I don't worry for the timer case, cause Nintendo always did a great job. The timer is conceived in relation with the general aims and spirit of the game. The size of the levels will be appopriate. But don't expect a really good game. I don't think it could be one.

Yoshi's the best of the beasts

why it can't be a good game? 

Not too worried about the timer. It's probably set to allow a decent amount of exploration but also provide another layer of anxiety, just like Mario 3D Land.

Really looking forward to this game :)

The timer didn't matter in 3D Land either. Just a way to have Time Attack, and milk lives.

You're right, I would had to say there is little chance that it is a good game. Super Mari 3D Land was not exceptional in my opinion, and there is no 3D effect on Wii U. Some pre-reviews notice that there are problems in terms of estimating the distance for a jump, and at the end of your jump, you're not where you wanted to go. Gameplay imprecisions are rare with Nintendo, and I hope I'm wrong saying that this will probably not be a good game. I would have prefered a real 3D game in semi open world such as SM64, SMS, SMG. You too, I imagine. Maybe in a couple of years...

Nintendo's been consistently evolving their 3D marios to be more in line with mario's laden platforming mechanics,

The difference between Sunshine-Galaxy is pretty interesting. SM3DW just takes it even farther

I've never been a huge platforming fan, the ones I do like are the ones that I enjoy doing speed runs for. This one has actually captured some part of my interest after someone did an analysis of the stuff we've seen so far, which together doesnt look all that amazing quite yet in video form to me, but the faster paced level design is a joy to play.

shadows are goin to make the difference. 

This game is going to be epic. 8 min its plenty

500 seconds is WAY too much. And it's not like I'll be "exploring" here anyway since the levels are very linear.