Nintendo isn’t afraid to bend the Mario franchise in inventive ways its designers never outright break the formula. U, the colorful levels of Super Mario World, the zippy mobility of Super Mario 64. An alternative title for Super Mario 3D World would be “Super Mario’s Greatest Hits”: the multiplayer of New Super Mario Bros. Though technically a sequel to Super Mario 3D Land on the Nintendo 3DS, Super Mario 3D World borrows freely from the entire series. On one path is Super Mario 3D World, a port of a little-played but lovingly reviewed Wii U game that blends together the best bits of 2D and 3D Mario adventures. But beyond that pseudo-superficial connection, the duo represents a rare fork in the road for the future of Nintendo’s diminutive plumber. One “old,” one new, the pair have been loosely tied together by a shared love of cats.
As the math equation of a title implies, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury bundles two discrete video games in one package.
