Super Mario 3D World Impressions:
Super Mario Bros 3 represents an end-point for the classic Mario platformer mold. A fully-formed package of sharp level design and well-tuned play controls in a compact package, it must have left Nintendo in a odd predicament. How do you follow up something that feels like the culmination of the series? "By going bigger!", apparently, as Super Mario World sacrificed the tight play controls and level structure for larger spaces to accommodate aimless keyhunts, and with a hilariously overpowered Cape in tow. Super Mario 64 continued this new style, giving you large playspaces to explore, with the occasional SMB3-esque obstacle course in the Bowser levels.
Super Mario 3D World, then, is the alternate universe sequel to SMB3. Instead of abandoning the focused platforming game design of SMB3, Nintendo built on it, bringing its spirit into the 3rd dimension.
Like SMB3, SM3DW is filled with over a hundred short, clever levels, each one often revolving around a new gimmick or idea. The levels are separated into "worlds" with overarching comforting "themes", but I put those into quotations because they don't really matter. As if EAD Tokyo had a kind of game developer ADHD and soon as they pick something up, they're off to the next wacky thing. The level of creativity on display is staggering; one level has you infiltrating a Japanese pagoda fortress, complete with Goomba disguise. Another, a top-down segment where you utilize your fireballs in Zelda-esque puzzles(and its a nice showcase for the fantastic lighting system). The next one, you're zipping around skinny pathways narrowly dodging spike logs with honed precision, and then the next one have you exploring a sprawling savana, running after SM64's bunnies and wishing there was more time on the clock. Like the Angry Sun and Kuribo's Shoe from SMB3, there are so many ideas here that you'll see once, maybe twice, then never again.
One of my favorite of these new additions is the Double Cherry, a SMB2 reference in aesthetic if not in function. Grab one, Mario gets a clone, one that's controlled with the exact same controls as the original. You can have three, four, five or more Marios all running along, throwing out that much more firepower and covering that much more ground for collectibles. Some of the secrets of these levels only open up with a minimum amount of Marios, so its a fun challenge trying to get all of yourselves to the finish line.
Another big favorite is the much hyped Cat Suit, which may just be my new favorite Mario power-up. Nintendo's track record on new power-ups for our favorite plumber isn't that great; sometimes they're TOO good like the Cape in SMW, sometimes they just kinda stink like Bee Mario's lack of offensive abilities or Tiny Mario being effectively a power-down. Cat Suit Mario is not only stupidly adorable, he makes you feel powerful without breaking the entire level. He can climb up vertical walls, but only for a certain amount of time, and he's got a great dive attack, but you can only do it once without touching the ground. Like the best power-ups, it opens up new areas and gives you an advantage against certain enemies, but it doesn't completely trivialize the game, and it stinks when you lose it.
Even ideas that aren't "new" to the franchise are used to excellent effect. The Giant Mushroom from NSMB, kinda awkward and actually sucky in many areas, has specific, empowering appearances here; its never been used better. The Bullies from SM64 are repurposed in challenging clusters late in the game. With no Wiimote to shake, Flip-Swip platforms from Galaxy return, now activated with every jump, forcing you to think a few steps ahead of your next leap. The entire history of the Super Mario franchise is fair game here, polished and refined to fit into a huge adventure that feels like a celebration of its legacy.
And its never looked better. While New Super Mario Bros U was the first game in the franchise to enter HD, no offense to the NSMB team, but Super Mario 3D World feels like the true arrival. Spooky manors, fiery fortresses, poisonous swamps and snow-covered landscapes; the amount of visual themes in SM3DW is incredible, each one filled with characterful touches and a wonderful new lighting system. The tight focused level design and isometric camera means anything that isn't needed on the screen just isn't there, giving each level a framed feel dripping wet with a level designer's touch.
And the smaller size of levels doesn't mean there are no secrets to find. Every level has three Green stars, a stamp, and other hidden collectibles locked away in difference nooks and crannies of the level, encouraging exploration and skillful usage of all of Mario's moves and various power-ups. Its a giant toybox, waiting for you to find all its gags, and rewarded the ones who get the most of each stage with challenging post-game worlds filled with all-new content and harder remixed variants of the main game's areas.
Super Mario 3D World is pure fun; a colorful collection of platforming levels bursting at the seams with creativity and polish, backed by tight controls and clean, crisp visuals. Looking back at the many stage tropes and ideas it tackles, there's no better evidence of Mario's status as the perennial gaming icon, able to slip into so many roles and feel perfectly naturally. It doesn't have Galaxy's bombast, but it wasn't really trying to, and when you're riding inside a Kurubo Iceskate, dodging Goombas and
listening to a joyous winter wonderland track, its hard to care about the differences. Super Mario 3D World is EAD Tokyo doing Super Mario Bros 3(D) in 2013, the 3D sequel to SMB3 Nintendo never gave us. Until now.
9/10
Time for world 2!
