Just over a month to go now before Mario takes a vacation… err… again! And we got the chance to try out three brand new kingdoms from what seems to be the final build of the game!  And indeed it seems that there have been some changes since we played the E3 build! And we have some brand new footage to show you too! Sometimes we're just too nice to you...

After the introductory cutscene, you're thrust into the Cap Kingdom.  This place bears more than a striking resemblance to The Nightmare Before Christmas and is filled with ghostly figures that resemble your soon to be faithful companion, Cappy.  You're given a quick overview of the controls and off you go!

Cap Kingdom

Right off the bat, the first thing you'll notice is that you have access to a very wide moveset.  Mario can jump, dive, roll, long-jump, triple jump, slide jump and even spin-jump like in Super Mario Sunshine (the latter move being new to this demo as far as I know).  He's a smorgasboard of athleticism! And he feels wonderful to move around with.  This is probably the most versatile he has ever been and it really sets the tone for what kind of game this is; one that encourages experimentation at every step.

The opening area in Cap Kingdom is sort of like a hub, a chance for you to walk around, explore and talk to ghostly characters who mostly give tips on the controls and gameplay features of the game in a friendly manner.  A quick jump to the next area reveals our first posession capture target in the form of a frog; which grants you the ability to jump stupidly high.  After a quick platforming romp, making use of your newfound power, you find yourself at the top of Top Hat Tower and take the fight to the hat wielding first boss (Could there be a bit of a theme going on here? Nah, probably just me); who looks cute and goes down about as easily as you'd expect.

Ok, maybe it's more Nightmare Before Christmas meets Alice in Wonderland

A nice way to start things off! Sadly we weren't allowed to go past this point, with the electical pole left behind teasing us as to what lies beyond.  Oh the mystery and suspense!

Speaking of differences, the game seems to have gotten a visual boost since we last played it and looks to be running in a higher resolution than before.  While we're not exactly able to pixel count by eye here, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's now running in 1080p or 900p, compared to the 720p of the E3 build.  The game also has a hefty selection of options on display, including motion control sensitivity, rumble strength, camera inversion and 13 (yes, really!) selectable languages!

Each world is filled to the brim with lovely little touches, from the burn marks left on Mario after being subject to a hot pot bath, to the dirt left on Mario as he rolls through mud.  And each offers a solid challenge; I'm not ashamed to admit that I did end up dying more than a few times while playing...

The game's sharp difficulty scares even Mr Mustache himself!

From here we then got the chance to roam freely throughout the Luncheon Kingdom and the Sunshine Kingdom.

Luncheon Kingdom

This place is like a lava level in a delicious disguise; with hot soup and small platforms being the order of the day.  It's much bigger and more expansive than anything you saw in the likes of Super Mario 64, but also integrates both open and linear areas, making for a tasty blend of exploration and more traditional linear platforming.  With a healthy blend of platforming, exploration, miniboss encounters and little sidequest type challenges, such as the one which tasks you with bringing a Goomba back to its female counterpart for a cheeky moon, I had a lot of fun with my short time spent here.

What really stood out to me was just how open the environment was to experimentation and sequence breaking.  As you can see in the gameplay footage, I was able to bypass quite a bit of the intended platforming sequences, bringing back happy memories of my time messing around with what you could do in Super Mario 64.  Its this freeform gameplay that really excites me about this game the most and I can't wait to get back in and see what I can do with the tools on offer!

And I've just raised the age rating of this preview

Being able to capture Hammer Bros was also a particular highlight, as you got to throw pans around like a madman and hop around like you just couldn't stop dancing.  The podoboo lava bubble was also great fun to play around with too, bringing back some memories of Zora Link from The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask.  After posessing capturing a piece of meat and nabbing the attention of a giant bird, our time with the stage was capped off with a climatic and very creative fight against the avian menace, making use of what we had learnt about our time playing with the podoboo throughout the stage.  Great stuff!

Sunshine Kingdom

This time we have a big wide open area with little nooks and crannies on all sides and lots of places to explore both above and below the water.  The swimming controls did take some getting used to, as they resembled Super Mario Sunshine more than its 64 bit predecessor, but with a little persistance we got the hang of them.  Actually, the same can be said of the camera too, which does require you to baby sit them more than the likes Super Mario Galaxy.  Like the Luncheon Kingdom, Sunshine Kingdom had a central boss that was wreaking havoc amongst the area's inhabitants; seems to be a bit of a running theme here! With four different lighthouses that need to be activated, you've got a clear goal in mind when you first enter, but of course, you can just happily roam off in any direction you want and totally ignore him, like we did.

Sorry, too busy imagining Pauline in Peach's wedding dress to help you right now

I really enjoyed the open and aimless wandering that this level promotes, really encourages you to go and explore for all the little nooks, crannies and secrets that are hiding around.  Speaking of secrets... like Super Mario Sunshine, there are hidden areas that play out in a similar fashion as the FLUDDless stages in that game, though not all of them take away Cappy.  For those who want more of a linear experience like in Super Mario 3D World, you're gonna really like these.  They can get pretty creative too! Check out one in the video below...

This game seems to be something really special.  While it plays more similarily to the first two 3D Super Mario titles, the experience is actually pretty unique and unlike anything we've seen before.  I likened it to Banjo Kazooie in the last preview and I feel it's still rather fitting, but perhaps even that isn't quite right.  It's more of a blend of that game with the indulgent creativity that Super Mario 3D World offered.  Whatever the blend is, it's damn tasty and I can't wait to sink my teeth into the final version!