The Shrine

Super Mario Land 3D is what I expected Mario 64 to be

Super Mario Land 3D is the first 3D Mario title that really captures what the original 2D games in the series were all about. Moving through one world to the next, and platforming your way from one end of a level to the next. It is very easily the most accurate 2D to 3D translation the series has ever had.

Super Mario 64 introduced a new type of formula that essentially had all the sub-levels taking place in the exact same location, you just traveled to a different location of the same level to collect the star. I didn't feel Mario 64 did this very well, and actually much preferred Banjo Kazooie which did things the same way; although it was Super Mario Galaxy 2 that I see as perfecting the Mario 64 formula - in that there is just so much diversity available in gameplay throughout the world - it make the game feel like a brand new and fresh experienc each time you pick it up - whereas I felt Mario 64 was fairly similar almost all of the way through the game.

Super Mario Land 3D is essentially borrows elements from all of the major 2D titles; but it puts it into a 3D game. You have your initial 8 World (more come after, though this is a bit of a Spo0iler, sorry) which have 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5 etc... format, there are also bonus stages like Toad Houses and minigame stages (similar to Mario 3) and these are re-awakened when you contact people via Street Pass (and you don't want to pass them up either, since you can get lots of extra Star Coins which build up and allow you to unlock secret stages).

The controls are all very much from Mario 64; but unlike Mario 64 the Camera is fixed - it never gets caught behind anything, and since the user is always moving forward (unlike the other 3D Mario Games) it is always located in a way that gives the player the best possible view in moving in the correct direction (you can travel backwards though). The controls have been adapted as well, while you have 360 degrees of movement while walking, running in one direction will eventually snap you into one of 8 directions - this is a fairly great help when navigating through the levels quickly because you probably won`t make a mistep.

In the first 8 worlds, if you die too many times, you get a Powered Tanukie suit, which is essentially a Tanuki Suit + eternal star power (but without the extra-life bonuses that you get from killing multiple enemies with star power). There are Airship and Castle levels that end the Worlds:

The Airship levels have fixed movement similar to Mario 3 (you just have to make sure you don't fall too far behind. The Airships end with a battle against a Koopa Kid. The Castles are essentially 3D Bowser Castles, and the Bowser battle; if I remember correctly the Bowser's Castle is at the end of Level 1, 4, and 8 in the first set of worlds; and the rest (2, 3, 5, 6, and 7) are Air Ships.

The levels in general have a large amount of variety, and there is a lot of very good use of 3D visual effects: you will certainly have A LOT of trouble playing with the Helicopter Hat power up without 3D being turned on, for example.

Each level has 3 Star Coins to collect, although you can collect extra Star Coins via mini-games from street pass on the bonus levels I talked about earlier.

The Power Ups are: The Tanuki Suit (which is awesome!), a hammer brother suit (actually the boomerang one), fire flower, star power, and occasionally the helicopter hat, which is somewhat like the boot from Mario 3 in that you can't keep it at the end of the level; since you would be able to grossly abuse the game with it =P

There is a large amount of diversity in the game, and while you start off with only Mario in the initial 8 worlds with some fairly standard feeling levels: the next 8 worlds have much more challenging and highly diverse platforming elements (and you also get Luigi). The safety Tanuki suit for dying (8 or 10 times) in a row on a level is also not available in the 9th world and beyond.

The learning curve for this game is extremely shallow, but by the end of it you`re going to be playing some of the most challenging levels in the history of the series.

The game was clearly designed for Play Sessions ranging anywhere from about 3 minutes to about 20 minutes, much different from Ocarina of Time 3D which is designed for Play Sessions of 1 to 3 hours. Super Mario Land 3D is certainly a much better "play on the bus" game than Zelda. Overall, I would easily call it the best 3D Mario game that isn't in the Galaxy series; it is incredibly solid, and packed with a considerable amount of content including the initial 8 worlds, and then 8 more bonus worlds.

If you have a 3DS, this game is probably the best game you can get for it.

Here IGN explains a good amount about the game in about 3.5 minutes, I recommend watching if you are considering buying the game:




The question is, is this game better than Mario Kart 3D? I have only played a few times multiplayer on lunch hours at work (as Shy Guy, the dl-play racer), and have yet to play the full game, but I can say that it is a HUGE leap over the Wii and DS Mario Kart titles that were fairly good to begin with. It is probably the biggest jump that the series has ever seen; and unlike the Gamecube version, they went in the correct direction.

I 100%'ed SM3DL the other day, and it's safe to say that the complainers who say that the game is "too easy" didn't even see the second half of the game. There were parts that made me throw my 3DS across the room in anger.

As far as Mario Kart 7 goes, I think that it is an incredibly "safe" Mario Kart game. They do absolutely nothing different or innovative, which is totally okay if you're into that. Double Dash was actually my favorite Mario Kart game because of the real cooperative feel it gave to the racing modes, and I'm sad that they haven't implemented a "Double Dash" mode into any of the Mario Kart games since. The thing I really miss is the ability for the person on the back of the kart to be able to hit the triggers to jerk the kart out of the way of an obstacle at the last second. I used to have LAN parties dedicated exclusively to Double Dash and it was definitely the most fun any of the participants have ever had with a Mario Kart game. Being able to switch which person on your team was driving and which was dodging at any point during the race really allowed you to trip up your friend's ideas of how they thought you were going to play.

If there are any of you out there who were unable to experience Mario Kart in this manner, I encourage you to grab some friends, break out your GameCubes and make it happen. While you're at it, get some GBAs and play some Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Zelda Four Swords. The best experiences on the GameCube were the cooperative ones, which is what has me most excited for the Wii U...it looks like it could really replicate some of the cool ideas that GameCube wasn't able to fully popularize.

The vast majority of reviewers don't play more than a couple of hours of a game. That's why games that start off slowly/poorly get horrible reviews when they're actually quite good games (see Castlevania: Lords of Shadow; I have yet to find anyone who got past Chapter 2 who doesn't really like that game).

Double Dash was a very underrated Mario Kart game. I loved it and wish they woulda expanded on it a bit. It also sold quite well for a long time. But for whatever reason, they just didn't bother

Julius Seeker wrote:unlike the Gamecube version, they went in the correct direction.

Disagree. Double Dash is the best title. Forever.

Alec wrote:Double Dash was actually my favorite Mario Kart game

10 points.

Zeus wrote:The vast majority of reviewers don't play more than a couple of hours of a game.

Baseless speculation. This may have been the case during the magazine days -- like is the case in the 90's or early 00's where EGM reviewers reviewed up to 20-30 games a month (source: 1up podcasts w/ Shane Bettenhausen and Dan Hsu) -- but nobody (professional) does that kind of shit now. Go check and see how many games a reviewer for say, IGN reviews in a month and it's nowhere near that number. No reason to think this nowadays other than some reviewer didn't like the game you like or the aforementioned era's practice is still in the back of your head.

VAST MAJORITY.

I love you, Zeus.

Zeus wrote:Double Dash was a very underrated Mario Kart game. I loved it and wish they woulda expanded on it a bit. It also sold quite well for a long time. But for whatever reason, they just didn't bother

20 points.

One thing I really loved about DD was the strategy involved in having two characters on the kart and having two weapons. For me it was never about 8-player LAN, though I'm sure it was cool, it was about the timely swap if character while shredding blue into a curve, picking up two items instead of one; about making the guy in front of you avoid a green shell one way, and hitting him with your second because you know which way he'll veer. It was about toasting multiple leading opponents on a narrow straightaway with a big shell and popping a star to take a commanding lead. The intensity of bumping and power sliding around the last two chasms in DK Mountain, the skillful evasion of dinosaur feet in Dino Dino Jungle... I'm giving myself a nostalgia boner.


I liked MKDS, but it was not on par with DD. Maybe if I had had extended multiplayer sessions with people... MAYBE. But unless you work at a gaming website, it's hard to muster four or more grown men with DSes and copies of the game to coordinate such sessions. And I really have NO idea why they ditched the idea or two characters per kart, other than some dicks that had a chub on for MK64 (Slide-show 64, real mature, I know) complained.


Haven't played the Wii one. Haven't played this. Stubbornly maintain DD holds the crown forever. /rant

Sorry to turn this into a Mario Kart thread.

They should absolutely bring back the strategy from Double Dash...and get rid of the god damn Blue Shell, while you're at it.

Also, get rid of drafting and give me three tiers of spark boosting.

Do the Wii and 3DS ones still have the red, yellow, blue boost system?

Only blue and red, and red is the "big" boost instead of blue.

Blotus wrote:Sorry to turn this into a Mario Kart thread.

Well, I think at tows it is easier to just change the thread topic title rather than try to get the thread back on rails =P

Just some interesting sales news: Mario Land 3D was the first 3DS game to break the 5 million mark, and Mario Kart is about to be the second (it will probably push above 5 million with this weeks sales data). Mario Kart is #1 on the global sales charts and Mario Land is #2 - so their numbers should continue to grow.

To put this into perspective - the top selling 3D Mario games are Mario Galaxy (over 10 million) and Mario 64 (just under 12 million) - and I would guess Mario Land 3D will pass both of those by the end of the year.

I do think that a lot of it has to do with the level design being much more straight forward - it's actually a more challenging game than the original Galaxy and Mario 64 in the later levels - but also much more intuitive. It is the closest translation of Mario World/Mario 3 to a 3D environment that the series has ever got. The Street Pass functionality should also add to their marketability due to increasing word of mouth between 3DS users.