Super Mario 3D Land

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1, StreetPass Supported

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Review:

Super Mario 3D Land is a 3D Platformer released on Nintendo 3DS in 2011. This game came at a pivotal time for the Nintendo 3DS – after a promising launch, the subsequent months of the handheld’s launch year were somewhat uninspiring, and the drop in sales for the Nintendo 3DS were so severe that Nintendo felt the need to give the system a $80 price cut. The sales for the Nintendo 3DS turned around shortly after this, but a part of that credit also belongs to Super Mario 3D Land, which seemed to signal to gamers that big things were in store for Nintendo’s handheld, and the wait for must-have games was finally over.

Super Mario 3D Land is noteworthy for another reason – it is the first 3D Mario game designed from the ground up for a handheld system. And as Nintendo has since moved on to the hybrid Nintendo Switch, it may very well be the only 3D Mario game ever to be designed for an exclusively handheld system.

Compared to most other 3D Mario games, Super Mario 3D Land is smaller in scale, and its levels are more linear, with corridor-like levels. Its gameplay is also somewhat less fluid than most of the other 3D Mario games, making it simpler and easier to control, but also more limited. The result is a game that at times feels like a halfway step between the 2D and 3D Mario games.

That’s not to say that any of this is bad – Super Mario 3D Land features some excellent level design with some really imaginative levels and mechanics, including some that are pretty unique for the series. For example, some of this game’s levels are extremely vertical in nature, having Mario dropping downward, something you don’t really see much of in 3D Mario games.

To facilitate this action, the camera is largely automated here, giving players only very limited control to adjust it. Usually, this means the camera is at a distance behind the player and overhead, although there are times where the camera will shift to a better viewpoint. Mostly I found this to be fairly conducive to the gameplay, though it does at times feel limiting.

I should note that there is one exception here – there are areas in the game’s levels where players can look through a viewfinder at the rest of the level, and these areas make use of the Nintendo 3DS’s gyroscopic motion controls to give free range to control the angle of the camera. It’s a nice touch, but it doesn’t dramatically affect the gameplay, as you can only do this at pre-determined stationary points in the level.

As for what you’ll be seeing, the presentation in Super Mario 3D Land is superb, featuring polished, colorful visuals. The environments here seem a good deal more “videogamey” than the areas in most 3D Mario games, but that’s clearly part of this game’s style. This isn’t going to wow you as a complete 3D world in the same way as Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Odyssey, but it’s fun and appealing, and fits this game’s tone perfectly. Likewise, the sound effects here are excellent, and the bouncy music is a great fit for the game, even if it’s not quite as memorable as some of the Mario franchise’s better tunes.

There is one other element here that needs to be addressed, and that is the stereoscopic 3D effects. This game was designed with these effects in mind, even creating a few areas that play on perspective to illustrate the utility of stereoscopic 3D, and right from the game’s start it makes it a point to have stuff jumping toward and away from the screen. This is absolutely a showpiece game for this feature, and while this game is absolutely still playable without it, the stereoscopic 3D definitely takes things to a new level here.

The end result is a game that, while not quite on par with Mario’s greatest adventures, doesn’t lag too far behind. It looks great, plays great, makes excellent use of the Nintendo 3DS’s features, and while it may not impress in the same way that Super Mario Galaxy and Odyssey do, it is nevertheless a must-have entry in the franchise. If you own a Nintendo 3DS, consider this a must-have Mario game.

tl;dr – Super Mario 3D Land is the first 3D Platformer in the Mario series designed from the ground up for a handheld game platform, and it is an outstanding Mario adventure, with appealing visuals, superb gameplay, excellent level design, and tons of creativity. It may not be quite as groundbreaking as Mario’s greatest adventures, but it is still a phenomenal Mario game, and one that every Nintendo 3DS owner should have in their collection.

Grade: A

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