Super Mario 3D World (abbreviated as SM3DW) is a 3D platformer action game for the Wii U. It is a direct follow-up to the 2011 Nintendo 3DS installment Super Mario 3D Land, the fifteenth title in the Super Mario series, the sixth original 3D Mario title, the seventh 3D Mario title overall, and the fifth 3D Mario title on a home console after Super Mario Galaxy 2. The game also received a prequel/spin off based on The Adventures of Captain Toad levels in this game titled Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, which was first released on November 13, 2014 in Japan almost a year later. On February 12, 2021, a port titled Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury for the Nintendo Switch, was released, with new features that were not present in its Wii U version.
Contents
Multiplayer
Super Mario 3D World is the first game in the Super Mario 3D series to include multiplayer. Playable characters are Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Blue Toad. Their abilities are similar to those from the original Super Mario Bros. 2. Mario has the standard run and jump capability. Luigi jumps higher with a flutter kick. Peach can float in the air, and Blue Toad runs faster than the rest.
Characters
Playable Characters
Playable
Enemies
- Ant Trooper
- Banzai Bill
- Beach Koopa
- Biddybud
- Big Ant Trooper
- Big Galoomba
- Big Goomba
- Blockstepper
- Blooper
- Blue Lava Bubble
- Blurker
- Boo
- Boomerang Bro.
- Brolder
- Bullet Bill
- Bully
- Cat Banzai Bill
- Cat Bullet Bill
- Cat Goomba
- Chargin' Chuck
- Charvaargh
- Cheep-Cheep
- Coin Coffer
- Conkdor
- Fire Bro.
- Fizzlit
- Flopter
- Fuzzler
- Fuzzy
- Fuzzy Horde
- Galoomba
- Goomba
- Goomba Tower
- Hammer Bro.
- Hop-Chop
- Horned Ant Trooper
- Ka-Thunk
- Koopa Troopa
- Lava Bubble
- Madpole
- Micro-Goomba
- Octoomba
- Para-Biddybud
- Peepa
- Piranha Creeper
- Piranha Plant
- Porcupuffer
- Ring Burner
- Skipsqueak
- Snow Pokey
- Spike
- Spiny
- Spiny Skipsqueak
- Splorch
- Splounder
- Stingby
- Thwomp
- Ty-Foo
- Venus Fire Trap
- Walleye
- Winged Dry Bones
Bosses
- Boom Boom
- Boss Brolder
- Bowser
- King Hisstocrat
- King Ka-Thunk
- Meowser (Final Boss)
- Motley Bossblob
- Pom Pom
- Prince Bully
- Queen Hisstocrat
Others
- Plessie
- Sprixie
- Sprixie Princesses
- Lucky House Host
- Stamp Collector
- Mystery House Host
- A Piranha Plant that falls asleep, which can be picked up to eat other enemies.
Power Ups
Super Mario 3D World has a variety of power-ups that can be used by players:
- Super Mushroom - Makes you grow a size.
- 1-up Mushroom - Gives an extra life.
- Super Star - Temporarily makes invincible and extremely fast.
- Fire Flower - Makes fire balls shoot from the user's palms.
- Lucky Bell - Makes Mario and his friends turn to golden Statue Cats That gives the player coins when they drop.
- Super Leaf - Spin nearby enemies, flutter through the air.
- Super Bell - Climb onto walls, pounce on enemies and slide on ground. Turns the player(s) into a cat.
- Double Cherry - Doubles the character.
- Boomerang Flower - Throw boomerangs to knock out enemies.
- Cannon Box - Shoot cannonballs to knock out enemies and bosses.
- Mega Mushroom - Makes Mario grow giant temporarily
- Goomba Head - The player dons a Goomba mask to avoid being detected by enemies
- Ice skate - In the first level of World 3, the player can get an Ice Skate from Skating Goombas.
- Invincibility Leaf - Completely invincible for the entire level.
Worlds
Worlds in italics can only be played after you defeat Meowser.
- World 1
- World 2
- World 3
- World 4
- World 5
- World 6
- World Castle
- World Bowser
- World Star
- World Mushroom
- World Flower
- World Crown
Bonus Stamps
- First Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House in World 2.
- Second Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House in World 3.
- Third Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House after beating Fire Bros. Hideout #1 in World 4.
- Fourth Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House after beating Bob-ombs Below in World 5.
- Fifth Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House in World 6.
- Sixth Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House after beating Red Hot Run in World Castle.
- Seventh Sprixie princess: Go in the Sprixie House after beating Footlight Lane in World Bowser.
- Cat Mario climbing: Go in the Sprixie House in World Star.
- 8-bit Luigi: Go in the Sprixie House in World Crown.
5 Star File
- Star 1: Beat the level The Great Tower of Bowser Land.
- Star 2: Get every green star from World 1 to World Flower.
- Star 3: Get every stamp from World 1 to World Star.
- Star 4: Reach the top of every flagpole from World 1 to World Flower.
- Star 5: Complete every level from World 1 to World Flower as all five characters.
Shiny Stars
Complete every level without the use of the Invincibility Leaf. Completing a level using the Leaf and beating it again later without the Leaf is allowed.
Year of Luigi Add-Ins
The game had quite a few references to the Year of Luigi. For example, there are some hidden 8-Bit Luigis scattered around the levels. And an 8-Bit Luigi that appears in the lower right corner of the screen, when tapped, will allow the player to play a special game called Luigi Bros. The game itself is a remake of the NES game Mario Bros..
Switch Remake
Super Mario 3D World's Switch port comes with the following enhancements that the original did not:
- Mario and his friends can now move faster and also roll and dive in the air.
- The Switch version has a new game mode called Bowser's Fury.
- The Switch version is Amiibo-compatible.
- There is a new world in the game.
- The lives icon no longer has the x symbol between your character's icon and their remaining lives.
- Players can now move in any direction, instead of just the cardinal and intermediate directions.
References to Other Games
- Super Mario Bros. - Most of the soundtrack consists of remix versions of the main theme for Super Mario Bros. Also, the second major level of the game includes an underground level.
- Super Mario Bros. 2 - During the Slot Machine levels, the theme heard while in there is a remix version of the character select screen from this game. Also, Princess Peach's floating ability returns in this game. The Subcons resemble a Sprixie Princess in this game.
- Super Mario Bros. 3 - Whenever a player enters a Toad House, the same theme (albeit remixed) from this game plays whenever a player is in it. When a player dies, the death music is this one instead of the ones from other games.
References to Later Games
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Some pieces of music return here.
Trivia
- Super Mario 3D World was released on the same day as Mario Party: Island Tour and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds in the U.S.
- This game marks a few milestones for Peach:
- The first mainstream Mario game since Super Mario Bros. 2 to feature her as a playable character.
- The first 3D Mario game to feature her as a playable character.
- The first Mario game since Super Mario Bros. 2 where the main plot doesn't revolve around rescuing her since she is a playable character in this game.
- Super Mario 3D World currently features more power-ups in one game than any of the other Mario games with 19 power-ups.
- When two or more players are present in the game, and one or more has acquired a Double Cherry, another player can ground-pound on one of the player's clones and take it as their own.
- If one counts the wearable items (such as boxes and shoes), Super Mario 3D World has the most power-ups in any Mario platformer thus far, with seventeen power-ups (compared to Super Mario Bros. 3, which has nine).
- This is the second 3D Mario game to have Mario slide down a flagpole. The other was its predecessor Super Mario 3D Land.
- This is the first 3D Mario platforming game that features the Mega Mushroom.
- This game is the second 3D Mario game that is a 3D platformer and not an open world platformer. The other is Super Mario 3D Land
Images
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