PixlBit

Meow!

                                        Turn up your volume to hear the jazzy tune

Hello everyone how are you? 5 years ago today we got to play the Wii U's very first (and only) 3D Mario game with the aptly named Super Mario 3D World. As with any game with an anniversary, I like to use these posts to give my thoughts and share my memories on a game be it 5, 10, 15, or 20 years old. So as long I have played said game. Yes I know I have just posted another post earlier. Get your power-ups ready as we take a look back into Super Mario 3D World...

The game starts of with Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Blue Toad(?) taking a stroll at night. Mario and Luigi see a glass warp pipe and they begin to repair it. Suddenly this fairy, known as a Sprixie, pops up and she tells them that Bowser has kidnapped the Sprixie Princesses in jars/bottles because apparently we are using Zelda logic now and they can't escape from them. Bowser pops out of the glass warp pipe and captures the last Sprixie Princess and thus prompts Mario and the gang to give chase to Bowser. They arrive at the aptly named Sprixie Kingdom. From here is where your adventure really begins.

One of the things that was a surprise is that Mario and Luigi are actually doing some actual plumbing in an actual game on the opening cutscene. That was a surprise.

                       Bowser found out he can revive himself if he has fairies on him

First thing you'll notice is that Bowser didn't kidnap Peach this time around. Another surprise and that's because Peach is in fact, a playable character in this game. The game features 4 playable characters, well 5, more like 6? But we'll get into that later. You can play as either Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Blue Toad. And if you're wondering, yes, those are (almost) the exact same characters you can play as in Super Mario Bros 2.

Mario is as usual, the most balanced of the bunch with balanced running speed and jumping. Luigi can jump the highest but has low traction on the ground as usual. Peach can float in the air for a short time but runs slower. And Blue Toad is the fastest runner of the bunch but can't jump as high as the rest. Their abilities are pretty much identical to their SMB2 counterparts.

Before starting a level, you can select from any of the available characters so you aren't locked to just one character. So you can choose and select whichever character fits your playstyle or are most comfortable with.

     This is definitely one of the best Ghost Houses in the game as it gives it a movie feel to it

The game starts you off in the world map and if you're familiar with Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, then you can tell that the map here is similar to both of those games. You can select a level and off you go. The levels themselves are really fun. If you have played Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, then you know what to expect here. They are much bigger though but still keep that design from 3D Land. The levels themselves come in different variety from levels big enough to explore, to levels that play like a traditional 2D Mario game but with more freedom to so some really quirky and off-beat levels.

You have your traditional power-ups here like the Mushroom and the Fire Flower. But you have news ones here too like the Super Bell which turns you into a cat. This allows you to climb up walls, which is pretty fun and adds a new mechanic to the game. And the Clone Cherry, which makes a clone of yourself. They can only take 1 hit, but it's a pretty trippy power-up.

Levels themselves have collectibles like Green Stars and Stamps. Green Stars are the main collectibles in this one and each level has 3 hidden in the levels. They can be in easy to see and reach spots and some are really well hidden. Some are in areas that are pretty hard to reach. You'll need to collect a certain amount to keep advancing on the world map to access more levels.

Stamps are a secondary collectible. They allow you unlock stamps that feature character artwork to use on Miiverse to write messages. Miiverse no longer works but you can still view your collection in the game should you choose. They aren't crucial to the game but you can collect them if you are a completionist.

Sometimes you might feel like you will run out of Green Stars to collect due to some of them being out of reach or whatever. However the game has a few number of options for you to obtain more Green Stars. There are these challenges houses that net you more Green Stars by completing challenges. Or my personal favorite, you can play on special levels where you use Captain Toad.

                                 The leader of the Toad Brigade makes his return

These are some of my most favorite levels in the game. They work very differently. You see the levels are like dioramas and you have to rotate them to see a different perspective. Thing is Captain Toad can't jump. Yes you heard that right. He can't jump, but that's what makes them so unique and different from the levels Mario and the gang have. We actually got a Captain Toad spin-off game out of this which is fantastic.

The boss fights are good, but I have to say that they might be the weakest of the bunch in 3D Mario games. That and you have to fight them again later on. The final boss fight is really fun though and to this day I feel that that level has the best rain effects in any game I've ever played.

Now let's talk about my favorite part of the game and something I've been wanting for years in a 3D Mario game: Co-op. Nintendo has always experimented with co-op in their 3D Mario games from the 4-player mode in Super Mario 64 DS to 2-player co-op in the Galaxy games. But I feel they finally nailed 4-player co-op in a Mario game. It's so much fun playing with more people actually. My brothers and I beat the entire game from start to finish and it was such a hoot to be honest.

The only real shame here is that it's local co-op only. They could of added online co-op to play with friends online too, I bet that would of been really fun to have. But the fact that they finally added co-op to a 3D Mario games makes me happy.

          Koopa's Tower from the Super Mario Bros. Movie even makes an appearance here

Final thoughts: When they first showed the game, it didn't exactly set the world on fire. A lot of people weren't sold on 3D World and even went on to mention that it was too similar to 3D Land. Some people went on to mention that it was a 3DS game. I will admit that 3D Land did some things better than 3D World. Thing is the game did work far better as a handheld game. Those levels were of perfect size for a game like 3D Land, but didn't work out so well with 3D World. People had high expectations for Mario's first HD 3D outing and everyone expected something on the level of the Galaxy games on the Wii.

However that doesn't mean 3D World is a bad game, far from it. The game is really fun, full of great level design and surprises. There's a ton of levels, especially hidden ones as well. You'll be playing for a long time. Plus you can unlock Rosalina in this game too. She is the slowest runner but she has the spin jump from the Galaxy games that acts asa second jump in the air.  The music, is really jazzy and this is that period where they made jazzy tracks like some of the ones in Mario Kart 8. It's really good though. But the game truly shines when you're playing with more people. I have to say they really nailed the 4-player co-op, which hasn't been done well in a 3D platformer. They took what they had from New Super Mario Bros. Wii and used what they did with Super Mario 64 DS's 4-player mode and improved upon that. Only real shame that it doesn't have online play.

I think the game had the unfortunate timing of releasing after the phenomenal Galaxy games, which definitely set expectations really high for the next Mario game. It will be remembered as the Mario game that released between the Galaxy games and Odyssey, but it's a great game in its own right and if you haven't played it, definitely try it out. The levels are vibrant and colorful full of neat surprises, the graphics look beautiful, and it's a really fun game too. It's a really fun time and it gets even more fun if you can get more people to play with you. Or wait for the eventual Switch port of the game. Hopefully wih online co-op this time. Plus if anything, we got a Captain Toad game out of it, which is really fun and definitely worth checking out if you haven't.

And so those are my thoughts on Super Mario 3D World, 5 years later. So, did you ever play it? If so, what did you think of it? Thanks for reading and happy 5th aniversary Super Mario 3D World!

 

*All images (except the top one) are courtesy of my copy of Super Mario 3D World and my Wii U*