Retro Review: Super Mario World

Players: 1-2
Platforms: SNES, Wii, Wii U, New 3DS, SNES Classic

Mario is a household name that, gamer or not, you’ll likely be familiar with. The series has always been known for breaking the mold in the platforming genre, and Super Mario World is hardly any different.

All the little details in animations are fun.

Following hot on the heels of Super Mario Bros. 3, the 4th main series entry in the franchise was the first and remains the only game in the series that felt like a proper sequel and continuation of the previous game. Upon Bowser and company’s defeat in Super Mario Bros. 3, they end up crashing into this new place called Dinosaur Land. Bowser, his children and his army quickly set up a new base and manage to kidnap Princess Peach along with newcomers Yoshi and their children in their diabolical plots. For the most part, that is the extent of the connection to the previous game, with one exception being a nice little nod to SMW’s predecessor (and being a spoiler).

Look at those cute little wings. LOOK AT THEM.

As is always the case, the story is relatively simple, and the real meat of the game is in the level design. With 7 main worlds to explore and 2 extra worlds, the game offers plenty of levels to play through. Each world has a very distinctive theme, which is a core part of the design of their respective levels. In a similar style to SMB3, SMW has the player moving around a World Map as you select each level. One of the cool things about this is that your progression in the game is shown on the World Map. When you beat a level, a road is paved to the next level, forests are cleared, bridges built, etc. It helps make the entire world feel more alive in a way that the series has rarely done even to this day.

Some secrets are made easier to access by finding other secrets.

The levels themselves are brilliantly designed and offer a very fair difficulty progression along with a nice thematic progression for each world, culminating in a fun castle level that closes out with a battle against one of Bowser’s kids (or himself, if you’re on the final area). Even the battles against the Koopa Kids have variety. What makes things more interesting though, are the secret exits. Many levels have secret exits that can lead to shortcuts or bonus areas which can unlock features in the entire game. For example, in the second world if you discover one of the secret entrances you will find a mini-level that solidifies all Green Exclamation Blocks in the entire game. Not only will this provide new paths for you to explore throughout the game but hitting these blocks will always give you a cape feather. It’s this satisfying sense of exploration that truly helps Super Mario World shine as one of the best entries in the entire franchise.

The P-Balloon can be challenging to use.

Being a follow up to SMB3, Super Mario World borrows many items from its predecessor. All the standard items are in this game: Super Mushroom, 1-UP Mushroom, Fire Flower and Super Star. My favorite item, the Cape Feather, is entirely new. It allows you to spin, knocking out enemies, as well as fly after you build up some run speed. Think of a more refined version of the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3. The biggest and most influential addition is easily the lovable dinosaur Yoshi. You can ride on its back, giving you the ability to jump on almost anything. Yoshi can also reach some special hidden areas by picking up a pair of wings. Finally, Yoshi can eat a plethora of things, most notably, Koopas. Depending on the color of the Koopa being eaten, Yoshi will acquire a temporary ability (such as spitting fire). Yoshi creates an entirely new dynamic in the franchise that helps make it feel quite unique. Among some other minor items or minor changes to items, there’s the new P-Balloon which puffs up Mario/Luigi and makes them float for a short while.

Those poor Goombas...

What strikes me as most surprising is how timeless the game is aesthetically. The simple yet catchy tunes sound magnificent to this day. What really shines are the immensely stylized, simple yet detailed visuals. There is a lot of love and care that went into the designs in SMW, and this has helped keep the game looking beautiful to this day. The development team worked hard on keeping everything as simple as possible but added accents and detail where necessary to assure that not only is everything clearly distinguishable, but nothing is ever dull to look at. It’s so beautifully done, that to this day you will find many side-scrolling games emulate the look of Super Mario World to try and capture that same aesthetic.

I love how the world map changes as you progress.

It helps that the game also has very tight controls, making it intuitive and responsive. While this review is based on my recent play through of the game on the SNES Classic, I’ve had the pleasure of playing the game on every platform it’s available on, and it runs well on all of them. Notably, with my recent pickup of the SNES Classic, I’d like to note that jumping back into the game with an SNES controller has truly helped me appreciate the nuance of the controller and how well-designed it is. SMW runs beautifully on the SNES Classic with a faithful presentation from the original console’s debut. You can check out my in-depth look into the SNES Classic here.

His smirk makes me angry.

The game is relatively short, with my most recent 100% completion time at about 5 hours. Some of the secret exits can be quite cleverly hidden, and the Special World can be quite challenging. These factors can easily double or even triple the amount of time you spend with the game depending on your observation and gameplay skills. Despite it being far shorter than the average modern game, it still offers the ability to save your progress after completing Ghost Houses or Castles. If you play any release aside from the original on the SNES, you are also given the ability to have at least one save state at any point of gameplay.

Super Mario World is a very important point in gaming history, where video games started to shift towards becoming more complex and challenging in creative ways rather than through cheap trial and error style gameplay. This is due in no small part to the fantastic level, item and enemy variety. It’s a game I recommend everybody play, if you have the ability to do so, and to me is the definitive pinnacle of the platforming genre.

- Teepu

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Gameplay: A+
Graphics: A+
Sound: A
Value: A

OVERALL: A+

Pros:
+ Fantastic and creative levels make the entire experience a thrill to play.
+ Difficulty progression is among the fairest you’ll see in the genre.
+ All the secret exits make exploration feel extremely rewarding.

Cons:
- Relatively short compared to modern games.
- Music is great, but could have used a few more tracks to add a little variety.
- Your lives reset when you turn off the game, reducing the value of seeking extra lives.

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