Super Mario 3D World
is a 2013 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It is the sixth original 3D platform game in the Super Mario series and the sequel to Super Mario 3D Land. The game was re-released for the Nintendo Switch as Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury in February 2021.
Players control Mario and his friends as they attempt to rescue fairy-like creatures called Sprixies from Bowser, who invades the realm known as the Sprixie Kingdom. Gameplay is similar to previous Mario games, with players progressing through levels to reach Bowser. It features a character selector as well as introducing a power-up called the Super Bell, which turns the player into a cat, enabling them to climb walls and use a scratch attack.
Super Mario 3D World was acclaimed for its level design, presentation, replay value, and soundtrack, though some reviewers criticized its unreliable camera in the multiplayer mode. The game was a commercial success, with the Wii U version selling 5.89 million units and the Nintendo Switch version selling 13.47 million units worldwide as of March 2024, becoming the second best-selling game for Wii U and one of the best-selling games for Nintendo Switch. Between both versions, a total of 19.36 million units have been sold worldwide. A spinoff game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, was released in November 2014.
Gameplay
The game levels play similarly to those of Super Mario 3D Land, which combine the free-roaming gameplay of the Super Mario franchise's 3D games with the mechanics of its 2D side-scrollers, including a timer and a level-ending flagpole. Up to four concurrent players may control characters, who are Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and the unlockable Rosalina. Similar to their appearances in Super Mario Bros. 2, each of the characters possesses unique abilities and controls differently: Mario has balanced running speed and jump height; Luigi jumps higher and falls slower, but has slightly lower traction; Peach can jump and briefly float through the air, but runs slowly; Toad runs the fastest, but cannot jump as high and falls faster; Rosalina can use the spin attack move as seen in the Super Mario Galaxy games, but has the slowest running speed. The player can select any of the five characters to use before beginning a level, and up to four players may explore the same level simultaneously, sharing from a pool of lives. Players are also able to pick up, carry, and throw each other.Levels are accessed through a world map, in which players can find hidden areas to earn more items or coins. Each level contains three collectable Green Stars, which are required to access certain levels, and each main level contains a hidden Stamp which was used in handwritten posts to the now defunct Miiverse online community. Players can also view messages left by other players, both on the world map and after clearing a level, and can download "Mii Ghosts", which are live records of other players completing levels. Ghosts can be raced against, and may hold gift prizes such as coins or extra lives. Additional Green Stars can be earned in Captain Toad, Mystery House, and Challenge levels.
Along with items returning from previous games, such as the Fire Flower, Super Leaf, Mega Mushroom, Propeller Box, and Boomerang Flower, several items are introduced. The Super Bell gives players a Cat Suit, allowing them to run faster, perform unique attacks and climb up walls to reach new areas. A variation of the Super Bell, the Lucky Bell, allows the player to temporarily transform their character into a lucky cat statue that awards coins under certain conditions. Double Cherries make a clone of the player, allowing for more effective attacks and a higher chance of survival; the more Double Cherries a player uses, the more clones appear. Players can wear Cannon Boxes which fire shots at enemies, Light Blocks which can defeat ghosts, and Goomba masks which let them blend in with enemy Goombas. Players are able to pick up various objects, such as bombs, baseballs, and Piranha Plants, and can ride in a Skating Shoe or on an aquatic dinosaur named Plessie.
The Wii U GamePad allows players to rub the touchscreen, blow into the microphone to reveal hidden blocks or items, hinder enemies, activate mechanisms, and use Off-TV Play. The game is compatible with the Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and Wii U Pro Controller. An unlockable Luigi-themed version of Mario Bros., Luigi Bros., is accessed by clearing the game or by having save data from New Super Luigi U.
Plot
Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are watching a fireworks show near Princess Peach's Castle until they find a tilted glass pipe. After Mario and Luigi fix it, a green fairy-like Sprixie princess appears and tells them that Bowser has kidnapped and trapped six other Sprixie princesses in jars. He arrives and captures her before escaping through the pipe, with the heroes subsequently entering it and pursuing him. They find themselves in a realm known as "The Sprixie Kingdom" and set off to find the Sprixies. Each of the Sprixies are rescued in the different worlds. After the heroes save the final one, Bowser recaptures all seven and heads to his amusement park fortress. He uses the Super Bell to transform into a cat form, Meowser. The group climbs the tallest tower and defeat Meowser. The heroes say goodbye to the Sprixies and travel home through the pipe back to the Mushroom Kingdom.Development
Development on Super Mario 3D World began shortly after the release of Super Mario 3D Land with Nintendo EAD Tokyo heading the project; 1-Up Studio provided developmental assistance. A staff of 100 personnel, including producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, wrote ideas for game mechanics on sticky notes, which were collected upon the studio walls. Ideas approved by the team would be implemented in-game for testing. Co-director Kenta Motokura stated, "We discussed and discarded a huge number of ideas during development – sometimes you just can't tell if an idea is good or bad by looking at it on the drawing board; when this happens, we try it out in-game. If we don't find the idea fun, it won't make it into the final product. There was a lot of back and forth on the course designs due to this." Co-director Kōichi Hayashida stated that Super Mario 3D World was intended to be a Wii U game for the fanbase of New Super Mario Bros., as well as a de facto continuation of Super Mario 3D Land. Implementing the game's multiplayer feature was proven to be complicated, as the team's goal was to perfect the camera for all four players simultaneously without them "feel left out". Motokura expressed that the game was designed to be both "highly intuitive and readily accessible". "We designed this game so that the players could really sink into it and clear all the courses without having to read lots of text or deal with difficult controls, whether playing by themselves or with others," Motokura added. Koizumi said that the team "went all out inserting elements players to further enjoy the sprawling environments."Ideas for the game's feline costumery came early in development, to implement an attack mechanic, introduce the ability to climb walls, and help novice players to clear obstacles. "When we started out, we were thinking about different kinds of actions that Mario could do," said Motokura in an interview with IGN, "thinking about those different actions it turned out that a cat was a perfect animal that everybody knows."
Regarding power-ups, Motokura said the process of including power-ups being included involve balancing a novice player's experience between difficulty and "what was fun about the game". He added that the team wanted to introduce "new" ways to use classic power-ups, such as using the Fire Flower on clear pipes.
Inspiration for the Double Cherry, which clones a player character, came late in development when a level designer erroneously inserted an extra copy of Mario's character model into a level. The team was relieved to see that the game did not crash with two identical characters present, and were amused that both could be controlled simultaneously. Developers "scrambled" to include this feature in the final game. Motokura stated that it is also designed for single players to " replicate some situations" with multiplayer elements.
The decision to include a free-roaming world map was "a very important element", and gave the team more "freedom" to locate higher-difficulty levels. "In just one world, the world map, you can have all kinds of different experiences. want to emphasize some of the other elements that are free-form within the world maps," Motokura said.
According to Hayashida, Peach was originally not intended to be a playable character until producer Yoshiaki Koizumi suggested for her inclusion. Speaking with Polygon, Koizumi reasoned that it's to emphasize female representation. "I feel like Mario games, as you know, have done lots of representation of male characters over the years", he said, "perhaps much more so than female — so it's actually really nice to be able to have a female playable character in the game." Miyamoto also commented on his own reasoning by saying "I'll add that cat women have a sexy side to them and I wanted to see what a feline Peach would look like ". Koizumi added, "I think she adds a lot to the sense of competition when you get in multiplayer. You can have different people choosing different characters based on their personality or whoever they like." Similarly, Rosalina was later added as a playable character. Motokura said, "I was thinking about what would be pleasing after the ending and wanted to bring in another female character in addition to Princess Peach. Rosalina has a following among the Super Mario Galaxy fanbase, and she appeared in Mario Kart recently, so I think she's well known." Yoshi was also planned at one point, but was dropped due to much of his moves being too similar to other functions of characters and items, such as Peach's floating, the Piranha Plant's chomping, and Plessie's riding abilities.
According to Koizumi, the game was also planned to have a stereoscopic 3D feature similar to Super Mario 3D Land, but was dropped due to multiplayer concerns over the use of 3D glasses. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, said that "the team had a strong desire from the very start to call it 3D World".