I got back to playing some Super Mario 3D World, and I resumed my game at World 5. This world starts off with a tropical beach level called Sunshine Seaside. For some reason, a bunch of Chargin’ Chucks are in a huddle in front of a Bowser sand sculpture. Fortunately, I found a cool boomerang suit to help me fight them.
After collecting five key icons, I was able to open up the way to the second part of the level. Here, you ride Plessie the dinosaur down a thin strip of water seemingly hovering in space. There are some enemies to avoid and obstacles to overcome, but Plessie’s ability to jump is very helpful. World 5-1 is a fun level and an impressive start to the world.
World 5-Toad is another of the puzzle-oriented levels in which you must play as Toad. Toad can’t jump in these levels, so you have to use ramps and doorways to ascend the structure as you seek five green stars. There are also some blocks that can function as elevators by using the touch screen on the Wii U gamepad. These levels are a nice change of pace and they’re pretty fun.
World 5-2: Tricky Trapeze Theater is the most challenging level in this world. It definitely lives up to its name, as you must jump from tilting platforms (with spiky traps that roll from end to end) as well as swinging trapezes. I lost a number of lives in this stage. It is a colorful and visually appealing level, however.
In World 5-4: Sprawling Savanna, you are shot through a series of cannons up a tall structure (Donkey Kong Country style) and then to a floating island of sorts. The island appears to be small at first, but as you fly through the air towards it, you find that it’s actually huge. There aren’t many enemies here, so it’s fun to just run around in a cat suit or tanooki suit. There some bunny rabbits to catch, so I had fun chasing them down.
World 5-6: Cakewalk Flip is another interesting level. There are outlines showing where red and blue squares are, but only one color will be solid at a time. Every time Mario jumps, the squares flip over from red to blue or vice versa. There may be piranha plants on the underside of squares that you don’t see until you jump to flip them over. It reminds me a bit of the blocks in World 4-3: Beep Block Skyway, but those were on a timer. Here, you can control the flipping yourself by planning your jumps carefully. It’s actually not as difficult as it sounds, fortunately.
I found a bonus level where there was a train of solid gold, just littered with coins. But the scrolling is forced and I didn’t hop on the train quick enough, so I barely caught a glimpse of the stunning train. I just hope I’ll have another chance to find a similar bonus level later in the game, because I definitely wasted my opportunity this time.
World 5 is quite an enjoyable collection of levels, and it’s one of my favorite worlds so far. But that’s all I have for this time. Next time, I’ll be heading off to World 6, which appears to be a sky/cloud world.