Super Mario World 3: Block Blitz

So while the 3-D Mario franchise has been met with great praise and wonderful success in recent years, the 2-D aspect of it has been losing its luster recently. The creativity in the 2-D Mario games has gone downhill quite a bit. I have tackled this in another article before, but this time I am going to envision and describe what I think would be the perfect Mario game. This is my article about how I would handle the next 2-D Mario game.



For starters lets discuss the length. The original Mario World far back in 1991 had 72 levels. The fact that we have yet to try to overwhelmingly increase the quantity of levels since that gem leaves much to be desired. No more. A 1994 Game Boy game (Donkey Kong) had 100 levels, so why can’t Super Mario World 3? My game will have 110 levels—10 levels in 10 worlds and each of them contain a super-secret level that can be obtained if you collect all the gold coins scattered in each of the levels. Each level also has a star that you can receive if you can complete the random challenge that the level offers. The more coins and stars you collect, the more material you can get for your level editor. We will get to that later.



The plot is simple, but comes with a twist. Peach once again gets kidnapped from her castle and it’s up to Mario and Luigi to save the day. However, Wario and Waluigi, broke after recent financial disasters also want in on the action. While Mario and Luigi save the Princess to keep her safe and prevent the Mushroom Kingdom from being in the hands of Bowser, the anti-villains in purple and yellow are in it for the reward.



At the end of the game, you realize that the final boss isn’t Bowser but all the kids working together. To make matters more interesting it turns out to be Daisy that you saved, not Peach. Peach is actually being held in the castle of the 10th world, which can be reached only when you collect all the star coins of the previous 99 levels. You can play as Mario, Wario, Luigi, or Waluigi and they all lead to different endings depending on which character completes the most levels. As a bonus, Daisy becomes available after she gets rescued. As for the items; we shall go with these power-ups: classic mushroom, classic fireflower, classic raccoon, and for good measure a Hammer Bros. suit.



What will make this Mario game different from the others besides the playable characters is the emphasis on the block switches. Just like Mario World and its series of block switches, Mario World 3 will contain a dozen of them spread out through the game. You have to not only unlock all the switches to truly be able to beat the game, but you have to strategize when a switch should be on or off depending on the level. Having the right switches turned on and off allows for certain levels to be easier, allows access to unreachable coins and secrets, and can sometimes even lead to hidden exits. Entire levels have a different design depending on what blocks you have turned on. Similar to how Wario Land 3 was affected by the time of day in the environment, the environment in Mario World 3 is affected by the blocks that are unleashed/turned invisible because of the switches. Some levels can have three maybe four different looks depending on what blocks and platforms you are allowing to be revealed in the world.



As for Yoshi, we are definitely bringing him in, but it’s time to give him a little more room to work with. It’s time to transform Yoshi into the Yoshi from Super Mario World 2---which includes him hovering, stomping, throwing eggs, and spitting seeds. Make these specific levels Yoshi-exclusive, while at the same time keeping him away from the other levels. I am leaning more towards 7-8 Yoshi levels in the entire experience. And then let’s give each character their own movesets, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Mario and Wario are the stronger characters, while Luigi and Waluigi are faster and can jump higher. Lastly, Daisy while being weak can float her way around the stages and reach previously unobtainable goodies.



Most importantly, Super Mario World 3 needs a color scheme and an art style. I want to see more of the hand-drawn sketchy look from the Mario and Luigi RPG games, Yoshi’s Island, and Mario World. The current 3-D look just doesn’t cut it in a 2-D plane. Games like Rayman and Little Big Planet while not being as good at platform gameplay are infinitely better in style, look, tone, and overall graphics. Super Mario used to have the best-looking games out there (Mario Bros. 3, Mario World, Mario 64) but in recent years the effort in the overall look of the Mario games has diminished quite a bit.


As a fun little addition, Mario World 3 will have that level editor that would be perfect for the WiiU tablet. Similar to Smash Brothers Brawl, this game will give you the chance to choose the terrain, obstacles, and anything extra that you want to add to the creation. And, the farther you progress and the more coins/stars you recover, the more goodies you can choose from when making the levels. Certain enemies, and maybe even bosses can be placed on the stage after you have proven yourself on the single-player mode. Then you can share it online for others to see, preview, and maybe even download. If Nintendo wants to take it a step even farther they can grab the best-made levels, group them up into collections, and make them downloadable for everyone that owns the game—while of course rewarding the creators with some extra credit for Virtual Console and WiiUWare.



Of course, this game is definitely multi-player.


Bottom Line: This is my Mario game. Super Mario World 3: Block Blitz will feature a longer-than-usual quest with more surprises than usual and then equipped with a new way of Mario platform gaming while also digging into the past to provide a fun and unique 2-D Mario game. Unlike previous titles, there will definitely be a true incentive to going back, finding secrets, and collecting things as they contribute to the actual and true-blue ending, as opposed to getting the ending without the necessity of finding every level. Mixing a little Mario World with Yoshi’s Island brings you Mario World 3: my vision of the perfect 2-D Mario game.