Super Mario 3D World Review

The Nintendo Wii U was treading water for much of its troubled lifespan. 2013’s Super Mario 3D World was Nintendo’s attempt to alleviate some of this pressure by falling back on its most iconic mascot.

While the game’s impact on saving its drowning console can be scrutinized, there can be no doubt that Super Mario 3D World is a blast in its own right. It rides the wave of classic Nintendo design, leading to one of the tightest single player and most enjoyable multiplayer experiences in Mario’s platforming repertoire.

Super Mario 3D World elegantly takes the fundamentals of Mario and translates them into a three-dimensional multiplayer marvel.

Level Design

The most noticeable feature of Super Mario 3D World’s levels is how they act as a bridge between the series’ 2D and 3D entries. Nintendo previously tried this design approach in 2011’s Super Mario 3D Land on the Nintendo 3DS. Here, though, it is given more creative freedom thanks to the myriad of captivating mechanics that are utilized to their full potential by the developers.

I found myself gleefully awaiting what surprises each new stage had to show me. I marveled at the visually striking act of using shadows to frame the level layout. And I adored zooming down slides and over speed pads in a Mario Kart-style race to the flagpole.

It was admirable how seldom the game chose to fall back on established ideas. The consistency of one-upmanship from level to level was all the incentive I needed to rescue those fairies.