Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a Nintendo Switch package released on 12 February 2021, timed to the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. As the title suggests, it bundles two distinct Mario adventures into one release.

The first is an enhanced port of Super Mario 3D World, originally a Wii U game from 2013 and one of that console’s finest titles. The Switch version runs faster, adds online and local-wireless multiplayer (absent from the original), speeds up the characters, and folds in fresh amiibo support and quality-of-life tweaks — making it the definitive way to play.

The second is Bowser’s Fury, a brand-new standalone adventure built exclusively for this release. It breaks from the linear 3D World formula to offer a compact open world — Lake Lapcat — where Mario teams up with Bowser Jr. to calm a colossal, rampaging Fury Bowser. It served as an experimental glimpse at a more free-roaming style of 3D Mario.

Super Mario 3D World first launched on the Wii U in 2013 to wide acclaim, blending the free 3D movement of the Super Mario Galaxy / 3D Land line with the level-based design and drop-in four-player co-op of the 2D New Super Mario Bros. games. It introduced the now-iconic Cat Mario transformation via the Super Bell.

The result was a uniquely accessible 3D Mario — bite-sized, gimmick-rich levels designed around a single clever idea each, playable solo or with up to four players at once. The Switch port preserves all of that and sharpens it for a new audience.

The 3D World campaign is set in the Sprixie Kingdom, a fairy realm beyond the Mushroom Kingdom.

On an evening in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad are enjoying a fireworks display outside Peach’s Castle when they spot a slanted Clear Pipe along the path. Mario and Luigi repair it with hammers, and out pops a Green Sprixie Princess, who explains that Bowser has kidnapped six of her fellow Sprixie Princesses.

Bowser himself then bursts from the pipe, traps the Green Sprixie Princess inside a glass bottle, and flees into the Sprixie Kingdom. The four heroes give chase, journeying world by world to free each captured princess and ultimately confront Bowser. Unlike most Mario games, all four leads are playable from the very start — Peach included.

Super Mario 3D World is a linear 3D platformer whose levels play much like the 2D games — each course is a self-contained challenge that ends at a Goal Pole, reached before the timer runs out.

Core Mechanics

• Green Stars — the main collectible (three hidden in most levels), used to unlock later stages and bonus worlds
• Stamps — collectible stamps hidden in levels (originally for Miiverse posts)
• Item storage — a stored power-up can be deployed at will, as in the 2D games
• Goal Pole — reaching the top earns bonus points; the last digit of the clock awards fireworks/lives
• One-idea levels — each course is built around a single fresh mechanic or enemy, keeping the game constantly varied

Multiplayer & Extras

Up to four players play together locally, each as one of the four leads, competing for the crown (most points) at the level’s end — a chaotic, cooperative-yet-competitive twist. The game also hides a full Captain Toad’s Adventures set of puzzle stages, and unlocking Luigi Bros. (a throwback to the original Mario Bros.) celebrates the “Year of Luigi.”

The Sprixie Kingdom spans twelve worlds — six main numbered worlds, plus World Castle and World Bowser to finish the main story, and four challenging bonus worlds (Star, Mushroom, Flower, Crown) unlocked afterward. Each rescues a Sprixie Princess and introduces its own batch of one-idea levels.

World 1

Main Story

The grassy introductory world — home to Super Bell Hill, where players first grab the Super Bell and become Cat Mario. Gentle slopes, Goombas, and the first Sprixie rescue.

World 2

Main Story

A desert-flavoured world introducing tougher platforming, the Double Cherry, and the recurring Boom Boom / Pom Pom boss fights.

World 3

Main Story

A watery, autumnal world featuring Plessie river-rides, Piranha Creepers, and snow-dusted later stages.

World 5

Main Story

A lush jungle-and-lake world of Plessie rapids, fog, and dense platforming as the difficulty ramps up.

World Castle

Main Story

A fiery fortress world of lava and Boom Boom rematches, leading toward the showdown with Bowser.

World Bowser

Main Story Finale

A neon, city-like industrial world ending in Bowser’s Lava Lake Keep — the climactic battle against Bowser in his Muscle Car.

World Star

Bonus

The first post-game bonus world, unlocking Rosalina as a playable character and offering remixed, fiendish challenge stages.

World Mushroom

Bonus

A bonus world of pure platforming gauntlets, where the Lucky Bell first appears.

World Flower

Bonus

A harder bonus world stuffed with tricky Green Star challenges and remixed mechanics.

World Crown

Final Bonus

The ultimate world — home to the infamous Champion’s Road, one of the toughest levels in any Mario game, requiring mastery of everything learned.

For the first time in a 3D Mario platformer, 3D World offers multiple playable characters from the start, each with the distinct handling of Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) — plus two unlockable extras.

Mario

Perfectly balanced stats — the all-rounder. Available from the start.

Luigi

Jumps highest and can scuttle for extra air time, but has low traction (slippery). From the start.

Peach

Can float briefly after a jump and falls slowly, but runs slower. From the start.

Toad

The fastest runner, but jumps lowest and falls quickly. From the start.

Rosalina

Unlocked after World Star-2. Can Spin-attack without a power-up, but is slower. A hidden bonus character.

Captain Toad

Stars in his own puzzle “Adventures” stages. Carries a light beam but cannot jump.

Picking the right character for a level became part of the strategy — Peach’s float trivialises some platforming, while Toad’s speed suits time challenges. In the Switch port, all characters run noticeably faster than in the Wii U original.

3D World introduced one of Mario’s most beloved power-ups — the Super Bell — alongside a host of other transformations.

Signature New Power-Ups

• Super Bell → Cat Mario — the star power-up. Grants a cat suit that lets Mario climb walls and the Goal Pole, pounce-dive onto enemies, and swipe with his claws. Essential for reaching many hidden Green Stars.
• Double Cherry → Double Mario — creates a duplicate clone of the character; collecting more multiplies you further, with all clones moving in sync for puzzles and extra firepower.
• Lucky Bell → Lucky Cat Mario — a Cat form that can turn into an invincible golden statue when ground-pounding, raining coins.
• Invincibility Leaf → White Tanooki Mario — an assist power-up offered after several deaths, granting a Tanooki suit with permanent invincibility for that level.

Returning Power-Ups

Classics return too — the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Super Star, Super Leaf (Tanooki), Boomerang Flower (Boomerang Mario), and Mega Mushroom. Small Mario remains the most vulnerable form, lost in a single hit.

The 3D World campaign features a recurring cast of bosses, many fought multiple times across its worlds before the final confrontation with Bowser.

The bonus Boss Blitz level in World Star pits players against a gauntlet of all these bosses back-to-back — a true test of skill.

The Switch version of 3D World is more than a straight port — it brings a raft of enhancements over the 2013 Wii U original:

• Online & local-wireless multiplayer — the headline addition. The original was local-only; now up to four players can team up online or across multiple Switch systems.
• Faster characters — base movement and run speed are increased, making the whole game feel snappier.
• Toad Brigade co-op — in Captain Toad’s Adventures levels, extra players control members of the Toad Brigade (Hint Toad, Banktoad, Yellow Toad).
• Invincibility Bell → White Cat Mario — a new amiibo-only power-up (via the Cat Mario or Cat Peach amiibo) granting a white cat suit with permanent invincibility.
• amiibo support — new Cat Mario and Cat Peach amiibo unlock power-ups and enhancements; many existing amiibo grant bonus items.
• Photo Mode, snapshot tweaks, and various quality-of-life and UI updates for the Switch hardware.

Bowser’s Fury is a wholly original adventure created for this package — and a notable departure from 3D World’s structure. Instead of discrete, linear levels, it presents a single, seamless open world called Lake Lapcat, made up of interconnected cat-themed islands that Mario explores freely.

It also stars an unusual ally: Mario must cooperate with Bowser Jr. to deal with a giant, rampaging, goop-covered Fury Bowser. Compact but dense (clearable in a handful of hours, with plenty of extra collectibles), it was widely read as Nintendo experimenting with what a more free-roaming 3D Mario — a stepping stone toward later open designs — might feel like.

On a bright day, Mario walks a path outside Peach’s Castle and notices puddles of strange black goop. Following the trail, he reaches an “M” graffiti painted in the same substance; it expands into a portal that pulls Mario through to Lake Lapcat — a rain-lashed realm almost entirely smothered in goop, save for a single safe haven, Fur Step Island.

There Mario discovers Bowser transformed into a towering, feral Fury Bowser. It transpires that Bowser Jr. accidentally created this monster by painting his father with the mysterious goop. Now repentant, Bowser Jr. teams up with Mario to undo the damage.

Mario collects Cat Shines across the lake to power up lighthouses and the great Giga Bells; their light blinds Fury Bowser and drives him back, gradually clearing the goop and freeing the islands. The story climaxes when Mario, wielding the Giga Bell, becomes the kaiju-sized Giga Cat Mario to face Fury Bowser head-on.

Bowser’s Fury revolves around a constant tension between free exploration and the threat of a rampaging boss.

The Core Loop

• Collect Cat Shines — the campaign’s Power Star equivalent, earned by completing varied missions on each island (collecting Blue Coins, racing, beating challenges, finding hidden Shines)
• The Fury Bowser cycle — every few minutes, Fury Bowser erupts from the central Fury Sun: the sky darkens, rain falls, spikes drop, and he blasts the lake with fire (“fury blasts” and Bowser’s Flames) while pursuing Mario
• Fighting back — collecting a Cat Shine during a rampage lights a lighthouse, whose beam forces Fury Bowser to retreat; once enough are gathered, Mario can ring a Giga Bell to become Giga Cat Mario and battle him directly
• Bowser Jr. co-op — Bowser Jr. floats alongside Mario as a companion (controllable by a second player), attacking enemies with his paintbrush, gathering items, and able to warp to Mario

Lake Lapcat is the single open world of Bowser’s Fury — a flooded, cat-shaped archipelago split into three main regions, each anchored by a giant Giga Bell. Every region holds four major islands, for twelve islands in total.

• Free exploration — islands can be approached from any angle by swimming, with multiple routes around each; there’s no enforced order
• Five missions per island — each island offers five Cat Shine objectives, with each “officially” starting from a cat-head-shaped archway
• Cat Shines & Cat Shards — collecting Cat Shines lights lighthouses and frees the islands of goop, while five Cat Shards combine into a full Cat Shine
• Plessie — returns to ferry Mario rapidly across the open water between islands

The signature power-up of Bowser’s Fury is the Giga Bell, which transforms Mario into the colossal Giga Cat Mario — a golden, kaiju-scale Cat Mario large enough to go toe-to-toe with Fury Bowser himself.

• Ringing a Giga Bell — once Mario has gathered enough Cat Shines in a region, he can activate its Giga Bell to power up
• Kaiju battles — as Giga Cat Mario, the action shifts to a spectacular, Godzilla-versus-Kaiju-style clash against Fury Bowser, trading giant blows amid the storm
• Progression — defeating Fury Bowser in these direct battles reveals new islands of Lake Lapcat to explore, driving the adventure forward

Fury Bowser

The campaign’s central antagonist is Fury Bowser — a gigantic, far more powerful form of Bowser, accidentally created when Bowser Jr. painted him with the black goop. The Giga Bells and lighthouses refer to him simply as “the beast.” He emerges from the Fury Sun to rampage every few minutes, only taking damage when Mario collects a Cat Shine — or when Giga Cat Mario battles him directly at matching scale. Tip: dashing between his legs during a rampage rewards a Super Bell.

Cat Boom Boom

The other notable boss is Cat Boom Boom, encountered in the Clawswipe Colosseum. A feline take on the classic Boom Boom, he spins around the arena and retreats into his shell when jumped on, needing repeated hits (or Bowser Jr.’s paintbrush / Boomerang Mario) to defeat.

Official Nintendo trailers for Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury launched to strong reviews, with critics praising the creativity of both campaigns.

Critical Response

• Metacritic 89 — based on over 120 reviews
• 3D World, definitive — the port was hailed as the best version of an already-great game, with its level design, multiplayer, playable roster, and power-up variety all praised
• Bowser’s Fury’s ambition — the new adventure won praise for its inventive open-world design and the spectacle of the Fury Bowser battles, seen as an exciting experiment for the series

Criticisms

• Online lag — 3D World’s newly added online multiplayer drew criticism for stability and lag issues
• Fury Bowser repetition — some found his recurring rampages and battles repetitive over time
• Handheld performance — Bowser’s Fury’s denser open world saw some frame-rate dips in handheld mode

• Released for Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary, on 12 February 2021.
• Super Mario 3D World originally launched on the Wii U on 22 November 2013.
• Cat Mario, introduced in 3D World via the Super Bell, became one of Mario’s most iconic modern forms — and got its own amiibo for this release.
• Bowser’s Fury is one of the first 3D Mario adventures built around a fully open, seamless world — widely seen as a testbed for future designs.
• Fury Bowser was accidentally created by Bowser Jr. painting his father with mysterious black goop.
• Giga Cat Mario battles play out as kaiju-scale, Godzilla-style clashes.
• Lake Lapcat comprises 3 regions and 12 islands, each with 5 Cat Shine missions.
• The 3D World port makes all characters run noticeably faster than the Wii U original.
• A second player can control Bowser Jr. throughout Bowser’s Fury for drop-in co-op.
• World Crown’s Champion’s Road remains one of the most punishing levels in any Mario game.
• Metacritic 89, with multiple millions of copies sold on Switch.

Box art and logos for the package.

More on Super Luigi Bros.

Screenshots and artwork appear throughout the sections above. Additional footage is in the Videos section.