Tag: Super Mario

I got back to playing some Super Mario 3D World, and I resumed my game at World 5. This world starts off with a tropical beach level called Sunshine Seaside. For some reason, a bunch of Chargin’ Chucks are in a huddle in front of a Bowser sand sculpture. Fortunately, I found a cool boomerang suit to help me fight them.

After collecting five key icons, I was able to open up the way to the second part of the level. Here, you ride Plessie the dinosaur down a thin strip of water seemingly hovering in space. There are some enemies to avoid and obstacles to overcome, but Plessie’s ability to jump is very helpful. World 5-1 is a fun level and an impressive start to the world.

World 5-Toad is another of the puzzle-oriented levels in which you must play as Toad. Toad can’t jump in these levels, so you have to use ramps and doorways to ascend the structure as you seek five green stars. There are also some blocks that can function as elevators by using the touch screen on the Wii U gamepad. These levels are a nice change of pace and they’re pretty fun.

World 5-2: Tricky Trapeze Theater is the most challenging level in this world. It definitely lives up to its name, as you must jump from tilting platforms (with spiky traps that roll from end to end) as well as swinging trapezes. I lost a number of lives in this stage. It is a colorful and visually appealing level, however.

In World 5-4: Sprawling Savanna, you are shot through a series of cannons up a tall structure (Donkey Kong Country style) and then to a floating island of sorts. The island appears to be small at first, but as you fly through the air towards it, you find that it’s actually huge. There aren’t many enemies here, so it’s fun to just run around in a cat suit or tanooki suit. There some bunny rabbits to catch, so I had fun chasing them down.

World 5-6: Cakewalk Flip is another interesting level. There are outlines showing where red and blue squares are, but only one color will be solid at a time. Every time Mario jumps, the squares flip over from red to blue or vice versa. There may be piranha plants on the underside of squares that you don’t see until you jump to flip them over. It reminds me a bit of the blocks in World 4-3: Beep Block Skyway, but those were on a timer. Here, you can control the flipping yourself by planning your jumps carefully. It’s actually not as difficult as it sounds, fortunately.

I found a bonus level where there was a train of solid gold, just littered with coins. But the scrolling is forced and I didn’t hop on the train quick enough, so I barely caught a glimpse of the stunning train. I just hope I’ll have another chance to find a similar bonus level later in the game, because I definitely wasted my opportunity this time.

World 5 is quite an enjoyable collection of levels, and it’s one of my favorite worlds so far. But that’s all I have for this time. Next time, I’ll be heading off to World 6, which appears to be a sky/cloud world.

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After playing only as Mario through the first three worlds of Super Mario 3D World, I decided to try out the other characters in World 4. I started out World 4-1 as Luigi.

Luigi has the ability to jump higher than Mario, but that makes him have a bit of a floaty feel that I don’t particularly care for. I’ve never been fond of playing as Luigi in Mario games for that reason. After one level of that, I switched to Princess Peach for World 4-2.

Peach has the ability to briefly hover in mid-air, much like she did in Super Mario Bros. 2. I found this to be very helpful, especially in levels that involve a lot of platform-hopping. Unlike Luigi’s jump, this feels easier to control. I stuck with the Princess for most of World 4. Her hover jump is a life-saver in World 4-3: Beep Block Skyway, where blocks appear and disappear at regular intervals. When pink blocks disappear, blue blocks appear, and vice versa.

I then gave Toad a try for World 4-5: Spike’s Lost City. Toad moves around quick, but he doesn’t jump very high at all. He might be okay for relatively flat levels, but you don’t want to use him for levels that have a lot of jumping.

After that, I switched back to Peach for the rest of World 4. Going forward, I think I’m only going to be using Mario and Peach for the rest of the game. World 4 was fun, but it wasn’t quite the ball of excitement that World 3 was. It also wasn’t very challenging at all. But next time, I’ll head into World 5, which appears to be a water level. See you then!

I’ve resumed my adventure in Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, this time heading off to World 3. It appears to be an ice world as it starts out with an awesome first level filled with surprises, Snowball Park. The snow-covered trees lose their snow when you climb them, and snowmen pop out of the ground. Knock the snowmen apart, and you can pick up their…uh…snowballs and roll them at other enemies. There are also propeller blocks which you can pick up to soar high into the air.

But my favorite part of the level is the ice-skating Goombas. Stomp them and you can hop into the big ice skate and skate around! It reminds me of Kuribo’s shoe from Super Mario Bros. 3, although this isn’t quite as useful since it doesn’t work very well once you leave the ice. It’s a whole lot of fun while it lasts, though. Another cool feature of this level is the return of the tanooki suit! Even though it doesn’t let you turn into a statue this time around, it’s awesome to hop into a tanooki suit once again.

World 3-2: Chain-Link Charge ramps up the challenge. This is the first level I’ve really had some trouble with. It’s a forced-scrolling obstacle course with lots of hazards such as moving gates that block your path and donut blocks that start falling after you land on them. The cat suit comes in very handy, thanks to Cat Mario’s ability to climb walls. But even as a cat, some of the jumps are quite tricky. I had trouble with the depth perception; it can be difficult to see where your character is at when you’re in mid-air. I lost a number of lives here that I felt were cheap deaths. World 3-1 may have been my favorite level of the game so far, but World 3-2 is my least favorite level.

World 3-3: Shifty Boo Mansion is the first ghost house. There are branching paths and plenty of ghosts. Things aren’t as they seem here, with some fake items and even a fake exit. But this level is really cool; there’s even a part where you go outdoors in the rain on a balcony. This is quite an enjoyable stage.

Even though World 3 first appeared to be an ice world, it’s really not. World 3 is surprisingly diverse and enjoyable. Aside from the levels I talked about above, there’s also a level with a short 100-tick time limit, a train level called the Bullet Bill Express, a Mario Kart themed level (complete with the Mario Circuit music), and a very cool beach/underwater level. Super Mario 3D World seems to get better and better as it goes along. I’m looking forward to see what kind of surprises lie ahead in World 4. Join me next time as I continue my adventure.