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Hands-on with Super Mario 3D on Nintendo 3DS

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Hands-on with Super Mario 3D on Nintendo 3DS
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3DS
| Super Mario 3D Land

Nintendo has produced 13 Mario games over the past 27 years (and that’s just counting the traditional platform variety), so you may be forgiven for wondering what it can do to keep the magic alive.

The answer is simple: combine as many fan-favourite features as possible, stir it in a pot of clever and innovative level design, and add a dash of 3D.

Back to the future

The first of our four-level demo session, for instance, could be mistaken for a Mario 64 level if it weren’t for the goombas with tails milling around the side of the green cliffs.

There are hidden stars (an element that’s consistent across all the stages), albeit not ones that require you to restart the level several times, and the layout – a wide open green field with bushes, rolling into a cliff with moving platforms – could well have be from the first painting in the castle.

But it doesn’t take too long to see that this isn’t just a re-tread of Mario 64. For one thing, the level have a definite start and end, with a flagpole and stairs to leap up in order to end the stage in a fashion similar to the original Super Mario Bros.

Meanwhile, a timer ticks down in the corner – another reminder of the 2D era – which, while never particularly tight, does add an element of urgency to your exploration around the linear 3D levels.

Seeing triple

Ironically, while the 3D is subtle but welcome during these three-dimensional levels, the display is actually at its most effective during the side-on levels that we played – one set on a Koopa airship (a la Mario 3) and the other in what looked to be an underground level.

While the game looks like it’s turned into a side-scroller of old, in fact there’s depth to the platforms – something the 3DS’s display does a good job in conveying (especially when a flying goomba lurches in from behind the camera.)

Avoiding or bashing enemies, whether with fire or with boot, is aided by some extremely tight analogue controls - a massive benefit over Mario 64 DS’s clumsy D-pad controls.

Intergalactic

It’s just as well that the controls are tight, because the fourth and final level on our selected tour through Mario 3D required some careful jumping and quick reactions.

Suspended in the clouds, this level is reminiscent of Mario Galaxy in its construction – with platforms forming themselves after being triggered by switch panels (but only for a short amount of time).

Dashing and jumping over gaps as the platforms form and fall apart is fantastic – helped by the slick camera that works for rather than against you. There's the option of moving it left or right on the touchscreen, but I never needed to use it once.

The idea of an old franchise drawing inspiration from its past sounds like the recipe for a lacklustre release, but Super Mario 3D is looking like anything but.

Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).