In 2021, I did a 3D Mario game ranking for another forum, where I wrote elaborate write-ups for each game. I have my write-ups saved and I re-read my entry for Super Mario 3D Land, which I think is still indicative of my thoughts. I tweaked it a little and I will share what I wrote here. It's a long read so there's no pressure to read all or any of it:
In my pre-teens, a few years after Super Mario 64 came out, I went through a negative phase for that game. It was possibly due to me replaying the 2D Mario games I grew up with that I came to the (misguided) conclusion that Mario 64 was not like those games, and therefore, not very good. The worlds were too open, there were no permanent power-ups like fire flowers and raccoon tails, and the tone went for the weird and atmospheric rather than the bouncy and colorful. In those days, I started to yearn for a 3D Mario that felt like the 2D Marios, but I came to a bit of a standstill when I realized I couldn’t imagine how a 2D Mario game would work in the 3D space.
If I had a window to ten years into the future and got to see Super Mario 3D Land, I would have gone “YES! THIS!”
3D Land is what happens when you take Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Bros. 1, put them in a blender and slap the result onto a handheld with stereoscopic 3D. The gameplay is three-dimensional in a loose sense, as we are back to the level structure of the 2D Mario games rather than open worlds to explore. Here we have the same playful level design of Galaxy 2 in a 2.5D space with Mario 3 power-ups and the level-by-level structure of Super Mario Bros. 1, and it all works very well. It’s about as “Mario” as you can possibly get.
For a long time, this game was a blank spot in my memory. I knew I played it back in 2011 and enjoyed it well enough, but it always occupied this sensation of “meh” in my head. In fact, when I last ranked the Mario games as recently as October 2020, this was the last-place entry on the list. I had it in my head that, because I didn’t remember anything from it, the game must have been pretty bad. This last week, I decided to replay it for the first time in years, which kind of gave me the idea to make this list in the first place.
This game is a lot of fun! Way more fun than I remembered. If you want a pure Mario experience that you can pick up and play whenever, this is a great one to fill that urge. The levels are quick and bite-sized and autosave after you complete each one, allowing you play for just a couple of minutes at a time if you need that instant Mario fix. Probably the best part of it all is that there are 16 whole worlds worth of levels to play as well, which means it will keep you occupied for quite a while.
The level design doesn’t exactly have anything that will blow you away like Galaxy, but it gives you that sheer rush of fun something like Super Mario Bros. 3 would, which makes sense given how much the power-ups and design philosophy borrow from that game. One area this game excels that no other Mario game can, though, is the 3D functionality of the 3DS. I rarely ever used this function on any given 3DS game, but on my latest playthrough, I decided to crank it up for the entire game, and it makes such a difference. These levels pop so much in 3D that I can’t imagine playing them without the slider turned up ever again. It makes me wonder, considering how much Nintendo banked on the 3D capabilities of the 3DS, why they never utilized it to this degree on any other 3DS games. 3D Land is a game that was obviously built with the 3D capabilities in mind, as it adds so much depth and character to the experience.
I think what also sets 3D Land apart from 2D Marios such as Mario 3 and New Super Mario Bros., is the lack of consistent world themes. Remember how on the third New Super Mario Bros. game, you were getting so unbelievably sick of grasslands -> desert -> water -> snow, etc. etc.? Here, 3D Land just flat-out eschews world themes altogether. You may enter a world with a yellow background and assume desert, but you’ll find yourself in grassland and water areas with no rhyme or reason. This might disappoint people who enjoy levels to feel grounded in a particular theme; however, for me, I found it to be a breath of fresh air. It meant the devs were able to think outside the box and just give us level after level of whatever ideas they had, rather than thinking “okay, now we need five desert levels and five snow levels.” To jump from an abstract ghost world to a water level to a floating block level to a desert level actually feels great and gives me a feeling of never knowing what to expect.
I do think 3D Land falls flat in a couple of areas, however. Remember how I said I forgot about 3D Land for years? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. While it’s a lot of fun in the moment, it all kind of blurs in your mind and makes you go “yep, that’s Mario.” It’s perfectly enjoyable but there is no single level that will jump out in your mind as “oh that was incredible” like Galaxy or 3D World would. It’s just Mario for the sake of Mario, and that’s totally fine; we don’t need every game to blow our minds. Sometimes we just want some relatively mindless fun and that’s perfectly acceptable.
Also annoying is the criteria for 100% completion. Collecting every star coin, the top of the flagpole, and clearing all 80+ levels with two different characters is just mindless busywork and unlocking the final level doesn’t justify it. You’d think just collecting the star coins alone would be enough, but they decided to pad the hell out of it for no real reason. Unlike 3D World, the levels just aren’t fun enough on their own to make you actively want to play them over and over. My recommendation is to basically get as far in the game as you are willing to keep playing it and then stop when you’re ready.
Is Super Mario 3D Land an enjoyable game? Absolutely. Is it a particularly memorable one? Not really. I do think it is a lot better than I initially gave it credit for, and if you passed it up before, I urge you to at least give it a try. If nothing else, you’ll get some good fun out of it and it will at least please you more than the average New Super Mario Bros. will.