Board 8 > Mario

(+) Yeah! (+)

Huh, well Top Secret Area is one of the exits I didn't get on my last playthrough. I'm sure I've seen that before but no recollection of it!

Top Secret Area is accessed via the secret exit in Donut Ghost House. It has a Yoshi, 2 fire flowers and 2 cape feathers. Like Yoshis House it doesnt have an actual proper exit counted in the 96 you need for completion but the exit you use to access Top Secret Area does count for 100%

Oh yeah and the first non-Yoshi block you hit will be a Mushroom if you are regular Mario

wallmasterz posted...

Top Secret Area is accessed via the secret exit in Donut Ghost House. It has a Yoshi, 2 fire flowers and 2 cape feathers. Like Yoshis House it doesnt have an actual proper exit counted in the 96 you need for completion but the exit you use to access Top Secret Area does count for 100%

Oh yeah and the first non-Yoshi block you hit will be a Mushroom if you are regular Mario

Yeah, I took a look at a video of it after the post. That's a real Mario 3 type of secet right there.

It's among the hardest ones in the game to find, yeah.

Top secret area is a pretty hard one to find if you're not looking for it. There's no indication to fly at the beginning, all the boos are in the way too, and really no indication that there would be a secret exit either. Seems like an Easter Egg more than anything.

100% done through end of world 2. I definitely remember playing Mortons Castle. I think everything from here will be further than Ive ever gone in World.

Unlocking Soda Lake took me about 10 tries of marching to Top Secret Area and back to Cheese Bridge Area. Lol

Also, me when I die 5 times in Butter Bridge 1: DAMN YOU 3 YEAR OLD CTES!!! *shakes fist at sky*

I decided to do it without cape feather for fun but I almost reversed course on that decision lol

Back in my day, the NES/Famicom days, player characters and enemies respected one another. Sure we had our differences, but we had common decency. Nowadays youve got young punk koopas throwing their shell at you when you least expect it, absolute shame. The disrespect is enough to make me yell at people to get off my lawn.

Ok Im 100% done with Vanilla Dome and Twin Bridges as well. I have all the levels and secret exits completed. Tomorrow Ill venture into the Forest of Illusion. Also, I realized Im gonna have to backtrack on the world map a lot when its time to do Star World, but I dunno, doing those levels as I go wasnt my first instinct. I figured Ill save them for postgame. How did you guys tackle them?

I don't recall how I played Star World for the first time tbh, nor if I initially even did. But I usually just complete the star world level I unlock as I find it and then don't continue in star world, unless it's any% speed run where you complete them all asap.

In Star World, it's only the secret exit that makes you progress but you have to get the ordinary exit as well to 100%. Often one of these people are missing lol.

Fiop posted...

Top secret area is a pretty hard one to find if you're not looking for it. There's no indication to fly at the beginning, all the boos are in the way too, and really no indication that there would be a secret exit either. Seems like an Easter Egg more than anything.

Yeah there is only one other I consider possibly as hard. Wallz is not at that point yet.

Maybe I should do a 100% of SMW. I have not done that in 2023 yet I think.

I did do a speed run when it was in Game of the Month replay club last month though.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Maybe I should do a 100% of SMW. I have not done that in 2023 yet I think.

I did do a speed run when it was in Game of the Month replay club last month though.

The answer is yes and share whatever thoughts you like here!

Also curious to get more SML2 impressions from MZero including if you kept going with it and how youre enjoying it if so

wallmasterz posted...

Also curious to get more SML2 impressions from MZero including if you kept going with it and how youre enjoying it if so

I got all the coins and just need to go to the (I think) final world now!

I didn't want to talk about it too much before you got there though. I also did the tree and then space level btw

Makes sense MZero and I appreciate that! Glad you stuck with it.

I did not play last night, just needed to prioritize sleep. But tonight I am hoping to get through worlds 5 and 6.

SML2 is a great game.

wallmasterz posted...

The answer is yes and share whatever thoughts you like here!

Also curious to get more SML2 impressions from MZero including if you kept going with it and how youre enjoying it if so

Unfortunately it can't be now. I'm traveling around for a while and though it includes lots of train trips, I only have my Switch which requires internet to play Super Mario World. It would've been a good train activity but oh well.

well, it just needs to check to see if you've got a subscription once every week or two. After that you can play it offline no problem until the next time it has to check in.

Oh so I just need to check in somewhere. That's probably double then.

I began playing after having connected to my phone WiFi. I have gotten all exits in worlds 1-3 and Star World ans now my Switch has no more power as I had played TotK for a while before looking here to see that I could access SNES. I likely won't continue for another two days when I go by train again.

Anyway, always a pleasure to play through this. I basically still know every single detail by heart. I had 52 lives before turning it off which could have easily been higher if it was not intuition to avoid getting points at exits since you avoid those in speed runs as the mini game takes time. I died exactly once which was in Vanilla Dome 1 highly by pure dumb play. I decided to save Special World for much later.

I just beat Chocolate Fortress. I have found all secret exits to that point. Did not tackle any of Star World yet, I think I�ll just save it all for postgame. I don�t really get the complaints of this game being too easy. I find the difficulty to be generally satisfying. Not too hard, just about right. And I haven�t even gotten to Special yet.

Nice job ctes on starting your own run! And congrats MZero, I saw you beat SML2. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when the time comes. I�m hoping to beat SMW tomorrow but I doubt I�ll be able to get through Star and Special.

wallmasterz posted...

I dont really get the complaints of this game being too easy. I find the difficulty to be generally satisfying.

It might be slightly easier than 3, Special aside perhaps. Not sure. It has a good bit to do with the cape though.

World is definitely easier than 3, disregarding Special.

I do agree its easier than 3 I just dont see why thats necessarily a bad thing. Maybe I just suck and enjoy the game going a tiny bit easier on me lol

As a dad who just dealt with a two year old kid who had three unexpected bouts of explosive diarrhea messes in a 36 hour period, including two which led to early starts to my weekend mornings, Im not sure I want to deal with another Chocolate Secret right now

Nintendo has done the special world kind of thing basically every 2D game since (and some 3D ans spin offs) with World being the first occurrence. I think they wanted to focus on exploring the levels a bit more by having lots of secrets to find first and foremost. Then make the games slightly more available by having main game be easier and then create bonus levels that are more challenging than that. I personally like this idea a lot. Platform's are also the games I excel the most at so neither is really any difficult for me if I don't try to beat levels as fast as possible, which is as much a challenge in memory anyway.

Alright time to continue

World 4-6 and everything in there beaten. Currently taking a break to eat.

Who will finish first? Former child prodigy ctes or slow af Wallz? Place your bets now!

I have now finished the game getting all exits. Did Bowser last but special world right before that.

I have some thoughts that I share once Wallz too has beaten the game.

Oh and I actually have four contenders for hardest exit to find including aforementioned way to Top Secrer Area. Which may still get the title simply from being a ghost house while the other are red levels.

Nice job Ctes! You beat World, MZero beat SML2 anyone tackling Super Mario 64 at the moment by chance?

ctesjbuvf posted...

I have now finished the game getting all exits. Did Bowser last but special world right before that.

This is neat. Ill probably still do Bowser at end of world 7, but its a cool idea I can see myself stealing eventually

Wendys Castle was pretty tough, and I didnt even get a Daves Double upon completion.

wallmasterz posted...

anyone tackling Super Mario 64 at the moment by chance?

Yes

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/0/0/AALjKRAAEtkA.jpg

Nice jcgamer107! Btw you go by jc or anything shorter?

In the time it takes you to read this post jcgamer107 has completed another SM64 run.

Whichever - jc/jcgamer. I think I will keep going till I get sub-19, then that will be it. It's not an amazing time or anything, but it's decent for not doing some of the more ridiculous glitches.

Oh heck yeah. Super Mario World credits are rolling. I have done everything except for Star and Special. The Bowser fight was a lot of fun. Now I didnt try every door in Bowsers Castle (door #1 was tough for sure) but the thing which has given me the most trouble so far was getting Yoshi to the end of Valley of Bowser 4 to unlock the secret exit! I remember thinking it was sad the first time I saw Yoshi sink into the lava little did I know Id see it another 20 times before it was all said and done. I think the last few castles and fortresses were fittingly tough and fun. Are Mega Moles blind? If so, I feel a little bad for killing so many of them. But not bad enough to stop killing them.

Farming extra lives is quite quick and painless at Valley Ghost House. Ive got 99 lives and ready to tackle what remains. 78/96, naturally.

Play time is 9 hours, 57 minutes.

Surprised Valley of Bowser is the one that caused the most trouble.

But I guess it's a place where there's no plan B if you don't get Yoshi to the point.

I kept hitting the midway gate so if Yoshi went down, I had to finish the level before I could start it over to my knowledge. Eventually I figured out how to avoid that. It wasnt a huge problem but it did take me a while. There is a stretch with two chargin chucks throwing clods of dirt (side note: lamest thing that instant kills Mario lol) and a spring in the middle, I struggled quite a bit with that part

What did you expect to cause the most trouble?

Good question. Depends how much you looked at how to find secret exits? Some of them aren't hard but hard to find and vice versa.

Valley Ghost House is the worst. Hard to find and hard to get into. I had location spoiled for me and it was still really tough to pull off.

Valley of Bowser 2, I had to look that one up.

Trying to remember if any others gave me trouble. I only looked up a couple.

I feel like Valley Ghost House is somewhat obvious given how you find the regular exit but hard to pull off maybe.

Valley of Bowser 2 was one of my four contenders for toughest secret exit yeah.

What are your other contenders for toughest? Actually let me guess, excluding Star Road 3-5 which I havent finished yet.

Donut Ghost House -> Top Secret Area due to no indication you need to bring an item in. Personally, Id have to put Cheese Bridge Area on the list. I found Forest of Illusion 2 on my own but I could see some people struggling. Forest Ghost House is a contender. I wouldnt include Forest Secret Area since theres a help block at the beginning of the level that spells out some of the possible requirements. No to Chocolate Island 3 I was ready for it after Cheese Bridge Area, plus its less hard to access.

Guessing the rest of your list is Donut Ghost House, Cheese Bridge Area, Forest Ghost House? And if Im wrong on any of these maybe theres a rough one on Star Road?

I am a super player!!

Total play time: 11 hours, 44 minutes. Im still not sure how youre supposed to get through parts of Funky without a cape feather. Top three most difficult levels in Special. 3rd place: Tubular. 2nd place: Outrageous. Toughest for me: Awesome. Cant believe these bastards decided to throw in a cheep cheep bridge scenario on ice with banzai bills and one block wide landings. The devs woke up and chose violence. I did use the star to make my way through.

Had a blast playing Super Mario World for the first time. It will not be the last. Going through the mainline series has given me an idea for a challenge Id like to do next time around: Beat every level as regular Mario without getting hit. I definitely leaned on the cape feather and Yoshi to get through special, and I think it would be fun to challenge myself more next time around. Although I would absolutely use save states each time I beat a level and not torture myself unnecessarily lol.

Next up: Super Mario Land 2. Another game Ive never beaten.

Nice. A really great & unique entry in the series. My 2nd fave Game Boy game after Pokmon.

wallmasterz posted...

Guessing the rest of your list is Donut Ghost House, Cheese Bridge Area, Forest Ghost House?

The first two yeah.

The last one of Chocolate 2 (I think 2). It's an odd inclusion but it's potentially extremely difficult and potentially very easy. You might get it in your first attempt, but you might also be searching the level carefully which will work against you since it's find by reaching a certain point within a set amount of time.

I am bad at recalling specific level names but the ice one was the only one I died in several times. This is usually not the case. I blame bumpy train with no cooling and thus sweaty hands on top of the ice in the level lol. I farmed a bunch of lives due to star and fish though.

Tubular is often people's least favorite I think if I am right it's the one with the balloon.

On my most recent playthrough, I died a bunch on Awesome, although at least that one had a 1 up, which I could get often enough that I think I ended up having a net gain of lives at the end.

As a kid Outrageous was probably the toughest. If you can make it there with power ups, it's not as bad, but I usually wouldn't bother to go all the way back to get them if I died.

This time, I probably had the most trouble with Tubular although part of that was a self imposed goal to get the Yoshi coins. Way Cool was harder than usual for a similar reason, although it was kind of neat to actually try to understand the on/off block mechanics instead of just taking the one way I had figured out as a kid, and then using the Yoshi wings to skip the rest of the level.

Something I wish was that World had slightly more difficult bosses. Doesn't help a lot that the Koopalings are actually only four different bosses basically. Four of them you can beat before they even do anything. The fortress boss is harder probably despite being the same every single time. Bowser is an alright boss.

I really enjoy that no worlds are too gimmicky or have too similar levels. It's a common thing in Mario games that if you don't like water levels, well that one world will just suck then, same for desert, same for ice etc. This isn't an issue in World at all. The game is so consistent I have never considered any ranking of worlds, which is very unique to World specifically. I don't mind it being easier because you can just not fly with cape and use Yoshi. To me it just gives you different ways of handling things. The invention of a special world that came to be a main stay is fantastic. Running through coins given you a compliment is a lovely Nintendo way of congratulating you on beating their game. The world design change is a little odd but fun idea I suppose.

Nice thoughts ctes and I agree with you.

I am probably going to slow my pace on this project a little bit. I am definitely going to finish but will likely try to get NSMB DS and Super Mario Galaxy 2 added to my collection around the holidays, so Id like to spread out SML2, 64 and Sunshine to last me a bit longer.

IMO, the cape being too overpowered is probably SMW's biggest weakness. I guess it doesn't affect my playthrough as much, since I usually don't choose to fly over levels, and I'm probably not the best with the cape anyway. But it really hit home, when I watched an all-levels speed run, and saw them just fly over so many of the levels. It's a big factor of why I'd rank SMB3 above World (though they're close).

Comparatively speaking, the fire flower is pretty underpowered. When would you ever want a fire flower instead of a cape? IMO, for the most part, water levels are really the only time I'd want fire instead of a cape, which is ironic since it's the one place you'd expect a fire weapon to not work so well. Also, fire balls not working when on Yoshi nerfs the power too.

I'm just gonna keep these SML2 thoughts holstered then!

definitely a good idea to avoid burnout though. SMG2 is another one I've never played but actually own, so maybe I'll play it when you do. I also have NSMB DS, interestingly enough, but I've beaten that one.