I didn’t expect too much from this game when I saw some previews, since it looked like little more than a console iteration of Mario 3D Land. But after completing the first two worlds, I was proven wrong. Super Mario 3D World adds enough new content making it distinct. The biggest marketed aspect was definitely the new cat suit. It allowed my character to climb walls, which proved to be pretty broken in the first couple worlds, but the game slowly added more suitable platform design that forced me to apply the climbing ability in clever ways. I also had a dive attack which was fun to use, and a nice change from the same old hovering ability the tanooki suit offered for the 100th time.
Visually, this game was gorgeous. Everything looked so cute. I guess the cat suit amiplified that. It was hard to resist awww-ing when looking at Goombas in the cat suit trying to dive attack me. Or Goombas in big skates chasing me around an ice rink. And the final showdown had Bowser in a cat suit, struggling to climb up walls. It was hard to take the fight seriously. I couldn’t stop smiling. The worlds were absolutely beautiful. After Galaxy 2, this was the first 3D Mario to have a true HD resolution. Looking at the lush colorful environment made the whole platform experienced a lot more immersive. World 8 was my favorite. There were a lot of night time levels, which made the lighting stand out, creating a feeling like I was in a carnival.
The hub world in this one is quite unique. It’s a hybrid. Although, at the heart, it still followed the prayer bead structure, I could go off course and explore the map. Not that there was really anything to explore, aside from random 1-ups and coin blocks. It ended up just giving the illusion of freedom.
Littered throughout the map were captain toad puzzles. I thoroughly enjoyed Captain Toad on the 3DS, so this was a big welcome. The puzzle designs always found a way to surprise me. Instead of walking around the area to find secrets, the focus was on rotating the camera to find secrets, which I still find to be a refreshing concept. These segments also utilized the gamepad by having me blow on the microphone to raise a platform, or touch the screen to raise a platform, which was neat. Couldn’t say the same for the action segments that had me use the touch screen though. It was nothing short of clumsy and annoying being forced to take my right hand off the controller, touch the screen to bring out a platform, then quickly put it back so I could jump onto the platform.