In the original release, they were, somewhat awkwardly, single-player only. Outside of the existence of the online, the Captain Toad stages are newly multiplayer as well. Still, the sheer fun of the multiplayer wins out overall. That’s a bit of a disappointment even if I can understand the logic of it. Ergo, progression is only done in one game. It’s worth calling out that the players are basically joining the host’s game.

While in the game, you press a button, hop into a menu, and either create or join a room. It functions more or less like the regular multiplayer and is very easy to hop into. Whether this was always the plan or hurriedly added because of COVID, Super Mario 3D World has online play. That was how I experienced the multiplayer then. But 2013 was a time where I was in my mid-20s and had the ability to stay up late with friends playing video games on the couch. Personally, I’m not as high on 3D World as Justin Baker and Andrew Brown were back in the day, but I had a lot of fun with it. I’m here, instead, to talk about the base game of Super Mario 3D World, which we gave a 10/10 to back in the day (and also an 8.5 and another 10 - holla at us if you want more reviews of major games). Check out John Rairdin’s bigger meditation on the new mode for more details. That new mode is extremely promising, and from what I can talk about in the preview embargo, I feel like the most I can muster from that is a bunch of thumbs-up emojis and smiles. We sit on the precipice of the release of the Switch port of Super Mario 3D World, which most notably adds Bowser’s Fury. Revisiting Super Mario 3D World on Switch helps point out to me both how the world is wildly different now when compared to 2013 when the game first debuted on Wii U, and how much my own life has changed.

Super mario 3d world 4 player