Having presented with Arlo video on the matter, I will agree with Arlo, I enjoyed Mario 64 and Sunshine more because of that feeling of exploration and collecting.

sandbox style (galaxy / mario 64 / sunshine) by miles and miles.

exploration, time to do so, collection of stuff.... is the good stuff.

I dont enjoy the race through a course on a timer aspect with linar small levels, nearly as much.

Both, I love Sunshine and 3D World.

This x1000. Thank you.

The Actually Good 3D Mario Style

I've played Galaxy, Galaxy 2 and 3D World

so that style is the one I prefer :p

Galaxy 1/2 and 3DWorld/Land. I think that Mario blends better with straightforward platformers, not exploration based ones, which tend to have worse level design imo.

I thought Mario 64 was done pretty well regarding level design. And definitely some sandbox portions of the Galaxy games (Starshine Beach Galaxy, per se).

Course clear. I'll obviously give Super Mario Odyssey a chance, but this should have been a Donkey Kong game, not Mario. Mario should never be sandbox - that goes against the origins of the franchise. Mario is the linear platformer and Zelda is the explorative action game. Metroid is the best of two worlds. To focus on exploration instead of pure, objective-based platforming in a Mario game is extremely franchise inauthentic.

As Super Mario 64 is my favorite game of all time, this is a pretty obvious choice for me. I can see why people would consider 3D World more true to the roots of the franchise, but to me a 3D Mario is all about exploration.

I also don't really enjoy platforming games that are all about challenge as much as I used to anymore. To me 3D World is more of a multiplayer game.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd take the sandbox style. I prefer games that are more open than stage based. Still the Galaxy and 3D games were fantastic, so I didn't have much reason to complain about the style.

That being said, I much prefer 3D platformers with a collection aspect, like Banjo or Donkey Kong.