Super Mario 3D Land

Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: 2011
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Platformer

Being given birth some fitting 9 months into the hardware’s maturing life Super Mario 3D Land is the first non-gimmicky title to make the 3D slider truly useful—if not almost mandatory in a couple dizzying sections.

But having the best 3D in the platform comes at a cost—and at times a high one: a heavily scripted, stiff camera system. Compelling as they are, the beautifully crafted levels are meant to be experienced in specific ways; that is less harming when it’s just about the game showing off, but it steadily grows in annoyance in tighter platforming sections, leap-of-faith star coins or the battles where Bowser looks awesome at expense of the very ground the player needs to thread.

Gorgeous, but not very functional.

Another structure issue keeps that very same top-notch design from being fully enjoyable: ol’ time limits are just pointless where the series is now—to the point there are extra clocks clumsily scattered around with the sole purpose of making exploration affordable.

Despite never quite unlocking its full potential Super Mario 3D Land remains a fine example on Nintendo’s ethos of making good hardware-informed software.