have gotten around to had the port never released. How did 3D World strike you? Did you think Bowser’s Fury was worth getting the game for, or maybe not think we should have devoted almost half the podcast to it? Let us know in the comments or over on our Discord! We’ve been going back to some older games recently, and we’ve got one more to go before we hit Halloween hard. Next time we’re going to be talking about Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a heavily anticipated sequel and one that didn’t do what a lot of people expected, so we hope you’ll join us for that.