The Fire Flower and Tanooki Suit return, with the latter of offering the player a degree of control over their jump airtime that comes in very handy in certain stages. The power-ups in the game are mixture of new and old. This is a game that is designed with your working week commute in mind every level – at least, initially– is easy to beat, provided you're not the sort of player who is obsessed with collecting everything on their first play-through. They're also constructed in such a way that allows them to be enjoyed in bite-sized gaming chunks. Granted, this is a Mario game and players know what to expect to a degree – ghost houses, music blocks, coins, mushroom power-ups and flagpoles at the end of every level – but while the levels themselves take more than one or two cues from earlier games, they are bursting with new ideas. The game's appeal is bolstered further by the quality of its design. In this game, players will find their progress becomes more difficult and frustrating unless they play it in 3D. The 3D visuals are used as more than just a neat gimmick, and instead become an organic part of the overall experience. In certain sections of the game – a top-down level involving platforms floating in the sky, for example, or some bonus levels which plonk barriers in the player's path – the 3D display becomes absolutely vital to the player's progress. Moreover, it's perplexing that Super Mario 3D Land wasn't a launch title for its platform, because not only is it a great game, it makes the console's 3D visuals integral to the gameplay. This may explain to some degree why Super Mario 3D Land is the first new game produced for the 3DS that justifies the cost of the console all on its own. Mario may have starred in some rather naff games over the years, but when it comes to platform adventures, he's in a class of his own.

How does Nintendo do it? Every other year the Japanese publisher releases another Mario platforming title, and every single time it does, the result is brilliant.

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