Super Mario 3D World

Super Mario 3D World took the concept of the handheld Super Mario 3D Land and expanded it into a full console experience, one where, for the first time in a three-dimensional Mario game, four players can share the same screen at once. You choose between Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad, and each carries their own traits: Luigi jumps higher and briefly flutters his legs in midair, Peach floats for a short moment, and Toad is the fastest but the worst jumper. Levels use a fixed, carefully guided camera and clearly readable layouts, so they keep the pace and clarity of the classic 2D entries while making full use of the added dimension. You run across floating platforms, pass through transparent pipes, and in every level hunt for three green stars and a stamp tucked away off the main path.

The headline addition is the bell, which turns your character into a cat. In cat form you can climb walls, claw at enemies, and pounce down on them from above, and a whole array of inventive levels is built around this single ability. The game never settles for milking one trick, though. Every level arrives with its own idea, demonstrates it, adds a variation, and wraps up before it has a chance to grow stale. The GamePad is used to blow away platforms with a touch, to reveal hidden blocks, and to play away from the TV, which made sense for shared living-room play. Visually it's one of the cleanest titles on the whole console, with lighting and color work that has aged exceptionally well.

The soundtrack leans on live-recorded big-band and orchestral arrangements, giving the whole game a fresh, almost variety-show mood; it ranks among the most memorable music the Mario brand has ever offered. Reviews were enthusiastic, but the game suffered from the Wii U's weak sales and long remained a title known only to a smaller circle of players. It wasn't until the later release on Nintendo Switch, with the added Bowser's Fury campaign, that it finally found the audience it deserved. Today it stands as one of the best-designed platforming experiences of its generation: welcoming to newcomers, yet with final levels that will challenge even seasoned players.