Subtitles section Play video
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Nintendo made a ton of announcements during E3 2013, and among them was a brand new multiplayer
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Mario game in the form of Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U
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But they didn't just announce it, as we actually got to play it too. So we figured we'd do
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what we do best and analyze everything shown of the game so far, including the footage
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we took ourselves, to see what secrets it all might be hiding!
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And with that, let's get started.
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Okay, so as the game's title suggests, Super Mario 3D World is obviously a sequel to Super
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Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS. Big shocker I know.
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After all, 3D Land did have a pretty distinct feel to it compared to the other 3D Mario
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games and that's still very much in-tact here as well.
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Take moving-around for example. The game still features the sticky 8-way directional movement
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as 3D Land. Basically, if you're playing using the GamePad's control stick, the game generally
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locks you into 1 of 8 directions, almost as if you were using a Control-Pad.
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But like in 3D Land, you actually do have slightly more control control if you nudge
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the control stick slowly, which allows for an even greater freedom of movement.
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And running still works the same way too, where you get an additional speed-boost after
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dashing for a second or so, as indicated by the spark here
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But this time, if you keep on running, you'll actually get a second speed-boost as indicated
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by an even larger spark, and the dust cloud
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Now speaking of movement, there are now 4-playable characters as you probably well know, and
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they are Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Blue Toad, as compared to just Mario & Luigi of the previous
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game. And they all move handle noticable differently from one another.
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Take their running speed, for example. As we can see here, while Mario and Luigi run
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at an average pace, Toad is the fastest of the bunch and Peach is the slowest--hey cut
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her some slack, she does have to hold her dress after all.
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Though interestingly, if we take a look at this clip, we can see Mario actually gains
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some slight ground on Toad briefly, as he seems to reach his top-speed just a bit before
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Toad does
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And they all handle differently while jumping too. Now although Mario, Blue Toad, and Peach
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all jump at similar heights, Luigi leaps noticeable higher. And he gets some additional hang-time
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both too, though Peach outclasses everyone with her ability to hover in the air for an
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extra second or so, which can be a real life-saver.
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Now if any of this sounds familiar, that might be because this is practically identicial
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to Super Mario Bros. 2 which featured the same four characters with the exact same running
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and jumping traits. In fact, even the character's artwork is more reminiscent of the cartoon
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characters of the NES era than it is of their more modern 3D representations
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In addition, the characters even retain the abiltiy to perform a super jump by crouching
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for several seconds. Now while this also appeared in Super Mario 3D Land, in hasn't been seen
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otherwise since its original appearance in--you guessed it--Super Mario Bros. 2.
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So it seems pretty clear the game is taking at least some inspiration from that title.
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Now besides the crouch jump, the characters also have access to every move that was available
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to in 3D Land, such as wall-jumps, long-jumps, side-jumps, backflips, roll-attacks, ground-pounds,
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and yes, you can still climb trees and even perform a hand-stand on top of them too, before
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flipping off in spectacular fashion. You go Cat Luigi
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But it's not all just old news as the characters have learned some new tricks too, like being
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able to pick each other up and throw them around, just like in the New Super Mario Bros.
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series.
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And that's not the only element being lifted from those game, like the 4-player co-op we
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already mentioned. And as part of that, the bubble ability also returns, and it functions
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much like before, with characters who have died floating back into the level inside bubble,
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which can then be popped by another player who touches it.
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But this time, the bubbled-player can also pop out of it themselves at any-time, which
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a nice addition
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So that about covers it for the core move-set, but of course, the power-ups allow access
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to even more moves.
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So let's start off by taking a look at the brand new Cat Bell power-up that turns your
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character into an adorable cat. Awwww.
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In Cat form you gave access to a wide array of moves, like a new claw swipe, a slide that
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replaces the roll, and if you're in the air, you can even perform a dive attack
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But the main addition is that they can now scamper up walls cat-style--and they can even
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move side-toi-side while doing this--which is useful for finding all kinds of secret
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areas, as we discovered during our play-time with the game.
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They can even scamper up flag poles too for an easy 1-Up.
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But you can't climb forever, as you can tell by Mario tiring out here.
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Now while The Cat Bell is the only new power-up we've seen, there are a bunch of returning
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ones too.
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Like Mushrooms, which makes sense as the game retains the classic power-up based health
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system used in Super Mario 3D-Land instead of the health-meter used in every other 3D
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Mario game.
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Fire Flowers are also back--and in this brief scene, we can see that the Tanooki suit is
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too. And it appears to function just like it did in 3D-Land, allowing you to gain some
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additional airtime by gliding slowly back to the ground--and we're going to guess the
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tail-whip move is back too. But what we don't know is if it'll let you turn into a Statue,
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like in Super Mario Bros. 3, or if you'll have find the special Statue Leaf, like in
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Super Mario 3D Land
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And based on our play-time with the game, we know that the invincibility Stars also
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return, but they have a new ability this time: Sharing. You see, if you collect a Star for
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yourself, you can now share the wealth simply by touching any of your teammates, making
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them invincible too--cool!
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Finally, while we were searching for secrets during the E3 demo, we discovered that the
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Question Boxes from Super Mario 3D Land that you can wear are also back. And like before,
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you'll earn more coins the faster you move while wearing them.
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And speaking of Power-Ups, you can still store a spare one just like in 3D Land which you
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can access at any time by pressing the Minus-Button.
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Now as you might have noticed, all of the power-ups shown so far, besides the Cat Suit,
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return from 3D Land. But they're far from the only returning element, some of which
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go back much further in the Mario series.
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Such as checkpoint flags, 1-Ups, or Red Rings, which still spawn 8 Red Coins and award a
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power-up for collecting them all in time.
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Then there are the Clocks which add precious seconds to the timer
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Oh, and Warp Boxes are back too, which transport you to another part of the level. Though this
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time, they'll automatically pull everyone else into it just a second or so after the
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first player hops in
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So there's really no mistaking this game for anything but a sequel to 3D Land, but there
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are quite a few elements being taken from other Mario games too.
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Like the POW block, which believe it or not, is the first time it's actually appeared in
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a 3D Mario game.
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Then there's the ? Coin in this clip, which first appeared in the Mario Galaxy games.
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Typically, these cause any number of things to happen depending on the situation, but
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we've only seen one example thus far, and that is you need to collect 5 of them here
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in order to reveal a Warp Box.
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And speaking of Mario Galaxy, we can see that the Green Stars that first appeared in those
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games are back too. But this time, they appear to be scattered around each level from the
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get-go, as opposed to Mario Galaxy 2, where they only appeared after first beating the
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game. And in both Mario Galaxies, they unlocked additional levels. Now if you've played Mario
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3D Land, then you might have noticed this sounds awfully similar to the 3 Comet Medals
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hidden in each level of that game, which were also used to unlock levels. So it seems they've
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simply been replaced by Green Stars instead.
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Now interestingly, in the demo that we played at E3, all 4 of the main levels had 3 Green
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Stars to find, as indicated by the icons on-screen here.
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But in the trailer, we can see a couple of clips that also appear to show areas that
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contain only 2 Stars, or up to 5.
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Now one of these clips appears to take place inside a bonus room of the demo's first level,
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which we played at E3, except as we mentioned, there were 3-Stars for us to find in the level
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instead of just two as shown here.
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And then we have this scene, which shows there are 5 Green Stars to find--and we can see
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at least 4 of those Green Stars in this scene alone, and so we're guessing the 5th one is
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probably hidden here too--maybe the tunnel here leads to it, as there seems to be no
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other way to reach the ledge on the backside
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All of this suggests that this area--and ones like it--might actually be self-contained
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levels. So maybe these levels are actually similar to the Mystery Box levels in Super
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Mario 3D Land? Supporting this idea is that those levels only had 2 Star Medals instead
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of the usual 3, which remember, are what we think the green stars are replacing
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And on top of all that, it appears you'll be playing as an entirely different character
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here too: Red Toad here, as opposed to the Blue Toad seen elsewhere in the game. He even
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gets his own portrait in the corner, which suggests he is in fact player-controlled.
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But he's not just any red toad, because if we look close, we can see he's wearing a headlamp,
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just like the captain of the Toad Bridgate in the Mario Galaxy games. So if it is indeed
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the same toad what's he doing here--how's he involved in all of this?
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Well, we have an idea. Based on this, admittedly very short clip, it seems that he'll actually
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play entirely different than th e rest of the characters. For instance, he walks throughout
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the entire clip, and doesn't run at all.
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And he doesn't jump here either. But it seems like he may not need to, as all 5 of the stars
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appear to all be reachable simply by using the ramps and various platforms--though we
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are assuming the one in the corner here will travel upward once Toad steps onto it.
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So it seems these levels may actually have a slower, more deliberate pace to them, perhaps
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being puzzle-focused in figuring out how to actually get around and collect the stars,
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which could be why camera-control seems to factor in so heavily here. It's actually a
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little bit like the 3D Challenge rooms from 3D Land.
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Now we couldn't help but notice that we only see one character here--is this a single-player
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only challenge? If not, who will the other players play as? Perhaps the other members
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of the Toad Brigade
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So between the red Toad and the other 4 characters, it seems there are a lot of returning good
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guys. But what about the bad guys?
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In typical Mario fashion, there are a lot of returnning baddies, such as Pirhana Plants,
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Stingbies, Fuzzies, Biddybuds. Boos, Goombas, in both original form that only take one-hit,
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as well as their Super Mario World form that takes two, Bullet Bills, Bonzai Bills, Fire
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Bros, Fire Bars, Spikes, who now throw Spiked Logs instead of Balls, and Chargin' Chucks\,
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who also haven't been seen since Super Mario World.
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But this time it appears you can knock their hlmet off, which might suggest they'll take
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2-hits instead of Mario World's 3. Oh, and he sure doesn't look happy when you knock
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his helmet off, so maybe he'll grow even fiercer when that happens, sort of like when you knocj
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the flower off of Wiggler's head
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And of course, there are a host of new enemies too, such as these odd-looking fish, Mice,
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and Spiked Mice, both of which are seen running on rolling hills, Caterpillar-like enemies,
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and a Snowman that looks strangely like a Pokey.
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So it seems that'll be a good mix of both new and old, and that's only based on the
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few levels we've seen thus far. And speaking of which, let's yake a look at those levels,
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starting with the 5 we played in the E3 demo.
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The first one we played was 2-1, which bears a suspicious resemblance to the very first
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level of Super Mario 3D Land, right down to multi-colored blocks scattered around the
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course, as well as the white birds that fly away when you get close.
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Because of this--and the fact that it feels very much like a tutorial-type level--iut's
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odd that it's evidently not the first level this time around, but is instead the first
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level of the Second World--weird. Now the level itself is split into 2 outdoor sections
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that are joined together by a brief underground area where you'll find the bonus room we've
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talked about before. And this level also places a heavy focus on the Cat power-up which is
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found throughout the level
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And surely you noticed the rolling rills from the New Super Mairo Bros series
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Then we have World 1-5, where everyone catches a ride on a large Yoshi-like Sea Creature
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for most of the level. Now in order to control this creature, you need to work together as
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a team to lean in the proper directions using the control pad--the more people that lean
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together, the faster you'll turn.
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NOw because this is such a unique mechanic, we'd be very surprised if it didn't appear
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at least once more elsewhere in the game. Especially when you consider this was the
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case for the similar Mantra Ray sequences in Mario Galaxy 1 and the Bird-riding sequence
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in Mario Galaxy 2, both of which were made bu the same development team at EAD Tokyo
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Next up we have World 4-2, which takes pl;ace highy above the clouds and places an emphases
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on another of the game's brand new gameplay mechanics: Clear Pipes.
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Now although you are propelled through them automatically, you can actually choose where
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the direction you take at each intersection. Which is important to dodging enemies travelling
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through them, as well as for choosing which end of the pipe to exit out of
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In addition, you can even use the pipes offensively by launching fireballs into them--it's cool
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stuff. Oh, and there's a freakin' slide later in
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the level. Weeeee!
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After that, we have World 6-3 where you'll ascend some tall structures using platforms
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that look like clouds, spring platforms that also appear in Mario & Luigi Dream Team, as
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well as a new conveyor-belt wall that allows your Cat characters to climb super high. Oh,
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and you'll have to dodge Bullet Bills for much of the level too.
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The final level in the demo is World 4's Boss Battle, and it appears to take place during
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a castle's carnival.
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And the snake-like boss you're battling appears to be the king, at least based on crown he's
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wearing which also marks his weakspot. But you'll have to use his plate-wearing henchmen
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as platforms to reach it.
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But there's something a bit different about this battle
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In vritually every Mario game to date, the boss fight came at the end of an ordinary
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level. But this time, the boss battle is basically the entire level, with only short platforming
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book-ending the fight.
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And then there's the fact that there appears to be no hidden Green Stars on this level
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either, as their icons are missing fromt he HUD.
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So all of this suggests that the bosses may actually be their own self-contained levels
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this time around, which would be an interesting change. Of course, it is possible it was only
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set up this way for the demo too.
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Alright, and that about covers it for all the 5 levels playable at E3, but the trailer
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for the game actually reveals several more.
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Such as the Ghost House here, which appears to take place on a dark and stormy night as
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we can see rain through the window, and lightning flashes that light up the entire room
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And if we freeze the clip at the very end, we can see some pictures of Boo hanging on
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the wall--are they just there fo decoration, or is it possible Boos will come out of them,
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like in Mario 64?
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And finally, keep a close-eye on the bottom-right corner as we loop the clip a few times--do
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you see how the floor's moving? Looks like convener belts will play a role in this level.
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Then we have this desert level, which shows off the new bug-like enemy which can crawl
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up walls, and apparently can be used as platforms to reach high areas. And in another clip from
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that same level, we can tell that it appears the Cat power-up will appear here too.
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Another clip shows off--at first--what appears to be another desert level, but upon closer
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inspection, seems to be more of a dessert level, at least if the multi-layered structures
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and the cookie-looking there are any indication
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Now we we also see that the flipping Red and Blue platforms from Super Mario 3D Land play
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a large here. Now in that game, they flipped every time you jumped--at the exact moment
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that you jumped. But this time, there seems to be a slight delay as the platform appears
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to flip exactly 5-frames after the first person jumps following a flip--which still isn't