This video is sponsored by NordVPN. Get a huge
discount on a 2 year plan using the code KingK at checkout. Stay tuned for more details.
You know, sometimes things just don't work out the way you expect them to. I expected
to be writing that Super Mario 3D World is bland, uninspired, and represents
everything I don't want Mario to be!
I haven't always had nice things to say about this
game; it once represented the pinnacle of Mario's transformation into bland safety. A set of levels
floating in an otherworldly ether somewhere with nothing to thread them together besides the vague
threat of a Bowser kidnapping. The more I thought about it, the more I began to associate this
disappointment with Course Clear Mario games as a style, and started to resent the games which
were modeled like it. I started to associate the somewhat narrow scope of these games with a lack
of ambition or passion, especially compared to the Mario games I grew up with. In a way, every Mario
video since 64 had been leading up to this moment, where I tear my least favorite 3D Mario to shreds.
I've thought about how I'd structure the video, when I'd get around to it, what people would
say to me. I even planted little hints about how much I disliked the game throughout the
videos... I was ready for the long haul, I was ready for people to finally realize they'd
had enough of my hot takes and run me off the internet already. Cancel me, Mario fans!
Funny enough, I don't think I can make that video anymore. After playing the newly released
Switch port, actually being able to play with my friends thanks to the added, functioning online
mode, the speed increase and midair roll maneuver making the snappy level pacing even snappier,
thinking about it with the context of Odyssey's release and the future of Mario as a franchise,
I've garnered a newfound appreciation for it. And they say people can't change.
--
History
--
Super Mario 3D Land is a cute little prototype for
what a 2D Mario game would actually look like in 3D if it were transferred more directly. It feels
like it was plucked right out of the 90s. Many of its levels play with perspective in order
to combat the problem previous Mario games had with camera control. Some levels would be a
continuous descent, meaning you'd be able to see the rest of the level at all times. Others would
place the camera on the side, mimicking a 2D game. Some would hang overhead, some would twist
around a focal point. Whatever the case: this fixed camera was essential in allowing the player
to focus purely on the platforming, no wrestling with the camera. Placing secrets in two dimensions
was a lot easier; screen space was limited, so all you really had to do was hide them outside of the
player's immediate view. Force people to platform outside the box, as it were. 3D Mario games since
then have all had some level of camera control, meaning that you could often just have a look
around and immediately spot those secrets. 3D Land doesn't struggle with this, and its smaller scope
means that each level only takes a few minutes. Each of them have a mechanical theme that they
follow throughout. Moving platforms and water geysers; jump switch platforms; tightropes; beat
blocks; spike cylinders. Dealing with one or two ideas that escalate in challenge and intensity
every level crafts a certain mechanical rhythm which makes 3D Land a fairly fun time waster.
But, 3D Land was only ever a fun distraction when compared to the other Mario games I was
familiar with. Its visual theming was evocative of past Mario titles, especially the New Super
Mario games, and it took a lot of inspiration from Mario 3. There's something about the green,
blocky levels that kinda rub me the wrong way, and though there are notable exceptions,
it's hard to pinpoint anything which sets it apart from the more general, bland idea of what
Mario looks like that exists in our collective unconscious. Let me once again reiterate that
Mario is rarely boring to play; 3D Land is a great way to pass the time, but I'd be lying if
I said it felt like it had its own identity.
Then came Super Mario 3D World, for all
intents and purposes, its sequel. We can argue semantics all the livelong day, but I
think we can at least acknowledge that it took heavy inspiration from 3D Land conceptually. This
did not help its case, in my eyes. At the time, I thought this was the direction Mario was headed
in. We had gotten so many games which had been built like classic Mario titles. Every New Super
Mario Bros. game, Galaxy 2, 3D Land, and now, 3D World. One concerning trend among these titles
was their relative lack of originality. Sure, they were bustling with new gameplay ideas, but
they weren't exactly bursting at the seams with unique premises. In every single game I just
listed, the premise is that Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach in a slightly recolored variant of
the Mushroom Kingdom. Well, sorry, he kidnaps "the sprixies'' in 3D World. Very different.
I wasn't really sure if I was concerned with the idea that Mario would be returning to a more
traditional, linear style of level design. I mean, I do have a fondness for Super Mario Bros. 2 and
New Super Mario Bros. I guess it isn't so bad to see something like that in 3D. At the time,
though, it was harder for me to separate the feelings of disappointment I had towards the
lack of inspired aesthetic direction from the much more obvious shift in mechanical structure.
I sorta assumed the two were one and the same, that one naturally followed the other. Don't ask
me how I came to this conclusion when so many of my favorite games are essentially 2D platformers.
I was troubled, alright. I just wanted to see the same energy that had accompanied games like
Sunshine and Galaxy. New settings, conflicts, anything that wasn't the Bowser in Mushroomland
trite. I thought the future of Mario would be this, forever; doomed to be remembered only for
its level design chops, and nothing beyond.
Then, Super Mario Odyssey came out. I felt extremely validated by this release. A
Mario game with creative new locations, races, bosses, it was the follow-up Mario game that I
had always dreamt of. It proved to me that story can and does matter in Mario games,
much to the chagrin of my commenters. The entire adventure was modeled after a road
trip. Bowser was traveling around the world, stealing prized national items for his wedding on
the moon. His minions were Irish wedding planner rabbits, chasing Mario around as he soaked in the
new sights and sounds. Tell me, would Odyssey be nearly as charming or memorable without stuff like
this? Could you really tell me with a straight face that this shouldn't matter to people? That
stuff like this is simply superfluous? Surely I was just nitpicking about these old games,
right? All that matters in a Mario game is the gameplay. I must be going crazy for wanting
a bit more than that. Odyssey proved that notion wrong. All of my favorite Mario games
are memorable platforming adventures, not a collection of level gimmicks.
But, with that release came a revelation. Mario wasn't heading in an unoriginal direction.
Clearly, it still has some pep in its step; it's still a series willing to surprise. So
was my problem ever actually with the type of game 3D World was? With that epiphany came a
re-evaluation of what had come before. Chiefly, my opinion of 3D World softened a bit. I'd still
maintain it was the weakest entry, but since it was no longer a signpost for the future of the
series, nor was it the latest 3D Mario game, I stopped beating that drum. Nintendo officially
came out and classified the two types of 3D Mario game, and I was content in acknowledging that 3D
World was a perfectly fine Course Clear Mario.
After playing the Switch port, I'd say I was
even a little wrong in saying the game was simply "fine." 3D World honestly does a lot more than
I used to give it credit for, and though it isn't exactly my favorite 3D Mario game, I no
longer feel confident calling it the worst. With the release of the Switch port, I
100% completed the game in a few days, and was already willing to do it again shortly
after. Every single time I've played this game, my appreciation for it has grown, and I
think a large part of that has to do with the pacing.
--
Pacing
--
3D World's levels are short,
contained bursts of platforming. Spending more than a few minutes in a level is
pretty uncommon, unless you're in co-op. You don't get spit back out into a hub world,
nor do you enter the same course twice for another mission. Each level is one and done.
It has its own set of challenges to overcome, and secrets to find. Not only does this
lead to more levels overall, the scope of them makes it far more appealing to replay.
The Galaxy games were a bit slower, a bit more drawn out. Galaxy benefited from this pacing a lot
with its more open levels, where I think Galaxy 2 suffered a bit. If 3D World's levels weren't
all threaded together by a set of solid ideas, I don't think the game would be as addicting.
Chainlink Charge plays to the strengths of the cat suit. I think this is one of Mario's
best power-ups, allowing players to climb up walls to discover secrets. There aren't many
levels that explicitly test the suit, though, so Chainlink Charge comes later in the game, when
players will have had time to come to grips with its strengths. Here, you need to avoid chainlink
fences, climb up them, dive through them, around them. Everything in this level revolves around
the catsuit. Climbing up an ascending fence for a green star, using a cat switch to raise a platform
to a green star. It forces you to use the power-up in ways you might not have considered before.
This is the secret of 3D World's level design.
See, you could say the early game is far too easy,
and if you're just trying to make it to the end, you'd be right. But each level has a set of stamps
and green stars which offer advanced challenges and keep the player engaged in even the first few
levels. Super Bell Hill is the first level, it's not gonna be all that challenging. It's mostly
focused on introducing the player to the basics of the cat suit and clear pipes. The first green star
forces you to use one of the clear pipe junctions, the second green star forces you to come to grips
with the controls and catch this bunny, and the third green star requires the mega mushroom,
which is not visible to the player unless they climb up the wall or trees surrounding it with
the cat suit. Even when the game isn't difficult, it's asking you to engage with all facets of
it. You have to try your best to hang onto the power-ups it gives you, and ask yourself
what the mechanical theme of the level is in order to sus out those secrets. And even then,
there are little hidden bonus rooms with a bunch of coins or even warps to future worlds if you're
really willing to poke around outside the box.
A level like Conkdor Canyon is probably going
to have several green stars which involve the Conkdors. The entire level is built around them,
so that only makes sense. The first green star is there to incentivize you to grab the cat suit,
because that is the easiest way to dispatch the Conkdors. The next two green stars, though, are
accessed with these enemies. One of them breaks open a block, and the other is harassing Captain
Toad. You have to kill one, and not the other, teaching you that sometimes killing everything in
sight isn't the most ideal strategy. If you aren't careful, some secrets will be inaccessible to
you, and you'll need to restart the level. Again, every single level has this exact same rhythm,
dealing with a new set of enemies, gimmicks, and power-ups that completely change what you're
being asked to do. The rate at which new ideas are being thrown at the player is 5 times the rate
of something like Galaxy 2, and it's probably why I've always had a hard time putting it down.
This is especially true when the base game starts to ramp up in challenge, because it means that
the optional collectables start asking even more of you. Cakewalk Flip is one of my favorite levels
in any Mario game. It's got the dessert theming, which is a really great fit for a level which
wants you to use the double cherry power-up. It’s primarily built around the flipswitch panels,
where a single jump will flip the platform below you. Piranha plants and laser robots are thrown
on top of this, preying on the player's potential panic. I think we all know what we are prone to do
when an enemy or obstacle is about to hit us: we jump. This level forces you to keep that panic
in check, and it's a moderate challenge when you're just looking to reach the flagpole. But
if you're going for the green stars and stamp, you'll have to deal with all of this and not make
a single mistake the entire level. The double cherry is yet another genius power up. On paper,
it seems like you gain an extra set of lives. You can send one of your clones into a set of Goombas
or something and lose nothing from the exchange. The true genius of the double cherry, though, is
that every level it appears in requires you to keep these clones alive, which turns this
once useful power-up into a handicap.
Not only do you need to avoid the piranha plants
and lasers surrounding these flipswitch panels, you need to collect the green stars along the way,
while keeping your clones alive until the very end of the level. This final green star is one of
my favorites. Here, there's a set of flipswitch panels, a laser robot in the middle, and a set
of eight green star coins. Similar to red coins, you have to collect all eight coins to spawn the
green star. What you're being asked to do here is control 2 characters, under the gun of a timer,
with a floor laser constantly shooting at you. If you panic, you're dead, and if you take your
sweet time, you'll miss out on the green star. I think it's this rigid structure which lends 3D
World its fantastic pacing, because not all of its levels even feature particularly challenging
platforming. Sunshine Beach is just an explorable little diorama. You find the five key coins and
ride Plessie to the end. The green stars are hidden throughout the beach along with the key
coins, so it's a level about exploring a beach. Hands-on Hall is basically a feudal Japan ghost
house, where you open sliding doors, disguise yourself as a Goomba, and search for secrets. It's
not just the platforming that makes these levels fun to play through, it's that each level asks you
to engage with the fullest extent of its ideas, and then move onto the next. And if one idea
is a bit underdeveloped in the early game, there's sure to be a "sequel" of sorts later in
the game. The Bowser Express is a more challenging sequel to the Bullet Bill Express, using many
of the same core ideas, but demanding far more from you. Bowser's Bob-omb Brigade is a sequel to
Bowser's Bullet Bill Brigade. Broken Boiling Blue Belt is a sequel to Boiling Blue Bully Belt.
A lot of the special world is composed of old levels, but with a substantial spin that makes
them a lot more interesting than the Comet medals ever were. They change the objective of the level
to be more challenging, they put you under a very strict timer, they remove platforms, remove power
ups, add more annoying enemies. Either an idea is fleshed out in its entirety in a single level,
or it's a recurring theme across a set of levels, and it makes for a consistently
enjoyable journey from beginning to end with very little downtime. Though, it isn't all
on the strength of the level design, it's also down to how its seemingly more limited control
scheme works for its stripped down scope.
Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Odyssey have
sandbox level design where you're encouraged to explore for collectables. Since there isn't
a ton of core platforming challenge, it's really important to give Mario a diverse moveset that's
fun to play around with. For a long time, I criticized 3D World's controls. You can only move
in eight directions, the triple jump was axed, and in general, the joy of moving Mario around wasn't
quite there. It worked fine for what the game was, but it made me miss the more expressive moveset.
However, I've come to understand that giving Mario less to work with was kind of a necessary evil.
Eight directional movement doesn't matter much because these aren't sandbox levels, they're
often open hallways with platforms in them. You kind of need to have a really good idea
of where you're going to land from a jump, and in a game like this, that's far more important
than being able to pull off insane tricks.
Freedom of control has sort of been substituted by
the ability to play as four different characters anyway. I don't know that I realized it at the
time, but having four playable characters with their own strengths and weaknesses is
something that no other Mario game has, besides the game which obviously inspired it.
Mario is the balanced, expected playstyle, sure, but the other three are different renditions of
that base moveset. Luigi can jump the highest, but he doesn't stop on a dime, he's a bit
more slippery. Toad's jump is the weakest, but he has the fastest movement speed by far. In
the Switch port, where every character's movement speed is increased by 30%, Toad might as well
be Sonic the hedgehog. Peach is the slowest, but she has a mid-air glide which gives her
the longest air time of any character.
I think it's maybe understated just how
much the ability to change characters adds to repeat playthroughs. Some levels really
benefit from Toad's speed, so using him can be a lot of fun when you're more familiar with the
game. Peach won't be ripping through levels, but she can make some of the harder secrets easier
to obtain. Luigi might be a slippery bastard, but with the added mid-air roll maneuver in the Switch
port especially, his jump height can completely bypass the need for a cat suit power up in many
instances. These aren't mere palette swaps, they often completely change how you engage with
a level, and it makes the game so much more fun to replay. And that's just the single player.
Now wait just a minute. We're not talking about the online multiplayer yet. You need protection,
and today's sponsor, NORDVPN, is happy to be your shield. With NORDVPN, all of your internet data
will be safe and sound, even from Nord themselves! Your private data will remain yours. Not only will
you be protected, you'll be opening up the entire internet, gaining access to hundreds of streaming
sites which would otherwise be blocked in your region. Best of all, it's all achievable with
a single click. One press of the finger and you can live anywhere in the world, as far as
your internet connection is concerned.
If you're interested in freeing
yourself from internet restrictions, consider going to NordVPN dot com slash kingk
and using the promo code kingk to get a huge discount on a two year plan. That's NordVPN dot
com slash kingk using the promo code kingk to get a huge discount on a two year plan.
Now that you've donned the proper protection, let's talk multiplayer.
--
Multiplayer
--
I did not count multiplayer as one of 3D
World's strong suits, because I physically could not play it on the Wii U. I did not have
enough friends close to me that were interested in playing a Mario game, plain and simple. I
had a bunch of online friends who wanted to, but alas, Nintendo did not include online
multiplayer. I think it's more than fair for me to say that multiplayer wasn't much of a
pro in the original Wii U version when numerous other multiplayer games at the time had online,
including Nintendo's own Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Brothers. If Nintendo weren't gonna let
me play with friends, why should I place value in that part of the game? They've literally
prevented me from partaking in it.
The Switch port, in a move
that honestly still baffles me, added online co-op: and it doesn't suck. Your
mileage may vary on this one, but playing with three other friends all across the world, and
streaming it to Twitch, the connection was about as good as you'd expect from basically any other
online multiplayer game, meaning that I would finally be able to experience the other side to
3D World's coin: its utterly chaotic madness.
Remember Chainlink Charge? In single-player, this
level is pretty simple. Just keep your catsuit, avoid the fences, collect the green stars
and stamp, you’re done! It is not like this with friends. Not even remotely. With friends,
this level is a fucking nightmare. You’re on a narrow strip of land during an auto scroller, and
players can pick each other up and throw them. Not only are you all vying for space on this tiny
strip of land, that also means there’s no place to escape from that one friend fighting to throw
you to the wolves. All of a sudden, this once simple level turns into a mess, where all four
players are scrambling to collect everything, while needing to keep constantly on the move for
fear of being chucked off the side of the level. Every single level partakes in this hellish
transformation. Switchboard Falls: step on the arrows to move the platform back and forth, hit
the blocks to switch rails, and avoid the wigglers along the way. Fairly straightforward, a bit tough
to nab some of those collectables, but pretty doable solo. Add friends and now everyone is once
again fighting for space on moving platforms with bottomless pits below them. Everyone has to stand
on the correct arrow or the platform won’t move, and it’s very possible that the platform will
move ahead with one of the players, leaving everyone else behind. It took my friends and I a
solid half hour to nab everything in this level. At the time, I wanted to strangle them, but that’s
just part of the charm of this multiplayer.
It isn’t necessarily complete anarchy. At the end
of each level, players are ranked based on the points they gathered throughout the level. More
points are awarded for actions that will benefit everyone, like grabbing green stars and stamps,
with the caveat being that the points are only awarded to the person who physically grabs the
collectible. Though this introduces an element of competition, it means that the reward is only
achievable if everyone is at least trying to make it to the end and grab all of the collectables.
That elusive crown is merely a guidepost to make sure players don’t descend into complete madness;
all it does is promote a bit of tomfoolery every now and then. This is a calculated chaos,
an energy that makes another playthrough feel like a completely different game, like
you’ve switched on ultra hard mode, and you get to share those heightened emotions with your
friends. In the past, I always viewed multiplayer as the true way to play 3D World, but that no
longer seems entirely accurate. Instead, it’s more like an alternate playstyle. Both single and
multi-player have their moods which can coexist, elevating the core game’s sense of replayability.
The Switch port has only added to this chaos, allowing every player to control the touch screen
elements at the same time and adding multiplayer to the Captain Toad levels, removing those awkward
segments in the Wii U version where you’d just be watching the player with the gamepad solve Captain
Toad puzzles. Both of these ideas sound awful, honestly. Letting everyone control the touch
screen gimmicks is extremely chaotic, but at the end of the day, finishing the level won’t happen
unless there’s some level of teamwork. For as much fun as you can have wiggling your pointer
finger around and dicking over your friends, there’s a clock ticking in the top right corner
and you all need to finish eventually. It’s the same with Captain Toad. These levels clearly
weren’t built to be played with multiple players, and especially weren’t built so that every
player could control the camera at the same time, but that chaotic element transforms
even the relatively simple Captain Toad puzzles into a mad dash to get the
most green stars, while that one asshole is spinning the camera around the entire time.
This other side to the game is a really big deal, it’s a completely fresh way to experience old
levels, and it’s a crime that a ton of people, including myself, never got to toy around with it
on the Wii U. It’s no small wonder I always looked down on this game, I was only ever witnessing
one end of the spectrum. Adding online might seem like a small thing, but it allowed me to finally
engage with everything that makes this game great, as opposed to only its bare essentials.
--
Stuff Only I Seem To Care About
--
Now I'm going to talk about some stuff that only
I seem to care about in these games. A lot of the comments on my Galaxy 2 video have implied that
story doesn't matter in Mario games. And if your definition of a story is "a lot of cutscenes" then
yeah, I don't think that belongs in a Mario game. But if you define it simply as the context which
informs your gameplay, the events which allow the game to happen at all, you know, what a story
is, then I'd say Mario should at least be trying. Super Mario Odyssey, I think, has an excellent
Mario story. It's not because it has a lot of cutscenes or thematic messages, it's just a
memorable premise to surround the gameplay. If you were to remove the elements of the road trip, the
impending wedding crash, the title's allusion to the actual Odyssey, by which Mario travels through
a strange set of locations with bizarre creatures: I don't think it would be nearly as strong of a
Mario game. I believe that wholeheartedly.
Initially, I was very disappointed with the
premise 3D World was running with. Bowser kidnaps some fairies called Sprixies, and you
run after him. You do enter a strange new world, seemingly, but there's very little beyond that.
I still mostly agree with this. Given how many references there are to Mario 2, both literal
references and larger thematic references, like traveling into a weird new world through a clear
pipe rabbit hole, I thought this would have been a great time to re-introduce Wart as a villain, a
character who has not gotten nearly enough love. And as sick as I was of the Koopalings,
they've never really been tried in a 3D game, and would have been pretty interesting. A
lot cooler than BoomBoom and PomPom.
Despite its problems, I once again feel like I've
kinda been selling it a bit short. The soundtrack is inspired by Big Band pieces; trombones,
trumpets, huge drums, violins, I think there's a fucking accordian in there somewhere. Catchy
jazz pieces that fit Mario like a glove, and sets itself apart from his more standard musical
motifs. It really enhances the introduction of the Hisstocrat, one of my new favorite Mario
bosses. It's pretty easy, just climb up the snakes and cat dive into his head, but he's got such a
cool design, and that backing track is catchier than all get out. Plus, from one king to another,
you gotta respect royalty. Speaking of, Bowser's fights in this game are fantastic. It's probably
one of my favorite Bowser Boss themes next to Galaxy, and I have mad respect for his big purple
convertible. His final showdown really takes the cake. The Great Tower Showdown, the music, cat
suit Bowser, incorporating the double cherry, the mad rush up this huge tower during a rainstorm?
They really did not have to go this hard, but they did. Yeah, it's a bit easy. It's not even really
a fight, but it's still probably a contender for my favorite final Bowser encounter.
I really love the circus levels. Flashing colorful lights, music that leans hard into the
jazz. There's more than enough here separating itself from the usual Mario ilk, enough to
where 3D World's identity is at least visible. There are a few levels which are modeled after
sweets and desserts, the feudal Japan boo house I mentioned previously, a few cheeky references to
Mario Galaxy that I definitely appreciate. Also, can we just marvel at how great it is that
Rosalina is an unlockable character. You can play as Rosalina in a core Mario platformer.
I think that's pretty self-evidently rad.
I like how Bowser fakes you out at the end.
The final fight against him is alright, but it kinda bothered me how standard it all
was. Suddenly he takes all the sprixies and now you're in Bowserland, basically his
own amusement park a la Eggmanland. Again, this is something they didn't have to do, they
don't have to do any of this stuff. There doesn't have to be a unique soundtrack, or cool visual
themes, or an interesting premise. None of that is required, is it? You aren't required to push
outside your comfort zone and try something new. But it is worth something, right? 3D World isn't
extraordinary, but it's certainly worth much more than I ever gave it credit for.
--
Why?
--
I get a lot of people asking me why I make
Learning to Love. Why do I change my mind so often? What's the point in making a fuss
about the fact that my opinion has changed?
The fact of the matter is that everyone changes.
Your impressions won't necessarily line up with your more solidified thoughts, and your 23 year
old self might not agree with your 17 year old self. I was a teenager when I played 3D World, and
throughout the years, I've been trying to work out what I like and dislike about Mario. I used to
just think Mario was fun, video games were fun, and that was that. Nothing else to it. But as
I started making these videos, writing out my thoughts, trying to understand why I have them
and what they mean, it meant a re-evaluation of what video games actually mean to me. Mario
is not excluded from that.. At some point, I had landed on the idea that I just straight up
prefer collectathon Mario and that Course Clear isn't for me. I don't like point a to point
b challenge based Mario games, clearly. I like the more immersive, memorable ones.
While there might be a kernel of truth to that, it is also the case that Galaxy is my favorite
Mario game. While I do believe that Galaxy attempts to mix the two approaches, it does lean
a little more into Course Clear than Collectathon. Super Mario 3D World simply leans harder. What
it took for me to change my mind was a shift in mindset from when I was younger. Mario is a
balance of many things for me. It's an expertly designed platformer, for sure, but it really has
to understand what it's trying to be. Super Mario Odyssey is a collectathon, maybe even my favorite
Mario collectathon with the most potential, and yet it so often tries to be a course clear
game in its bonus rooms, as if it's too afraid to embrace its collectathon roots. Galaxy
2 is a sequel to a game which incorporated elements of both, and yet it seems intent
on leaning hard in a course clear direction, without shedding its collectathon skin the way
3D World does. These games need to justify their existence through avenues other than just their
level design, because Mario isn't that novel anymore. Hundreds upon hundreds of platformers
exist now, all of them inspired by Mario, but which offer something wholly unique. Mario can't
thrive on just being a solid platformer anymore, because it's no longer a genre pioneer. We're
past those days. I think it can, and should, strive to offer something only Mario can.
Whatever form that takes, I'm game.
A delightful vacation on a tropical island,
an epic quest into the uncharted reaches of outer space, a road trip through an assortment of
strange locations, and yes, even a jaunt through a weird clear pipe dimension with cat suits,
sprixies, and circuses. 3D World certainly could have tried a little harder to distinguish itself,
it falls back on a lot of tried and true tropes; but compared to Galaxy 2, which I don't think
tried at all to distinguish itself in that way, I find it much more impressive and worthwhile.
Super Mario 3D World is a really good Mario game. That's not what I would have said when I was
17, or even when I was 20. But it's what I'm saying now, and in this current moment, this
current now, isn't that all that really matters?
