...When I was 12, back on Easter of 2012, my mom got me physical copies of Super Mario 3D Land and Ocarina of Time 3D as a present to go with my (at the time) new 3DS that I'd gotten for Christmas of 2011. I played Ocarina of Time 3D and liked it... but never ended up playing 3D Land and eventually just traded it in at Gamestop to get some other game I don't remember. Why, you ask? Because I was a stupid kid who thought story was all that mattered in games instead of actual gameplay. This was largely due to my childish bitterness over the MOTHER series being obscure at the time due to how much I loved Mother 3 and how it influenced my view on games for a long time after. It also led to me having a grudge/resentment for Mario for a long time purely on the basis of it being so popular despite not having any meaningful story, though obviously I've grown out of that mindset by now.

Having played a lot of games in the many years since then and wanting to play just more games that I feel are more pure and better for my soul, I wanted to properly give this game a shot since I've been binging through a lot of Mario's titles and have been using my 3DS much more often these days. And now that I've finally played it and have experienced everything the game has to offer... man, kid me was such an idiot.

I absolutely adored this game. At first, I was a bit bored by the first 3 or 4 worlds since I do think they are pretty basic and a bit bland. That said, once you hit World 5 on, the game starts pulling out its big guns in terms of cool level concepts and ideas, and I was really enthralled and captivated by them. The entire idea of having more bite-sized 2D Mario-esque levels in a 3D plane is genius and feels so fresh, especially when you remember this game came back in the 3DS/Wii U era when Nintendo was very clearly lacking in a lot of creativity and innovation, and a lot of the games at the time were pretty hit or miss compared to the Switch era we're in now. The short levels feel a lot like a mish mash of great ideas, and I think the fact they weren't limited by the need to have a uniform cohesive world design for each level does wonders for the game in terms of having more fun levels overall that don't feel overly repetitive or boring (i.e., like a lot of desert world levels in some other Mario games).

This game is also very clearly a Mario game aimed at kids who are new to gaming and platformers in general, it's incredibly beginner friendly. Not only is it generous with lives along with the slower run speed to more easily space yourself with platforming, but the Tanuki Leaf powerup is perfect for those who struggle to line up their jumps with the platforms too. Very forgiving which I appreciate as someone who isn't the best at platformers myself. When I actually started properly giving Mario a chance in recent years, I found I really sucked at them due to not really playing many platformers beforehand, and I had to work my butt off in Mario 3 to finally improve and become somewhat decent at that kind of playstyle (and yes, Mario 3 kicked my butt a million times over, I died so much in that game). If I'd actually played this game and given it a chance as a kid, I probably would have actually liked Mario much sooner, but also probably wouldn't have sucked at platformers for so many years.

Another thing I really appreciate is how every Star Coin is pretty reasonable to find without a guide, even in the harder levels later on. Showing the order the Coins appear in terms of level progression on the touch screen is already a great major hint to these if you've missed them, and I'm happy to say I didn't need a guide to get them all even though I'm usually awful when it comes to missing collectibles in games like these, which is great game design in my book.

The Special Worlds also make up for some of the more bland world design in the first half of the main game. They have a lot of cool gimmicks such as a dark doppelganger of Mario chasing you, and strict time limits among other things in order to make the reused levels feel more fresh, along with other cool ideas to spice things up and make them more fun but not feel as long either. I enjoyed pretty much every world from World 5 of the base game onwards and had a blast with them all.

Having to go through all the levels with Luigi was also much more fun than I expected it to be too, as he's just straight up a better Mario due to his higher jump, which makes a lot of Star Coin collecting much easier and also sprinting through the levels much easier too. I saw someone online say that the Final Level you get from 100%ing every other level is easier with Mario, but that's just straight up a lie. I died a ton of times on that level with Mario, but Luigi made that much easier and I cleared it in only a few tries after that. The Final Level itself was a pretty fun challenge, but not too difficult, which I appreciate after 18 year old me struggled to beat Mario Odyssey's Final Bonus Level (which I did never beat).

The music in this game is also very great too. I know a good amount of tracks were reused from Galaxy (which also has a great OST), but shout outs go to the music used in the final bout with Bowser in the main game (very tense) as well as Special World 8's Map themes being so charming and comfy.

Also I know people go on about this so I won't spend long on it, but yes, this game is definitely the best 3DS game to make use of the 3D effect, even if it isn't used much in most levels, I do still appreciate it all the same.

My only real complaint with the game isn't really even the fault of the game itself, just the console it's on. The buttons being so small and having to hold down the Y button for so long for some levels (such as the final level of the main game where you gotta constantly run from Bowser) made my hands cramp a bit, and also made some platforming/timing things like long jump tricky. I played this on my original 3DS model in honor of what I would've played the game on as a kid instead of my New 3DS XL, so maybe this problem will be more alleviated there, but I'll have to see about that on a future playthrough.

Overall, this is a very amazing game that I wish I played sooner, and that is definitely a more lost gem nowadays due to the 3DS's shutdown. I feel like I've reclaimed at least a small part of my childhood now that I've finally played this game, and look forward to being able to replay it again in the future. I'll probably be starting Mario 3D World in the future too to see how it takes from this game and improves upon its ideas in a console mainline format.

Total Playtime: 22 hours, 27 minutes

Very much feels like a product of the overly sanitized era Mario found himself in during the early to mid 2010s. This game doesn't have even a speck of its own identity, building itself exclusively on Mario 3 references rather than contributing anything to call its own. Level themes are almost always typical Mario fare (aside from the clock tower levels and some other exceptions which are cool) with no cohesion within worlds, and the bosses don't even register. You want to be challenged? Pffft... who's ever heard of difficulty? And the game's big claim to fame, molding 2D and 3D platforming experiences into one, was already done by Crash Bandicoot and a gazillion other platformers before this one. This game is bland, it's soulless, and it has very few innovations to speak of. If you've played any other Mario game before, this one won't offer any surprises.

Even still... dammit, this game is a great showcase for how Nintendo just knows what makes games fun. 3D Land just has that Secret Sauce™. The controls are perfect. This game's iteration of the Tanooki suit is one of the most fun power-ups to use in the series. I love how many of the levels have shortcuts; you can skip chunks of levels with a long jump or with the Tanooki flutter and it feels very intentional. Some levels have really interesting open field sections, calling back to the style of the older 3D Mario games. The game also has the most worlds of any level-based Mario game, at 16, so even though the 8 special worlds are mostly just remixes of the game's earlier levels, there's tons of content to sink your teeth into and get addicted. My only real complaint about the gameplay itself, aside from the lack of difficulty outside of the special worlds, is the poor depth perception throughout. I played the entire game with the 3D slider on and it does not help with the depth perception at all.

You are not missing out on anything if you've skipped on it, but this is a really good, fundamentally solid game. Almost certainly the weakest 3D Mario, but if this is the weakest, then that sure is a damn fine track record.