Super Mario World

Rewatching Once Upon A Time, I recall how fond I am of how it reminds me of a Western take on Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Kingdom Hearts. All the fairy tale crossovers make me happy, as I could watch Snow and Charming flirt all day. They're so adorable!

Seeing as how there's a month until the next 2D Mario game releases, time to return to one of his best adventures:

Colors! Colors everywhere!

It is, of course, the illustrious Super Mario World. This was the big thing after the big thing that was Super Mario Bros. 3, which is a personal favorite of mine. The question is now put upon me to figure out which one I think is better, which is an eternal question I've had ever since I was a kid.

Super Mario World is highly regarded not only as a Mario game but as a highlight in the industry. Helping to usher in the fourth generation, this Super NES launch title was reason alone for a child to want the 16-bit system whether you knew the technical specs or not (At least I did as a kid, even though I didn't get my system until a birthday present in '96, so I abused Blockbuster rentals when they were still relevant. Geesh, does that age me or what?). It took the basic premise of Super Mario Bros. 3 and used the extra horsepower for a more fleshed-out game.

I love me angular hills!

Being on the SNES, it showed off its new color palette nicely. The color scheme is bright: green hills are bright and bold, Chocolate Island is brown and delicious-looking, the island itself is surrounded by nice blue ocean, and the Valley of Bowser is dark and foreboding and full of lava. It looks nice, as character sprites on both the Mario Bros. and enemies are now more detailed, more closely matching their artwork for the first time; a big deal for my seven-year-old self. World's presentation is the basis for the rest of the series (bongos for Yoshi is a nice example), as is some of the musical cues thanks to the enhanced sound chip.

Gameplay-wise, World is very much a Mario game, building off of the foundation laid by SMB3. Momentum remains important, though the Power Meter isn't shown like it was in its predecessor. Jumps are still full of weight and purpose, which leads for a very comfortable sense of physics. In addition to the normal platforming actions of running and jumping, there's now the ability to spin jump, which admittedly has very few 'necessary' uses but is useful for block-breaking and destroying some foes in a more timely manner.

While the power-ups introduced in SMB3 are absent, World instead introduces the Cape Feather and fan-favorite Yoshi. Similar to the Super Leaf, the Cape Feather produces Cape Mario, in which our plumber can attack by spinning the cape around himself and being able to glide indefinitely when in the air by careful manipulation of the cape mid-flight. In some ways it's more useful than Raccoon Mario, though they each work well in their respective games, as the Leaf is better in SMB3's smaller environments and World's Feather can be well-utilized in its larger open stages.

Gnarly. Tubular. Way Cool. Awesome.
Groovy. Mondo. Outrageous. Funky.

Though by far the most entertaining addition World gave to the series was the lovable Yoshi. The green dinosaur's debut in this game was a dream-come-true to any dinosaur-loving kid in the 90s. Not only could Yoshi jump on most creatures, including spiked foes, with little fear of danger, they also come in different colors. When you first find a Yoshi from a block, it's a Baby Yoshi, needing to eat 5 foes before they grow up into an Adult Yoshi, then you can ride them and utilize their unique abilities. Yoshi has a long tongue to intercept foes early, and a Green Yoshi is able to use the power of a respective colored Yoshi based on the color of shelled foes they ingest, either Red, Yellow or Blue. A red shell/Yoshi spit out flames, blue sprouts wings, while yellow allows a small dust storm pound when landing.

It's now classic Mario fare: levels are still timed and themed by sections of Dinosaur Island, where the Mario Bros. and Princess Toadstool went to originally go on vacation after Bowser's defeat in SMB3. When landing and stumbling upon Yoshi's House, they learned Toadstool was captured as well as Yoshi and his friends in enchanted eggs. Mario and Luigi then set off to rescue Yoshi's friends by battling the Koopalings along the way, as Bowser was secretly using Dinosaur Island to rebuild the Koopa Troop. Yeah, I know a story synopsis isn't necessary: you're not playing a main Mario game for the plot, but it's there and I love Yoshi and the Koopalings.

The levels are larger than the previous three Mario games and the stages are just as varied, and can all be seen from a continuous giant world map of Dinosaur Island. From sliding on sloped hills to avoiding giant Bullet Bills while avoiding dinosaur foes, there's a lot of colorful characters and levels to discover. Ghost Houses return with their trickery and three hidden switches fill in colored blocks in levels that lead to hidden exits and alter a level's path. Completionists can aim to find all 96 exits, which is tracked on the file selection screen as a number, giving a virtual tally for the exploratory.

Everything is made better with Yoshi.

All-in-all, Super Mario World is a fun game, and an excellent Mario game. Its distinct level style and additions are fondly remembered and have influenced future games in big and small ways. Yoshi became a fan favorite and even spawned his own spin-off series (one of which is this game's prequel and one of my personal favorite games of all time) and the athletic theme is memorable enough many gamers still recognize it. World's impact in gaming memory is not to be disputed, and the gameplay still holds up over twenty years after its original release. I tend to fluctuate on whether World or SMB3 are the superior title, but I must concede World's expansion on SMB3's gameplay, so I'd ultimately say World ranks slightly higher simply for expansion's sake.

Main Series
1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Super Mario Bros.
4. Super Mario Bros. 2

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It's games like this that reminds me how fun the 16-bit generation was. There's nothing but gameplay and charm that drove games back in the day with limited technology, but strong enough to bring almost any visual idea to life. It was such an interesting time, where sprites were king and art direction was king alongside increased technical power. Like next week's game, which was also a benchmark for future legends.

Until next time!
Ciao!