We can sum up Super Mario 3D World in two words: cat Mario. After more than two decades of donning a variety of suits and subsequently transforming himself into different animals, Nintendo’s plumber finally becomes a feisty feline capable of hitting enemies with scratch attacks, literally climbing up walls and perhaps most importantly, scampering up the familiar castle flagpole. Suffice to say, scoring 1-ups just became a whole lot easier.
Of course, there’s more to this game than Mario’s new persona. The Super Mario Galaxy titles shined on Wii, while New Super Mario Bros. U was a great way to celebrate the Wii U launch. That said, the publisher needed some sort of hook, which it appears to have found with four-person multiplayer.
Granted, we’ve done this before in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but that was from a side-scrolling perspective. Now players will work together or sabotage each other in 3D, choosing between Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad, the four characters that starred in the NES classic Super Mario Bros. 2.
As such, they each possess unique abilities. Mario is the all-around hero, while Luigi has his trademark high jump. Prince Peach temporarily floats, and Toad’s the speediest. The only thing missing is Wart, the villain from the aforementioned retro adventure; Nintendo won’t comment on the story at present.
On that note, stages were designed with both single and multiplayer in mind. Players can team up to collect power-ups and gold coins while at the same time stomping goombas, with help from such familiar items as the mushroom, fire flower and invincibility star.
You’ll also notice transparent pipes, which is a first for the series. Players enter and navigate their way through a maze of sorts, quickly pressing the d-pad to change direction while grabbing various goodies and avoiding enemies.
They’ll do this with the Wii remote and nunchuk, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo left out the GamePad. The lucky person holding it gets to locate hidden blocks on the touch screen and even freeze enemies to allow his or her teammates safe passage.
You’ll also notice the art style, which is more reminiscent of Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS. Not as grandiose as the Galaxy Games, but with colorful cartoon-style graphics pleasing to the eye.
Of course, plenty more remains a mystery, but we’re confident Nintendo will unveil new details in the months ahead, leading up to Super Mario 3D World’s December release. Considering what we’ve seen, you’re in for quite a treat.
