It is a real 3d mario. the level design seems to be folowing galaxy and 3d land alike. the difference, as you said, is a pole instead of a flag, and also a timer.

Gonna agree with you here.
SM3DW looks more like a successor to Super Mario World than it does to Super Mario Galaxy (or any of the 3D Mario's).
I personally think the game looks awesome when you look at it at for what it is, instead of comparing it to your own expectations.

I can see this becoming a third series for Mario, along side the 2D version and the 3D star looking versions.

2D Mario is great too, but I'm just answering the thread title ;)

@Kingdom Hearts Fan

Galaxy still had more than this, at least the first. Have yet to play the second.

Because it's a 3D version of the original 2D sidescroller games, rather it's very reminiscent of them. There's a time limit in every course, little to no freedom for exploration, extremely fixed paths, a flag at the end....too similar to how the SMB SMW games are. Though Mario Galaxy was linear, it didn't feel like a 3D version of a 2D game like 3D Land and 3D World are due to having different things to do in the same places. I think everyone needs to accept the fact that it isn't how we expected a 3D Mario game to be like. The fact that Miyamoto even acknowledged that they "still had the Galaxy series" says something about 3D World...

You can serve my crow to someone else.  I didn't see the unveiling of this game at E3 or whatever.  I just went online and read all of the negative feedback.  I went to see the video, expecting to see Mario punch a baby in the face. When I saw it, I was actually excited for the game.  Seeing the trailers on my Wii U in HD, I thought the graphics were stunning, too!  So I'm hyped for the game.  It's not the 3D game I expected but it really does look like fun and a huge upgrade to NSMBU.

It tells me that Miyamoto doesn't think there's a "true" 3D Mario series.

....Have you played 3D mario games before?

I think what people are really griping about even though it's used under the guise "it haz no games" (really? go buy Wonderful 101 or Pikmin 3 or Rayman or Splinter Cell or Monster Hunter 3G) is that the Wii U doesn't have the traditional "epic Nintendo" game.

The N64 had Super Mario 64 right off the bat. The GameCube had Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Wii had Zelda: Twilight Princess.

They wanted some more akin to Mario Galaxy 3 in a new setting that really pushed the hardware. Mario 3D World tries to emulate the 2D/NSMB series and that isn't the type of game that scratches that certain itch for a lot of Nintendo fans.

I think in a nutshell that's the problem some Nintendo fans are having with the system. They want a game where Nintendo is really flexing their muscles and they don't look at 3D World or DKC as those types of games.

It tells me that this particular game was made on the quick to emulate the first Mario platform game on the 3DS (after the second round of New Super Mario landed with a thud) along with tying in multiplayer to drive sales of the platform.

Real talk the 3D Land and World games remind of Sonic 3D Blast and other isometric platform games in the past. Nothing wrong with that per say but compared to Super Mario 64/Galaxy/Sunshine (or even the later Mario/Wario Land games) much like with the New Super Mario Bros. series of games there is a clear lack of ambition with these subsets of Mario platform games besides playing toward a audience that like retro challenges or multiplayer.

3D World isn't isometric, and outside of multiplayer, the camera isn't fixed. Compare with the Galaxy games, which didn't have camera control and, like 3D World, don't need it in order to be a great 3D experience.

I believe you're dismissing the ambition of 3D World (and 3D Land to a much higher degree) because you don't like what aspects of the game Nintendo is prioritizing. So let me put it this way - there hasn't been a fully multiplayer 3D Mario game yet, and one entry with a multiplayer focus isn't going to creatively stifle the franchise. In fact, it could lead to more inventive, seemless single-player and multiplayer experiences in the future, provided that we (god forbid) let Nintendo experiment with their own decades-old franchise.