8 Super Mario 3D Land Facts and Cut Content bits

Released back in November 2011, Super Mario 3D land has managed to sell an astounding 9.27 million copies worldwide so far! It’s beautiful graphics, addictive game play and the overall creativity of the beast meant it received critical acclaim after it’s release, with scores like 9.5 from IGN and Game Informer and an aggregated score of 90.09% on GameRankings, it’s no surprise that it has been so successful thus far. As with most games it has it’s fair share of cut content bits and Easter eggs though! So join me if you will as we explore 8 of these random Super Mario 3D Land Facts and trivia!

Number 8

Super Mario 3D Land was being developed during the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. As a result the development team made their primary goal to make a game that would bring joy to it’s native country in such a dark time.

A year after the game’s release during a GDC panel, 3D Land’s director Koichi Hayashida revealed that he employed one of Miyamoto’s philosophy’s to himself and his team when developing the game; “enjoy everything”. Not only is this an awesome life philosophy but it also apparently spurred on some whacky ideas from the team that never made it past early concepts, these included replacing Princess Peach’s face with a picture of your girlfriend, squashing a cockroach with a touch panel and even a “pro skater Mario” which presumably would have been some sort of power up involving Mario and a skateboard.

Number 7

I thought here at number 8 it might be a good place to show you a couple of neat 1 up tricks. Most of you are probably already familiar with this 1-up frenzy in world 1-2 where you trap a koopa troopa shell against a wall and keep jumping on it to get to 1 up city. Another handy 1 up trick is during Pom Pom battles, simply keep jumping on her head in between attacks and you will start racking up those lives like there is no tomorrow!

Number 6

During an interview with game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, he revealed that the term “Land” used in the title was to pay a little homage to past Mario titles like Super Mario Land and it’s 2D art style.

Number 5

Next time you are at the end of World 4-4 hang around for a little while before jumping on the flag pole. Wait for it, wait for it, Ghost! That’s right, for some reason at the end of this level and also at the beginning of World 8-4 this creepy ghost appears if you hang around long enough. No one knows what exactly this is meant to be but it is a pretty awesome and also harrowing Easter egg.

Number 4

Even though you can’t actually fly with the Tanooki suit on in Super Mario 3D Land, during the credits it appears to be possible! In this end cut scene not only Mario but even the Toads wearing Tanooki suits can be seen flying around!

Number 3

There are a number of unused audio tracks hiding in the games data. This includes Magikoopa Laughing which never appears in game. The sound used in Super Mario 64 when Mario talks to Bowser for the first time is actually heard in the game however only the second half of the sound is used. Interestingly the first half of this sound bite is stored unused in the games data in a separate file. When you put these two separate pieces of music together however, it becomes noticeable that they aren’t quite the same as the original.

Even though Yoshi doesn’t appear in this game a sound effect from Super Mario World can still be found in the games files too!

Number 2

You might have noticed the world 5-2 has a top-down view designed in a kind of Zelda-ish format, with lots of different rooms and none of the enemies are stompable. The level was actually designed to honour the 25^th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda and was even hinted at by the reversal of the world numbers making 25. A pretty neat Easter egg in this area is revealed by fire balling all of the torches in this room. Once you light them all up this classic Zelda sound effect is heard and a secret door opens!

Number 1

And finally here at number one we take to world 1-3. Grab a pair of the finest binoculars you can find, look to the sky’s and then call Scully and Mulder because what the hell is this? If you wait long enough you will see this little UFO fly by and then disappear. First a ghost and now flying saucers? What’s with this game!

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