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System: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Players: 1

Mario's recent platforming outings have had varied success for me. The New Super Mario Bros. titles weren't as enjoyable as I had hoped, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Although the level designs, music and graphics were all excellent, something didn't quite gel for me. On the other side of the coin I greatly enjoyed the Super Mario Galaxy games, although they too weren't perfect by any means.

That said, Super Mario 3D Land is one of the most entertaining games I've played for a while, hand-held or otherwise. Mario's 25th anniversary may have been last year, but Mario 3D seems to be a celebration of his past; there's many references, concepts and familiar features from previous games (particularly Super Mario Bros. 3) included in here, as well as new ideas that fully utilise the 3DS' capabilities (the microphone and SpotPass are the only unused aspects), which makes it hard to believe it's a hand-held game. It really feels like Miyamoto and his team have managed to cram something akin to Super Mario Galaxy (with Tanooki Suits) into the tiny screen.

In fact, Mario 3D went to town when it comes to Tanookis. They're everywhere. Not only can Mario acquire the raccoon themed power-up, but almost everything else can as well - along with the standard 'your princess is in another castle' premise, the opening cutscene of the game cleverly explains how the Super Leaf is spread across the Mushroom Kingdom, so you'll encounter Tanooki Goombas, Bullet Bills and even find Boos with a ghostly Tanooki tail. With the difference in behaviour their new toy presents, it makes the mastering of your own Tanooki Suit's floating and tail-spinning abilities all the more imperative.

Add to that the new Boomerang Suit (a nice throwback to SMB3's Hammer Suit - shame it didn't make a return as well) and the Propeller Box (similar, but not quite the same as its waggle-activated cousin from NSMB Wii) and the way is opened for some clever level designs and challenges to collect the three Star Medals located in every level. The Boomerang not only provides another long-range method of dispatching foes, but it also collects any items or coins in its path. See a Star Medal that's too far away to jump for? Fling a boomerang at it and it's yours. That Magikoopa on the other side of the lava pit causing trouble? Not for much longer. Got a third hypothetical situation? It's already been dealt with, thanks to boomerangs.

The control scheme is mostly fluid and easy to learn - moving with the Circle Pad felt great, whether it was walking or running, and it was fairly precise most of the time (though not without a few moments of fiddly control). The D-Pad features two options for the 3D effect using the Up/Down directions (with a greater or lesser field of depth available should the hardware 3D slider not offer enough choice), while Left and Right allow the camera to pan slightly in the corresponding direction (a feature I found little use for). The gyroscopic ability of the 3DS sees some use with cannons and binoculars positioned using this method, although the Circle Pad can be used as well.

The biggest problem I faced with the controls was the mapping of the ground-pound to the shoulder buttons - on several occasions I would attempt a jump and plummet to my death having inadvertently pressed the R button. Another issue was the item storage, a returning feature from Super Mario World; being located on the touch screen made it very awkward to access in the heat of play. I'm one of those people who prefers using only the stylus on the touch screen, so that combined with the inconvenient positioning of the stylus holder on the 3DS and the method needed to hold the system itself meant this was an option I used very little. I would've preferred the item storage to be mapped to Select instead of having two buttons to open the pause menu.

As mentioned earlier, it feels like Nintendo managed to cram Super Mario Galaxy into the 3DS - the graphics are of the same quality, and the ability to unlock new levels with Star Medals feels very similar to Galaxy's level progression. At times it felt so similar to Galaxy and NSMB Wii that I was attempting to use the Tanooki Suit's spin attack or the Propeller Box by shaking the 3DS rather than pressing a button. The level designs are very imaginative and provide plenty of room for exploration and practice for all of Mario's abilities as well as showing off the capabilities of the 3D effect, including gauntlets of Bowser's fireballs launching directly at the screen, tricky jumps and carefully-placed platforms, and ink-spitting Piranha Plants that obscure the view of the action.

As usual the sound is superb - the familiar pipe, coin and 1-Up sounds that have been a tradition since the first Super Mario Bros. all make an appearance. Mario is as vocal as ever, although it's apparent that some of his sound-bites have been reused from previous games. The music suits the light-hearted atmosphere with some jazzy, up-beat tracks most notable in the opening levels and ominous yet catchy music for the castle and airship stages, as well as some tunes making a return from Super Mario Bros. 3. The same music is used for most similarly-themed levels so there's not a great variety of tracks, but in retrospect it's been the same way for the Mario series since it began.

I can't tell whether the difficulty level has been toned down for Mario 3D compared to other Mario games, whether the controls were so easy to become accustomed to or whether I was just so engrossed in playing that it didn't matter; the game seems to ramp the difficulty level up in a very subtle way, and it also seems to be a lot more tolerant of stupid mistakes. Accumulating extra lives is almost too easy - by the time I'd gotten to the final level I had close to the 100 mark (not that I'm complaining), and the first notion I had of a difficulty spike wasn't until late in the game, with the final level itself proving the biggest challenge. In fact I was disappointed at how quickly I worked through the main story, taking less than a day to complete it (albeit without collecting every Star Medal).

If you do get stuck, Mario 3D helps you out by offering an Assist Block. Not quite the same as the Super Guide of previous Mario games, the bonuses these blocks provide won't play through the level for you but instead provide one of two items to help you along. First on offer is the Invincibility Leaf, which not only bestows the usual Tanooki abilities but unlimited invincibility as well; in another nod to Super Mario Bros. 3 the other available item is the P-Wing, which unfortunately doesn't provide unlimited flight like its predecessor did, instead teleporting Mario to an area near the level's Goal Pole.

After defeating Bowser for the final time and rescuing Princess Peach from her latest imprisonment, the true length of the game is realised - collecting every Star Medal in a world unlocks a pipe to its corresponding Special World, meaning there's plenty more levels to unlock, explore and conquer. Not only that, but two familiar faces make an appearance - a character suspiciously absent from the main game and a slightly different version of a signature item which makes exploring these rearranged levels (and the previously completed ones) all the more fun. Some levels feature a drastically reduced timer as well, so it's a race against the clock to collect more time as well as dodge enemies (including the reintroduced Poison Mushroom), collect Star Medals and complete the level, which makes for a frantic yet exciting challenge.

There's no online capabilities, but the StreetPass feature allows Mario 3D owners to exchange Mystery Boxes with each other, which can earn them extra Star Medals. They can also receive a gift at the Toad House from the other player's Mii if that person is playing a different game in wireless mode. Better gifts are unlocked the more times the same Mii is encountered (exactly what they are isn't clear), so it pays to bring the game out when you're playing your 3DS with a friend.


Score: 9/10

Super Mario 3D Land is a great game for long-time fans of the series and newcomers alike - new players can jump right in and explore what the levels and Mario's abilities have to offer without a difficult learning curve, and the Tanooki Suit (one of my favourite power-ups) has transitioned perfectly from its 2D side-scrolling origins. It's not a lengthy game (even with the addition of the Special Worlds) and there's a few minor control and camera issues, but there's enough challenge and content to keep players busy for a while and it makes excellent use of what the 3DS can do.

Plus, it's simply fun.