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Super Mario 3D Land is my favorite Mario game

I would say that I didn't like SM3DL as much as other Mario games, but I think I'm kind of betrayed on that thought by how much I actually did play it when I first got it. I blew through basically all of it as quickly as possible, so it certainly clicked with me on SOME level.

Except for the final final level, though...this topic just reminded me that I don't think I ever did actually clear that.
 
shadyspace said:
Sunshine weirdos are infecting this thread.
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Sunshine's Mario is the most fun video game character to control ever with all his tricks and maneuverability, so I can understand where people are coming from there. Too bad the level design outside of the obstacle course levels never actually takes advantage of it

Oh and it's also the best Mario soundtrack (not counting Yoshi's Island)
 
Finished the first half in 4-6 hours. I was very disappointed with the length of the levels, not to mention their difficulty. Played a bit of the first level of the second half and from what I recall (it's been a while) it felt like a minor edit of the original first level. Shut it down right then and haven't picked it up since. Did I really miss out?
 
Mitama said:
Finished the first half in 4-6 hours. I was very disappointed with the length of the levels, not to mention their difficulty. Played a bit of the first level of the second half and from what I recall (it's been a while) it felt like a minor edit of the original first level. Shut it down right then and haven't picked it up since. Did I really miss out?
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The S worlds are the second half of the game. People refer to it as post game content for want of a better term, but there's basically 16 worlds in the game, not 8
 
Loved it.

I 100% it in about a week. I never even beat games anymore, let alone 100% it. Let alone that quickly.

It was a great time.
 
It's really good, but the levels aren't as creative or exciting as the Galaxy games. And wow at all the Sunshine lovers, I mean it was all right but there was almost no variety in the levels.
 
The levels are way too basic and small for me to come back to it. I found the game to be extremely forgettable.

Super Mario World or Mario 64 are my favorites by far.

I love Mario 3 but I hate that you can't save your progress. Mario Sunshine ranks up there as well, I prefer Sunshine over Galaxy 1&2.
 
One of the few games that I've actually went and 100%'d which is very rare for me now. Really enjoyed the difficulty curve they put into it.
 
Love Super Mario 3D Land. Probably my favorite 3D Mario Boss fight with Bowser. Pure plattforming bliss. Soooo good.
 
While I find it hard to argue with your choice, for me Mario Galaxy is the pinnacle of the series, if not the platforming genre in general. Hell, one of the most important achievements in gaming.

But well, 3D Land was pure fun, I would replay that game again and again.
 
It's so fun, but not my favorite. Awesome visuals, and the levels have that playground feel of 64 but the amazing, trialing level design of the Galaxies. Galaxies are my favorite and somewhere between SMG2 and SMW, my second favorite, lies this game. Tokyo EAD is the best thing to happen the SNES. Without a doubt the Galaxies are the most exciting, inventive, and well-designed 3D platformers ever, but somehow the fundamental design of SM3DL I do not thing could match them. Galaxy is like a roller coaster and dividing that up into small 30-seconds-or-less levels would be a disservice to the design of Galaxy. So I don't think I'll ever like SM3DL more than the Galaxies, I'm okay with that.

I'll say it: 64 is my least favorite Mario game. It's a good game to be damn sure, but it's like giving me Castlevania Aria of Sorrow and calling Super Metroid. Padded down with too much fluffy adventure stuff and not enough butt-clenching skill-driven platforming to be the same product (64 and Galaxies not AoS and SM); to me it's not at all what makes Mario Mario. For me Sunshine was a huge step above 64.
 
shadyspace said:
Does any other Mario game have the amount of content and as a result, the incentive to strive for that post-game content? Not that I'm aware of. Just getting through a level isn't enough, there's this fantastic meta-game on top of that of getting all three star coins and making sure you land the top of the flag pole.
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Finding the star coins is almost trivial. I can't seriously count the flagpoles as a real challenge that adds anything to the game, it's just busywork.

Finding all the secret exits in SMW and scoring 100 in Yoshi's Island are much better challenges.
 
PKrockin said:
Finding the star coins is almost trivial. I can't seriously count the flagpoles as a real challenge that adds anything to the game, it's just busywork.

Finding all the secret exits in SMW and scoring 100 in Yoshi's Island are much better challenges.
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Yeah I agree with this.

CassSept said:
I still have to beat it because of controls. All Mario games up to this had terrific controls. This one doesn't.
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Mostly this, too. My hand gets cramped all too quickly while playing 3D Land. After so many retries of the last few levels I must give up for the day. I've lost a lot of motivation to play it because I know my hands will inevitably cramp I really only play it for a few minutes before clamshelling my 3DS and calling it a day.

clemenx said:
I've never understood this. A hard Mario doesn't exist.

No, Lost Levels doesn't count. And if it does is just one game.
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Hah, sure. The original three were all fairly challenging and Lost Levels can be just brutal. Galaxy 2 can be very hard. The S-World in this is hard. Even SMW had some really tough levels.
 
Needs a sequel so bad.

I'd love a SML 3D2 that's to SML 3D what SMG2 was to SMG1.
 
It's easily the best 3D Mario and it rivals SMW for the best ever

My only gripes with it is that once the difficulty goes up in the latter half and it gets really interesting, there's a bit too much reused content. Also the tanooki suit is too overpowered; though I guess that's nothing new.
 
For me 3D land was by far the worst Mario I've played. Yep lots of content but it's far too easy. When I can put the 3DS on the floor and complete a Mario game using my toes then I know something is amiss. :)
 
Not sure whether it's my favorite or not, but it was defiantly great. Totally disagree with any Mario fan thinking it was less than good.
Somersaulting fireballs made it feel like a power fantasy to me :P Also dat final boss.

Two things I didn't like: plastering tanooki tails everywhere and the randomity of the worlds. It doesn't have to be the usual boring worlds but I would've liked some little theming.
(Also I hated how I had to collect clocks to finish a time trial. One of the levels seemed perfect for long jumping shortcuts.)
 
My favorite Mario game will always be Super Mario World. I do love playing other Mario games, but I have to choose SWM because that game never gets old. It's fun as it will ever be imo.
 
Something about the game felt off to me. I always felt like my movement was never quite as precise as it was in other 3D Mario games. The game was also bipolar as hell. Entirely too easy for the entirety of the game until you reached
S8-Crown
. That level was just frustratingly unfun. Overall the game wasn't terribly memorable to me and I feel it was always kind of lacking...something. Definitely one of the weaker entries to me.
 
Love the hybrid 2D/3D format and inventiveness of some of the level design. It felt like the first 3D Mario game that really seized upon what worked in the older 2D Marios and translated it into the 3rd dimension. For that alone I give it a lot of credit.

However, I dislike the weak difficulty curve and somewhat sluggish physics (I get the concept of putting the run button in, but it didn't work that well in practice imo. Also, I wasn't a fan of the samey level themes and floating Duplo block aesthetic that also plagues the NSMB series. I think the "post game" content is vastly overrated as well, and having to go through the entire game again just to hit the flagpoles with Luigi to unlock the last level is cheap, cheap, cheap.

Overall it's a great game and does credit to the series, but I wouldn't place it in my top 3. Still, I would love to see them use the same basic template for a more difficult and thematically daring sequel.
 
I found it to be the most boring Mario game I've played to date next to NSMB DS. I would say my favorite 3D Mario game is tied between SMG2 and Mario 64.
 
alazz said:
Mostly this, too. My hand gets cramped all too quickly while playing 3D Land. After so many retries of the last few levels I must give up for the day. I've lost a lot of motivation to play it because I know my hands will inevitably cramp I really only play it for a few minutes before clamshelling my 3DS and calling it a day.
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Cramps are the main issue, yeah, but aside from that I hate how Mario is controlled overall in this game. It seems so slooow compared to other 3D Mario games, and I absolutely hate idea of run button. I really envy people who didn't have problems with controls because this basically kills the game for me.
 
TurkishEmperor said:
Its Mario Sunshine for me.
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I know the polite opinion is that these things are subjective, but...

SMS:

Shines- 120

Shines for collecting coins (yellow, red, blue)- 56

By far the worst offender of the series when it comes to filler imo. Keep in mind this does not even include the Piantissimo and Shadow Mario Shines, which are equally lacking in inventiveness. Couple that with the fact that some of the blue coins only show up in a single episode for no reason whatsoever and you've got a recipe for tedium.
 
It's great but I don't like how the difficulty of special worlds is based mostly on shadow mario runs and timed runs. I'd prefer more enemies and/or minor level tweaks. I hate being rushed anywhere, let alone in a game.
 
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