This is an ongoing list where I attempt to do the following: Play, Complete, and Rank every video game in the known universe in order to finally answer the age old question "What is the greatest game of all time?" For previous entries find the links on the attached spreadsheet.

How did I do?

Ok look, I don’t want to start off hostile, but I finished Mario 3d world and Bowser’s fury about 2 to 3 weeks ago, and I could have written about it for so long, but I really can’t find much to say about the game. I think the Mario 3d world portion is incredibly forgetful and kind of uninspiring for a Mario game. Yes, I know that the switch version is a port of the Wii-U game and it was perhaps magical or memorable at its time (I didn’t play it then, and I don’t own a Wii-U). However, I couldn’t bring myself to muster a lot of energy for the game, while I played or now, while I try to write about it. Let’s put it through its paces, but just know my heart is not in this one.

If we pretend you don’t know what this game is (and we are starting with just Mario 3d world), Mario 3d world is a 3d platformer staring a tradesman who never brings his tools on an adventure. You and up to 3 other buddies take control of Mario and some of his favorite pals as you go through close to 9000 levels attempting to grab some green stars and climb to the highest peak of the flagpole. There are some new powerups, mainly the cat powerup which turns you into a cat that can climb walls, use your claws to break bricks or attack enemies, and soar through the air. Bowser is at it again as he captures all the fairies that I guess have wandered into this game thinking it was a Zelda game, grants himself the wish of being a big cat, and then bottles up the fairies and leaves them strewn around the world, instead of holed up in one castle. Will Mario and friends free the fairies that you are just being introduced to? Who cares.. this summer from Nintendo.

I am trying desperately, while sitting at this keyboard, to think of one memorable level outside the final confrontation with Bowser, and I honestly can’t do it. I mean I remember the different worlds, I remember some aspects of levels where you ride a dinosaur that looks like it came from the Flintstones, but I couldn’t tell you the name of a level that I thought was truly great stuff. The thing is, I did everything there was to do in this game. I collected the 3 green stars from every level, I got all the stamps (not the ones that require playing as the same character for every level), I reached the top of the flagpole in every level, and I even beat the super hard final levels (boss rush, and regular platforming level). I did as much as possible to 100% this game outside of clearing every level with every available character. You may wonder why I would essentially 100% a game I clearly didn’t seem to enjoy, and you aren’t wrong for asking that question, but the thing is even a bad Mario game has a level of quality and polish that others may be missing. The difference with this particular game is that the magic is gone and this seems formulaic, which doesn’t suit a Mario game. Is the cat suit a fun addition? Sure, but it’s the closest we might get to having a P wing in a game again. With the cat suit on you can bypass large sections or even save yourself from certain death. I never felt like I was cheating when wearing it (in fact a lot of collectables require it) but I also felt that I was missing the point of some levels. Oh am I supposed to go up floor by floor in this level? Well with the cat suit I can just climb up like two or three at a time and ignore everything around me.

Maybe the main culprit of this game is time. When this game originally came out, there was no Mario Odyssey or Mario Wonder, or even Bowser’s Fury (which we will get to later). Those three games put some joy back into the little plumber and broke from its formula to inject some exploration, wimsy, fun, and a new perspective. This game doesn’t have any of those traits, and the only thing it has going for it is “multiplayer.” I love the Idea of playing this game with my kids or my wife and we tackle going for stars together, but I just don’t think this game in particular works well in multiplayer. To start, this is a single camera game, and while I don’t know if this game could work in split screen or 4-way split, the issue here is that the whole group has to follow in one person’s footsteps. If a character gets too far off screen, they will either teleport back to you, or die because they can’t see what they are doing. So everyone has to stay together, but there also isn’t enough on screen for everyone to feel like they are participating. You come across one collectable at a time, and whether you play democratically or anarchistic, since everyone has to follow the camera you will find yourself having to play follow the leader to pretend to collect something that isn’t even there anymore. Now the leader is determined by who did best and gets a crown based on previous level performance, so you could technically turn the game into a competition with each other, but if you are trying to actually get the stars and beat the game, you all need to be together anyway. What would put this idea over the top is if you could pull off the dynamic split screen like later Lego games, so that you could have people tackle different aspects of the level at the same time. Now there are certain times in levels when everyone would be forced to come together, boss fights, rolling log, etc. but having a few levels where you have to stick together is tolerable in comparison to every level being bunched up. I just think that it gives everyone something to do, collect coins, beat enemies, gather stars, or just make it to the end, and you don’t have to have one leader who gets to dictate that whole thing.

My kids eventually dropped wanting to play as they preferred going back to Odyssey or Wonder, and one got way into Galaxy, since they have the benefit of those games being out and in our possession. I didn’t blame them, but they never had the desire to see other worlds or levels as while they never stated it, they clearly weren’t as intrigued about what this game held. I’m not intelligent enough to delve into development issues or timeframes, or anything regarding that.. But I just don’t understand their idea with this game. They did the multiplayer all at the same time with Super Mario bros Wii, they have done better 3d in Mario 64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, and even Sunshine, so were people asking for “what if Super Mario Bros Wii was in 3d?” Did they come up with the idea of a catsuit first and then making a game came second? I am sure there is an obvious answer, I just don’t have it.

Ok, so what nice things do I have to say.. First, it’s a Mario game so there is a base line level of competence, which we already covered a little bit. The platforming is going to feel good, and the world is going to be bright and colorful, and the challenge level is going to ramp up at an acceptable level. It’s a good idea having the character select, like in Mario 2, before each level. I liked using the random function, just to see different flags dot each world, but it allows you to experiment with switching to Peach or Luigi on a level where you want that hover or flutter jump. Uhhh.. the catsuit is fun, but way overused in this game and overpowered. The fun of other powerups is that there is a use case in other games, there are use cases for them. Fire Flowers work great for water levels, or levels with lots of enemies, while the leaf power up is for levels with more precise jumps, or open areas. In Super Mario 3d world, the best powerup in all instances is the cat suit. Level with lots of enemies? Cat Suit. Level with tough platforming? Cat Suit. Level to help you get the top of the pole bonus? Cat Suit.

Alright I have to pivot because I’m just out of things to say. If this review was just for this game, it would be easily bottom half of the list, because it is just a forgettable formulaic entry in a series that is mostly known for being inventive and fun. However, we are going to talk about Bowser’s Fury as it is a pack in with this game (on the switch). Bowser’s Fury is a single player only adventure where you play as Mario who is trying to help Bowser Jr. calm his dad down. The crux of this game is that the whole game takes place in one 3d world that is divided into sections, but you can essentially travel anywhere at any time. You are still earning “Cat shines” which will unlock areas, or count towards your total to awaken bells for boss fights with Bowser, but there is no set order to the shines you have to earn or areas you have to go to next.

Before we go much farther, Bowser’s Fury is a drastic improvement over 3D world. While there aren’t levels per say, there are moments that are more memorable, Bowser feels at his most menacing and getting the shines at some of the sections are more fun then nearly any level in 3D world. If you were sensing a “but” coming up, you were right. Everyone lost their mind over this pack-in and said things like “Mario should go this way in the future,” but I don’t see how anyone could think this is a more interesting take then Mario Odyssey which came out before this. I got all 100 Cat Shines or however many there were, fought final Bowser twice to make sure I got the fully formed picture at the end credits, but I only saw this as a huge leap when I put it in comparison to it’s pack in partner. That’s not to say there aren’t good things to talk about, which we can.. but this is to say that I don’t think this should be the future of the 3d series.

Let’s dissect. The most important aspect is that this is truly an “open” world that Mario has gotten so far. There are no loading screens between areas, and assuming you have the sections unlocked you can run, jump, and swim your way from one section to the other with no interruption. While that is similar to Mario Odyssey, there are certainly more segregated areas in Odyssey. You might have to navigate through 3 change screens to get from one are to the other in Odyssey, while its all one continuous world here in Fury. In Fury the big gameplay mechanic is that Bowser comes out and harasses you basically on a timer regardless of where you are. The weather starts to change from Sunny and bright to rainy and dark, and eventually you start getting attacked with fireballs and angrier enemies then normal. This can create some nice tension while going for your average run of the mill Shine. Something that may have been a simple platforming section, now with the backdrop of angry Bowser is a harrowing race against time so you don’t die. Since these aren’t scripted moments though, they can be missed. Bowser could come out, 5 seconds before you touch a shine, and when you do touch it.. he disappears. I suppose you could wait at areas to give yourself a challenge, but the timing can be long between attacks, and that’s a lot of time to have Mario stand still just for a forced encounter. When he does pop out, you can engage him in a boss fight if you run to an unlocked bell, and these boss fights are certainly some of the best Bowser fights that have been done. You both transform into giant Kaijou and battle in the oceans which is a great spectacle, but admittedly becomes stale after the 2^nd or 3^rd time you have that battle.

When you enter a zone, it gives you the name of a shine you can get at the time, and depending it might be setup in a certain way. So there are certain shines that need to have trigger points for you to get. Whether that is a certain enemy or jumping puzzle that might not normally be in the area it needs to be. Sometimes that does mean that in order for that shine to pop up in an area, you actually have to go somewhere else first. There isn’t a cooldown timer on these, and usually just by the time you walk to a different zone and back the level is setup, but if you were truly trying to complete each area before you move on to the next, just know that the game kinda doesn’t want you doing that. It can be fun to find a hidden shine off the beaten path that you weren’t expecting to be there, but, and I promise I am not doing this to anger you, it still doesn’t reach the heights of Mario Odyssey when you find stars off the beaten path.

As for the kid sniff test, this was one of the first games my kid beat. He actually beat Bowser’s Fury well before I “started” it. He needed help with all the Bowser fights (he is 5), but with the open world he was able to find shines that were in his wheelhouse to get without needing help on every section. While this isn’t the first Mario game to do this, but you can roll credits with only getting about half of the total shines in the world and that was enough for him.

Circling back, really the most exciting aspect that this game does have going for it, that Odyssey didn’t do better is the idea of an ever present Bowser who is mucking things up at any time. When things line up at just the right time it can be a cool and exciting moment for you to navigate around, but things have to line up just right. For the 10% that it did line up, they were some incredibly harrowing moments, but other times its either a minor inconvenience or just a flat waste of time. It’s a cool concept, and at a small scale like this game (8-10 hours) it can work, but I was butting up against being bored with the gimmick by the end of the game, so I don’t think it could work for a larger scale game.

Alright, so where does this collection stand in the grand scheme of things? Listen I stand by my critiques and I will say that perhaps I didn’t articulate them well, because this write-up was the first one in a long time that felt like an actual chore. These weren’t super bad games that I enjoy pointing out all their flaws, or great games I get to celebrate their triumphs, or even interesting games that I don’t think people have heard of. They are instead just competent games that are very forgettable. While Bowser’s Fury picks up this grouping a little bit, I am not nearly as high on this experiment as other people when it came out. Is it fun and a welcome change to 3d World… 1000% yes, but is it knocking on the door of great Mario games on its own, absolutely not. It’s crazy to think about, that there would exist a platformer Mario game that I would probably be ok with never playing again, and I would have never thought that was possible before playing this game. Granted I haven’t played Super Mario Bros Wii, which I also know gets a lot of shit, but I don’t see this game coming up high on the “I should play that game again soon” list.

Is this the greatest game of all time?: No of course not

Where does it rank: I actually have it ranked as the 102nd Greatest Game of All Time. Maybe that seems surprising, but it is still a well-made game, and Bowser's Fury is a good addition to bring up the overall package, but it is just such a forgettable Mario game which is weird. I don't think I would return to this game on my own unless my kids really want to get back into it.

What's it Between: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury currently sits between Blazing Beaks (101st) and Seventh Cross Evolution (103rd)

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion).Here. I added links on the spreadsheet for quick navigation. Now if you missed a blog of a game you want to read about, you can get to it quickly, rather than having to scroll through my previous blogs wondering when it came up.

Thanks for listening