Super Mario 3D World | December 7, 2013
Nintendo Wii U Exclusive Title

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the last time we got a real new way to play Mario in 3D. Even though Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii U and Super Luigi U brought some new things to the series, these three games were upgrades of the classic Mario games. With Super Mario 3D Worlds you can play up to four players or you can play the game solo. Either way this latest game added to the Mario series is flawless from beginning to end. It does not matter if you are new to gaming or you own every single game that Nintendo has put Mario's face on you will want to keep playing this game. Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach are walking along when they come across a strange clear pipe. A Sprixie fairy creature pops out of the pipe when Bowser grabs her and takes off. Bowser has not only captured her but all of her fellow Sprixies too. Mario and his friends decided to help.
The big edition that Nintendo promoted is the new “Cat Mario” bell power up. It is not only fun as a power up but it is key to finding many secret things in all of the worlds and you need it to get through many of the levels. There are things hidden on top of walls that you have to climb or underneath platforms that you can’t reach without the Cat power up. Our new favorite new power up is the Double Cherry. Finding this new power will give you two Mario’s to use, find another one and now you have three Mario’s. We were able to get five (could have been seven) on screen at the same time and with the Flower Power allowing us to shoot fireballs bouncing around hitting your foes all at once. And, when you are playing with more than one person who knows how many can be on screen at the same time. You can also carry a power ups with you and switch between them. This is another way to find secret stuff.
There are tons of boss battles in the game mixed in with optional hidden ones and mid-level bosses. Some are the traditional jump on their head three times and they are done but many of them are different like defeating five hammer brothers at the same time or hit them with their own attack. They are never boring and there are lots of bosses to find and defeat. You get to fight Bowser at the end of the first world and it is different than any other Mario game. There are also times where you have to use the gamepad. Toad has some worlds where you must blow on the gamepad and rotate 360 degrees to guide him through the level. In these worlds Toad can’t jump so it takes some time to figure it out, it is equal parts puzzle game and platformer. The whole point of all of this is to find green stars. You need them to unlock certain levels and to get inside the castles. You need 170 green stars to open Bowser's final lair in the last world and 210 stars to open the road to the final level in the hidden world. There are seven worlds in the main story and four hidden worlds to unlock.
This game has a Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World Super Nintendo days feel to it but with no Yoshi. It took us 15 hours to get through the main storyline. With all of the extra stuff to figure out and the hidden worlds to unlock you could get up to 25 hours depending on how good you are (the hidden crown world is very hard). This game scores very high in the replay category either when it comes to playing in single or multiplayer plus the game gives you a lot of time to explore to find everything. Just outstanding the whole time and this game is worth buying a Wii U just to play it. Price not an issue, $60!
 
10 out of 10
Buy This Game Today

10 out of 10
Buy This Game Today


Rated
E for Everyone

Rated
PEGI 3

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