Super Mario 3D Ground

Super Mario 3D Ground is a 3D platformer action game released for the Nintendo Switch on November 20th, 2020.  It is a follow-up game of the Nintendo 3DS installment Super Mario 3D Land, and the Nintendo Wii U instalment Super Mario 3D World. The game builds upon the previous two games  following a similar 3D level-design convention inspired from the 2D platformer titles where players must navigate through a linear-designed level within a time limit to reach a level's Goal Pole. The game's plot centers around Mario and Luigi having to retake control of the Mushroom Kingdom after Bowser transforms it into Neo Bowser City.  While the game's story retains the series' signature simplicity, it does give some character development to the Mario Bros. (specifically their love and respect for one another) and Bowser (giving him a serious backstory as to why he does what he does). 
==Story==
==Gameplay==
Super Mario 3D Ground is a linear 3D platform game with gameplay similar to the 2D games. The player must navigate through levels, defeating enemies and collecting power-ups on the way. The player clears a level by reaching the Goal Pole at the end before losing a life or running out of time. The player can store collected power-ups in the item storage, they can also collect Power Stars and Shine Sprites, which allow  the player to unlock certain levels or give Mario and Luigi temporary upgrades for their moveset. Identical to Super Mario Odyssey, the game is classified as a "collect-athon." However, instead of searching for Power Moons, players instead get to collect every single Power Star and Shine Sprite in order to unlock different bonus worlds that take place in Space. 
===Multiplayer===
Unlike Super Mario 3D World, the amount of playable characters has been reduced back to two, three once Yoshi is unlocked. Additional players can drop in and out at any time on the pause menu. Much like 3D World, players can switch between characters before entering a stage. Each character has different abilities, much like they had in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, with Mario being standard and Luigi having a lot more traction. Unlike 3D World, each player has their own seperate life counter. The game uses a cooperative and competitive multiplayer system; each player works together to get to the end of the stage, but is ranked based on points earned out of the total score at the end. The player that scores the most points for one stage receives a crown, which can be stolen by the other players and gives the player wearing it at the end of the stage a score bonus. 
===Returning Elements===
Super Mario 3D Ground, being the third insalment in the Mario 3D trilogy, plays similarly to the past two games. While the game retains the similarity to Super Mario Bros. 3 (with colorful blocks, the Super Leaf, Spikes and the Lose a Life theme returning from that game), it puts more emphasis on the different elements from Super Mario World, adding Yoshi as a playable character, finding Exclamation Mark Switches to open up certain areas. Much like 3D World, the game is more puzzle focused where the path from the start of the level to the goal is no longer a straight shot, and the players would often have to use certain power-ups and items in order to find the way ahead. 
Power-ups, like the Fire Flower and Super Leaf, make a return, along with almost every item from the previous two instalments (excluding the Statue Leaf , P-Wing, Lucky Bell and Invincibility Leaf) . 
==Worlds==
Much like the previous two instalments, 3D Ground features a large world map, consisting of 8 worlds, in a similar vein to Super Mario Bros. 3, with 4 unlockable bonus worlds. Each world is connected with the Star Express. Much like Super Mario 3D World, the map here can be freely roamed with full control of the characters, the only difference being that there's more free movement and no limits.  Each world features a set of levels along with Enemy Battles, Toad Houses,  Lucky Houses, and Mystery Houses. The maps also contain items such as Coins and 1-Up Mushrooms and other secrets.
Category:Mario Games
Category:3D Games
Category:Platforming Games
Category:Nintendo Switch Games
Category:Nintendo
Category:Mario (series)
Category:2020