Super Mario 3D Land Review: Finally a Great Original

When the Nintendo 3DS was originally launched, gamers hungered for original titles that showed the true capabilities of the system. What they got instead was a flurry of flashy remakes.

Sure, Ocarina of Time was amazing and Rayman was cool, but the system’s catalog of original titles was awfully thin.

All gamers wanted was a Mario title.

And boy, did they get it with Super Mario 3D Land. Graphically solid, but using every feature of the system, this game is the only true must-own title on the 3DS.

Conjuring up nostalgia with every stomped goomba, this game will takehardcore gamers back to the days of Super Mario World and Super Mario 64. Challenging at times, but never drag out difficult, it can be enjoyed by anyone looking to enjoy Nintendo’s newest system. Experienced fans of the series will blow through it, but they’ll enjoy every second of the old school gameplay, supported will a myriad of new age features.

In a way, the system’s credibility depended on how good this game was. Think about it. Every successful Nintendo system has had a solid Mario title. Even the Virtual Boy had Mario Clash. When the price of the handheld dropped and everyone thought the 3Ds was kaput, this game comes along and proves that Nintendo can still put lightning in a bottle- or an Italian plumber in a handheld.

Visually, the game is one of the best looking Mario titles available on a handheld. It uses the 3D abilities of the system well. Between the bright color palette and the occasional shifts from 2D to 3D, there’s a load of visual charm. From the levels in the sky or the ones in caves, Mario looks great in every setting.

The appeal shifts to the game’s features as well. Using Streetpass to exchange items may make the game a tad easier than it would have been otherwise, but it does make platforming with Mario more fun. Never in the history of gaming have you been in a situation to get help from a friend or stranger in a game, just by having them walk by you. Simply put, the 3DS rewards gamers for walking around and this title feels like a perfect extension of that. Let’s hope upcoming titles try to take a page from Nintendo here. You don’t need unlockables or any other crazy things for Streetpass to enjoy a title on the 3DS. You just have to make the gamer feel rewarded for having their system.

That’s exactly what this title does.

Super Mario 3D Land is ultimately a huge boost to a system that appeared in be in dire straits. It’s relative ease and lack of a one of a kind story hurt its appeal to dedicated fans, but even they won’t be disappointed by the tried and true gameplay experience offered here.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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