Super Mario 3D World Review

Super Mario 3D World could be called the first big 'all-star' for the Wii U. Sure, there was New Super Mario Bros. U, but the console was going to need a bigger punch and reason for people to want to spend the $300. This game is one of those reasons. It's the first Mario platformer since 3D Land. (And the first home theater console one since Galaxy 2.) These have always been 'my games.' One of my fondest gaming memories was playing through Super Mario Sunshine, a rather underrated game today. Then in 2007 Galaxy changed the playing field and delivered arguably the greatest Mario experience of all time. Somehow after the company exceeded their efforts with the Galaxy sequel, delivering a perfect gaming time. It wouldn't be until a year later when the small console, the 3DS, saw 3D Land, a very fun and perhaps the best game for the system. So how does 3D World compare to these greats? Well, it does fall into some of the pits the New Super Mario Bros. U fell in, and that's on rehashing too many things from the previous game. It's still however a very fun play and a must-have for any Wii U owner.

The story follows Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad as they journey to rescue the Sprixie Princesses from Bowser's clutches. That's pretty much it. After a brief opening cutscene explaining the motivation behind all of this, we're thrown into the World Map. Mario has never been known for its deep and complex stories, but this is definitely disappointing. Here we have an opportunity to explore a new race within the Mushroom Kingdom world, but the story doesn't bother to use any writing. In fact, Bowser is given no lines whatsoever, he's just a roaring beast. It's extremely disappointing when you think about it, the first Galaxy had great writing and even some darkness to the story. Not here. Nintendo shouldn't be afraid to add actual writing and danger to the series. Galaxy took a step in the right direction in this regard, but everything afterward has gone backward.

The gameplay doesn't disappoint and even adds something new to the table: 4 player co-op. We've seen this in the New Super Mario Bros. series, but this is the first time in a 3D game. One of the biggest things in this game is the new power-up, 'Cat-form.' It's a bit strange in principle. I mean cats? Where did that come from? As much as I despise Mario being reduced to a cutesy thing saying "meow," in game the power is really cool and useful to use. Beyond that, gameplay remains relatively the same as 3D Land, which isn't a bad thing. The graphics look quite colorful and very impressive, some of the worlds looked absolutely fantastic. I was in awe when going down a raft and seeing glorious HD water splash around. If this is any indication, the Wii U has a promising future when it comes to graphics.

Sadly some of the soundtrack is lifted from 3D Land, which is very disappointing. Each and every Mario game should have its own full original soundtrack, not rehash themes from each other. The exclusive themes are definitely decent and what you'd expect from a Mario platformer. It's not as memorable as the Galaxies, but good enough. The amount of worlds is definitely solid, not to mention there's three secret ones to go through. The replay value is astounding, you'll be collecting 380 Green Stars and 80 stamps. If you're not one to find this type of thing tedious, you'll be playing this game for a long time. The actual worlds are good and even have some uniqueness. The train levels come to mind with the very cool new Blockstepper enemies.

The boss fights are solid, though not half as memorable as the ones featured in the Galaxies. The first Bowser battle is pretty unique, since you have to fight him while he drives his car that looks suspiciously like Wario's car from Mario Kart: Double Dash. It's just disappointing though when you compare it to the opera-filled and epic Bowser fights from the Galaxies. The final battle is pretty lackluster since it's more of an escape than actual fight. Sure, it was intense, but with no real payoff. It lacks greatly in comparison to the final battle from New Super Mario Bros. U. After you beat the game, World Star becomes available which after conquering it you unlock Rosalina. (It's a shame she couldn't be in the actual story.)

Overall, 3D World is definitely another fun Mario platformer. The story sadly lacks the heart of the first Galaxy and is definitely tailored to young kids than the fans who have been playing these games since square one. The gameplay is naturally great and doesn't get old. (What does get old however is collecting the stamps.) The journey to the final castle isn't a short or overly long one, it's just right. So, while not coming close to the greatness of the Galaxies or Sunshine, it's a worthy sequel even if it rehashes too many things from 3D Land.

4/5

Super Mario....Complaints from a Fan

You know I talk about Godzilla a lot. Also Marvel Comics and Spider-Man, but another thing I guess you can say I'm a 'fanboy' (I hate that term) of is the Super Mario franchise. Who didn't play Super Mario Bros. when they were six? (Sadly, a lot of today's generation.) I never had the SNES or N64, I originally had the Game Boy Color and the Gamecube. My first Mario game was Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Color. It was.....so amazing. It was also the first time I had almost broken a system out of rage for constantly losing on the final level. (Darn you hammer throwing Bowser!) I still own the cartridge. My second experience with the franchise was Super Mario Sunshine, which I had originally proclaimed 'My favorite game ever!" when I opened it that 2004 Christmas. Ah, Shadow Mario and FLUDD. Those were the days. Mario since then has been in an untold amount of games. Sports, such as the always fun Power Tennis or the borefest that is Toadstool Tour. It wasn't until 2007 that we would get the true successor to Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy. I don't remember my first impressions, but today I realize at how phenomenal and needed that game was. Fast forward five years later, I'm now 16. I've played Galaxy 2 and 3D Land, these days I've been beginning to wonder.....has this series evolved or stayed the same?

Story

When you buy a video game, are you buying it for the story, or the gameplay? Obviously you lean toward the story aspect with games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, the story is the main selling point in those. For a better Nintendo-related example, the stories in the Zelda games are a high selling point. Mario on the other hand has never been about its stories. Yeah, the non-canon stuff like the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario games have some pretty deep plots, but I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about the main platformers, the big ones. Super Mario Bros. came out in 1985. Amazing gameplay that defined 2D gaming for the years to come. The story, as told from the booklet, features Bowser kidnapping Princess Toadstool and using his 'dark magic' to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Simple, but effective. At that time, no one played games for their story, they played it just to have fun. The infamous Super Mario Bros. 2 soon arrived. Now that actually had a unique story.....only it doesn't count, since it's all Doki Doki Panic. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced some new concepts, the airships and Koopalings. The Princess was eventually kidnapped. Then one of my personal favorite games ever, Super Mario World, came out. That one featured everyone's favorite dino, Yoshi. The Princess was kidnapped in the opening scene. Then we entered the 3D realm...

Super Mario 64 did for Mario what Sonic Adventure did for Sonic, it introduced the world of 3D to the title character. The blocky textures look outdated, but it introduced the core gameplay mechanics for the future platformers. Here Bowser kidnapped Peach and took over the Castle. Next up, Sunshine. I will give props since this is a pretty story-driven game for the most part. Peach was eventually kidnapped by Shadow Mario. (Who, ugh, turned out to be Bowser's bratty kid.) However, you might notice that Sunshine is the 'black sheep' of the platformers. When you hear about them, it's either 64 or Galaxy. Now that we're talking about Galaxy, it was a five year gap between it and Sunshine. This game was the 'modern Mario experience.' So yes, I will say that the Princess technically should have been kidnapped, it was a modern take on the franchise, bringing in some slight emotion and making Bowser cool again. This is where the story recap paragraph ends, on to the point...

Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out on May 23rd, 2010. I was there opening day, I was the most excited kid in America. It's the most fun game I've ever played. But do you know the interesting part? The game takes place in an alternate reality. Kind of a cop-out if you ask me, it's just an excuse to have the same exact story.  The game is basically a remake of the other one. It was about a year and a half later when Super Mario 3D Land released for the small console. In it, the Princess gets kidnapped.....again. Do you see a pattern? I know I do. The Mario franchise is the most repetitive game series of all time! The story does not change at all. Its fellow Nintendo neighbors Zelda and Metroid always have great storylines. Mario on the other hand is forced to do the exact same thing over and over again. Do you know the truly sad part? Miyamoto knows this, he's practically laughing with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, that game is pretty much a parody of the whole concept. The other Nintendo people want dramatic scenes with the Princess being kidnapped, but Miyamoto's line is "Cake works!" Mario is in a world with Zelda, Mass Effect, and even Sonic, who has evolved past the stage of just beating Dr. Robotnik. (Though with Colors and Generations, I fear it's heading back to simpler days.) Super Mario has a world full of rich backgrounds and characters, but it's never explored. Gaming has evolved past the simple idea of a story, Mario has been left behind. Kirby may be the only Nintendo property along the same side with Mario, but even then, it has a game rated E10 for action violence. I've yet to see a Mario platformer E10. If that upcoming Mario game for the Wii U has the Princess getting kidnapped by Bowser again, I may lose all faith in humanity. Now this brings me to my next point.

Character Development 

To be fair, Mario isn't the only one that suffers from this.....or maybe he is. Link, while he never talks either, you feel him him develop as you play through Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess. Samus has her development thanks to Fusion and Other M. (Much to everyone's horror.) Mario is a hero that does what needs to be done, you can see it on his face in Galaxy at how he holds morality and justice at heart. Mario's not the problem, it's everyone else. Let's talk about Luigi for a second. He had his own game called Luigi's Mansion back in the day, where he undergoes fear, but fights it in the end. After that, he disappears until Galaxy, where apparently if he somehow gets on a roof, he can't get down. Or better yet, when he climbs up a tree, he can't climb back down. Yeah I get it, he's the comic relief scaredy cat. That's fine....but it never goes anywhere. It's like a really bad cartoon where the comic relief guy never gets any type of development. It's been hinted at that Luigi secretly hates being in Mario's shadow, why not go on that further? Oh yeah, it goes back to the story part....it never changes. He'll be having his own game yet again in Luigi's Mansion 2, but will that change anything? Even if it does, will it affect future games, or will everything head back to normal? Princess Peach is pretty much nothing other than the damsel in distress. What exactly is her relationship with Mario? Good friends? Boy friend and girl friend? In the past two games, she does nothing other than shout "Mario!"

Bowser is an interesting case. At first glance, it looks like he's gotten no development at all. But if you look really closely, you'll notice a few things. In all his appearances until Super Mario Sunshine, he's kidnapped the Princess in order to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. However, starting in Galaxy and even a little in Sunshine, you begin to notice a slight change. He isn't kidnapping Peach just to rule, he's kidnapping her to mess with Mario. This is further proved in 3D Land, when he boastfully waves her around as he runs away from Mario. There's development here, you just gotta look deeper. But that's the point, it shouldn't be like that. It seems these characters are trapped in a one dimensional plane of existence. The games play it too safe, they're afraid of making any kind of change with these characters.

Where We Are Today

We're still at square one. Right now we have Luigi's Mansion 2 to look forward to, it does feature the return of King Boo after all. I doubt this game will affect the Mario series in any way, but at least we'll probably see some development for Mario's green-hatted brother. We also have New Super Mario Bros. 2, which will be an extremely fun game, but I am 99.9% sure that the story is going to be as lame as the Wii one. Really, we're going to have to wait and see what happens in Mario's next platformer outing on the Wii U to see where this series goes. This article is not here to bash the franchise, for I am, and always will be, a loyal fan. It's here to express concern of how weak some aspects of the series are. We can only wait and see wat happens now, will anything change in the next five years? Time will tell.