Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Revolutionary"

Super Mario 3D Land is the first Mario game that was "made from scratch for a portable system." When Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's president, said these words it got me thinking. And I realized he was right. All previous Mario platformers were all either remakes or made with previous formulas in mind. Super Mario 3D Land is the first Mario game to be played in 3D but with 2D level design. The levels are presented in worlds with each world having 5 or so levels. It's a throwback to the classic formula. Is Super Mario 3D Land the best of both worlds? Let's analyze it and find out!

Design
The plot of the game is simple. Princess Peach has been kidnapped for the millionth time and Mario has to go save her. From there you progress from world to world to save her. Each world feels unique, from the fields of World 1-1 to the end of Bowser's castle at the end of World 8. The game is played like a standard 3D Mario platformer but broken up into the 2D levels from the original game. The main game lasts you around a dozen hours but there's more to go through after you're done. After the main game is done you can unlock special worlds which add a whole new layer of challenge to the game. It's basically the designers saying "you made it this far? Then take this!" These levels are tough so if you think you're good at Mario games, give this a go. You can also go back and play the game as Luigi. There's a pretty fair amount of content here. If you are a completionist, each level has three coins to collect.
Design: 8/10

Gameplay
Super Mario 3D Land plays like a standard Mario platformer. There is a time limit for you to get through the level. You have to simply jump on the flagpole at the end of the level. What is often in between is Mario at his finest. Controlling Mario has always been easy and this game is no exception. Everything that makes Mario great in 3D has been brought forward. While you can't control the camera angle you often don't need to. The camera angle is almost always perfect so you never feel a real need to shift it around. While you can always jump on your enemies the traditional way, they introduce power-ups reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. You can get certain suits that give you certain abilities like fireballs, throwing boomerangs and the fan favourite, the Tanooki suit. In a throwback to SMB 3, in the special worlds you can turn into a statue. As a matter of fact the game is most comparable to Super Mario Bros. 3 except it's a 3D Mario game. That alone gets the game high marks. The game just feels polished from beginning to end.
Gameplay: 9.5/10

Presentation
The game looks great from a graphics standpoint. The worlds are colourful and vibrant. With Mario games it's almost to be expected. Be the ruthless attention to detail, the level design, or the worlds themselves, the game simply looks stunning. Mixing up the backgrounds help a lot so you're not bored with just looking at one area. The game has no frame rate issues and everything works perfectly. The sound effects are classic and always will be it seems. The best part of the game for me is the 3D itself. The 3D effect is an almost necessary component of the game. The levels were designed to take advantage of the 3D effect which to me means that this was a game meant for the 3DS. There isn't really anything to complain about here.
Presentation: 10/10

Super Mario 3D Land is simply an amazing game. I'm not much of a platformer fan and I would have enjoyed it less if it turned out to be a long adventure game like the previous 3D Mario games. But with the 2D level design, I can pick it up and play for a few minutes at a time or for long stretches. Mario always has big shoes to fill and he always succeeds. This is easily the best game to own on the 3DS if you want a good idea how the 3D can change the way you play games.

Overall: 9/10