Before I begin, let me say that I know a "Which is the best Mario" thread was put up earlier in the week but this compares only 2 of the games. Both Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World are great titles and platformer fans should play both of them. There is no factual answer or reasearch that I can just shoot out to validate which game is better, this is opinion based and I just want to know what everone else thinks of the two, when compared side by side. The games are in the same "Sub IP" I guess you can call it so anything is fair game. But, my verdict is Super Mario 3D Land and here's why.

Super Mario 3D Land to me...was crack. I could not stop playing it. My brother couldn't stop playing it, my Sister couldn't stop playing it, and we're 18+. We racked up over 700 hours on the game trying to get everything but most of the playtime came from trying to beat each other's times. The levels in 3D Land were more compact and more akin to precise platforming than 3D World, which is a must for me. I have to have daring jumps and stuff in my Mario games. I loved the narrow level design as well. In 3D World, I felt that there was too much filler in the levels and that made me not want to return to many of the stages. I also enjoyed the special worlds in Land better than World. It had a couple of new stages that were welcomed. Overall, gameplay alone, I would choose 3D Land.

Now , I know what you're thinking, "Both basically have the same mechanics, so what's your reason to pit the two against eachother"? Well, 3D World, obviously was made to accomodate 4 player gameplay. Thus, stages would have to be enlarged to accomodate the 4 players. This greatly detracts from the speed running and potential platforming that could have been done in the game. Don't get me wrong, there are some great platforming segments in 3D World but even with the Special Worlds, I didn't find the jumps to be as challenging, nor was the platforming made more difficult. I dunno, it may be just me or something. I played 3D World for around, I dunno 10 hours before I finished everything. I just never saw a reason to go back to it.

I still play 3D Land avidly, and the playtime is well over 1000 Hours. So what do you think? Did you like one over the other? Place your reasons why below and discuss! (You can give any reason you want, it doesn't have to be gameplay related).

3D World > 3D Land for me.

By a massive margin.

I preferred World. But the whole coin requirement to access important areas was a huge turn off for both games imo.

Did you play with friends? I found it extremely frustrating to play with 3 other people. It just seemed like chaos to me and I could never try and speed run with them because they sucked so bad XD

I did a couple times but I vastly prefer playing on my own, since my platforming skills are beyond any of my friend's capabilties.

I was disappointed with Mario 3D Land until I got to the special levels and I was hooked. It needed the crack up in difficulty to stop it feeling like running through a unstimulating obstacle course. Ultimately a great game which I loved and has my favorite browser boss fights of any Mario game.

3d World built on 3d Land, had a great multiplayer, and got harder a little faster. But the novelty was less fresh as I'd played 3d land before it so I never liked it quite as much. I thought some of the post game levels in 3d World were some of the toughest Mario levels in a long time. I probably played many more hours of 3d World because of the multiplayer. I suspect it would be my prefered game of the two if I'd played it first.

I prefer 3D World by a large margin, the originality on each level was amazing for me, the soundtrack is probably my favorite of all time and the final boss was jus epic. 3D World is my favorite game of all time.

I can see both sides. 3D World has multiplayer, better graphics, fantastic music, Captain Toad stages, and a bit more grandeur. However, I would probably side with you. 3D Land was addictive to me. It was the most I'd enjoyed a Mario game (2D/3D/mix) since Mario 64. I think because it was built for the ground up on 3DS with the fixed angles and shorter levels for handheld play, plus the great use of 3D, it just seemed like a perfect fit for its hardware. 3D World, however, felt a bit redundant, created because of 3D Land's popularity and system-selling qualities, and ultimately felt a bit more phoned-in in my opinion. And you can see that in everybody's initial reaction to it...thinking it was a sequel for 3DS, and thinking it looked boring and unspectacular. It wasn't the 3D Mario that people wanted as the flagship Mario Wii U title. Of course, the game turned out brilliant and polished and beautiful and creative...as all EAD Tokyo Mario games do...but I think 3D World felt more like a "let's stick with what's working" game rather than a true creative hallmark. It just...fell a little flat in comparison to what Mario COULD have done in his first full HD 3D adventure. Both are fantastic games though.

RolStoppable said: 3D World is easily better. More levels that are also more varied, a world map instead of a random string of levels, more playable characters, better bosses, more power-ups, better soundtrack, multiplayer mode. The controls also feel better. Also important, no random daily purple boxes. I can't think of a single thing where 3D Land is superior. Your estimated playtime for 3D World calls doubt on your claim that you played all levels. Besides, how come that you didn't play the game with your siblings?

Oh, trust me, I played every level. I went to the magical space lands and everything! I'm just good I guess :D No, for real though I may have been a bit fast there, checking Wii U play log...3D World played for 12 hours. So, it's 12 hours then. I just haven't 100% completed everything with flagpoles and stuff. I just love 3D Land because it felt like it was more of a platformer to me than world. I felt that world was trying too hard to mix in elements from traditional 3D Mario games.

As for playing with my siblings, they've gone on now. To university and stuff. They don't have time for silly ole' me anymore. Now I have to play with younger ones...it isn't fun.

Yeah, yeah, I also felt that 3D World was a bit redundant. No offense but it was like. "haven't I already played this though?".  *I'M NOT A TROLL* 3D Land was just really addicting as you said. I do believe that the game is creative in its own right, the music, the level graphics, that was great. What I wasn't fond of was the sprawling levels that want you to explore but there was usually little to be found. I just wanted a more direct level design for this specific sub series.