Genre: 3d Platformer
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

In 1999 Sony bragged that their upcoming Playstation 2 would be capable of Toy Story-like visuals in real-time. 14 years later and the world finally has a game that falls only negligibly short of that goal; Super Mario 3D World looks like a CGI film brought to life. Some of the stages-- such as a giant castle made out of toy blocks-- completely beggar belief.

Nintendo rounded up several of the composers from previous games in the series and had them put together what could be called a "best of" sound track, featuring remixed tunes from Mario 64, Galaxy, and Super Mario 3D Land, along with some completely new songs thrown in for good measure. It's all exceedingly well orchestrated, and matches the character of the trademark Mario sound effects very well.

3D World is essentially a straight-up sequel to 3D Land, but with all of the stops pulled out-- it's as if the designers of 3D Land deliberately saved many of the best and most adventurous level designs for a presumed sequel. Coop play is fantastic fun, with the levels proving how nuanced they really are the more players that are involved.

Super Mario 3D World isn't as as ground breaking as Mario 64, as nonchalant as Sunshine, or as ambitious as Galaxy. Yet, it could very well be the greatest Mario game ever created when taken on its own merits: water tight physics, unbelievably fun pick-up-and-play cooperative support, and loads of content that will likely keep people coming back over and over again even as the years roll by.