(Originally posted on November, 2014)
(2013, Wii U)
I was one of the many who were somewhat underwhelmed by the initial unveiling of this game, which for a 3D Mario, appeared uninspired (not surprising, as Nintendo’s produced a ton of Marios lately!). From a glance, it’s easy to view the primarily flat, simple and abstract world structure along with Mario and friends’ 8-way movement as limitations. However in playing, it’s these ‘limitations’ that give the game it’s magical feel of being some sort of previously impossible mechanical toy, perhaps conjured up in someone’s mind hundreds of years prior. Leaving behind the huge worlds of 64/Sunshine and the constantly fluxing scenarios of the Galaxy games, 3D World focuses on keeping it’s design as simple as possible, though no limits are placed on the fun and creativity.
While first appearing very similar to the excellent Super Mario Land on 3DS, you’ll soon realize you’re being given a much faster paced and expansive experience. Like the greatest Mario games, a small novel idea is introduced with each level and just as quickly abandoned, fueling the desire for multiple replays. Some of the major additions:
- Clear, multi-path pipes appear often, adding a whole new mechanic to the levels, but they never overly-dominate them.
- The small offering of puzzling Captain Toad stages were so interesting and satisfying to solve, that I’m sold on the upcoming stand-alone game.
- Out of the several new power-ups available, the cat suit is one of the standouts. While very powerful, there’s a deceptive double edged sword aspect, as one can easily get overzealous with the climbing ability. If you don’t properly anticipate when your character tires out, it will lead to an infuriating, but never unfair death.
- The brief “battle” segments of Mario 3 and the New Super Mario Brothers series are taken even further, with funhouses comprised of increasingly long chains of small-scale, timed challenges. Even with mere seconds to clear them, they’re designed just right in that you’ll often (barely) figure them out on the first try.
- With 5 “collectables” per stage (3 green starts, 1 stamp and the gold flag) needing to be obtained to reach the very end, Nintendo was on the edge of overdoing it. The game’s so good though, that I didn’t mind revisiting the stages to get everything.
(Super Mario RPG)
(Super Mario 3D World)
Along with the 8-way control scheme, the often utilized isometric camera angle and pleasant roundness to the characters makes the game almost look like a real-time, 60-FPS locked Super Mario RPG (only falling short due to the “jaggy” aliasing issue). On top of that, the depth of field effect often used by Nintendo looks better than ever. While I initially missed the more complex, daring level design of other 3D Marios, once you experience what the game’s aiming for, the very basic but hyper polished style grows on you as it’s own welcome, independent take on how Mario can both be viewed and played.
Ranging from playful to epic, the soundtrack is one of the strongest in the series. Besides a ton of worthwhile remixes from past games, the new tracks fit the Mario universe perfectly and are sure to be revisited in future games. In particular, the big band music used for boss fights, along with the Asian castle and circus themes really bring out the atmosphere. I often found the music creeping back into my head after the console was turned off.
The world is loosely set in deserts, the sea, the clouds, outer space and more, however the levels are never purely constrained to a larger surrounding theme. The only rule they follow is to bring fun and new ideas.
- Concealing yourself under a fake Goomba head, you can infiltrate East Asian castles.
- The new enemies mesh into the universe perfectly, such as a bizarre, shelled bird not too far off from the Snagrets of Pikmin and several very interesting bosses whom share no blood with the koopa clan. Enemies from every major game in the series have been brought back, many with a slight new twist. It was especially great to see the Chargin Chucks of Super Mario World take a break from football to give Mario some more trouble.
- Though you’ve probably already been made aware, a couple other famous Nintendo games are visited.
- There’s even a Bowser Circus UFO in here. Are you kidding me or what?!
Out of the dozens of Mario platformers, 3D World is near the top of my list, feeling like the most purely action focused entry since Super Mario Brothers 3. Shigeru Miyamoto once said something along the lines of wanting the original Zelda to be like a world within a box. If Zelda is a world in a box, I would suggest that 3D World feels like hundreds of tiny “stages” inspired by automatons and ancient Greek pulley plays, given even more life in the form of a video game. With such a near flawless, deliberate design, I often felt like I was interacting with the code itself. The screen and controller were just somewhat in the background, used only to necessitate a deep connection I could feel with the game’s ‘logic’. Visiting Sprixie Kingdom is both a bizarre and immensely fun trip; no mushrooms needed.
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