Nintendo has been re-releasing Wii U games on the Switch for as long as the Switch has been a thing. Some people might complain about double-dipping, but I think it only makes sense. The Wii U was a massive flop sales-wise (it ended up being Nintendo’s worst-selling console to date), but it had an absolutely killer lineup of first-party titles. Since the install base for the Switch is several magnitudes higher than that of the Wii U, I say Nintendo should bring those amazing Wii U games to the Switch. The more the merrier.
The most recent example is Super Mario 3D World, which was the Wii U’s 3D Mario game (the other Wii U original Mario games were the 2.5D New Super Mario titles). Super Mario 3D World was ported over to the Switch with some notable upgrades, including an incredibly robust photo mode.
The best new feature, however, isn’t a feature at all; it’s an entire new game. Yes, despite Nintendo’s hesitancy to showcase Bowser’s Fury as anything more than a bonus goodie to justify the $60 price tag for Super Mario 3D World, it’s actually a standalone game, and it’s incredible. In fact, I think Bowser’s Fury is actually better than Super Mario 3D World.
This came as a huge surprise. Until very recently, I assumed Bowser’s Fury was mostly just an add-on, in the same way that New Super Luigi U added onto New Super Mario Bros. U by reimagining it from a different, greener angle. And Nintendo did very little to shake that perception.
In fact, the Big N seems to be downplaying the role of Bowser’s Fury. When you fire up Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, the former game takes up almost the entire starting menu.
Yes, when you navigate to the right, this effect is flipped, putting Bowser’s Fury front and center.
But you won’t ever see that until you manually navigate there yourself. The default screen is almost entirely dedicated to the cat-suit-filled re-release.
Don’t let Nintendo’s poor marketing fool you; Bowser’s Fury is a standalone game, and it’s one that’s very much worth your time. In fact, people are referring to it as an open-world Mario game (I would argue that this description is not quite on the nose, but it’s close enough to being true that it conjures up the essence of the experience, I suppose).
In case you’re on the fence about this purchase, I really think you should topple over to the side where you end up buying it rather than the side where you don’t. Bowser’s Fury is worth the price of admission alone, and if you pick that up, you get Super Mario 3D World as a nice little bonus. The fact that Nintendo advertised this as the other way around will never stop being weird to me.
