Gamers find themselves in the Sprixie Kingdom, where they must rescue Sprixie and her fairylike friends from the clutches of Bowser as they guide Nintendo's iconic plumber through a classic mix of 3D exploration and side-scrolling action in Super Mario 3D World. Up to four players can join the action at any time, helping one another find stars, or competing to collect the most coins in a given stage. Gamers can use new power-ups to help them through the adventure, including Super Bells that turn them into a wall-climbing cat, or the Double Cherry that creates character clones.

Super Mario 3D World makes full use of the GamePad, letting players tap the touch screen to freeze enemies, open door, or find invisible objects, or tilt the controller to change the vantage point and reveal hidden areas, and the game supports off-TV play. Some levels contain special stamps for gamers to collect and display in the Miiverse, and two separate game modes include the green-star collecting of Mystery House and the puzzle-like Adventures of Captain Toad.