Mario’s jump to 3-D a smooth one in Super Mario 3D Land - Cape Breton

If you’re a Nintendo 3DS owner like me, you may find yourself shutting the 3-D setting off more often than not. That all changes with Super Mario 3D Land, where staying in the third dimension is a big part of a rich gaming experience.

Seeing that depth in each stage with the 3-D feature switched on sets the latest Mario entry apart from other games on the handheld, where it’s mostly used as a goofy gimmick. It’s like Super Mario 64 and the New Super Mario Bros. had a 3-D love child.

The story is the same as just about every other Super Mario Bros. title that’s come before it: Princess Peach is kidnapped by the evil Bowser and dares Mario to come to the rescue. If it was me, I would have given up long ago and found a girlfriend who’s not as high maintenance. I mean going through eight castles before rescuing her? Talk about jumping through hoops.

Super Mario 3D Land touches the nostalgic button, with plenty of old NES sprites brought into the game’s 3-D world, like sections of stages that are shaped like a power-up mushroom from the original Super Mario Bros. Even the music includes some remixed old tunes from previous games, like the mushroom house jingle from Super Mario Bros. 3.

There are plenty of power-ups both old and new as well to guide Mario through eight different worlds and another eight special worlds after beating the game. Old faithfuls like the power-up mushroom and fire flower are joined by new entries like the propeller box and the boomerang flower. Making a return is the leaf that gives Mario a tanooki suit, complete with a tail for bad guy whipping. What a tanooki is, I’m not entirely sure. It’s like a bear-type thing with a racoon tail. Just play along.

Any seasoned Mario player who’s spent years squishing demonic mushrooms or jumping on turtle shells shouldn’t have a problem putting Bowser and his hired goons in their place. I was midway through the game and had racked up over 80 lives. It seems one-up mushrooms and coins are given out like candy, so scoring a few extra lives per level isn’t unusual. Either that, or I’ve just played way too much Mario over the years. Or maybe it’s because I’m Italian like my boy Mario. Why couldn’t I be a millionaire soccer player instead?

If great games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Super Street Fighter IV 3D weren’t enough for you to pick up a Nintendo 3DS, Super Mario 3D Land should be the game that finally makes you a believer. That’s why it’s getting 9.5 stereotypical Italian plumbers out of 10.

On The Bit Life Blog this week:

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D for the Nintendo 3DS gets a release date, Dead Island gets some new downloadable content, and I get all nostalgic about one of my favourite arcade games ever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Cowabunga indeed.

By night, T.J. Colello is a sports reporter at the Cape Breton Post. Even later at night, he plays way too many video games to be considered healthy for a normal human being. He can be reached via email at tjcolello@cbpost.com, on Twitter @tjcolello, or visit his blog at thebitlife.capebretonpost.com.