Super Mario 3D Land

I haven't put that hat on in a while...

I promised myself that I would review more games I own for the Nintendo 3DS this year, so let’s start with a simple one. Mario platformers are simple, right? …it depends really. The 2D games are fairly simple. The big 3D games (64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Odyssey) are more complex. But this one is a weird beast trying to be somewhere between both.

That suit of fur sure is a lot more limber than
those in real life.

Super Mario 3D Land was released in North America in November 13th, 2011, in the first year of the 3D-enhancing portable console. Shigeru Miyamoto describes it as “a 3D Mario that plays like a 2D Mario game”. And it shows; this is unlike any other 2D Mario game, but in a weird way it’s also rather unlike any other 3D Mario game.

It’s somewhere in limbo between the two, in a way that's more complex than just 2.5D.

Let’s jump in – here we go!

Tails grow on trees??

Then again, if the tree ALSO has a tail...

The game opens on a massive windstorm over the Mushroom Kingdom. The wind is so powerful, it knocks away all of the leaves from a tree with a striped tail. The Tanooki leaves have flown away, scattered over the land. …Remember those? It was Mario’s flight power-up in Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Man, talk about a blast from the past. Mario and several Toads run to the tree after the storm to find it bare. A flying letter comes to them and they open it, getting a picture showing that Bowser has yet again kidnapped Princess Peach. For added points, he got his hands on several leaves and has used them to improve several of his minions (as well as himself). Mario must therefore rescue the chronically-kidnapped damsel from the scheming turtle-dragon. Must be a day that ends in Y.

Bowser needs better pastimes.

…That’s it. Welp, I thought it would be longer than that to cover the plot. I’ll admit I’m surprised that the Tanooki leaves do grow on trees, considering they dress Mario into a clearly animal-shaped suit. But then again, a lot of power-ups don’t make a ton of sense when you think about them, so what do I know. I do remember PETA throwing a hissy fit in the form of a “satirical” short online game over Mario allegedly wearing fur when he dons the power-up. They got ridiculed for it, as PETA deserves to be.

I got that pic from the Mario Wiki, and in it, I
swear Mario looks like he's done with all this.

You know the deal, it’s a song and dance similar to so many other Mario 2D games: Eight worlds, a few levels in every world, topped by an Airship or Castle. The game feels like a love letter to SMB3 in multiple ways; during transitions between worlds, Mario opens letters with photos of the state of things on Peach’s side, and the pictures are done in the same visual style as the promotional material for SMB3.

Some stages, castles and Airships especially, require you to have a certain amount of Star Medals. Those are recycled from the Star Coins of the 2D New Super Mario Bros. games. Three are hidden in each level, and the new plane is taken advantage of in order to put some of these in devious places. The 3D makes it easier to hide them just out of sight.

We're raiding the Airship!

Bowser’s trickeries

Despite the theme of the game, Bowser did not actually enhance all of his army with Tanooki tails; only a handful. Boss-wise, this one takes inspiration from both SMB1 and SMB3. Tail-sporting, fake versions of Bowser return during castle levels for a showdown, and in all of those situations can be defeated by hitting a big button at the end of a bridge over lava. He turtle-dragon hasn’t learned in 26 years: Don’t stand on a self-destructing bridge, you dummy!

Boom Boom used Wheel of Fists!

In the other worlds, though, we close on Airships guarded by Boom Boom, now in glorious 3D. Remember that guy? And he is indeed a fair bit trickier with the added dimension. This time, he has brought along his (girl?)friend Pom Pom, who wields a boomerang as her weapon, starting from her first appearance in World 4’s airship. For added difficulty points, Boom Boom and Pom Pom are fought at the same time at the end of World 7.

Pom Pom is the more dangerous of the two,
if you ask me. Hell hath no fury as a
Pom Pom scorned.

Bowser has stopped playing. The gloves are off.

As usual, upon the end of World 8, we face Bowser for the last time. The bridge sections are tricky without a Tanooki Leaf, and Bowser is difficult to avoid due to his sheer size. Once Bowser is defeated, he sinks into the lava, and Mario finds Peach on the upper floor… but it’s a cardboard cutout. Bowser shows up again with the real princess and flies off to the REAL final castle. One more stage, and then one more boss fight over a bridge… but once Bowser is beaten, the boss music doesn’t stop. He returns, with enough force to send the highest tower crumbling. It then becomes a mad rush for Mario to reach the top of the tower (with yet another button to make Bowser fall down) while Bowser chases him, spitting fireballs and spinning to hit the plumber. Finally, Mario reaches the goal, and sends his enemy (the real one, this time) falling down into the lava beneath. Peach is rescued, and Mario flies her back home.

Once he's out of there, somehow Luigi's fear goes
away and he joins Mario in the adventure.

But what’s that? Mario receives a letter saying that Luigi has been imprisoned in a Special world? Oh, good! We can thus go rescue Luigi from World Special 1-Castle, after which the green-clad brother is available to use. True to form, Luigi jumps a little higher but has less traction, making him trickier to use. He can be selected by tapping the L button on the bottom screen after he’s unlocked.

Speaking to you from World Special-6!

Oh, and that Special World? There’s a reason they call it 1-1. You see… There’s 8 special worlds, all similar to the originals. The challenges, however, have changed. Some stages are brand-new, while others are harder versions of previous stages or have other gimmicks like a very limited timer that you must increase with clocks. I saw one case where I had to play the stage backwards. And there’s plenty of other surprises. In castles, Bowser is replaced by his Dry Bones equivalent.

Much like how you needed Star Coins to unlock Castles in the first half, you now need even more in order to unlock the Castles and Airships. In fact, if you want to access the very final, definitive Castle at the end of World Special 8, you need to have found 290 Star Coins in the game AND obtained five stars on your save file, which includes the extra requirement of getting the top of every flagpole in the game and playing through every stage as Luigi as well.

Tediousness at its best!

Holy Christ, that’s completion overkill.

The new tools of the trade

Tail whack!

As per tradition, a new Mario game usually means new power-ups. As I mentioned, the Tanooki suit makes its return, but I would hesitate to call it a triumphant one; see, the tool, which originally gave Mario the ability to fly, now only allows him to flutter downwards, breaking his fall and letting him have better control of where he’s headed. Useful? In the many stages that involve going down, yes. It’s basically required to hit the top of the flagpole at the end of most levels. But… man, it just feels like it’s missing what made its great. That said, the Tail Spin move Mario gains from the power-up can be used in some puzzles and is a decent short-range attack method. (Oh, and Luigi’s version is a fox instead, for some reason.)

No, no! Not fox! Kitsune!

Past the first 8 Worlds, we gain the new Statue Leaf, which will give Mario the Tanooki suit adorned with a red scarf. Otherwise identical in use to the Tanooki suit, this gives Mario the extra ability to turn into a statue when ground pounding. …a skill the original Tanooki suit from SMB3 already had.

Mario has finally rounded out his
arsenal of weapons inspired by the
Hammer Bros. and their variants.

The most interesting addition here may be the Boomerang Flower, which dresses Mario like a Boomerang Bro and, as you can guess, gives him the ability to toss boomerangs to attack. A very useful and versatile form, though the boomerangs are always thrown forwards in the direction Mario is facing, then come back.

Then there’s the Invinciblity Leaf, a white version of the Tanooki suit that makes Mario invincible. A block for that power-up appears if you lose five lives in a stage. Ah, yes, the pity power because you’re not good enough. Love those. (/s) Then, if you lose five more lives, a block with a P-Wing will appear, warping you to the stage’s flagpole instantly. That’s even more of a pity power. Although not considered a real power-up, Mario can stick his head into a propeller block that will propel him upwards. He can repeat that every time he hits something as he comes down (the ground, or an enemy, etc.). The propeller will also slow his fall down, though not as well as the Tanooki Suit’s flutter. There’s also a special ? Block with a similar use, which will add coins to Mario’s total until he loses it by getting hurt or hitting the flagpole.

Not a lot of sights to see here, if you ask me.

I get that the other features of the 3DS had to be
promoted somehow, but still...

A final addition are the Binoculars, available in many stages; using those, Mario can look at the stage in full with the 3DS's 3D gyro sensor. He can also use them to find Toads, who’ll then throw a Star Coin onto the level they’re seen in. (So if you search every nook and cranny and can only find two Star Coins, use the binoculars… checking the level is good, but having to use it for Star Coins feels unnecessary.)

Final words

I will definitely not seek 100% completion, but
I have given the Special Worlds a fair shake.

Once I got used to the very peculiar way in which this game’s stages were designed, it became a lot easier, but I’m not gonna lie – at first, it was a rough time. Among the trickeries at play here, the fact that these stages seem built in 2D meant I often forgot the 3D part of the whole thing. Weird, I know. The freedom 3D gives over 2D is notable, especially in how the Star Coins are hidden, but the environments are still small enough to keep you on track, almost to a claustrophic degree in comparison to the normal freedom of 64/Galaxy/etc. 96 stages makes for decent longevity, and having to legit 100% the whole game and play through t at least TWICE to get to the final stage feels like blatant padding.

Mario games would feel incomplete if they
didn't include these sentient bullets.

Difficulty-wise, the game is fairly easy in the 8 Worlds, and a lot spicier in the Specials - so it's definitely worth playing beyond World-8 if you're looking for a challenge. Although I do prefer worlds with set themes like Mario platformers of olde, not having to follow a theme meant level designers could come up with anything. I like the addition of the Boomerang Flower. Though I understand why it was depowered, I’m annoyed that the Tanooki suit doesn’t allow flight this time, only giving Mario a new attack method (the tail) and the ability to flutter down.

2D Mario would have very easily jumped over
this. 3D Mario doesn't struggle per se, but the
weight is felt.

Speaking of, Mario has most of his array of classic moves – stomps, ground pounds, etc. – but he’s missing some of the moves that would have made him more agile, like the triple jump. He's also slower than a 2D Mario. The result is a Mario who feels heavier to use, taking on the weight the character has in his 3D ventures, taking one out of the "2D-ish" feel. Lastly, we’re hardly ever in control of the camera, making the experience edge closer to some form of 2.5D. ...2.75D?

Also notable are the attempt at including the Nintendo 3DS’s features into the game. Turning the stereoscopic 3D On/Off (I largely preferred it turned off, personally), the gyro sensor to use the binoculars, and let’s not forget the StreetPass bonuses, if you run into other players of the game.

I can excuse a lot of the missed notes in this composition, but ultimately this game’s a fine platformer if you’re looking for the average Mario fare. Not a ton to be said otherwise. Clever novel idea for design, with a few kinks that would be ironed out by the time of the sequels (3D World especially). If you find this game, do try it out!