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Fun Club What Was Once Considered The Worst 3D Mario's Is Now Considered One Of The Best: Happy 10th Anniversary To Super Mario 3D World!

Galaxy 2 is the only 3D Mario I'd put above it. Absolutely stellar and the port is even better with the speed upgrade.
 
NateDrake said:
As long as Mario Sunshine exists... no 3D Mario will rank lower than it.
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No lies detected.

It's like how bad can you program any mini-game on Earth that make Bubsy 3D and its tank controls play like Mario Odyssey in comparison.
 
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I like Mario 3D World but its part of Nintendo’s idea to make 3D Mario titles more like 2D games due to massive New SMB DS/Wii success (both +30 millions) but in 3D space and of course be a linear path with flagpoles.

Then they decided to flip things out and make again a 3D sandbox game (Odyssey) and well it got a massive success.
 
3D World is an incredibly fun game and probably still the absolute best multiplayer Mario experience to this day. It is, however, a bit underwhelming in the context of what you expect from a 3D Mario.

As fun as it is, you just can't compare the impact and grandiose of Odyssey's Bowser's Castle to anything 3D World presents, even though I think 3D World is consistently more fun than Odyssey is. It's almost like different genres, and if you go into one expecting the other, you will be a little underwhelmed, and that was exactly what happened when it released. Nintendo failed a bit to read the room with that one, it just wasn't what the fan base was expecting after 4 NSMB games which made that aesthetic feel pretty basic and overused, 3D Land had just released and didn't exactly rock anyone's world, and when Nintendo fans were still waiting to see the value of adopting the Wii U when it seemed more and more obvious that it was a catastrophe.

I don't think there's any scenario where Nintendo announces 3D World as their first 3D Mario on a console and don't get at least some backlash for it not being a grander adventure game, but the Wii U was possibly the worst moment they could have chosen to do it.
 
It really is a shame that even a thread meant to celebrate the anniversary of Super Mario 3D World is squarely focused on the negative reactions folks had to it on its unveiling. "Ambition" is a bit of a buzzword, but I feel like that's exactly what people were looking for with games on the Wii U. The first HD console from Nintendo must mean bigger, bolder games, right? We want big scale open exploration 3D Mario game! And...that's not what the Wii U got, 3D Mario or otherwise. We got out Mario Makers and our Splatoons, we got a big open world game with Xenoblade X and a very gorgeous Mario Kart as a showcase for the system, but when every game had to have the burden of "saving" the Wii U, everything that isn't the most ambitious thing gets to be seen as a letdown.

Of course, I was one of those folks who loved 3D World from the start. The multiplayer focus of this game ended up being a lot more fun than with the New Super Mario Bros. games because it was a lot harder to accidentally get in your friends' ways, and if you didn't want multiplayer. you had five different characters to choose. The 3D Land power set got nicely extended with the Cat Suit and the level specific items like the Double Cherry and the many more blocks to wear on your head. The jazzy soundtrack gave the game and the Sprixie Kingdom a nice athmosphere that Mario Kart 8 carried forward excellently. And, of course, the level design was strong, if a bit too open for a single player, with plenty of options for using the power ups, lots of bonuses to find, and loads and loads of ideas that help areas stick out.

Time has been kind. We have a Switch port that cleans up a few of the game's weak points with an excellent expansion, and we have both a more open 3D game with Odyssey and a fresh 2D game with Wonder. Thus we can appreciate 3D World for what it is instead of what it isn't. It's not the Wii U's grand savior - nothing could save a product that people simply did not want. But it's a stellar 3D Mario game whose creativity shines with its levels. While I think the hybrid approach of Bowser's Fury is the way to go for a new 3D Mario game, I'd gladly take a crack at another pure course clear Mario in the future.
 
Ozeiyo said:
Counterpoint: Mario Sunshine is great actually
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I played through 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy when the bundle came out and was blown away by just how sluggish Galaxy felt compared to the other two. As bad as certain jank in Sunshine is (pachinko), at least it feels really good to run around in.
rΓͺverie said:
reading this thread made me realize people don't like 3D land...?!

maybe it was the combination of MK7 and 3DL releasing in tandem, but that was one of my favorite gaming moments of last-gen.
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It always felt more like a 2D game than a 3D game to me. Very simplistic stage layouts with not much to do.
 
ngpdrew said:
Some of you hate Sunshine like it poisoned your family.
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I'm gonna be real I didn't start seeing much hate for Sunshine untill like 2011 or so, and even then it's always felt extremely hyperbolic. I grew up with the game and still consider it fantastic.
 
SpaceGodzilla said:
Thanks for insulting me, for trying to paint a picture of when the game first was announced and released
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Sorry it it camo over like an insult, was not my goal.

I do think it's overstating the hate it got, and I'm not a fan of this hyperbole where it's simply not true and you did not provide more context in your post that sets the title in context (that you meant the initial reveal, not the second showing or launch where it was praised).

If you don't want give that picture adding 1 or 2 more lines wo the op would help.
 
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Porygon-Z said:
It always felt more like a 2D game than a 3D game to me. Very simplistic stage layouts with not much to do.
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that's fair, but then again, it is a handheld 3D mario. for that, i think it did a magnificent job at being a fun, quick pick-up-and-play type experience. also one of the only pretty good uses of 3D on the 3DS.

i realize 64 is on DS, but i don't like 64 so that's not much of a counterargument to me lol.
 
It was redeemed by coming with an actual great 3D Mario game called Bowser's Fury.

It's a good game, but it feels like what 3D Mario would've evolved to if Nintendo had just always played it safe instead of flipping the table with Mario 64. A course-based Mario game in a 3D plane. Kind of like Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
 
Mekanos said:
I find it pretty funny that this thread has twice the posts of my OOT anniversary thread because of arguments about its reception.
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Just wait until my 4 year anniversary thread for TOK.

Condolences for the goo family.
 
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No still one of the worst.

1. Super Mario Galaxy
2. Super Mario Odyssey
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
4. Super Mario 64
5. Bowser's Fury
6. Super Mario 3D World
7. Super Mario Sunshine

It's just that being one of the worst in 3D Mario's means you're still one of the greats in gaming.
 
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Never consider this one as a bad mario. Yes, it was more of the same as the 3ds one. But overal, the music is much better than mario odyssey. It was a game."back to the roots" linear levels with a flag pool. Perfect transition from 2d.

Sunshine is still the worst for many reasons. This has never been changed

Yet, the best mario is still mario galaxy 1 & 2. Most memorable music. Most creative design. Best gameplay imo. But thats just my opinion.The atmosphere is phenomenal. And the boss song of galaxy 1 (expect the final one), is one of the best boss themes ever made.
 
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As someone who loves 3D Mario and doesn't care that much for 2D Mario, I feel like 3D World feels like the most linear, 2D-like 3D Mario game and for that reason it's one of my least favorite. I am also one of those weirdos (maybe the only one?) who prefers 3D Land to 3D World. I'm glad that Nintendo didn't keep going in that direction with Odyssey, even if this is a nice game. I'm sure the Switch port improved things with the speed and Bowser's Fury, but I can't honestly put this one in the same league as 64, the Galaxies, and Odyssey based on what I played of the Wii U version.
 
rΓͺverie said:
reading this thread made me realize people don't like 3D land...?!

maybe it was the combination of MK7 and 3DL releasing in tandem, but that was one of my favorite gaming moments of last-gen.
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I will die on the hill that 3D Land is bad, worse than Sunshine. Sunshine at least makes me feel something.

Laughably slow game where the run button doesn't even feel like it does anything, and levels so short and frictionless that I might as well be eating a bag of air for all I'm getting out of them. The saw level in World 7 is easier and has less going on than the one segment of the first level of World 2 in Galaxy 2 that it was based on. It's just pathetic. Even the post-game remix levels don't help, making the game harder doesn't do anything in itself if the real problem is that they were so terrified of making it difficult that they removed everything interesting or engaging from these levels. Playing them again but now I'm being chased or there are spikes everywhere doesn't fix that. The same three boss fights repeated a million times. Awkward camera angles that the game thinks it can get away with because of depth perception. It's like a New Super Mario Bros. game with less of an identity.

The only nice thing I have to say about it is it has a better Bowser fight than 3D World, for some reason. That and the interestingly open-ended desert tower level (3-1?) are the only good ones in the entire game.
 
It never was a bad game but people was expecting a Odyssey-like game from the first Mario 3D in HD, not a (wonderful) sequel of 3D land.


PS: same problem with DKTF, top quality game but from the first HD title made by retro studios a platform 2D was disappointing.
 
Mekanos said:
I find it pretty funny that this thread has twice the posts of my OOT anniversary thread because of arguments about its reception.
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Funny, but not really surprising. The reception of 3D World is built into the framing of the thread, for better or for worse.
 
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I remember this title being very well received since unveiling tbh. And it definitely didn't get trashed like Sunshine, which is absolutely bullshit too since Sunshine is awesome 😎
 
touchfuzzy said:
It was redeemed by coming with an actual great 3D Mario game called Bowser's Fury.

It's a good game, but it feels like what 3D Mario would've evolved to if Nintendo had just always played it safe instead of flipping the table with Mario 64. A course-based Mario game in a 3D plane. Kind of like Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
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You are right, the dev team described 3D Land/3D World as the "missing link" between 2D Mario and 3D Mario games.

It's almost like it should have been:
Mario World -> 3D Land/World -> Mario 64

This idea of a missing link sort of applies to Sunshine, Galaxy, and Galaxy 2, IMHO. Sunshine has less freedom than 64, Galaxy has less freedom than Sunshine, and Galaxy 2 has less freedom than Galaxy -- to the point, it's almost a "pilot episode" for the 3D Land/3D World line.

On the "freedom" scale, the games are:
Mario World -> 3D Land/World -> Galaxy 2 -> Galaxy -> Sunshine -> Mario 64

Odyssey finally tried to beat Mario 64 on its own game instead of going back to a more linear route.
 
I just finished replaying it yesterday! I forgot it had originally released on the 21.

It is as lovely as I remembered, it has my favorite visuals of any Mario game. The fur in the cat suits looks weird nowadays but everything else is simply sublime, so many levels pop so much, something that I dearly missed in Odyssey. The artwork stands out even more so now that I have the chance to play it on a high end display.

The soundtrack is also still glorious. Mix those pluses with the great gameplay and you get my favorite Mario platformer. Hopefully Nintendo makes another thing like it someday.

Never played 3D Land, though, so perhaps it that's why I don't have a skewed opinion against it.
 
SΓ­riocaz said:
I just finished replaying it yesterday! I forgot it had originally released on the 21.

It is as lovely as I remembered, it has my favorite visuals of any Mario game. The fur in the cat suits looks weird nowadays but everything else is simply sublime, so many levels pop so much, something that I dearly missed in Odyssey. The artwork stands out even more so now that I have the chance to play it on a high end display.

The soundtrack is also still glorious. Mix those pluses with the great gameplay and you get my favorite Mario platformer. Hopefully Nintendo makes another thing like it someday.

Never played 3D Land, though, so perhaps it that's why I don't have a skewed opinion against it.
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Nah. I played 3D Land when it came out and it is one of my least favourite Mario games. It made cool use of the 3D at times but the level design is astoundingly boring. The only real negative I remember thinking prior to 3D World is that it it couldn’t really work without the 3DSs 3D. I am glad I was wrong because it is an amazing game. I would guess that it is my favourite 3D Mario game (though there are some I haven’t played for a long time and I have never played Galaxy 2 at all)
 
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I think 3D Land is enjoyable but it's very much in the vein of older portable Nintendo games where it's a downsized experience compared to the console games. The novelty of a proper course-based 3D Mario carried it and it does benefit from not having to design its levels around 4-player, but in almost every other regard 3D World is much better. It's not going to top anyone's favorite game list but it's a solid and polished title. I'd easily put it above Sunshine (which is mostly frustrating to play) and probably even Bowser's Fury (which is a great subgame to 3D World but doesn't really have enough to stand on its own two feet).
 
3D Lands entire gimmick was "hey remember Mario 3" which was made infinitely worse when Mario Kart 7 was trying to do the same thing at the time. Like on its own merits it's perfectly functional but everything I play 3D Mario for was stripped out to make what was essentially NSMB 3D, as I play and want in a 3D Mario to explore, and discover things, and I want to get lost in the worlds and imagine how they work, and do missions and talk to npcs and learn lore about the places I'm traveling to, and every game allowed that up till 3D land, who's levels have no cohesion with each other and may as well all be floating in a void both physically and narratively. 3D World fortunately did a better job blending the 2D Mario in 3D idea with the exploration/discovery element of past games, as the Sprixie Kingdom does feel more fleshed out than anything in 3D Land, but the inherent course like design of the levels and the needless timer system only held it back.

The soundtrack of 3D World however is sublime.
 
3D Mario rankings (master list)

  1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
  2. Super Mario 3D World
  3. Super Mario Galaxy
  4. Super Mario 64
  5. Super Mario 3D Land
  6. Super Mario Odyssey
  7. Super Mario Sunshine
 
Mekanos said:
I'd easily put it above Sunshine (which is mostly frustrating to play)
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Hm... at least sunshine has unique designs and feels more creative. Land plays bettere, but i think overall i liked sunshine more.
When i think of 3D land, i just think of those weird lego style color blocks that filled half of the game. and i know thats wrong.
looks it up
ok yeah, because every level is floating in a void with abstract background shapes. It doesn't feel grounded in a world, it feels level based to a T, and in 2D it worked, but in 3D seing all this emepty space breakes it for me.

Mango said:
3D Lands entire gimmick was "hey remember Mario 3" which was made infinitely worse when Mario Kart 7 was trying to do the same thing at the time. Like on its own merits it's perfectly functional but everything I play 3D Mario for was stripped out to make what was essentially NSMB 3D, as I play and want in a 3D Mario to explore, and discover things, and I want to get lost in the worlds and imagine how they work, and do missions and talk to npcs and learn lore about the places I'm traveling to, and every game allowed that up till 3D land, who's levels have no cohesion with each other and may as well all be floating in a void both physically and narratively. 3D World fortunately did a better job blending the 2D Mario in 3D idea with the exploration/discovery element of past games, as the Sprixie Kingdom does feel more fleshed out than anything in 3D Land, but the inherent course like design of the levels and the needless timer system only held it back.

The soundtrack of 3D World however is sublime.
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it definitely took a lot from Mario 3, mostly the suit, but it definitely had its own thing with the 3D gimick, those rooms where stuff was hidden behind corners, the whole "those levels don't exist in the real world otherwirse they would not float in nothingness".... unlike the map from 3 where its lands, its a straight line. If somebody would say to me thats its a meta story and mario is caught in console cyberspace to free peach i would totally belive it. Mario 3 has way more character then that.
 
Mekanos said:
I think 3D Land is enjoyable but it's very much in the vein of older portable Nintendo games where it's a downsized experience compared to the console games. The novelty of a proper course-based 3D Mario carried it and it does benefit from not having to design its levels around 4-player, but in almost every other regard 3D World is much better. It's not going to top anyone's favorite game list but it's a solid and polished title. I'd easily put it above Sunshine (which is mostly frustrating to play) and probably even Bowser's Fury (which is a great subgame to 3D World but doesn't really have enough to stand on its own two feet).
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Yeah, this is where I stand. While I understand and completely get people finding a game so inoffensive that it is bad, I just find it a pretty fun portable title that is quick and easy to play. It's not going to blow anyones minds or anything, but it's still a fun time. It's a middle of the pack 3D Mario to me, with multiple being below it.
 
Porygon-Z said:
I played through 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy when the bundle came out and was blown away by just how sluggish Galaxy felt compared to the other two. As bad as certain jank in Sunshine is (pachinko), at least it feels really good to run around in.

It always felt more like a 2D game than a 3D game to me. Very simplistic stage layouts with not much to do.
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Same. I was already a certified Sunshine enjoyer when the collection came out, but I was surprised by how much more fun I had just running around through Sunshine than I did in Galaxy. With Galaxy being an overall more polished game.
rΓͺverie said:
reading this thread made me realize people don't like 3D land...?!

maybe it was the combination of MK7 and 3DL releasing in tandem, but that was one of my favorite gaming moments of last-gen.
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3D Land is a perfect portable Mario game. It's probably the Mario game I've beaten most times, even if it's not my favourite. That says something.
 
Played it for the first time on Switch and it is indeed a pretty stellar game but I will say it didn't sway me regarding my preference towards more sandbox/exploration based 3D Mario games.

A great game and fun deviation but not really what I'd want the future of 3D Mario to be (which would lean more towards Bowser Fury/Odyssey instead).
 
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I liked 3D World a lot when I played it on Switch, but I think its biggest problem is that it's not as interesting as a sandbox 3D Mario game, and lacks the wow factor of Galaxy. It's a great game, but not a concept I'll miss if they never revisit it.
 
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Great game. There was negative stigma around the game when it was first announced, like most things associated with the Wii-U at the time, but when you actually play the game, it is an instant classic.

That game still wins the award for the biggest level spike ever from the penultimate level to champions road.
 
When we say it wasn’t what the Wii U needed that implies that even a more ambitious Mario could have saved the system which is…doubtful

The most ambitious Mario kart since 64 couldn’t save it….
 
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Aether said:
This thread title feels like bait, or an overzealous fan that overstates the hate it got...
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a lot of people were really angry with it at the time, I don’t think that’s unfair framing
 
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I think that the music in 3d world is just fantastic. I regularly listen to it outside of the game. Its just so catchy and jazzy, and bowsers theme is the best it’s ever been
 
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