
	Platform 3DS Genre Platformer Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo ESRB E (Everyone) Released November 13, 2011

- 3D that doesn't feel gimicky - Easily walks the line between a linear platform experience and something with a little more exploration - Golden Tanooki suit for the truly stumped player

- Challenge only starts presenting itself about 3/4 of the way through the game

Review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) Review: New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) Review: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
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Super Mario 3D Land

Score: 9.0 / 10

Other writers have stated the same thing but it bears repeating: Super Mario 3D Land should have been a 3DS launch title. Here's a title where the 3D, arguably the 3DS's biggest selling feature, doesn't feel like just another bullet point on the box.

There are fantastic moments of Mario descending or ascending into and out of the screen; where the view is practically top-down but the perspective is awesome. And there are other moments where Bullet Bills and the like "pop" off the screen

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that just look great. What the 3D does best of all is provide the right amount of depth to make some of the platforming elements much easier and more intuitive. I almost trained myself out of looking at Mario's shadow on the ground to judge my jumps.

All of the combines to allow me to play Super Mario 3D Land without angry swipes at the 3D

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slider so I can appreciate the look of the game and conquer all the usual Mario tropes, like hitting a switch that retracts a bridge so Bowser can take a lava bath or wall jumping to gain higher ground, with a depth that other Mario games have been unable to match. The game's really good that way.

The developers have also managed to walk a line between paying respect to past Mario games while making a few tweaks and adding a few wrinkles like the propeller box and the boomerang suit. It's not dramatic, just little tweaks.

It seems strange to say it, but I wish Super Mario 3D Land was more difficult. That's it's biggest fault at the end of the day. More than half the game is a cakewalk, an entertaining cakewalk, but a cakewalk nonetheless.

- Aaron Simmer

(December 20, 2011)