The difficulty level in the game accommodates all levels of players – up to a point. Rather than give the player an endless list of options, Nintendo has chosen here to limit the number of power-ups available, but make them all the more valuable to the player in terms of their level progression. The power-ups feel incredibly balanced throughout the game. The Boomerang Mushroom is a new power-up that gifts Mario a never-ending supply of boomerangs, which the player can use to take out foes and collect coins. There's the Propeller Box, a new riff on the Propeller Mushroom from New Super Mario Bros, which allows players to execute huge vertical leaps and slow their descent. The Fire Flower and Tanooki Suit return, with the latter of offering the player a degree of control over their jump airtime that comes in very handy in certain stages.

The power-ups in the game are mixture of new and old. This is a game that is designed with your working week commute in mind every level – at least, initially– is easy to beat, provided you're not the sort of player who is obsessed with collecting everything on their first play-through. They're also constructed in such a way that allows them to be enjoyed in bite-sized gaming chunks. Granted, this is a Mario game and players know what to expect to a degree – ghost houses, music blocks, coins, mushroom power-ups and flagpoles at the end of every level – but while the levels themselves take more than one or two cues from earlier games, they are bursting with new ideas.

The game's appeal is bolstered further by the quality of its design. In this game, players will find their progress becomes more difficult and frustrating unless they play it in 3D. The 3D visuals are used as more than just a neat gimmick, and instead become an organic part of the overall experience. In certain sections of the game – a top-down level involving platforms floating in the sky, for example, or some bonus levels which plonk barriers in the player's path – the 3D display becomes absolutely vital to the player's progress. Moreover, it's perplexing that Super Mario 3D Land wasn't a launch title for its platform, because not only is it a great game, it makes the console's 3D visuals integral to the gameplay.

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