There was no way I was going to buy a copy of Super Mario 3D World for the Switch when I already owned it on the Wii U which is still connected to the TV the Switch is. So of course that’s what I did anyway. With my remaining Nintendo Online game voucher thing, so it only cost £21.50 and I’d bought the vouchers before HYRULE WARRIORS: Age of Calamity come out so that’s basically forgotten money now, right? Anyway, …
After a mammoth effort this weekend, I get all the stars, stamps and flags from the rest of the remaining levels. It wasn’t hard, it just took a fair while as most of the levels had at least something left to collect. My reward? World Crown. I was slightly disappointed to find there were just three levels on this world, but as you can see – one of them is pretty much a monster. Look at all them stars!
That picture there is all the flags, stars and stamps for all of the worlds from 1-8. Or 1-Bowser, if you’re using Nintendo’s eclectic numbering system. Surprisingly, although the hardest level up until then when playing normally and for the first run through, was Grumblump Inferno (the one with the blocks you have to stand on as they roll over lava), and I’d failed to get anything but a finish on it, this time I found it incredibly easy and …
The post-game mop-up continues apace. I’ve played through all of Star, Mushroom and Flower worlds (although not collected everything in each level), finishing at Boss Blitz. It’s not that the level is especially hard, because it isn’t. In fact, most of the bosses in this – which technically classifies as a SuckySuck(TM) Bit – are the same as earlier in the game. The main issue is beating them in the time allowed. Actually, the main issues is beating the Hisstocrats …
By completed, I of course mean I have beaten Bowser. Like New Super Mario Bros U, from around this time last year, that’s only the first half of the game. The post-game mop-up of stars, flags and stamps will continue for a long time, I’m sure. Apparently, it took me just under 5 hours to get this far. That’s shorter than NSMBU by some way. It certainly felt shorter, and was certainly easier. Yes, I found a warp (by accident) …
New Super Lucky’s Tale is no Mario 64 or Yooka-Laylee. It’s a nice little (mostly) 3D platformer in that style, however, but without the acrobatics and inventiveness of the former and with none of the fancy moves and humour of that latter. It’s a very pared down experience in many ways, especially compared to those, but actually, it was a pleasant surprise. It doesn’t do a lot – you collect things and jump around and there are odd characters to …
Yes, I have played and completed this before. A fair few times too. But! This is the Switch version, on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars pack that recently came out, where the game is (slightly) upscaled, (slightly) less blurry, and with a nicer looking HUD and font. I’ve said before that Super Mario 64 is one of the best games ever made. It sits comfortably in my Top 5, and was probably at Number Two (after Run Baby Run of …
This is a hard one. Well, not hard in that way (the game is easy – very easy), but hard in how I feel about it. Unlike pretty much every Mario game ever, Super Mario Odyssey didn’t instantly grab me. Perhaps it was the terrible looking first “world”. Maybe it was the stark art style changes between worlds. I don’t know. Definitely, I started enjoying it in my first hour – but other games in the series I was hooked …
Nintendo lovingly gave lots of 3DS owners a free copy of this GBC game (on the 3DS Virtual Console) for Valentine’s Day. Ah, bless them. Seems that all that play on NES Remix recently has really paid off, as a I stormed through SMB Deluxe without losing a single life. OK, yes – I used the 1-2 to 4-1 and 4-2 to 8-1 warps, but I’ve never managed to do World 8 this easily. And that’s with the GBC version’s …
The thing with New Super Mario Bros U is, that sadly, it doesn’t have an infinite number of levels and doesn’t carry on until the end of all time. That is pretty much its only failing, but nonetheless, it means I ran out of game. Which is why I bought NSMB2. As it’s sort of more of the same. In actuality, it’s not as good as NSMBU. It’s a lot easier. There’s no proper world map. There’s no Acorn power …
My first completed Wii U game! And a fantastic one it was! I genuinely believe this is the best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World. It’s just perfect. Varied worlds, secret exits, challenging levels (all pretty much missing from the other “New” SMB titles), and for the first time, the 3D Mario character actually works. In every other game with a 3D Mario played in 2D (even as far back as Mario vs Donkey Kong) he just looks wrong. …
And it was AWESOME. Many people complained that it wasn’t a proper follow up to Mario 64, with big open worlds and a world “hub”. Some people complained that it wasn’t a proper 2D Mario game, like New Super Mario Bros. And some people complained it was basically just Super Mario Bros. 3 in 3D. Pff to them all. They’ve clearly not played it, for if they had, they’d realise it doesn’t matter. It’s a new Mario game, close enough …
Although I’d have ended up buying this at some point anyway (it’s a Mario game, so obviously), there was an issue doing so due to last year’s £18 Rule – and Mario games almost never dip much in price. That rule has now expired though, replaced with the far more gruelling Pound-A-Mile Rule, which still encourages finding the lowest price for anything without the limit. Instead, there’s just the limit of how far my little legs can cycle. But I digress. As …
It took me a while to actually find the final remaining zone (Space Zone) as it was somewhat hidden via an exit from another level, but it was soon completed and Wario’s Castle infiltrated. And Wario was defeated with ease. All the bosses were pretty easy, actually, and very few of the levels gave much of a challenge. Quite different to Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World, which this is a sort of portable analogue of. It was …
Included with the Switch port of Super Mario 3D World, Bowser’s Fury reuses all the power-ups, enemies and gimmicks from that game but adds cat ears to literally everything and gives you a fully controllable camera. It’s also one complete open world, a bit like an extra large Super Mario Odyssey level. Bowser has gone out of control, and you need to collect Cat Shines to keep him in check. Every so often he rises from the black goo that …
