Except these 3 games are all very different as well, especially Galaxy.

Super Mario 3D World / Land are proper 3D Mario games. I agree though, a SM64 styled game would have been better.

I only played the first 4 hours of galaxy quite a few years ago... i'll get back to it eventually so yeah you may be right but Sunshine and 64 both have a key similarity. Spawn in an open world with the name of the course as a hint, explore level try and find star/sprite.

3dland/3dworld are very linear in there level design. Galaxy may be aswell I can't remember...

I should get round to playing Galaxy and Galaxy 2 soon.

We may see a real 3D Mario for a 2016 Wii U lineup?

I think the best we can hope for is Sunshine released on VC

3DWorld is not a proper 3D game? Only because it has time limit and the levels are short and straightforward? If you're talking about exploration and more open levels, I don't think we will see one in WiiU.

But I don't care too much. I see 3DWorld as one of the best Marios, way better than Sunshine, which has this "open" world. The levels are creative and varied. The local multiplayer is fun. I think that Mario works better with this structure: short, varied, straightforward levels. There are many people downplaying 3DWorld as if it is a "lazy" game when it's not.

I don't think anyone is degrading 3D World. It was a great game, but not the KIND of game 64, Sunshine, or Galaxy was. It has nothing to do with quality.

People WANT the open exploration and the health bar and the collectibles. 3D World is like a 2D Mario game in 3D. That's what it was made to be. I like to think of 3D World and Land as totally different from 64/S/G in essence. That's why I think no one can really compare one to the other. It's all about presentation.

Yeah, 3D World's level design drew a lot of inspiration from the other 3D games, and one could argue the Green Stars are stand-ins for the Power Stars, but 1. Again, the KIND of game 3D World and the others are, are very different. The scale is vey different. I will say though, the level design became more LIKE the other 3D games in 3D World. It became more open than 3D Land. 

2. The Green Stars can be seen as just another collectible that you pick up along the way. Power Stars/ Shines are your main goal in a level. There's the other thing though; you still need a certain amount of Green Stars to complete the game. Still though, you should have more than enough required to beat the game just by picking them up in passing. 

Kind of went on a tangent there, not even sure most of it was relevent, but the jist of what I'm saying is that 3D World not explorative or as open as 64/S/G. And as a small note, Sunshine and Galaxy had the smallest inkling (heh, get it?) of story that gave them a bit more charm in my eyes.

It is still a fine game. 

No, and in the long run, it's better for Nintendo because they need it for launch.

Galaxy is just as linear and in fact similar to 3DW, if anything they fall under the same approach.

Imo, 3D World is a 'proper' 3D Mario game....