Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury has a photo mode and it rules

If you’ve read our review, you know Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch, a double feature that brings together an underappreciated Wii U gem and an experimental open-world spinoff. But what you might have missed (unless you admired my screenshots) is the power of the game’s photo mode. The photography suite isn’t the most powerful option in modern video games, but it provides more than enough ways to warp the Mario-verse as you see fit.

In both Super Mario 3D World and Bowser’s Fury, the photo mode can be triggered by pressing down on the directional pad. Photo mode freezes the action and allows the player to move, rotate, tilt, and zoom the camera, along with the option to add filters, logos, and stamps. In Super Mario 3D World, certain areas restrict the photo mode camera, but Bowser’s Fury, with its larger open world, allows you to spin the camera wherever you please, whenever you please.

What can you do in the photo mode?

You can create pop art.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

You can be a nature photographer.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

You can shoot Mario like a swimsuit model.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

You can capture the last breath of a plumber unaware of his fragile mortality.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon