Paper Mario 3D Land

Super Mario is a well-established franchise for a few decades now, and Nintendo is not going to let it die anytime soon. Not only that, but the fan base is quite active as well, since there are many user-created mods and games set in the Mario universe. Granted, not all of them are very high-quality, but some independent productions have managed to gain quite a bit of popularity.

Paper Mario 3D Land is based on the legendary game published by Nintendo back in 2000, but it also includes elements from a few other games in the franchise. As with most Mario games, this one is a platformer as well, although the experience is a tad different from your usual sidescroller. Hence, the environments are actually three-dimensional, which allows you to move more freely.

On the other hand, the camera positioning makes it a bit difficult to properly assess depth, and that may lead to some annoying deaths. You won’t always be able to see the next gap until you are already falling into it, and the same goes with enemies. Obviously, this isn’t always the case, but it often happens that you let your guard down for a moment and you find yourself one life short.

There are some power-ups you can pick up along the way to make your task easier, and they have a pretty major impact on the gameplay. Some sections are a lot easier to deal with if you don’t skip a certain treasure box, but that also means that you’ll constantly have to be searching for stuff in fear of not being able to survive. The enemies are tougher as well, since most of them require multiple hits to be neutralized.

As far as the level design is concerned, every stage is different and quite well done, although some sections can be rather repetitive. The platforming is tough but fair, at least as long as you manage to stay focused due to the awkward camera positioning. The graphics remain true to the original game, so it should be a hit with those who want to remember the simpler times.

All things considered, Paper Mario 3D Land is a great way to enjoy a bit of retro gaming, and it features enough content to keep you busy for a while. Almost everything is designed to look and feel like the classic Paper Mario.