The 'Shroom:Issue LVIII/Should Have Been

Should Have Been by

Hello, and welcome again to '''Should stop adding exclamation marks everywhere! Have Been'''! Here, I say what should have been in games and talk about the Beta elements of them.

This month, I'm going to cover Super Mario 3D Land. Oh, and, before you asked, nobody suggested anything: send me a personal message on the Super Mario Boards if there's something you want me to cover.

What should have been in this game?
Starting off, I loved this game. I felt it was an almost perfect escapade for the red-capped hero on the 3DS. But the game, in some places, could be improved.

First, the story of the game is a little bit bland. I mean, yes, it's not different than that of many other Mario games, but that's usually only for 2D platformers. This is a 3D game, albeit still a platformer, so I'd expect there to be a better story behind it. The design for the overworlds also seemed pretty simple to me. Simple isn't always bad, but, especially going by the overworlds in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I think they really could have looked better.

Next, I think there should have been more different bosses in this game. There were only, what, four Bosses in this game (not counting rematches or final battles or whatever)? And there's 16 Worlds, so there's a load of repeated fights (and some worlds without any bosses at all). I think there should have been more different bosses in this game, because the battles just get a bit same-ish (or don't happen at all). Maybe each world could have had a different boss, maybe with Boom Boom or Pom Pom at a tower level in the middle of a world.

The Super Leaf returns in this game (in case you haven't looked at anything about it ever before), but arguably its most useful feature, the ability to fly through the air, is missing. While the player can Flutter Jump while wearing it, I don't think this would be as useful as flying. Flying, in my opinion, would eliminate the need of the Invincibility Leaf, in my opinion. Alternately, the Statue Leaf (which, in my opinion, was a pretty useless update to the Super Leaf) could have had the ability to fly, instead of Flutter Jump.

Now, each of the 16 worlds has only about four or five levels: I would have honestly preferred less worlds to less levels per world. I would have also liked if there was a distinct theme for every world, e.g. jungle, forest, ice world etc., but all of the levels in each world just seem...random. Next, there is a good chance some players will not be able to get the stars which appear on their profile, after completing certain aspects, to sparkle. To get the sparkling stars, I think you have to complete every level without losing no less than 5 Lives. I think there should be another way you can get these stars, if you lose these lives. It's only a minor thing, but it's the little things that count.

Now onto something that some people really think was toned down in this game: the difficulty. Now, I personally think this game has a pretty good level of difficulty, especially in the later levels. But I do think it takes quite a while to kick in: Special 2 was, where I felt, I began struggling on some of the levels. In a normal game with around 8 worlds, that would respond to about World 6. Yet I felt, in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the same level of difficulty kicked in at about World 5, or maybe even World 4. The game seems very forgiving with the Invincibility Leaf and whatnot. I think the game could have been less forgiving.

Finally, on a more minor note, I really thought the optical illusion rooms, where you may need to switch to 3D to see the game better, very innovative and a great idea. However, there weren't many parts of the game where this mechanic was used, so I'd have liked to have seen more of it.

Enemies who should have been in this game

 * Fire Bro. – This guy, if I remember correctly, is the only major member of the Hammer Bro. family not to appear in a 3D main series game yet (and no, NSMBW doesn't count as 3D). These enemies could be challenging, as Fireballs tend to bounce around quite a lot.
 * Wiggler – In case you don't know, I love Wigglers. They could act like they did in Super Mario Galaxy.
 * KING BILL
 * Shy Guy – These guys haven't appeared in a main series game since Super Mario Bros. 2! They really deserve another appearance, in my opinion, because they're awesome.

Beta elements
The game had quite a lot of Beta elements, though they were rather minor. First, a few levels had slight design changes: first, World 1-2, in the Warp Zone, there were three green Warp Pipes as opposed to one orange one. The Ball 'n' Chains only appeared above the bridge, and there was one more than in the final version. There were also two Paragoombas where three Koopa Troopas are. In World 3-3 (World 4-5 in the final release), the orange-yellow Platforms were smaller. There was also no Boomerang Bro. where the Mystery Box was.

Upon Stomping an enemy, Mario would have to collect the Coin manually, instead of automatically. The game was originally called Super Mario, then Super Mario 3D, before gaining "Land". The Invincibility Leaf was originally meant to appear after 8 lives were lost, then the P-Wing after 16. The pause menu interface was changed, and some glitches were fixed. The battle with Boom Boom on the originally used Peewee Piranha's theme from Super Mario Galaxy 2.

According to Yoshiaki Koizumi, the game's director, there would be more Retro suits returning: however, Boomerang Mario was the only one revealed after that, so it's easy to assume some were cut out. The Goomba's Shoe was, apparently, once confirmed, but didn't appear in the final game. Golden Tail Goombas were once in the game, but were cut out. They could glide further than normal Tail Goombas. In fact, how come they can glide, but Mario can't? Anyway, touching the Midway Flag would originally give Mario 100 more seconds on the timer. Finally, a grassy level with Donut Lifts, Platforms and Arrow Blocks was cut out of the game.

Well, that's all for this month. Don't forget to send me a personal message on the Super Mario Boards if there's something you want me to cover. See you next month!