Super Mario 3D Land

That's why I think the whole 'speed issue' is a bit of a red herring. You see, it's really a question of how you play, just initially confusing due to the 2D/3D hybrid gameplay.

From Super Mario Bros. onwards, if there's a run button I've always played with the tip of my thumb jammed against it, using the joint to jump. In other words, I'm generally always running at full tilt, because I find it gives me greater control over jumping. But there is a choice.

In Mario's 3D adventures there is no run button - speed is controlled by the analogue stick. In 3D Land Nintendo has employed the run-button system from its 2D platformers, presumably because much of the game is played side-on.

A side-effect of this is that, yes, it may feel a little more sluggish in the 3D sections if your direct frame of reference is Super Mario Galaxy - but there's a button for that. And the gentler standard pace is sure to help the game's youngest and least experienced players.

To put it another way: if Super Mario 3D Land is slow, then so is Super Mario World. And last time I checked (about five minutes ago for comparison purposes, incidentally), that was still 'quite good'.

Now about the 3D effect. Just as many 3DS early adopters have literally found themselves doing, so Nintendo has steadily dialed down the 3D from the MAXIMUM PR SETTING of its launch campaign to the status of a side-feature that is - based on the evidence of the latest TV ad at least - something best seen and not heard about too loudly.

As Nintendo's flagship release for the platform, one would naturally expect it to serve as a showcase for the potential of stereoscopic 3D. And so it proves, just more along the lines of the 'captivating novelty' of recent messaging than the 'game-changing technology' of the original pitch.

3D Land switches seamlessly between 2D and 3D platforming, often frequently within the same stage. With the 3D effect on, the enhanced spatial awareness is certainly a boon - most notably during a level heavily reliant on descending great distances while dangling from a Propeller Block.

But it is (as all 3DS games need to be) perfectly playable without. The principle benefit is to draw the player in and make the game seem that bit more immersive and gorgeously alive.

Furthermore, and critically for a game with Mario's aesthetic, it never dulls the joy of this primary colour world - which is the real advantage 3DS has over the often severely dulling impact of the technology where glasses are required.

Coins, pipes, mushrooms, question-mark blocks, pipes, flagpoles, power-up suits: the vocabulary is always the same. But, like a great writer, Nintendo somehow always manages to knock it together into surprising, delightful passages.

And nagging concerns over the depth of content and the challenge it presents aside (which can't be fully addressed until our review copy arrives), it's hard not to be charmed all over again.