LogFAQs > #950509838

#27. Super Mario World (SNES, 1990)
I never owned a SNES, I was the Genesis kid. My friend with the SNES though, this was the game I truly loved playing. This to me, was then and always was, sorry haters, Mario 2D platforming at its finest. Everything was here. First and foremost, the colors and graphics, to draw me in. This game is a true delight to look at. The color and visual design is out of this world, and all the music is obviously a classic. Presentation-wise, it is extremely difficult to beat Mario World. The world map is truly iconic and beautiful. The post-game Mario head koopas are kinda freaky though.



Gameplay. Fantastic too. I never liked how the first Mario game controlled,it felt too stiff. Mario 2 and 3 feel good though, and so does this game, but I like the extra bit of momentum and floatiness Mario has here. I know some people dont like that, but I in general have a bit of fondness for floaty control. I do like the level design a lot too- theres a lot of good variety between your grasslands, your caves, your ocean levels, your river levels, your castles, your ghost houses, your air/bridge stages, your mountain levels, your forest levels, the random one-off sunken ship I think I got most of them? I was especially a fan of the Ghost House levels, as they had the neat additional sort of puzzle element to them- trying to figure out how to get out, probably involving finding a P switch and a hidden door. I like the one that has the 2 areas that look alike, but are actually different to throw you for a bit of a loop.

I also really enjoyed all the Castle levels, with their intense music, the fact you had to leave Yoshi outside for extra challenge, and fighting the Koopa Kids, although it was a bit lame some of those fights were duplicated, they were still fun fights. I especially love the final level, with the 2 sets of 4 doors, and you can pick the exact 2 of 8 rooms you want to play. I always try to do a different set of 2 each time. Though, I did not really enjoy Forest of Illusion. That one level that traps you in a world map loop forever until you beat the level in a certain time limit is unintuitive and Im not sure howd youd really know what to do there without a guide or something. I also love the post-game Special area, with its RADICAL, GROOVY, TUBULAR level names- those are a fun, hard challenge- and a little easter egg I didnt discover until way later but if you stay on that Special World Map for like a full minute, the little 10 second music loop instead transitions over to the original Super Mario Bros theme, so thats cool.

Theres a ton of new mechanics from Mario 3, all of which I love and are for the better. Obviously, aforementioned Yoshi. Yoshi adds a ton of platforming depth, acts as an extra hit, can give you that jump boost, gives you new ways to deal with enemies, and plus you have the 3 different colors of Yoshi if you feed them stars in Star World to also have even more mechanics. You have the cape, which I like using more than Tanooki because doing that mid-air bounce glide is awesome, and it just looks cooler. You have the item storage mechanic which can make for some decent strategy and its nice to have a backup item (and you know that frustration when it falls down just out of your reach). You have the spin jump for a lower and more precise jump, or sometimes you want to just bounce off enemies differently. I love that BONK sound when you bounce off of impenetrable enemies actually now Ill also mention how much I love the random little sound effects in this game, like the Yoshi BOW spit out sound, the BONK, the level end floursih sound, the sound of bouncing off a spring, or even the sound the Thwomps make when they slam down all of it just sounds great. Impeccable sound design.

Finally, and most importantly, the addition of secret exits here from Mario 3 was probably the best things they added. Having levels with multiple exits that could lead you to special areas, different levels to do, or some neat goodies (hello Top Secret Area!) was a very fun addition, and one that really makes you want to 100% the game and beat all the levels. Obviously, this is all capped off with the enchanting Star World, and its incredible jumping-around-the-map antics. Adding to this, you have the Switch Palaces, to unlock different ways to go in levels, and giving more replayability to beaten levels. Getting to actually play in a Switch Palace was probably the most exciting thing for me as a kid, I was so hyped to play those damn levels and get that fucking massive array of coins and cap it off byu jumping on a giant fucking ! button all an extremely satisfying feeling that is absolutely unmatched, and so disappointed you cant replay them. After all, a wise man once said This game is lame; it doesnt even have any Yellow Switch Palaces. And he was right. We should only judge games by the presence of lack of Yellow Switch Palaces.



Next up: A game where you don't actually control your character at all.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS