Aw Look At the Cute Cat Suit - A Super Mario 3D World Review

Written By: Tyler Selig

Rating: 9.5/10

Verdict: Super Mario 3D World doesn’t re-invent Mario, but embraces everything that brought Mario to the dance. That -- and some really clever and fun level design – makes this one of the best Mario games ever.

          

               I have a long history with Mario, much like I’m sure a lot of “old school” gamers do. I remember the NES packaged with the first solo Mario game. I remember Donkey Kong. I remember playing Mario pretty religiously through my youth, to the point where I would dream of playing Mario 3. I would sneak over to my older brother’s room, where the NES was, and play it at five in the morning. For some reason he still likes me.

                But the thing is, as much as I love Mario and I honestly feel no childhood is complete without Mario, I don’t follow Mario as much as I should. There are amazing installments that I just haven’t played, such as Galaxy. I hadn’t even played Super Mario 3D Land, which this is a sequel to. I generally just for a while without playing any of the games and then one day I think, “I should play the latest Mario.” So that means I miss some. But there was no way I was going to miss this one. It’s also because of this that I may not catch every reference to older games so forgive me if I act like something is new when it isn’t.

                And I’m so glad I didn’t choose to ignore it, because it’s easily within the top three of all Mario games for me. Maybe it’s blasphemy that Super Mario 64 isn’t in my top three, but Super Mario 3D World joins the likes of Super Mario World and Mario 3, with honourable mention to Mario 2 and yes, Super Mario 64.

                Nintendo didn’t give us a completely new experience, but instead decided to jam everything Mario into one title. There are references to the other games all over the place, and while that may not sound as appealing to some people – considering some people hate the fact that Nintendo “milks” the Mario franchise – as it does others, it’s a positive in my book, because not only did they show old fans love, but they did include some awesome ideas like the cat suit. Who doesn’t love the cat suit, with how adorable the characters look walking around on all fours? Not to mention that you need it to get a fair share of the stars and whatnot in the game.

                Mario will always have that Mario charm. It’s undeniable, and it’s one of the reasons he is so loved in this world. Mario is a legend and it’s hard to deny that. Some Nintendo haters like to play Mario down like he’s overrated, but I think they’d be overjoyed if Nintendo stopped making consoles and just made games for their system of choice.

                Having so many Mario games can be a little much if they don’t do anything great with the IP, but when the Mario games are on point, they’re the best platformers of their kind in the entire world. Super Mario 3D World is on point with fascinating and genius level design that offers different and often intense experiences in each world.

                Super Mario 3D World does a glorious job of giving you classic platforming but Nintendo threw in levels that make you sit back and just say, “Wow, that was cool.” An example of this are the music based levels which provide a nice break and something refreshing. The game offers a lot of variety, be it speed runs for stars, the musical blocks, the racing levels or just the way they switch everything up. Instead of letting you feel safe and allowing everything to seem familiar, even late in the game they include things that you haven’t yet seen in the game. You never really know what you’re going to get from level to level. From beginning to end, it’s exciting, and they top it all off by having an intense and amazing final level/boss battle. It’s because of this blend of new and old, and this mixture, that the game is one of the most fun games of the year.

                I have to gush a little over the music because it’s tremendous. Yes, there are re-workings of old songs, and they are incredible. There are new tunes, and they are just as good. Even from the main menu, the music just works and puts you in the mood. My personal favourite is the Ghost House music, which is tragic and eerie, like y’know, a Ghost House should be. I know this is a short paragraph because I don’t want to go into every single song and all the intricacies, but the soundtrack is so, so good.

The game is extremely polished, and even the little things add to the experience. I know that the way it uses community, with the drawn pictures and whatnot, isn’t a new thing. It was in the last Wii U Mario game, and I loved it then like I love it now. It’s a joy seeing Miis standing around to “talk” to and having them present you with whatever the player wanted to draw. Then there are the Ghost Miis that are in levels if you go back and revisit them, which allow you to see how other people played the game. My friend made fun of my Mario skills on Facebook randomly one day.

It’s a small, but nice little touch, that the music muffles when you’re in water. It isn’t something that should get a lot of attention but it’s neat that it’s there.

                Or the fact that Nintendo does an outstanding job of balancing difficulty. Some levels are just hard. Some levels only get hard when you want to get all three stars. If you’re a completionist then I’m sure there will be moments that have you pulling your hair out. However, Nintendo is for the children (to quote ODB), and if you are having a difficult time getting through a level, they’ll throw you a bone and give you a power-up that makes you invincible, except for falling in holes.

Which brings me to the multiplayer. It’s not original, but it’s back. You play as one of four characters (it makes me happy that at one point Mario 2 was seen as the bastard son, but now the characters are openly influenced by that one in particular), and playing with a friend or three makes the game significantly harder. But it’s fun. The game somehow makes you want to work together but be competitive. Sure, you want everyone to get through because it eats up lives if one of you die, but at the same time, you need to fight for points (in which you get a crown no less), and it ends up becoming a matter of “screw you, I’m out,” as you watch your friend fall to his death. Some have criticized the camera, but it was never a huge problem for me. Maybe a minor issue here and there, but nothing worth kicking up a stink about.

Another negative I’ve seen in reviews is that the game doesn’t use the Gamepad as well as it should. I get the argument… Mario is a killer app and you would think they would have used Mario to show what the Wii U is capable of. They don’t really do this, outside of a few levels here and there where you use the touch-screen or blow into it. I suppose if you look at it that way, it’s a little disappointing. I think it’s more that they are smart enough not to force something in that doesn’t work. I don’t think Mario is the game to show that off. I think a Zelda or a Metroid is more likely to do so. I see the brief usage of the features on the gamepad as more of a welcome swerve here and there.

Again, it’s the care that they put into the whole experience that makes Nintendo the developers that they are. At their best, and I know I sound like a fanboy, they understand games perfectly. I can’t help it, once in a while something comes along that just has me smiling the whole time (like the most recent Muppets movie), so I can’t help but say it’s one of the best games of the year.