Super Mario 3D Land is the second 3D Super Mario platformer for a handheld device, and the successor to Super Mario Galaxy 2. The game is closely based on side-scrolling Mario games, as it combine elements from both traditional 2D Mario games and modern free-roaming 3D Mario games. It also introduces elements into the series, including power-ups and gameplay mechanics.
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[played on real 2DS hardware]
A series I’ve really started appreciating more over the past few years is Mario. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I ever hated Mario or anything, but I didn’t understand what made the mainline titles so revered and iconic until fairly recently. Learning about the design mentalities and how each game tackled them has given me a newfound love for the series, and it’s been fun replaying the entries I’ve played through this new lens, as well as the ones I hadn’t played before, such is the case with Mario 3D Land. I did give it a go last year but couldn’t really get into it. It just felt so… bland and uninspired, but readjusting my lens and trying to appreciate all the things it did first made it properly click, and I had a blast running through it recently! And like usual, I’m gonna talk about it!
Instead of being a collectathon like every 3D Mario since the Nintendo 64, 3D Land takes a different approach. It goes back to the roots, being a more direct adaptation of the gameplay from the 2D titles that made Mario a household name; there’s no hub worlds or stars/shines to collect here, you’ve got 8 worlds with 4-5 linear stages to complete. It doesn’t sound all that innovative, but 3D Land takes full advantage of the premise to deliver some really fun design! Enemies like Chain Chomps, Bullet Bills and Rocky Wrenches are completely recontextualized to fit the new perspective, and seeing all the ways the developers adapted these elements was part of the fun for me!
A very good example of this is with the power-ups. The Fire Flower’s a fairly obvious choice, but the returning Tanooki Suit is a genius inclusion; the tail swipe’s a very effective way of defeating enemies, whilst the hover allows you to line up jumps easier. There’s only one fully new power-up in the form of the Boomerang Flower, which also fits the game design of 3D Land really well! It just doesn’t get used very much, and feels overshadowed by the Tanooki Suit.
With all these unique elements, you’d hope the level design is good enough to support them… and fortunately, it is! In my opinion, Nintendo really started to perfect their design philosophy for Mario levels during this era, which involves introducing a new gimmick (whether that be an enemy or specific type of platform) and constantly iterating upon it throughout the stage, before finishing it off with one final send-off and moving onto something else for the next level. 3D Land adheres to this philosophy very well, and does an incredibly good job with it! They also play around with camera angles a lot to really make things feel unique, whether that’s giving you a top-down view like the old Zeldas, a side-scrolling view like 2D Mario, or fixed angles that really help to give the stages a sense of scale. It’s all fantastic stuff, and really takes advantage of this being a regular 2D Mario game but in 3D!
I don’t really have much to say in regards to presentation, it’s about what you’d expect from a 2010s Mario game. The graphics are very saturated and colourful, which means they really pop on the 3DS’ tiny screen. They do play it a little safe in regards to world/level themes, but I don’t really mind too much when they all look so good. I have even less to say on the soundtrack but it was good too, there’s a few remixes of SMB3 tracks with some originals sprinkled in, and it’s all good stuff!
In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to love Mario 3D Land as much as I did! It’s such a charming little entry in the series, and while there isn’t much of a reason to return to it when 3D World exists and basically perfected the “2D Mario in 3D” formula, there’s still plenty of uniqueness here if you know where to look.
A series I’ve really started appreciating more over the past few years is Mario. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I ever hated Mario or anything, but I didn’t understand what made the mainline titles so revered and iconic until fairly recently. Learning about the design mentalities and how each game tackled them has given me a newfound love for the series, and it’s been fun replaying the entries I’ve played through this new lens, as well as the ones I hadn’t played before, such is the case with Mario 3D Land. I did give it a go last year but couldn’t really get into it. It just felt so… bland and uninspired, but readjusting my lens and trying to appreciate all the things it did first made it properly click, and I had a blast running through it recently! And like usual, I’m gonna talk about it!
Instead of being a collectathon like every 3D Mario since the Nintendo 64, 3D Land takes a different approach. It goes back to the roots, being a more direct adaptation of the gameplay from the 2D titles that made Mario a household name; there’s no hub worlds or stars/shines to collect here, you’ve got 8 worlds with 4-5 linear stages to complete. It doesn’t sound all that innovative, but 3D Land takes full advantage of the premise to deliver some really fun design! Enemies like Chain Chomps, Bullet Bills and Rocky Wrenches are completely recontextualized to fit the new perspective, and seeing all the ways the developers adapted these elements was part of the fun for me!
A very good example of this is with the power-ups. The Fire Flower’s a fairly obvious choice, but the returning Tanooki Suit is a genius inclusion; the tail swipe’s a very effective way of defeating enemies, whilst the hover allows you to line up jumps easier. There’s only one fully new power-up in the form of the Boomerang Flower, which also fits the game design of 3D Land really well! It just doesn’t get used very much, and feels overshadowed by the Tanooki Suit.
With all these unique elements, you’d hope the level design is good enough to support them… and fortunately, it is! In my opinion, Nintendo really started to perfect their design philosophy for Mario levels during this era, which involves introducing a new gimmick (whether that be an enemy or specific type of platform) and constantly iterating upon it throughout the stage, before finishing it off with one final send-off and moving onto something else for the next level. 3D Land adheres to this philosophy very well, and does an incredibly good job with it! They also play around with camera angles a lot to really make things feel unique, whether that’s giving you a top-down view like the old Zeldas, a side-scrolling view like 2D Mario, or fixed angles that really help to give the stages a sense of scale. It’s all fantastic stuff, and really takes advantage of this being a regular 2D Mario game but in 3D!
I don’t really have much to say in regards to presentation, it’s about what you’d expect from a 2010s Mario game. The graphics are very saturated and colourful, which means they really pop on the 3DS’ tiny screen. They do play it a little safe in regards to world/level themes, but I don’t really mind too much when they all look so good. I have even less to say on the soundtrack but it was good too, there’s a few remixes of SMB3 tracks with some originals sprinkled in, and it’s all good stuff!
In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to love Mario 3D Land as much as I did! It’s such a charming little entry in the series, and while there isn’t much of a reason to return to it when 3D World exists and basically perfected the “2D Mario in 3D” formula, there’s still plenty of uniqueness here if you know where to look.
Played the first 3 worlds but just wasn't feeling this one. It is technically a 3D Mario game but it just wasn't what I was looking for from one
The only sauceless 3D Mario game but it's also like the only 3DS game that actually does something with the 3D effect.
Other than the usual Mario complaints (boring bosses, annoying gimmick levels like auto-scrollers) this is a super fun, creative platforming experience.
This is rock bottom for 3D Mario.
Just kind of bland and far too easy. No reason to go back when 3D World is right there.