The Short Version: Super Mario 3D Land, Star Fox 64 3D, Mario Kart 7, and Mario 64 DS are fun games that most gamers will probably enjoy.

It wasn’t long after I bought a Nintendo 3DS that I started buying up games that belong to series I’ve been playing much of my life (I find this an odd thing to write but it’s true – I started playing Mario games with the NES and the Mario Kart and Star Fox games on the SNES).

I don’t expect everyone to agree with my opinion of these games, but most gamers, especially long-time gamers from my generation, probably will enjoy them.

Mario Kart 7 is the first game I purchased. I was looking for Super Mario 3D Land but it was sold out in most stores so it took a while to acquire. Mario Kart 7 is very similar to previous Mario Kart titles. Unfortunately, I haven’t fully tested one of my most favorite aspects of the series – Battle Mode. I’ve only played a couple of rounds but it seemed to work very much like the older versions though I don’t understand the use of timed games – I’d prefer the fight-to-the-death mode.

The races are good and while AI “rubber-banding” is still present it’s not as bad as in some of the older titles. While there’s still a Blue Shell that can ruin your lead I didn’t get the feeling that it was over-used when racing against the AI (though it did seem to be used more often when I was leading in the last lap).

The glider sections are good but I don’t see that the underwater sections add anything. In fact, they slow down the races a little bit.

Overall, it’s an excellent addition to the Mario Kart series and I look forward to playing more multiplayer games.

Star Fox 64 3D is good. It’s not a favorite, but it lives up to previous Star Fox games. I haven’t played any of the multiplayer mode so there may be a lot more fun yet to be had in that area. Star Fox on the SNES was an obsession of mine for quite some time but somehow I never got into the N64 version. I think my main attraction to the SNES game at the time was simply the graphics made possible by the Super FX chip, which were unbelievable at the time for home console.

It’s a good game and I may spend more time playing it in the future.

Super Mario 3D Land is an excellent purchase. In fact, if you only plan to buy one game to start with then this is the game to get. It includes elements from nearly all of the Super Mario games and the 3D effect is executed almost perfectly. Platforming is truly more fun when you can actually tell where you’re about to land.

It includes 8 worlds with a handful of levels in each. However, beating those first 8 isn’t the end. There are just as many more worlds and levels to conquer and they increase in difficulty.

The other addition to my gaming library is actually a Nintendo DS game, which the 3DS can play (granted, only in 2-D mode). This week I purchased Mario 64 DS. I simply couldn’t resist the temptation. Mario 64 for the N64 has always been a favorite of mine and this version includes new levels, playable characters, and a number of other tweaks that add to the experience of replaying this game.