User Review Retro

Super Mario World (Retro)
User Review

Name: Super Mario World
Item: Super Mario World
Rating: 9.8
Author: camochase

Product Information:

Release Date (NA): November 21, 1990
Publisher: Nintendo
Genres: Platformer

Game Features:

Single player

Local Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Co-operative

Review Approach:

There are many amazing things about this game, and the hardest part of writing this review is trying to sum up this game and what makes it worthy of all of its appeal. Since this game is so revolutionary to the Mario franchise is my main focus. I am also focusing on what makes this game timeless and a classic , and that some people to this day still consider it one of the best Mario games (Including myself). Overall if you haven't played it you really should try it

This game was introduced way back in 1990 on the Super Nintendo. Many people bought a Snes (Super Nintendo) just to play this game. This game was the perfect introduction to the 16-bit gaming era. It even had its own commercials. This review is less over the gameplay elements and more about the actual parts of the game.

First Moments & Plot

You start up a new level and you are greeted with the screen above. You learn that Bowser is up to his usual shenanigans and kidnapped Princess Peach, again... On any other day this would seem like a regular Mario game if this wasn't Dinosaur Land! You are then put into the Overworld on top of Yoshi's house. This is the first time Yoshi was introduced into the Mario universe so you had no idea what a Yoshi was besides the cover of the game of course. After you go inside you see...

At this point you learn about the bigger plot of the game. Bowser has not only kidnapped Princess Peach but is terrorizing the helpful Yoshis of Dinosaur Land. He has stolen 8 Yoshi eggs and stored them within his numbered castles. That you as the kind hearted plumber you are is going to free Yoshi and his brothers as well as save Dinosaur Land and Princess Peach!

Yoshi

Poor Yoshi couldn't even make it past the first level to save his brothers.

Yoshi as i have mentioned before he was first introduced in Super Mario World. And has been Mario's faithful companion since then even a the cost of their own lives. He has been in many Mario games ever since. And has became a real stable in the Mario franchise.

Yoshis everywhere laying their lives down for the benefit of Mario since 1990

Yoshi throughout this game is one of the most useful power-up kind of items. When you ride Yoshi you can stick out his tongue to eat enemies. If you eat a colored koopa Yoshi gains some weird abilities depending on the color. Red koopas gives Yoshi the ability to spit fire when he spits out the shell. Blue koopas give Yoshi wings and the ability to fly. Lastly one of the less known powers is the yellow koopa when Yoshi has this shell when he jumps he lands harder than normal, this causes nearby enemies to back off and koopas to retreat into their shells. Also there are 3 other Yoshis corresponding to the koopa colors and when they eat any shell they get their color power plus the power of the shell in their mouth. How you obtain these special Yoshis has to do with the star world which i will cover later.

Bowser

Bowser and his Koopalings (Morton, Roy, Lemmy, Wendy, Iggy, Larry, and Ludwig)are back for SMB 3 and have taken the Yoshi eggs and guard them inside their castles. Their castles are placed all over Dinosaur Land leading up to Bowser's castle that is hidden rather cleverly. He seems so sure tha noone will find him that he has a big flashy sign in front of his castle. the only way into his castle is the Star Road and his very own Secret Exit (no spoilers sorry). Although you can get a sneak preview of Bowser's castle early in the game trough a hidden tube.

Bowser's new and improved castle.

His castle also has a system that makes this castle unique. You get to choose you own path through his castle with a total of 17 (if you count the back door) combinations for your very own Bowser experience. Bowser also is a hard boss for a non-veteran player. In my opinion this boss fight is the perfect end to the game, because the boss fight is not too hard or easy.

Bowser fight sneak peek

New Control

There is a new control in this game that isn't used that much in the original game. If you haven't guessed it yet its the spin jump. The spin jump is a move that does ( you guessed it) spin jumps. This different kind of jump has the ability to knock things out of existence like whole koopas, jump smaller (useful for avoiding things) , jump off most spiked enemies, and kill some enemies like chucks. This new control went really unused in the unmodded game because there was really no need to use it to get through any of the levels. Although if you try to play one of the many mods you will find its almost a necessity and brings a whole new challenge to the game.

Special Worlds

There are 2 special worlds in this game that are not necessary to beat it. One is called the Star World and looks like the picture above, and the other is known as the Special World. The Star World is home to the colored Yoshis. In the levels there are Yoshi eggs that hatch into colored baby Yoshis. To get them to grow up you have to carry them around and feed them enemies or a starman. The Star World is the fastest way to Bowser's castle. To progress through each Star World level you have to find the secret exit hidden within each level. If you find every secret exit and make a full star you unlock the path to the secret world which looks like...

Completed Special World

The Special World is comprised of the hardest levels in the whole game. They each are named after synonyms of the word awesome. I don't want to spoil too much for you about this world but if you finish it it does something "special". Also be careful of "Tubular" its my least favorite level.

Overworld

Overworld picture from Smwiki.net

By this point in the Mario series the Overworld wasn't a new concept but Super Mario World gave more style to it. By having all 9 worlds (Yoshi's Island, Donut Plains, Vanilla Dome, Bridges, Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Island, Valley of Bowser, Star World and Special World) connected in obvious ways. There are a lot of good things about the Overworld in this game. One of the best is how it how it makes you feel like it is its own land. Some elements of the Overworld are yellow levels,red levels and Switch Palaces and Castles. Red levels have secret exits. Switch Palaces are another new feature in this game. They have an influence over a lot of parts of the game. By Defeating a Switch Palace you release a block the same color as the palace all over the world. This will unlock secrets,hidden items, the fast way to Bowser or just make a level easier. And that ends all of what i have to say about the game itself.

Mods

Mods are something that i feel are important to this game whether or not they are part of the original game. There exists over 100's of mods for this game over at Smwcentral.com. All of them add new content to the game and even new sprites. Its all made possible because of a little application call Lunar Magic that allows editing of almost everything within the game. This allows for an almost infinite amount of possibilities. If you actually want to try out any good mods try out Super Mario World Central Production. But not only do mods add more content to this classic game they add more difficulty for those who find the game too easy. Lastly if you want to see something crazy that modding can do look up Item Abuse

Im sorry if I left anything out feel free to tell me if i did. Hoped my review help up to everything this game has to offer.

Verdict

What I Liked ...

Graphics
Controls
Replayability
Secrets
Mods
introduction of Yoshi
Level Design
Classic
Difficulty

What I Didn't Like ...

Sparced out saving
Some cruel hit boxes
Lots of bad Glitches(not often though)

Gameplay

Same old Mario controls but with the addition of Yoshi and the spin jump. Not to mention better platforming.

Presentation

Great presentation but could always do better with the save system. Which they fixed in the later Gba remake.

Lasting Appeal

Many remakes and mods on the vanilla game made since its release.

9.8

out of 10

Overall

Unforgettable game, tons of replay abilty and into of many of Mario's standards

Boy12
Aug 11, 2013

Aaah nostalgia!
Hope this comes out on the 3DS'ses eShop!
Also, nice review man

Reactions: camochase

Costello
Aug 11, 2013

Nice review though I prefer when text is aligned on the left (or justified), just saying. Centered makes it look a lot less professional

I remember saving my money as a kid, to buy this which was bundled with the Snes. this will always be one of my top Mario games.

My absolute favorite Mario game!

Played it so many time, so many hours went into it....

Ryukouki
Aug 11, 2013

Star World Tubular. I absolutely hated that level.

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