For anyone that has seen a single piece of footage from Super Mario 3D World, you likely at least saw the brand new Cat Suit power-up that Nintendo has been boasting since the game’s initial unveiling. As in past games in the series, the biggest new power-up is showcased right away in the very first stage. The look of the Cat Suit is very cute, especially on a character like Toad. The suit has a lot of use as well with the inclusion of wall climbing and a melee like attack.
The other new power-up that you will come across early in the game is the Double Cherry power-up. This allows you to split into two of your character, with an extra added for each additional Double Cherry that you pick up. This one is interesting to use, but can take quite a bit of getting used to with controlling all of your copies. There are also of course the classic power-ups, like the Fire Flower, along the way as well. The Piranha Plant somewhat power-up is neat too. You pick up the Piranha Plant and can eat pretty much anything in your path as long as you have it in your hands.
Just like it’s predecessor on the 3DS, Super Mario 3D World does an excellent job with level design, including special levels like the one with Plessie. Each levels seems like its own and that it was built straight from the ground up. The locations are familiar to Mario, but without feeling like retreads. There is a level in the second world that greatly utilizes shadows in certain parts of the stage, which really enhances the experience. Another nice aspect of the levels is the fact that a lot of them can be attacked in more than one way. As with most Mario titles, you can do a speed run of a stage pretty quickly if you wish, but you also have the option to take it slow and collect more coins along with each of the three Green Stars in each stage.
Super Mario 3D World is an absolute joy to play by mixing elements of the old school games in the series with the 3D Mario titles. I’ve barely been able to put down the GamePad since getting the game, with the ability to use off-TV play a huge help to that. I have a feeling this is one game I will be continuing to play for the near future and revisiting a lot beyond that. There will be much more coverage on Super Mario 3D World in our full review that will be hitting mid-next week.
