The old Bowser chaseĪs usual, the reason why you want to fight Bowser is explained quickly and with little fanfare. It takes 130 Green Stars to get into Bowser’s final castle. If you’re slouching off, you’ll have to replay a few levels to get some green. Though the goal is to beat every level quickly and move on, 3D World does force you to collect enough of these Green Stars to enter each kingdom’s boss castle. Sometimes these are just lying around, but often it takes some effort to find them all. There are hidden collectibles in each level, including three Green Stars (much like the large golden coins of previous game). Veteran players, and those that like to explore, have something to do too. You wear other odd things from time to time as well, like Goomba suits and Question Blocks. In one level we got to hold a potted piranha plant, which would eat every enemy we got close to, and in another, there’s a giant skating boot you can jump into, which feels like a clever homage to Mario Bros. More familiar power ups like the Fire Flower, Mega Mushroom, Boomerang cap, and the Tanooki suit are also present, but you can pick up and use many temporary power ups, too. Nintendo isn’t afraid to break the integrity of its own game for the sake of a little fun. It’s easy to control an army of Marios since they copy each other’s movements, but it gets really tough to keep track of them. Grab another of these power-ups and a third clone appears. The Double Cherry power is the other new one grab the power-up and a Mario clone appears next to the original, with the two moving in unison. The most powerful new ability is Meneki-Neko, or “Lucky Cat” Mario, which lets you climb up walls (to an extent), run on all fours, and swipe at enemies. Items and power ups add greatly to this variety. Even better, most of these helping hands are optional.

For all of the challenges you face, there are also plenty of pillows to absorb your failures so you don’t get too frustrated. And if you fail five times in a row, the game gives you invincibility to help you. Every level is littered with new ideas and different types of challenges, from 3D puzzles (where you can’t jump) with Toad, to a Mario Kart homage, to several levels that may remind you of Zelda. That’s part of what keeps Super Mario 3D World from getting stale. Sure, there were a few more lava levels in the lava kingdom, and a couple more cloud-like levels in the cloud kingdom, but for the most part, each level is its own unique treat. The overworld kingdoms all follow a particular theme, but the levels themselves don’t – they’re just random fun, like a down-to-earth Mario Galaxy. Imagine if you could step outside the lines connecting each level in SMB3. Though paths still open between levels and you have to beat them in order (mostly), you can also walk around the overworld freely and find secrets tucked away there. Like SMB3, you’re fighting through kingdoms of snow, desert, cloud, lava, and others. The overworld feels like a merging of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Bros.

Luigi jumps higher but moves more slowly, Peach can float for a few seconds at the height of her jump, and Toad is a speedster. Most other special jumps, like the long lump, side twirl, and butt stomp are still here, but Mario can’t do his trademark 3-stage running super jump anymore, which is a shame. Instead of simply picking up speed, fire and smoke come from you once you begin to run. Mario’s jumping and running abilities are mostly unchanged. Our only problem with multiplayer was the camera, which had trouble tracking four people at once. It’s a delicate balance between friendly griefing and sharing a team victory, though whoever gets to the flag pole first gets the most points. Wii, you and your friends can spend as much time trying to kill each other as working together. 2 – or all four if you have some friends in the room. You can play as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad – each with unique abilities inspired by their appearance in Super Mario Bros. Instead of entering a level to search for a new star mission, you enter levels and try to race to the finish like classic Mario games.

Cat mario 3d games