The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) Review

The first thing that stood out to me about The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is its jubilant, catchy theme song. The second thing that stood out to me is how bland the game felt…at least at first. A charming introductory slideshow (that is par for the course with Zelda games these days) tells of Princess Styla and the fashion-savvy, glamorous kingdom of Hytopia before plopping us right in the middle of it. There’s this odd feeling of absence when starting Tri Force Heroes; there’s no build-up or set-up besides that opening slideshow, and it just feels kind of cheap. In addition, all we see of Hytopia itself is its castle and town square and right away this place just felt off to me, and not in a good way. There’s a feeling of emptiness that pervades Hytopia and the designers really made no attempt to hide the fact that this place is purely a hub and the only buildings one can enter all serve a very specific function. There are a few people scattered about, many just reused models from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (which normally I wouldn’t mind except unlike other Zelda titles, there is no narrative justification for these clones to be here). These recycled characters are just one of several factors that just make Tri Force Heroes feel “unreal” somehow.

Little effort was put into working the fashion theme into the game’s atmosphere as well. Only a few characters actually fit the “stylish” description of Hytopia, and outside of Madame Couture’s shop, Hytopia just doesn’t come across as the glamorous place it’s made out to be.  Like everything else in the game, the fashion motif is purely functional: it’s a mechanic, with the slimmest effort put into using it to facilitate world-building. It’s worth noting that the game contains quite a number of easter eggs and there are a decent number of little secrets to find in Hytopia if one takes the time to look, but by and large this is the blandest setting a game under the Zelda name has ever seen (except for maybe the original Four Swords). One might defend this lack of effort and Hytopia’s bare-bones nature by pointing out that Tri Force Heroes is a non-conventional, multiplayer-focused Zelda spinoff, but I would point this person in the direction of the multiplayer-centric Splatoon and the fantastic work those developers did with the lively, detailed hub of Inkopolis. Tri Force Heroes’ status as a stop-gap, filler Zelda title is just painfully obvious, and it’s disheartening to see Nintendo cut corners in a way that I have, quite frankly, never seen before.

Princess Styla and her subjects

Things get more exciting, ironically, when Link heads into the Drablands, where all the action of the game takes place. But not too exciting, because most of the locales in the Drablands are fairly generic and stock: there’s the woodlands, a volcano, a snowy mountain, etc. These places don’t even have names; the volcano isn’t called “Turtleneck Mountain” (or something), it’s literally just called “Volcano”. So actually the name “Drablands” is pretty appropriate after all. The atmosphere and look of many of these areas is very uninspired as well. The volcano is just…a bunch of lava and rocks and the desert area is just Egypt. There’s no real personality to most of it and it comes off feeling like the New Super Mario Bros. of Zelda games (it doesn’t help that there are the standard eight worlds in the game).

I tackled Tri Force Heroes first by playing online with strangers, followed by replaying all of the levels in the single-player mode. I’ll mainly be talking about my experiences online in this review, but I’ll say a few words about the solo quest at the end as well. After I ventured into the Drablands and began my journey to free Styla from a dreadful outfit she was cursed to wear, the first couple of areas went by and I found myself struggling to even remember the levels I had recently completed. Each area in the game is comprised of four “dungeons” but that word is only used on the back of the box because this game has “Zelda” in the title. These aren’t “dungeons” in any sense of the word; they are “levels” in the purest form: built, geometrically-even, linear spaces. You solve some puzzles, beat some monsters, get to the end of the straight line, and win a prize.

A basic example of cooperation in Tri Force Heroes

But here’s the thing about Tri Force Heroes: it’s not much to look at, it’s first four worlds are pretty drab, and the very bare minimum of effort was put into its world-building and narrative…but the more I played it, the more I found myself enjoying it. Tri Force Heroes ended up being a worthwhile experience for me due to its level, puzzle, and boss design being consistently strong and occasionally downright inspired, especially the bosses, and its cooperative design being very rewarding.

The more I played and struggled with countless unknown heroes, as we learned how to communicate using the basic tools the game gave us, as we failed over and over again yet persevered in spite of this and overcame a particularly trying puzzle or ferocious boss, I came to really appreciate Tri Force Heroes and what it was trying to accomplish. Even though the game’s levels are linear and basic-feeling, their design is solid throughout, and becomes a lot more interesting and creative in the later levels, featuring some clever and actually challenging puzzles that make superb use of the cooperation and teamwork elements of the game. The atmosphere and visual design of many of the later levels is also much stronger than the earlier ones. The game’s bosses across the entire experience, however, are easily the highlight of the whole game for me. I would go as far as to say that overcoming these bosses with my allies made the game worth playing all on their own. Up until A Link Between Worlds, bosses in the Zelda series had become very formulaic and by the numbers, but that 3DS gem and now Tri Force Heroes have found me actually having to think and strategize when taking on one of these giant beasts. Tri Force Heroes especially breathes new life into the tired Zelda boss structure, where three individual players, three items, and other unique mechanics like toteming (where all the Links stack up) all have to be taken into account when figuring out how to approach one of these creative boss encounters. The bosses are both puzzling and relentlessly aggressive, requiring a rigorous level of cooperation and attention; every member of the team has to be on board and has to know exactly what their role is if they’re going to stand a chance here. When, after many attempts, this level of being in sync happens and everyone works together smartly, besting a boss with my teammates in Tri Force Heroes was one of the most triumphant and exhilarating feelings I’ve ever had playing a video game.

The bosses are an exhilarating, creative, and challenging highlight

I’ve heard some decry the lack of online voice chat, but using the limited palette of emoticons in the game and finding other creative ways to communicate is one of the best parts of the game for me. In addition to the emoticons bringing a lot of personality and just being a lot of fun to play around with, trying to learn how to work together without words is a novel and ultimately gratifying challenge. That said, the limited communication can indeed lead to frustration and there were many times I found myself wishing I could just tell someone: “GO OVER THERE!”. This game is consistently challenging and can often be mercifully unforgiving. It demands that everyone cooperate and the tiny heart meter that is shared between all three Links will rapidly deplete if even one player slacks off. But even though this led to countless moments of agony and defeat, and countless replays of entire levels, like I said with the bosses, finally figuring out how to work together and ultimately triumphing is extremely gratifying and makes any prior frustration worth it. Celebrating with my comrades in a wild, hysteric maelstrom of pom pom waving and thumbing up never failed to put a huge smile on my face. This game had me moaning, cussing, smiling like a maniac, pumping my fist into the air and cheering, and finally feeling a bit melancholic when I had to say goodbye to a team that I’d made it through hell with, knowing I’d probably never encounter them again.

This is all, of course, when the damn game works properly. If you don’t care about doing the extra “Drablands Challenges” like me, Tri Force Heroes is actually a pretty short game, but the experience was extremely drawn out both by the challenging nature of coordinating with anonymous strangers (and occasionally people being uncooperative or leaving two thirds into a level) and unfortunately an abundant amount of technical issues. Awful lag, error messages, and random disconnects plagued my experience. Sometimes the lag would start as soon as I met up with other players, but occasionally it just randomly started happening after a long period of smooth play. The online is a complete wildcard: sometimes I would get two levels done in half an hour, other times it would take that long just to finally get a stable game going. My worst experience in the game came when I had made it through the entire final world with an awesome team and just as the final boss was starting the game decided to inexplicably start lagging after over an hour of stable play before crashing and scattering two allies I had built up a level of camaraderie and affection for to the ether. If I was a less patient person (and hadn’t spent $35 on it), I would have given up on the game probably before I reached the halfway point. I should note that my experience playing online was done before Nintendo released an update for the game in early December, which in addition to adding a new area and some new outfits also tweaks some other aspects of the experience, including possibly a better online performance, but I’m not sure.

A look at toteming and the emoticons

Something else that annoyed me about the online experience in Tri Force Heroes is the way that levels are selected while in the Drablands. After deciding which area to visit, a player is matched up with other players in a lobby and then all three players vote for which of the four stages in an area they want to play. The winner is selected via a random roulette. I can understand why such a system was implemented, but I hate it. As someone who just wanted to push through the main story and had no intention of wasting time grinding for materials to make costumes, I found myself constantly having to leave a session and reconnect due to a level I’d already finished getting picked. I felt bad ending the game for everyone as soon as it started, but I simply had no choice, lest I waste fifteen minutes or more of my time. The other reason I don’t like this system is because it throws the game’s pacing off. I hated when I was forced to play the fourth level and fight the end boss of each world before completing most of the other levels in that world; it just felt so backwards. Because the levels can be played out of order, it makes everything feel very disconnected, and along with the linearity and boxed-in levels, Tri Force Heroes just doesn’t feel very much like an adventure.

After completing all the levels online, I tried out the Coliseum mode as well as tackled the single-player adventure. In single-player, two lifeless, disturbing dolls known as “Doppels” take the place of human players and all three characters must be manipulated by a single player (Link literally switches his soul between three vessels). This turns Tri Force Heroes into quite a different game that at times I found to be much easier because I could take things at my own pace and only had one Link to worry about, and at other times to be simply infuriating because of certain parts that all but demand there to be three separate Links running around. I don’t think the single-player is terrible; it’s just fairly boring and feels like a chore. This game’s personality, for me, mainly came from the countless people I met online, the silly emoticons, the failures and triumphs shared with complete strangers, and like the Doppels themselves, single-player feels very notably lifeless by comparison. In addition, aspects that are absolutely brilliant in multiplayer like the bosses are far less exciting and noteworthy in single-player. It’s worth trying but can also just be safely avoided; definitely play the multiplayer first and foremost in any case. There’s also the Coliseum, a multiplayer battle arena mode where two or three players can simply duel to the death on eight different maps based on the game’s eight different worlds. I didn’t expect much going into it, but I played it for about an hour online and actually ended up having a surprising amount of fun with it. It’s simple and nothing special, but it’s nice that it’s there and could be a fun way to have a few laughs with some friends.

Link and Doppels

There are plenty of other aspects I haven’t really touched on with Tri Force Heroes. I didn’t really mention the soundtrack, which while not exceptional still has a few standout tracks and goes a long way in giving the game an identity where many other aspects of it lack one. Also, even though the game’s world-building is overall pretty poor and its narrative bare-bones, the game does have shades of untapped potential and a few characters and moments I really enjoyed that could have been something truly great if the game was given more time to blossom (for example, I really like the villain, but she’s criminally underutilized). Lastly, I didn’t really talk about the outfit mechanic, which is a large part of the game that mostly works well and also adds a good amount of charm to the experience. The bottom line is that when the game works, Tri Force Heroes works very well, and cooperating and triumphing with anonymous teammates is a wonderful feeling. Conquering challenges together only to part ways at the end of it all led to a very memorable experience and I found myself feeling sentimental as the credits rolled. Tri Force Heroes as a game and concept has a ton of potential that it doesn’t fully live up to, but I still overall enjoyed the experience quite a bit despite all its problems, more than I expected to anyway.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U) Review

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a charming little game from Nintendo EAD Tokyo and 1-UP Studio that is sure to be overlooked by many and overshadowed by the Wii U’s bigger releases (like this one). This is both a shame and somewhat appropriate, as Treasure Tracker feels like an indie game; a AAA Nintendo indie game based on the most well-known video game franchise in the world. This bizarre identity is just another aspect of Treasure Tracker’s charm, something the game seems to exude in abundance. Captain Toad is an engaging, atmospheric, and unique puzzle game that thankfully shows that Nintendo is still willing to take some risks with their iconic Mario universe, something we haven’t really seen since the original Super Mario Galaxy back in 2007. It’s nice to see something so unique suddenly emerge from the recently stagnating Mario universe, even if Treasure Tracker does borrow a lot of elements from the EAD Tokyo-developed Super Mario games (that is, all the 3D Super Mario games since and including Super Mario Galaxy).

                If you’ve played the Captain Toad mini-games in Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, than you’ve played the basis for Treasure Tracker. Treasure Tracker is essentially an entire game of those kinds of levels, except a full execution of the concept and a far more fleshed-out experience. The game features an incredibly simplistic narrative that involves Toadette being whisked away by a giant bird (really novel stuff for Nintendo here) and Captain Toad trekking off to save her (and collecting Power Stars along the way, because why not?). But wait! In an innovative twist for Nintendo, this narrative shifts a bit later in the game to Captain Toad being the one captured by the bird (named Wingo) and Toadette taking on the role of the intrepid adventurer tasked with saving him. Eventually, the game switches back and forth between the fun-guy and fun-gal (I’m so sorry) and although (spoiler warning) ultimately the endgame does come down to Captain Toad having to save a damseled Toadette and get the big hero moment, I appreciate Nintendo giving Toadette some time to shine.

Adorable Duo

Beyond the straightforward narrative, the game has a cute storybook-like format where players select one level after the next by turning the pages of a book. The levels themselves are what Nintendo calls “mini-universes”; essentially living dioramas that can be thoroughly explored, manipulated, and viewed from every angle in order for Captain Toad and Toadette to pluck, scour, and track down every treasure within (see what I did there). Besides dioramas, the environments in the game also remind me of something else as well: Lego sets. Also, those little miniature environment toys from the ‘90s like Polly Pocket and Mighty Max. Also, childhood. The miniature worlds have a great sense of charm and it’s an engaging and satisfying process to first view an environment from all angles, figure out what to do, and then conquer each world, discovering every little nook and secret along the way (including the returning hidden Luigi sprites from Super Mario 3D World and also some other neat Easter Eggs). There’s a lot of variety in the level designs as well and the formula is often changed up with something like a minecart ride through a dank cavern (where the Toads can throw turnips at enemies), the exploration of a steam-powered train during a fierce blizzard, or a battle against a gigantic, beautifully-rendered, and whimsically-animated dragon inside of a volcano.

These levels throw several mechanics into the mix throughout the game, such as making ample use of the GamePad’s touchscreen to move certain platforms around, spin large valves that manipulate certain pieces of the environment, and aim with in a first-person view on the minecart levels and also when using a stand-alone turnip cannon that is used to unleash vegetarian justice on the game’s baddies. I appreciate gimmicks like touching and blowing on the GamePad to manipulate platforms in a slower-paced, more methodical game like this than I do in the main series Super Mario platformers, where I get annoyed when this kind of stuff gets in the way of a smooth platforming experience. Overall, this kind of gimmickry works better in a puzzle game like Captain Toad and while none of it is drastically innovative or game-defining, these elements are often used in clever ways and add a certain tactile pleasure to the experience as well as contribute to its overall great sense of charm.

A "mini-universe" in Treasure Tracker

Besides all this, several other mechanics from the EAD Tokyo Super Mario games and the Super Mario series in general show up, such as Beep Blocks, Flip Panels, and Donut Lifts. The Captain and Toadette also utilize a handful of power-ups including the Super Mushroom (serving the same function here as always), the Double Cherry from 3D World, and a new Super Pickax item that can be used to smash through blocks and enemies and shares an animation and theme song with the Hammer of Donkey Kong (and Super Smash Bros.) fame. The Toads can use these power-ups as well as Super Mario Bros. 2-style turnips and their environment to overcome a plethora of foes from the Mario universe as well as some brand new ones unique to Treasure Tracker. It’s actually a fascinating dynamic encountering an enemy in this game because Toad and Toadette cannot jump and also cannot run very fast and therefore a player must find clever ways of outmaneuvering and defeating these creatures which usually aren’t much of a threat at all for Mario. With Mario, most of these enemies are a single quick jump away from defeat, but for the Toads, even a simple Goomba can be a tense encounter. Several different options often exist for defeating a baddie: do you hasten to pluck a turnip from the ground (and hope it’s not just a coin) or do you try to manipulate the environment in some way, such as by falling off a higher ledge onto their head or by luring them into a hazard? With usually only one Super Mushroom at most hidden somewhere in a level, making a mistake can often be costly. This adds a novel spin on the Mario universe and I quite enjoy the “fish out of water” experience. In addition to well-designed levels and clever, new kinds of challenges, like most EAD-developed Nintendo games, Treasure Tracker’s gameplay is impeccably polished and satisfying, and everything from collecting a coin to the satisfying pluck of a vegetable patch to touching the screen to spin a valve just feels great.

                Another area with a hefty coat of polish is Captain Toad’s presentation, including both wonderful animations and beautiful, appealing visual design that often pops with personality. One area where Treasure Tracker really shines in particular for me (and something I’m actually surprised by) is in its atmosphere. Remember earlier when I called this game a triple-A Nintendo indie game? The game really does feel like some strange, mysterious thing at times and I think its short development time actually benefited the game’s minimalistic, interesting atmosphere. For one thing, the game’s art design, despite some occasional levels where objects and backgrounds can look blurry and jaggy at times, is gorgeous and every world is intricately detailed. Most environments are just a cube floating in the sky, but they are often enveloped in flower petals blowing in the wind, enwrapped in vines and dotted with flora, or surrounded by beautiful blue skies, purple and pink twilight, or brilliantly starry skies. The game seems like it’s running on an enhanced Super Mario 3D World engine, with a similar art-style but much more detail packed into each corner of an environment (this could also be due to the fact that the levels are smaller and thus can afford to be more graphically detailed). Some of the environments in this game are truly fantastical and at times I almost wished they were levels in a more traditional Super Mario platformer (these locales are great in Captain Toad, but I would also love to explore expanded versions of them with Mario). One level took me aback with a beautiful nighttime, particle-filled forest scene, complete with chirping crickets. Other levels consist of onion-domed spires and floating carpets amid tranquil skyscapes. Another environment is a self-contained fresh water spring flanked by hollowed-out logs inhabited by cute little ants and complete with a pristine jet of water that shoots up and creates a rainbow. In addition to the regular levels, there are brief story segue portions that allow us to take a stroll through a gorgeous environment before setting up a campsite. These scenes serve no real gameplay function, but they have a wonderful sense of atmosphere and are such a lovely detail that adds a boatload of extra charm to the experience. The game’s largely minimalist soundtrack does a good job of supporting its atmosphere with several ambient tracks that majestically support many of these beautiful environments; most of my favorite levels in the game were accompanied by either this track or this one. The game just has this really interesting, unique, sometimes mesmerizingly enchanting vibe and it’s really hard to put it into words…I’d recommend experiencing what I mean for yourself!

Enchanting

                My experience with Treasure Tracker was overall a positive one, but it also wasn’t without some notable hang-ups. This is a very subjective thing, but for some reason I would often get notably anxious when playing this game. I struggle with general anxiety in my day to day life a great deal and it’s often a mystery as to why certain things in particular trigger it so badly, and thus it’s also hard to put my finger on what exactly about Captain Toad made me anxious as honestly it’s mostly quite an inviting, chilled-out game. However, I think my anxiety at least in large part comes from much of the game revolving around the path forward being obscured from the player and having to shift the camera to get a better view; not being able to see what’s ahead on such a frequent basis put me on edge a lot of the time. Of course, this is a key aspect of the game’s design and I’m not saying it in itself is a flaw or a poorly-designed aspect, but in my subjective experience it made this game uncomfortable for me at times (and in this game’s case, I don’t think “discomfort” is what the designers were going for). On a more objective level, there were certain times where I felt like a good view was simply unachievable and moreover I found myself wishing there was an additional camera view. Let me explain: there are two camera views in the game, a zoomed-out and a zoomed-in one. I found the zoomed-out one to be a little too zoomed-out at times, but the zoomed-in one would likewise be sometimes too zoomed-in and not offer a clear enough view of the action. Therefore, I would have appreciated a third, middle camera option in between these two views, but perhaps this would have been too cumbersome to program given the design of the game. I also got a little frustrated throughout my playthrough because there are no checkpoints in levels, and although the game’s collectible “Super Gems” (which there are three of hidden in each level and are used to unlock future levels, though not all are required to simply reach the end credits) save after being collected once, I’m the type who liked to do an optimal run of each level and collect everything in one run and failing late into one of the longer stages in the game and having to start all over again would get tiring. But it should be said that this was frustration that I brought on myself and wasn’t exactly the game’s fault. On another note, as much as I appreciate some of the game’s more atmospheric music tracks and think they supplement the experience very well, overall the soundtrack is a bit lackluster and doesn’t stand out too much. There doesn’t seem to be enough variety in the music selection and I found myself quickly growing tired of the same small selection of main level themes. None of it is of poor quality, mind, but there’s also not much that is particularly memorable, except for the game’s main theme (which I also got tired of hearing so much) and the remixes from the main series Super Mario games (there are a lot of new versions of songs from the fantastic Super Mario 3D World soundtrack as well as some other tracks from throughout the Super Mario series).

Finally, the game’s bonus levels leave a lot to be desired, and if you’d rather not have them spoiled than I would skip this paragraph. If a player has save data from Super Mario 3D World on their Wii U, they get to play through four levels from that game as Captain Toad, but while this is a novel idea, these levels drag on for too long with the slow-moving Captain Toad and obviously weren’t designed for him. All of the other bonus levels (except for one, which I’ll get to) are simply stages that are recycled from the game’s main “episodes” but with a few twists, such as having to track down all the members of the Toad Brigade and finish the level with them in tow or being tasked to finish a level with a mummified Toad (known as a Mummy-Me) chasing the player throughout the whole stage. These stages offer some mostly satisfying new challenges for previously-visited levels, but ultimately they are just the same level again. At the end of it all is the “Champion’s Road” of this game: “Mummy-Me Maze Forever”, a series of fifty consecutive mazes with semi-randomized layouts (this Mummy-Me Maze concept previously appeared as a bonus game that would randomly appear after completing a level in the game’s normal episodes) that get progressively harder that a player has to complete all while being chased by Mummy-Mes mirroring Captain Toad’s every move. This level was satisfying to finally complete after many, many attempts, but I found it incredibly tedious and was more than ready to give up after just a few attempts. Trust me, you will rage here. I stuck it out though and eventually bested it, but I definitely prefer the aforementioned level from 3D World (or the Grandmaster Galaxy and Special 8-Crown in Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land, respectively); replaying those over and over again wasn’t so bad because after learning the level I could get back to where I was in a short amount of time, but Captain Toad’s gauntlet is far lengthier and also relies partly on luck. I usually love the addition of this kind of “ultimate test of skill” level that has appeared in all of EAD Tokyo’s Super Mario games (except for the original Super Mario Galaxy), but Captain Toad’s version is probably the most evil challenge they’ve devised yet. That aside, to be honest, I’m getting sick of the “remix” bonus levels that are in every EAD Tokyo Super Mario game (including the Prankster Comet challenges in the Galaxy games). They are bonus levels, so I can’t complain too much and they do add some satisfying challenges to the experience, but they’re more tiresome than engaging at this point for someone like me who has thoroughly played all of these games. I actually prefer the way the 2D Super Mario games do it: just one final bonus world with around eight original levels that take a lot of skill to get through. As I said, I also typically enjoy the singular “ultimate test of skill” levels that EAD Tokyo brought into the mix.

This game is pretty

                Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a novel experience from Nintendo and I’d like to see more stuff like it; smaller, unique projects that deliver a new kind of experience. An adventure with Mario enemies and themes but with the titular plumber, the princess, and the Koopa King nowhere to be seen is very refreshing and playing as the often adorable and charming Captain Toad and Toadette duo is an interesting new experience. Treasure Tracker definitely shows its short development time (despite being a surprisingly lengthy game with a lot to see and do), but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as its minimalist approach is a big part of its charm and its “indie feeling” lends a unique experience to Nintendo’s arsenal. Captain Toad’s overall design and concept is quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before (besides, of course, the handful of Captain Toad levels from Super Mario 3D World) and it’s nice to see that Nintendo’s internal developers can still come up with something so fresh, even if the experience does still feel a bit too similar in ways to the EAD Tokyo Super Mario platformers a lot of the time, and borrows a lot structurally from those games. While I’m growing tired of the EAD Tokyo formula (as fantastic as most of their Super Mario games have been), this game is still an experience I enjoyed and one that also managed to deliver something novel. Captain Toad is a little morsel of delight that has a surprising amount of depth to it and is certainly a worthy treasure to add to your Wii U collection…*sigh*, I did it again…please don’t think too poorly of me.

Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) Review

Super Mario 3D World is a game of incredible joy and immense fun. This is probably the best compliment I can give to the game. Almost every inch of this experience has been polished and designed with care in order to bring a smile to the player. Mario moves with a tightness and precision that makes moving around in his world a pleasure and allows for an optimum input system that allows you to focus on maneuvering through the many varied and interesting obstacles in his path. The visuals are bright and beautiful; beachside levels glisten in the sun and food-themed levels are so delectable that I want to take a bite out of my TV screen. The catch here is that while 3D World is nothing less than a great video game and does a lot to set it apart from previous Super Mario games, it is still a very familiar experience, and is plagued by that feeling of "been here, done this, seen that, seen this" that has bogged down the Mario series since the original Super Mario Galaxy.

Despite this, one of 3D World's strengths is that it is not afraid to ignore recently overused series staples and do something new. While Bowser is present and accounted for, there's no Bowser Jr., no Koopalings, no clown copter, no airships, and no Yoshi; instead we have new bosses like a gigantic regal snake with a kickass battle theme, auto-scrolling train levels as well as Super Mario Bros. 3's auto-scrolling tank brigades recreated in 3D (more Mario 3 nostalgia, yes, but fresher than the airships), and a new dino buddy named Plessie. Yoshi does not need to be in every Mario game. Neither does anything besides Mario's ability to run and jump. 3D World is a more exciting and more engaging Mario game because it is not afraid to throw out conventions that have been bogging down the series for years in favor of a new experience. And even though Bowser is still here and I would appreciate a different villain for a change (the Mario series, even the platformers, have had villains other than Bowser, believe it or not), I don't mind Bowser in this game too much because of one of 3D World's other positive traits: it has personality.


We've seen Mario fight Bowser before, but never like this



Bowser isn't just the cliché that turns into a giant at the end of the game for the final lava-filled boss fight; he appears as soon as the first castle, driving a gigantic purple Cadillac and throwing soccer ball bombs at you. He has a swanky theme song and has taken to carnival life this time around; in fact, the game even toys with player expectations towards the end, delivering one of the more satisfying and original finales the series has seen in a decade. This is the kind of creativity I like to see in a Mario game, which can really be about anything at all and should feel free to branch out, something games like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy understood, and that Super Mario 3D Land and especially the New Super Mario Bros. series do the opposite of. More so than any Super Mario game since Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World feels like a new Mario game.

Another aspect that helps this feeling is the plot and setting: 3D World takes place in a new kingdom known as the Sprixie Kingdom, where Bowser is not capturing Princess Peach this time but bottling a bunch of fairy-like Sprixie Princesses Link-style. While the game has merely traded one damsel in distress for another (or seven others, to be exact), compared to other recent entries, it's a revolutionary new story. So if Peach hasn't been kidnapped, than what is she doing in this game? Saving the day and kicking Bowser's ass, that's what! For the first time in a main series Super Mario platformer since Super Mario Bros. 2/USA, Princess Peach is fully playable, hover jump and all. So are Mario, Luigi, Toad, and a secret fifth character that isn't a secret at all because Nintendo decided to spoil the surprise before the game came out and let it be plastered all over the internet (I guess this is just how it goes these days, but still, I chose not to watch Nintendo's reveal video for this character and two seconds later the thumbnail of another video talking about the reveal video spoiled the character for me). I defeated Bowser at the end with Peach the first time just because I could (and sent the overgrown turtle flying into a pit of lava with a shrunken little Peach in one of the game's other Bowser battles), and after jumping, climbing, and Tanooki-ing with the princess for half the game, I see no sensible reason why she should ever play the damsel again, because she's clearly capable of handling herself against Bowser and his minions. Players can choose whichever character they want at the start of each course, and while Mario still handles the best, the variety each character lends to the game is another welcome new addition.

Above: a sort of new plot! Below: Princess Peach is finally playable again!

The Sprixie Kingdom isn't quite as distinct from the Mushroom Kingdom as the other different lands Mario has visited in the past, such as Subcon, Sarasaland, Mario Land (from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins), or Isle Delfino, but it still features its fair share of fresh level themes and aesthetics. New or old, however, the level variety in this game is outstanding: just about every single level within the game's first nine worlds does something different from the others and feels unique, whether it's a new environmental theme, gimmick, enemy type, or something else. There's a trip to a circus for some trapeze-swinging action, a haunted shipwreck with rain splattering its deck, a Lion King-esque open Savanna drenched in the dying light of the sun, a tour of a Japanese-inspired castle (with some Chinese elements mixed in); then there are the Captain Toad levels, which are optional sections where the player cannot jump and has to navigate a compact environment avoiding traps and enemies. Not being able to jump in a Mario game sounds dull, but these little puzzles are a refreshing change of pace, don't go on so long or are so numerous that they get tiring, and are actually quite a bit of fun. Each course is a tighly designed little morsel of joy. I appreciate all the new level themes, like the train stages, savanna, and Japanese castle, but familiar tropes are welcome here too thanks to an always fitting and engaging atmosphere due to the mix of the game's colorful, vibrant looks and fantastic soundtrack.

Oh, the soundtrack! What a surprise, and it really shouldn't be, but with so many Mario games lately just recycling the same music tracks or remixing classic ones, the varied, jazzy, big bandy OST of Super Mario 3D World is such a welcome inclusion. The soundtrack is an example of why I respect this game because it represents the effort put into the presentation. It would have been very easy for the developers to simply slap the old airship theme as the BGM for the tank brigade levels (both the airship and tank levels share the same theme in Mario 3 after all), but a brand new track, one that echoes the old airship theme but is entirely original, was composed for these levels instead. So much care was put into the musical presentation of the game that an original track was composed solely for the only desert-themed level present in the game. This track will only be heard for a few minutes by most players, but the game's composers still went to the effort of creating an original piece for this level instead of recycling something else (there are a few other compositions that only play on a single level as well). That's the kind of dedication and care that the makes the New Super Mario Bros. series lazy, uninspired, and mediocre, and Super Mario 3D World special. I'm also surprised that almost the entire soundtrack was composed using live instruments. Even though it's mostly fully orchestrated, the soundtrack has a different feel than that of the Super Mario Galaxy games, which have a decidedly epic and grand flavor; 3D World's OST, on the other hand, is more akin to the style of classic Mario tunes, except made using a live orchestra. They're simpler, catchier melodies, but that doesn't necessarily make them inferior (and the game also isn't without its epic and moving pieces as well). But many of the tunes in the game also feel very different than traditional Mario fare or anything we've heard before in the series, making the soundtrack very unique as well. In fact, this is one of my favorite OSTs in any Mario game and I was constantly surprised and delighted with each new piece that I heard in the game. The overall theme of the soundtrack is jazz and big band-inspired pieces, but this doesn't encompass the entirety of the soundtrack and there is a ton of variety here. The big band athletic theme and it's more relaxed tropical remix are exciting and joyous; then there's the catchy violin of the other athletic theme; but the more slow-paced and moving ghost house piece contrasts these and feels more like something out of BioShock, but still fits the levels so well; the savanna theme is another favorite that I had stuck in my head after hearing it once in a trailer for the game, and I already mentioned Bowser's theme and giant snake boss, Hisstocrat's interesting and unforgettable melody, which I originally fell in love with when it accompanied the fantastic second trailer for the game. Even beyond the music, the overall sound design in 3D World, from Mario's tinkering footsteps on glassy surfaces and the creaking of boards as he explores the Japanese castle to all the personable one-liners and grunts and yelps from the cast, is exceptionally well-executed and just makes the game that much more charming.


The level designs are varied and gorgeous

The visual presentation is also simply delicious. Everything is bright, whimsical, colorful, and polished. Even basic-looking levels truly come alive with details like bell-shaped trees that jingle as Mario and friends climb them. Seeing Mario's fantastical world in HD is delightful. Dense jungles sparkle with atmosphere, the sun glints across pristine water slides, and the delectable layer of frosting on the giant cake Mario is traipsing across looks marvelous. There are also other wonderful details throughout as well, such as the way water drips down the screen during rainy levels and wind ripples across grassy fields that reflect the sunlight, or the visual flair caused by an explosive Bob-omb-induced chain reaction. On that note, the lighting is also particularly impressive across the experience. 3D World is visually euphoric, but it isn't perfect. Sometimes characters and objects can look like they are made out of plastic and rubber (this is especially noticeable during rainy scenes and when taking a look at Plessie up close) and certain textures, such as those of grass, trees, and the fur on the cat suit look artificial, like AstroTurf or styrofoam. These details can make the world feel fake at times, but it's not detrimental to the experience. This is an overall gorgeous game, but I think I still prefer the art direction of the Galaxy games.



This is a stunning-looking game

As should be expected, the level design in 3D World is top-notch and there are plenty of new gimmicks that make things interesting, such as the heavily-advertised clear pipes, which make for some fun designs. The level designs do feel a bit on the easy side, however, thanks to the terrain often being wider to accommodate for multiple players and levels placing less of a focus on precision platforming as a result (as a side note, I have tried the multiplayer and it's fun but chaotic; unless you have two to four players willing to cooperate with each other, you might not get a lot done, but it can still be messy fun for a laugh). 3D World is also stuffed with probably the most power-ups of any Mario game to date, both old and new. While I initially thought that returning power-ups like the Tanooki suit would feel forced, every power-up gets its time to shine and each one has several levels designed with it in mind. I'm not a fan of all of them, such as the cannon box, which isn't bad, I just don't like how it keeps constantly shooting automatically unless you charge it up, and the "boot skate", which would be a lot of fun if it controlled the way your character normally moves, but instead it feels loose and awkward and all in all simply controls terribly. The main newcomer, the cat suit, however, is perhaps the best new power-up since the classic days. The cat suit not only adds oodles of charm and personality to the experience, but it's simply a lot of fun to use, a joy to master, and useful in numerous ways, such as being able to climb up a wall to save yourself from a pit, or being able to dive-bomb enemies from above. The sheer amount of things a player can do with the cat suit, some that don't even serve much of a function but are just there for fun, and the attention to detail with the cat-like animations is impressive for a single Mario power-up. They definitely weren't lazy with this one. The double cherry is also interesting and a lot of fun, especially when used in conjunction with other power-ups like the fire flower. There are even some power-ups that are hidden abilities that the game doesn't teach the player how to perform up-front. Like other modern Mario games, most levels give you the same power-up throughout a level and levels often somehow revolve around a single power-up. I wish there was more mix and match experimentation with power-ups across the levels like in classic Mario titles, where bringing a fire flower into a level might be useful, but a raccoon leaf might also prove useful in the same level (and when losing a power-up actually felt like a big deal since you weren't guaranteed to get the same power-up two seconds later). I do, however, feel like 3D World does a good job in providing a fair balance of all of its powers across stages (with the head-lining cat suit being used most frequently of course), so every power-up gets a lot of use and nothing feels shoehorned in simply for the sake of it (like Yoshi does in New Super Mario Bros. Wii). It is also great to see the Mega Mushroom in a fully 3D game and not only do the giant character models look great but it's a ton of fun to use.

Even without any power-ups, Mario's moveset is more full than ever in this game; he can roll, roll jump, spin jump, butt stomp and then fly into the air with a new high jump...the range of available actions is vast, and while not all are always useful, they're fun to learn and play around with. The only move that seems to be missing is Mario's triple jump (you know: WAH! YAH! WAHOO!), which was also absent from 3D Land. As I mentioned, the game's base level design isn't particularly challenging (until the game's final, optional, unlockable level, Champion's Road, which completing with all five characters, a feat required for 100%, is probably the most difficult challenge I've ever completed in a Super Mario game), but I don't particularly mind this because players can control how challenging they want the experience to be because as always, going for the hidden collectables in each stage (this time, green stars and stamps) adds more challenge (and while most of these are fairly straightforward to locate, they are sometimes harder to actually acquire and a select few are truly deviously hidden). Also, I don't need Mario games to be extra challenging as I play them mainly to have a fun and joyful experience rather than for a very steep challenge. After finding all of the collectables in a level, there's not much else to these courses though. Sure, there are a few other fairly easy-to-find hidden secrets that yield 1-ups, coins, or a power-up, and replaying levels is fun just for the sheer quality of their aesthetics and design, but I feel like there's not as much depth to these stages as in classic Mario games. I'm still finding new secrets to this day in Super Mario Bros. 3 and I feel like every nook of the levels in that game holds some kind of mystical prize and going out of one's way to fly off the screen or check every pipe is always rewarded. I miss the days of hidden warp whistles and ducking behind the scenery, of carefully hidden secrets that blew my mind. 3D World has a few things like this that I didn't find and had to read about online, but very few...like literally only two actually (as far as I know that is...). Again, it's fun to replay stages just because of the joy of it all, but I feel like I've rung 3D World dry whereas repeat visits of classic Super Mario games often yield new treats. To be fair though, this is not an issue exclusive to 3D World, but one I have with most modern Super Mario titles.

3D World has more tricks than just a cat suit

Overall, 3D World does a lot right. Some things I haven't mentioned are the new overworld map, which feels familiar but still unique and new and while it's nothing amazing, it's still fun to roam around and discover hidden secrets on (most of which are very simple to find admittedly) and it's at least vastly superior to the boring level select in 3D Land. I like that the game features a lot less Mario 3 nostalgia-farming as well and mainly references a different classic Mario game for once (Super Mario Bros. 2/USA). In fact, 3D World pays tribute to the series as a whole, instead of solely to Mario 3, with throwbacks to Super Mario World, 64, Galaxy, and the classic NES trilogy peppered throughout. While throwbacks are nice, the Super Mario series is becoming notorious for relying too much on them, and while 3D World does feel like it has more of its own identity than many other recent entries, I'd still prefer something entirely new that doesn't care about players' nostalgia. The Miiverse integration is also nice and I enjoyed posting my thoughts about numerous levels after completing them, whether to complain about something I didn't like or praise a particularly compelling level design (although the miniscule character limitation on these posts is rubbish). Super Mario 3D World is just an overall charming, whimsical, and genuinely enjoyable game and the amount of variety and creativity within kept me wanting to play more and more until I'd seen it all.

But 3D World still isn't quite where I want the Super Mario series to be and this is mainly due to a still recurring "been there, done that" feeling persistent throughout the game. This is easily the most original Mario game in at least three years, but it still has that tried and true formula of "travel through eight main worlds containing five+ levels and a castle (or in this game's case, either a castle level, train level, or tank level), with three collectibles in each level (four this time counting the stamps)". The game is full of delights, but it still feels like going through the motions in the end and as the game went on, I began to feel a bit of fatigue due to the repetitive nature of a formula that I'm so familiar with. The game also feels very reminiscent of the Super Mario Galaxy games and Super Mario 3D Land (besides just being the same brand of 2D/3D Mario hybrid that 3D Land is), utilizing a lot of familiar and re-used level gimmicks from those games. Stage gimmicks like the flip-swap platforms and beat blocks are still great ideas, but some of these gimmicks we're seeing for the third time in this game and they've run their course at this point. I'd rather see brand new ideas in their place.

I always maintain that all the Super Mario games up to and including the original Super Mario Galaxy feel completely different and unique from each other (barring the original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, also known as "The Lost Levels" and the original New Super Mario Bros., which I've always thought feels like a watered-down version of Super Mario Bros. 3, with elements borrowed from other classic titles as well for the sake of nostalgia): Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2/USA, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World all have their own distinct identities; Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy all distinctly stand apart from one another as well. The two Game Boy titles, Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins are also two very unique experiences. But just as the four New Super Mario Bros. games all blend together and lack their own unique personalities, the four Nintendo EAD Tokyo-developed games--Galaxy 1 and 2, 3D Land and 3D World--all share elements in common as well. Power-ups, level gimmicks, some music, and other elements are shared from game to game and while these four games are mostly more distinct from one another than the New Super Mario Bros. series (and vastly superior to that series in every other way as well, with 3D Land being a possible exception), they still mix together and cross identities in many ways and as a result don't feel like the bold individuals their ancestors are. As I said earlier, 3D World feels more like a truly "new" Super Mario than any other entry in recent years, but after completing it, it still doesn't feel nearly as fresh as Super Mario Galaxy did in 2007, or Sunshine did before that. All this homogeneity makes the Super Mario series feel less special than it did before, less like each game is a separate, innovative entity that justifies its existence and more like the series is becoming a "yearly franchise" where each new title takes the previous one, adds some new elements to what already exists and "updates" the franchise rather than reinvents it. For an on-going series as old as Mario, this "reinvention" is necessary to keep the series relevant and engaging, otherwise it will become stagnant and even an old fan like me will lose interest.

Recurring level gimmicks like the red and blue flip-swap platforms (top to bottom: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World) contribute an ever-growing homogeneity between the Super Mario games

3D World's other main issue is its refusal to let go of archaic design concepts that just don't belong anymore and only seem to be here for the sake of tradition. Does anyone care about "score" in these games anymore? Did anyone ever care about the score in a Mario game? This isn't an arcade game and we've had more tangible goals in platformers for decades. And in a game that auto saves after every single level, what is the point of lives again? The Mario series needs to take a page from modern platformers like Rayman Origins, which has no lives and a checkpoint in every new section of a level. But at the very least, extra lives do give you some incentive for exploring and something to collect as well as incentive to collect coins (which are still so bizarrely satisfying to collect for some inexplicable reason). But then again, Rayman Origins retained collectibles, but set up a different sort of reward system where by collecting enough Lums (little creatures that are Rayman's version of "coins" or "rings" basically), players could unlock extra content like different character skins instead of more pointless extra lives. The lives system and score are trivial matters though and while they don't need to be here, they also ultimately don't affect my overall enjoyment of the experience. However, there is one other outdated design mechanic that does affect my enjoyment and it is also my largest issue with Super Mario 3D World.

The damn timer. Giving players an average of 400 half-seconds (because Mario seconds are shorter than actual seconds) to explore each level is a huge design oversight in my eyes, and I find it hard to believe that a game with such care and polish put into every other category managed to have such a stupid flaw. The timer adds nothing to the experience but takes away so much. Some say the time limit adds "challenge". Bullshit. Rayman Origins doesn't have a timer. Donkey Kong Country Returns doesn't have a timer. Both of these games are overall far more challenging than 3D World. The timer adds nothing. You know what else Rayman and DKCR have in common? They both have optional time attack modes, which is what 3D World should have had. Why craft such detailed, beautiful levels only to rush me through them with an obnoxious time limit? Hard as I tried, as the game went on, I couldn't help myself from constantly glancing up at the upper right-hand corner of the screen, constantly in fear of the timer counting down. Overdramatic? Maybe, but this one oversight seriously impacted my enjoyment of this game.

I never have much of an issue with the timer is 2D Mario games and even in 3D Land because the levels are always short and compact enough for me not to notice it, but many of 3D World's levels are much larger, more detailed, and encourage exploration, especially with the new cat suit that makes me want to climb every single wall just to see what's up there. I can't tell you how many times on my initial runthrough of the game I found myself annoyingly running out of time and having to either rush through the rest of the level or kill myself after reaching the mid-way checkpoint flag to reset the clock. I might be able to overlook the timer if it was adjusted accordingly, giving much more time for larger levels and less time for shorter ones, but it seems that little thought was put into this aspect. Some of the levels in 3D World are designed less as linear point A to B environments and more as open areas that invite exploration. 3D Land had levels like this as well, except that game always gave the player not only more initial time but plenty of extra time bonuses to find in the level, so while the timer still shouldn't have been there at all, it at least never hampered my enjoyment of that game. The open levels in 3D World don't give the player nearly as much time as those in 3D Land did.

The timer problem really hit home for me on the gorgeous, open "Sprawling Savanna" level, where after going through an opening portion of the level, cat Mario is unleashed on a wide-open plain full of bunnies to chase, little goodies to collect, and secrets to find. There's just one problem: the first time I was playing this level, when I got to the actual "savanna" part of the level, which is really where the course truly begins, I looked at the clock and I only had 163 seconds left to enjoy myself. Look, I take my time with games, I'll admit, but ignoring the fact that I never thought that taking my time to enjoy and appreciate every inch of a carefully-crafted level is a sin, this is still absolutely unforgivable. But what makes me even more angry and also baffled is how the Savanna level gives the player a starting time of 400 seconds on the clock to complete it, with a handful of +10 seconds bonuses scattered throughout that barely add much comfort, while some other stages that are more linear and much shorter give the player 500 seconds. I noticed that most of the levels in the first world give the player 500 seconds but later worlds' levels offer less time with most levels starting with an average of 400 seconds. I assume that this is supposed to add "challenge". Again: bullshit. It's irritating and makes the game less enjoyable, plain and simple, especially when the level in question is open and designed to be explored. In fact, there is a shorter, more compact version of the Savanna level in one of the game's special worlds (which remix old stages similar to the special worlds in 3D Land), and not only does this shorter version give the player more time to start with (500 seconds) but it contains a +100 seconds bonus in the level. I had more than enough time to finish this level, but had to rush through the first version. If the timer is an attempt at added challenge, than why is the supposedly more challenging version of the level equipped with much more time? It's ill-thought-out, stupid design in an otherwise expertly-crafted video game. That's just really frustrating. When I revisited levels that I was familiar with in the game, the timer became less of a problem, and many levels do contain those +10 and +100 seconds bonus clocks (I found them often being an inadequate bonus though), but even very early in the game, the time limit was a huge sore point for me that frustrated me to no end. Here was a beautiful, fun, creative experience that I really wanted to love, but couldn't because of a poorly-thought-out, archaic design mechanic from the 80s. This stuff needs to go, Nintendo. It really needs to go. (Note: keep in mind that I'm not referring to the levels that are specifically designed around having a short time limit, such as the ones that start with 100 seconds on the clock or the mystery house levels which give a player 10 seconds to complete a short challenge; the timer is these stages serves a purpose and does add to the experience. There is a big difference between these levels, which are purposefully designed with the time limit in mind, and the incorporation of the timer in traditional stages.)



I know you want to enjoy that beautiful sunset, Peach, but only 146 seconds left on the clock: better hustle! (this is the beginning of the "Sprawling Savanna" level by the way)




The game has some other issues, mainly a perspective issue when it comes to precision platforming. Because many of the levels have a fixed camera with a view from the side (as opposed to behind the player character) and yet players must maneuver Mario through a 3D space, there were several times during my play-time that I miss-judged jumps and or didn't land where I thought I'd land due to the awkward perspective. It's not a game-breaking issue, but it is an issue that I also sometimes had with 3D Land and one that isn't present in the fully 3D Mario games like Galaxy. There is an option to change the camera angle in most levels (though not all), and also a more free-roaming camera mode, but these options are very restricted and I found that although flawed, the game's default camera position was still usually the most ideal option available. Mario's handling is also a bit different than in previous 3D installments with the game employing a "three-tiered" style of running that can take some getting used to. When holding down the run button, a character will start doing a light jog before bursting into their full-on run. This mechanic can feel a little sluggish at first, and I often found myself having to run around in circles on narrow platforms just to keep my momentum up, as stopping would mean having to slowly "charge up" my run again (if I did stop, I would usually also run around in a circle until it was fully charged). It's an odd and cumbersome design change that I eventually got used to, but I'm not sure why the running doesn't just work like it did in 3D Land. 3D Land had a similar style but Mario went into his full running speed very quickly after holding down the run button. Running feels natural in that game, but it feels less so in 3D World. I'm usually constantly holding down the run button in a Super Mario platformer, so having this slightly stilted system does make the control a little less than optimal (although bursting into that full run as a trail of dust erupts behind Mario is very satisfying and once you are in a fun sprint, a character feels very satisfying to control). I also encountered a weird glitch several times throughout my playthrough. The game would freeze while it was in the process of saving and would get stuck in a never-ending loop where it just wouldn't stop saving. This would cause me to force a shut-down of the console and risk losing my save data. This happened to me about five times and there didn't seem to be any apparent cause; it also wasn't just my game as far as I can tell, because I read about some others having the same issue online. Thankfully, I never lost any save data, and because the game auto-saves after every level, I would only have to reply the last level that I just recently completed. I was lucky that this never happened after completing one of the game's tougher challenges, and if this had happened after completing Champion's Road with any of the characters, stuff would have been broken. I probably wouldn't have a working Wii U GamePad anymore.


The new way running works can be awkward and the perspective of the action can sometimes lead to frustrating mistakes

Super Mario 3D World is flawed and familiar, but it's also fresh and fun. Despite the game not being quite the bold new Super Mario game that I want, it is an undeniably polished and immensely satisfying video game. It has heart and a kitty-fueled fun personality that many other Mario games lack these days. Every little detail of this game (besides the timer) has been carefully crafted with the express purpose of bringing delight to the player, such as being able to decorate a giant cake landscape with rainbow-colored sprinkles with the touch of a finger to the GamePad, the way that Mario and co. kick up massive dust clouds as they run and how Mario holds his hands at his sides full sprint in the same way he did in Super Mario Bros. 2/USA ("mayor Luigi"-style), and how players can blow into the GamePad's microphone to send a group of tiny Goombas flying off a cliff. Oh, right, I guess I should mention the GamePad-specific abilities. By blowing into the microphone and touching the GamePad, players can make certain things happen. This can be used for added charm like the things I just mentioned, or in more practical ways like being able to find secret blocks and shake trees of their contents. The Japanese castle level has players opening sliding doors with the touch of a finger and banging on gongs with a tap. There's also one very gimmicky level that uses the touching and blowing features to manipulate platforms: it's a decent idea, but I'm thankful it's only in the one level because to be honest, it's a bit of a mess. Touching platforms on the GamePad while trying to jump across them on the TV screen and holding the microphone up to your face constantly to move other platforms...it's not terrible, but it's just unintuitive. This kind of thing reminds me of the forced motion control levels in the Galaxy games; you know, the worst part of those games? I wish EAD Tokyo would just spare us and leave this gimmickry out of their Mario games. This shoehorning of GamePad support is exactly the opposite of the subtle way that I want the technology to be used.

In the sea of all the recent disappointments in the series, from the New Super Mario Bros. series to Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Super Mario 3D World is easily my favorite Mario game since Galaxy 2; it's just not quite the next revolution and that next truly original game that I want from the series. It's annoying that some of the game's flaws could have easily been fixed with more options. If people want a timer, why not just have time trials unlocked after completing a stage once like every other modern platformer has? Why not an option to turn the timer off at the very least? And on that note, can I please have the option to turn off the game-breaking White Tanooki Leaf from ever appearing in a level? But damnit, 3D World, when you're this unrelentingly, gleefully fun, I just can't stay mad at you.