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[Odrion]

3D World took a couple steps back with the larger level design and the cat suit nullifying any acrobatic skill.

3D Land is my favorite Mario game. I 100%ed it three times.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

Probably not considering we just went through this whole discussion a few months ago. Of course that op said vastly superior. 3D world is the perfect evolution to 3D land.

 

[Red Hood]

3D Land has the best Bowser fight of all time tho

 

[blu]

OP is far from crazy. But they are objectively wrong. 3DL is a gem, but 3DW is a masterpiece. I'm not even referring to multi here, as multi makes 3DW pretty much the best mario platformer, whether 2D or 3D.

The only thing 3DW yields to 3DL is the visual depth sensation, the lack of which actually hampers a few 3DW levels.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Naw, you're not crazy although I disagree. 3d land felt like a proof of concept for world. World was the real deal, an absolute expression of all the good ideas they had for this type of game. Both are fantastic though.

 

[PokéKong]

I was thinking of making this exact thread when I played 3DL after World. GAF and almost all reviews of 3DW led me to believe it was an overall improvement and objectively better version of the overall Land experience, I wasn't even planning on playing it until my brother got a copy so I was like why not check it out, and after seeing some of the more interesting level designs I was pretty mad at everyone for selling it so short in light of World. There are so many things it did that had to be sacrificed in World to accommodate 4 players, there were non-linear semi-explorable levels like some of Galaxy's for crying out loud!

 

[The Boat]

3D World took a couple steps back with the larger level design and the cat suit nullifying any acrobatic skill.

This is a bit odd to say considering the Tanooki suit was way too frequent in 3D Land and made a big chunk of the game too easy.

 

[RagnarokX]

3D World took a couple steps back with the larger level design and the cat suit nullifying any acrobatic skill.

3D Land is my favorite Mario game. I 100%ed it three times.

 

[catbrush]

I don't think you're crazy OP, but I don't agree with you. Opinions and stuff.

I was unable to play past the first handful of worlds in 3D Land. Everything felt a little too unpolished and undercooked (not to mention the 3DS ergonomics and frame rate) and I quickly lost interest. I'll need to give 3D Land another shot.

3D World on the other hand hooked me when the levels increased in difficulty around World 6 and didn't let go until I reached 100% completion. The way challenges are paced and presented through the game levels is nothing short of master-class. Now I'm working on getting 100% for the other save slots. Coming from a childhood of Mario 3 (the pinnacle of 2D Mario), the game feel is perfection, running and jumping feels incredible, and the suits change the way you traverse in a meaningful way.

Multiplayer's implementation is genius also, and greatly enhances the game through future playthroughs if you have players of relatively equal skill/mischief levels.

 

[Odrion]

This is a bit odd to say considering the Tanooki suit was way too frequent in 3D Land and made a big chunk of the game too easy.

The Tanooki Suit didn't allow you to climb up walls and flag poles. At worst it's just an aid for poor players.

 

[bobawesome]

You're not crazy, OP.

Spoiler

You're insane.

 

[ZeroX03]

I was just thinking about this the other day.

3D World with friends > 3D Land > 3D World solo.

3D Land has the tighter single player design I think. The 3D and camera help, although the platform hinders. 3D World is fun on your own but a big chunk of the fun is just from the chaos of others.

 

[majik13]

I really enjoyed 3D Land

 

[deltatheta]

I think you're crazy, but that's just me.

3D Land was just far too easy. I can't really remember much from it since it just blurred past. I don't even know if I died more than maybe a handful of times.

Really? I thought 3D Land was way more difficult than 3D World, and like it more for that reason. (also I love the plasticy but semi organic aesthetic that 3D Land managed to evoke that I love and haven't really seen in a Mario game since 3)

Both games suffer from the "I've been playing Mario games for 30 years. Why are the new ones so easy??" syndrome, though.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

They're both great fun but I think there's something more special about 3D Land.

 

[Neiteio]

I found 3D Land much more addictive, and felt more compelled to 100% it.

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

You're not crazy, but 3D World trumps its predecessor in every single way possible.

 

[Nickle]

3D Land is a much better game, and it feels so much better to control Mario then in 3D World. I loved floating around in the Tanooki suit, it made it possible to do so many cool things. In 3D World you can do some interesting stuff if you practice levels over and over again using certain items, but the movement was so rigid and un-acrobatic for the most part.

 

[Azure Dream]

I felt like 3D Land had a lot of wasted, empty space. Some of it because of technical limitations, I'd assume, but where 3D World rewarded me for making it to the top a structure, for example, 3D Land didn't seem to realize it was possible. Especially when you were on a free-floating structure of just a few simple blocks, it always seemed like there should be some secrets tucked away at the top of those blocks, but there weren't even coins.

To put this another way, there was a lot of verticality in 3D Land, it always seemed like you should climb higher, but the game often didn't do anything with it. If you did make it up, you were met with nothing. 3D World, in part because of the addition of the Cat Suit, I'm sure, was much better about utilizing the space the player could access, rewarding all sorts of straying off the marked path.

 

[GamerJM]

Liked it quite a bit more. Much more well designed for its respective platformer, tighter bite-sized levels. Probably doesn't help that I never played multi in 3D World.

This is a speedrun and it's not really reasonable to expect average players to be able to do this. He obviously means that the cat suit makes acrobatic skill less meaningful in a casual playthrough.

 

[GamerJM]

Whoops, double post.

 

[popyea]

I liked the gameplay a lot better. I was actually compelled to speedrun levels, but not at all in 3D World. Yeah, the visual design is very broad compared to World, but I wouldn't expect a visual feast for a 3D game on a portable.

 

[Whiteblade999]

Yeah, crazy. 3D World was much, much better.

 

[oti]

Ehhh, I'm probably "crazier" as I enjoyed NSMB2 more than 3D Land.

Get out

 

[jb1234]

I played 3D Land after 3D World and found it better, yeah. It was more difficult (3D World was embarrassingly easy) and the level designs seemed more inspired. The final boss fight was better too.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

ITT: why developers don't do local multiplayer anymore.

 

[marc^o^]

I love both. I'm replaying 3D Land on n3DS and I'm still surprised by how good it is. It was easy to forget after 3DWorld, but few stages in and I'm reminded 3D Land is one of the best 3D platformers ever created, and most likely the best on a handheld.

 

[Mango The Magician]

I prefer 3D World, Galaxy is leagues above either though.

 

[Joei]

I played 3D Land for the first time a few months ago (played through 3DW at release) and I have to say I think I enjoyed 3D Land more. I will say that I thought the highs in 3DW were much higher, but I thought 3D Land was more consistent. I liked some levels better in 3DW, but the overall level design in 3D Land, I thought, was much more consistent.

 

[GamerJM]

ITT: why developers don't do local multiplayer anymore.

I get what you're saying here but I don't really enjoy platformers in multi which is probably the most significant reason why I never played it that way. Something like Halo 5 not having 4 player local multiplayer is more inexcusable when that's a staple of the franchise.

 

[AgeEighty]

This is a speedrun and it's not really reasonable to expect average players to be able to do this. He obviously means that the cat suit makes acrobatic skill less meaningful in a casual playthrough.

Don't agree with that. I think the cat suit actually enables more acrobatics (and "acrobatic" is to begin with a really strange term to use to describe Mario's normal movements).

 

[KarmaCow]

The Tanooki Suit didn't allow you to climb up walls and flag poles. At worst it's just an aid for poor players.

I don't understand how you're fine with the Tanooki suit, which lets you bypass what would normally be multiple jumps and/or ones that require timing but find the Cat suit which lets you climb up a wall once so egregious.

 

[Gilby]

I thought the first half of 3D world was way too easy and open, until I played through it with 2 other people. Multiplayer seems like the major focus, which is weird for a Mario game but I'm glad they're not afraid to try new things.

 

[Mozz-eyes]

3D World's paths are too wide in order potentially accommodate 4 players.

I had a much better time with 3D Land.

 

[ffdgh]

Nah you're entitled to your opinion. Gotta give 3D world the edge tho for the 5 playable characters.

 

[Timotheus]

Both games are great. I think it depends on the number of players. If you play alone, Land is waaay better, but the multiplayer in World is so much fun!

 

[Vampirolol]

3D World's most utilized powerups add to Mario's platforming repertoire meaningfully and well. And 3D Land was hardly a game that demanded precision in most cases, though when it did the 3D screen did great at enabling it.

That power up comment makes about as much sense if I called Super Mario Bros 3 a game about powerups relative to SMB's 'pure platforming'. Or in other words, lol

I'm sorry, my post was too short. 3D Land, like Galaxy 2 follows the route of "one idea per level" giving the player new ways to jump. The stereoscopic 3D allowed for tight platforming, I don't agree with your statement about precision since the later levels require it just like every other Mario.
So about the powerup comment, I think that 3D World re-utilizes many ideas from 3D Land and plays with them by adding gimmicks like throwing balls, using lights, etc. Is it a bad thing? No. Do I like it? No.

 

[Odrion]

I don't understand how you're fine with the Tanooki suit, which lets you bypass what would normally be multiple jumps and/or ones that require timing but find the Cat suit which lets you climb up a wall once so egregious.

The Cat Suit nullifies every flag pole challenge and lets you bypass a whole shit load of content just by climbing up a side wall along with it's billion other abilities. The Tanooki suit is just a slow fall and a short range melee attack. To try and say they're in the same ballpark is laughable.

The Cat Suit felt like it should've had it's own specific and exclusive levels that were designed to accommodate the suit (or hell, it's own game), instead it becomes the powerup you use to break the game (as seen in that gif.)

 

[Dice]

dat miiverse tho

 

[marmoka]

You're not crazy. You would be crazy if you didn't like neither of them. Both are great games!

I prefer 3D World BTW.

 

[RedSwirl]

Sorry to necrobump this but I just finished the main part of 3D World and honestly, I have to agree with the OP. I thought I was crazy too until I did a Google search and saw this thread.

3D World is probably more inventive with its ideas in terms of both level design and new powerups, but I remember 3D Land having tighter levels and a brisker pace of gameplay. 3D Land felt more like old 2D Mario. I will admit though that I love how much 3D world evokes the art direction of SMB3 and SMW, and smoothly renders it in 3D.

I found 3D Land much more addictive, and felt more compelled to 100% it.

I know right?! I bought 3D World precisely because I wanted more of 3D Land. 3D Land is the one game I actually wish Nintendo made DLC for.