I prefer 3D Mario to 2D Mario, though part of that is just being 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:scarred ⛦by the approach of New Super💝 Mario. My favourite Mario game, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario World, is 2D after all. But even as the rest of the top five is made up of 3D efforts (Galaxy, Odyssey, Galaxy 2, 64), the one thing 2D has over 3D is that it has specific levels. Not worlds, not places, not themes: levels. Start here and get to the end. It's video games in their purest form, and despite seeming more limited from the outside, they offer a lot more creativity once you break it all down. That's why I'm calling for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario Bros. Wonder to bring back the aeroplane levels.
In 3D games, especially the open zone ones like 64 or Odyssey, you have the freedom to do whatever you want. This lets you (and the game designers) explore with a lot more depth. But it also means that a lot of the time, you're not so much exploring as you are wandering, which is to say 'walking in a random direction with no idea why'. Sometimes you'll stumble on a great secret doing this, but often you'll just hit a wall and then turn around again. 3D Mario games are the perfect size, and I can live with an alcove sometimes being just an alcove, but there is something far more direct with 2D games.
Each 2D level has a specific idea attached to it. Early on these are very simple, there will be levels that introduce you to warp pipes, the range of jumps, different enemies, and so on. Later they become more complex, with levels where you may have to increasingly jump vertically as you climb, levels where the platform moves, levels underwater. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the master of this in the '90s, not only changing the aesthetic each time, but the driving force. Some levels were races. Others were dogfights. Some had you being chased, some had꧃ ⛎you unable to stop. Some had jet packs, some were in the dark. Mario was rarely this adventurous, except when he was in an aeroplane. We need to bring that back.
Everything I've seen from Wonder so far (which admittedly is not a great deal) suggests it will offer a fresh injection of energy for 2D Mario, coming bursting with ideas that go far deeper than just '168澳洲幸运5开奖网:play as Daisy' or 'turn into an Elephant' although yes, both of those are cool. But as much as it embraces the future with new ideas, it also seems to be learning from the past, with a lot of old Mario influence in its level design - especially my boy Super Mario World. That's why I'm hopeful for the aeroplane.
Mario's plane, known as Sky Pop, was a specific vehicle Mario flew in Super Mario Land in the final world of the game. In 3D Mario, a plane might be a tool to get you up to rooftops or there may be a challenge involving stunt flying, or it could just be a way to see the level from above in all its glory. In 2D, things are as simple as ever - you have to fly the plane and get to the end.
As with any Mario level, there were enemies and obstacles in your path to kill or dodge, but rather than jumping on them the Sky Pop had a blaster attached to break contraptions or shoot holes in the wall for you to fly through. The world also had a submarine which worked in pretty much the same way, but the plane was cooler. It just was. Get your own opinion feature, submarine! Anyway, you used the plane to reach the end of the level, but this time, things didn't end just because you ran out of screen.
Instead, the plane (and sure, submarine) levels ended with boss battles that played out more like something from Sonic or even Metroid. Manoeuvring the plane around the screen, you had to dodge projectiles from the boss, as well as the boss themselves, while firing shots at them to take them down. A version of the battle reappeared as Kamek's Rocket Rampage in Mario Party 10, so it's clearly still in the developers' minds, and Super Mario Wonder could be the perfect time to bring it back.
Vehicle levels are a classic part of platformers, but Mario (Yoshi riding aside) has been strangely resistant to their charms. Having done it so well way back in Super Mario Land, it has been too long since the Italian Plumber took fliꦕght.