If we have to compare 3D mario games to Ice cream flavor, 3D Land is absolutely Vanilla: like... it's not bad, I am a big fan of vanilla, it is a solid flavor that fits every occasion. I often enjoy a good old vanilla ice cream, there is nothing wrong with that... but also doesn't leave you that much of an impression. Heck I even got the 3DS that came in bundle with it (the Ice White, whose color is just a plain old white).

I honestly don't get what kind of "Flavor" 3D land should give me. On paper it is a cool idea: make a game that combines the elements of 3D and 2D Mario games in a single package: this will allow to make a unique title while also experiment with the capability of the 3DS. For the most part it works: the levels are fun and the way Mario plays with the 3D effect is kinda cute, either for the parts of the game where you fall from the sky, enemies coming at you from the background, or the weird puzzle room where the perspective is tricky and you have to turn on the 3D to understand the pattern. The thing is... most of the other stuff the game has is not really that unique.

Oh nice, we got the flipping red/blue platforms like in Mario galaxy, the boom boom from Mario 3, the shadow clone from galaxy, the autoscrolling airships from mario 3, cannons like in 64, P switches from world.... even the powerups are kinda just not creative: it is nice to see the SUper leaf back (even tho it often breaks the platforming challenges ofthe levels) but what about the others? Aside from the fire flower, we got the sussy propeller block (which is not at all the power-up from New Suop Wii) adnt he boomerang that.... honestly could have been better redesigned, insdted of looking like a copycat version of the Hammer suit from Mario 3.

Even the bowser fights.... we got from the epic showdown of galaxy, the intimidating showdown in 64 and the more questionable baths of sunshine to.... a rehash of the mario 1 bridge. Like it could have worked for one bowser battle, but considering this gimmick extends to the final fight and the "hard world" of the game, I always felt it could have done a lot more.... and I feel the same about a lot of 3D land: iit mostly feels like a rehash of ideas put together but never evolved or taken in a more unique direction, which kinda sucks for a game often considered part of the 3D Mario hall of fame. its sequel on Wii U took the same concept and evolved to make a more unique vibe.. which is not as strong as the other 3D titles imo, but it is still something. I can see people calling 3D world their favorite mario game, but I can't say the same for 3D land.

The only really unique thing that 3D land does is adding cutscenes to illustrate Peach's escape attempt... I kinda wish we had more stuff in the mario game with that artstyle ngl, but other than that I am not a fan of the "safer" approach the devs went for.

ALso the game is too easy even for mario standards: you are able to farm like 100 lives before the end of the game without evene clitch-jumping on koopa shells. ANd combined with the safety of the Tanooki leaf make it kind of a boring ride.

So yeah, sorry I am not the biggest fan of this one, even tho I lead me to buy a 3DS at the time.