It’s hard to overstate my excitement for Super Mario 3D World. The previous entry on the 3DS is, in my personal opinion, the best game that the system has to offer. It made great use of the 3D, pushed the hardware to new, colorful limits, and revitalized my love of our mustachioed hero. Really, the only portion of the game that even left me unfulfilled was the fact that my friends couldn’t join in on the fun with me!

Obvious segue aside, the multiplayer in 3D World looks outstanding, and will hopefully fix one of my longstanding issues with multiplayer in recent Mario games: player collision. When playing on a 2D plane, the ability to collide with other players made anything more than two-player play more akin to a plumber themed pinball game than a platformer. Operating on a 3D plane will probably not completely remove this obstacle, but it will hopefully lessen the amount of collisions that occur.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the game will be any less frantic. Nintendo has definitely ramped up the insanity with a slew of new power-ups and a boatload of returning ones. The Cat Suit (in addition to being the cutest darn thing on the planet) looks like it could open up a lot of new play styles, and the Double Cherries just look downright awesome. Besides, the only thing better than a plumber in a cat suit? Four plumbers in cat suits!

Even the pipes are being revitalized, which has been a long time coming. Other than enemies popping out of them or the ability to blast across a level, pipes have remained relatively static. The new clear pipes remove the safety net and allow players to be hit by enemies while traveling in them, opening up yet another interesting way to play.

The game is peppered with even more exciting new items and abilities that I cannot detail in a reasonable amount of space, making it one of the more (if not the most) enticing games I’ve seen on the Wii U yet. For more information on that, be sure to read our Feature. All that aside, the addition of Peach to the playable roster easily tops the list of things I’m excited for.

Initially, I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t the return to Subcon (from Super Mario Bros. 2) that I thought it might be. The four playable characters are the same and I’m pretty sure I spied an enemy that bore an uncanny resemblance to Tryclyde. I waited for weeks to see Wart rear his ugly head, and I do have to say that I was a little disappointed when Bowser came hot-rodding into the game in the most awesome looking vehicle this side of Mario Kart.

It might not be a second trip to Subcon, but it looks to be an outstanding addition to the series and a continuation of the excellence set by Super Mario 3D Land. With any luck, it becomes the showcase this hardware desperately needs. Furthermore, with the staggering amount of content we’ve seen already, this shouldn’t be a very difficult task when the game hits store shelves on November 22.