Mario and Luigi are two of the most famous brothers in history. Partner plumbers, the two have fought many a battle for their beloved princess, Peach, and their lives.

Starting with Nintendo’s first Mario created, Super Mario Land, Mario was a hero to be reckoned with. His next appearance, in Super Mario Land 2, brought more popularity to the series, this time Princess Toadstool and Toad, their mushroom friend, truly entering the cast. Rounding out the Mario series on the NES system with Super Mario World 3, Nintendo left the system with a bang. Finally, coming out with the Super Nintendo (a.k.a. SNES), the Nintendo Company created their next masterpiece. Super Mario World, a new, yet classic Nintendo game, returned Nintendo to the times before. Once again, Princess Toadstool (later named Peach) was captured by the evil Bowser.

Again, Bowser’s children set out among Mario and Luigi’s path to thwart his plan. But this time, amazingly, Mario and Luigi were met by a few new friends. With great new graphics, astounding next to the NES graphics, shouted out on the new SNES. Newer monsters, more complex levels, hours and hours of gameplay, and characters we had all grown to love, Super Mario World was as big a hit as any other Mario creation. The Nintendo Company had, amazingly, struck gold again.

Note: There may be small spoilers in this review

Characters- 9/10: Super Mario World gives the player a story fit for a book (well, if you like fantasy). With each level boss and monster named and placed, Super Mario World has a wide variety of baddies and good guys, making it entertaining to watch. Now, for the characters:

Mario- 10/10: He’s back, and better than ever. Donned in his regular Red Shirt and Blue Overalls, Mario has never been better drawn. His feud with Bowser has been rekindled, Princess Toadstool kidnapped once again, and Mario’s World covered in new and harder monsters (though you’ll recognize a few), Mario shows us that he is tougher than he looks. A true winner, Mario is the main reason you come back to play this game, again and again.

Luigi- 9/10: Luigi is also back, but with one problem: you can’t be just him! Truthfully wanting him to be my singular character for the game, I was disappointed that Nintendo made him only accessible if you play with Mario as well (play a two-player game). For Luigi fans, this is a sad fact, as in Super Mario Land 2, Luigi is a great character, and truly different from Mario. Luigi’s close to absent in this game made few grieve, yet it was not enough to spoil this classic.
 

Character Items 9/10: I felt this section fit here, as Luigi and Mario are the only two characters that can use these items. I was only disappointed here by the fact that the item list was so small, dwarfed by the long list of items accessible in Super Mario World 3. A good point, however, is the item box at the top of your screen, in which you can hold an item until you need it. It is very useful for bosses or large dungeons.

Mushroom: The traditional item returns. As before, this item turns regular Mario or Luigi into Super Mario/Luigi. Seemingly midgets in their regular form, the Mario Brothers grow into regularly tall guys when they get the mushroom. Getting this item also gives the Mario Brothers two hit points, instead of small Mario’s one.

Flower: Another traditional item, the flower has been around since Super Mario Land, the first of the series. Turning Mario into “Fire Mario”, an enlarged form of himself that can shoot fireballs, he becomes one of the two “Permanent Powers”(as I refer to them), which Mario can turn in to. Giving Mario an extra edge, this is the second best item in the game (the best in some areas).

Feather: Similar to the leaf of Super Mario World 3, the feather turns Mario into “Cape Mario”, a Mario who is, as the named applies, donned in a cape. Unlike its Super Mario World 3 counterpart, the cape allows Mario to actually fly continuously (push the directional pad in the direction you wish to go [after setting off into the air], and press down as well, rolling the directional pad back up to the direction you’re going [most likely right], causing Mario to catch more air and continue flying [nose dives are also possible, and will often occur when one is trying to fly! Work on your flying skills to prevent this, and learn how to do nose dives as the appropriate times! They’re useful!]). The cape is also a useful weapon, as when hitting the “A” button, one may spin into an enemy, killing them. The cape also allows Mario to float slowly to the ground, rather than fall regularly.

Star: Another reoccurring item (sadly, they all are), the star performs the same way in this game as in all the others. Giving Mario a sudden burst of speed and invincibility, the star is more common, and can be used to get free lives. Killing many, many enemies in a row using a star can help Mario gain many lives at once.

Something to try: Go into Lost Woods Board 1, and beat it once through. Then, go halfway through, and get the checkpoint. There is a multi-item box right after the checkpoint. Get a star out of the box, and run to the right, getting every enemy you can! Soon, you will begin to gain lives, and lots of them (wigglers give you 2 at a time). When done, press “Start” and then “Select” to warp out of the board so, when you enter the next time, you will enter right at the halfway checkpoint, ready to begin your life gaining spree all over again.

Free-Life: Looking much like the Mushroom, the Free-Life is Green and White, giving Mario a free-life. Not too rare, yet easy to lose, Free-Lives are found world over. For new Super Mario World players, know that these may sometimes be referred to as “Free-Guys”.

Now, let us return to the character descriptions and ratings:

Yoshi- 10/10: Finally, something totally new! Yoshi is your newest friend, and a dinosaur to boot! You meet him on your first board, and he adds another point, basically, onto Mario. He comes in many colors, which each have different specialties.

Green Yoshi: This is the regular Yoshi. You can find him throughout the game, in Yoshi “boxes”. When he eats a colored shell, he gains special abilities (they correspond with the abilities the other colored Yoshies below have). When he eats a green shell, he’ll just spit it out again, plain as day. Yoshi is truly a godsend, and makes this game unique.

Red Yoshi: This Yoshi is pretty regular, except for one thing: He can turn shells into fireballs! Along with taking along the characteristics of the shell he swallows, this Yoshi will always spit them out fire! This makes him useful if you love killing enemies quickly! He is only accessible from the Star Road, something you will discover throughout your game.

Yellow Yoshi: Rarest but amusing, this Yoshi seems to have little ability. While he takes on the other’s abilities when he swallows their colored shell, he is able to stomp when holding one. This stomp causes enemies to flip upside down, unable to move for about 3 seconds. Not a very useful Yoshi, but a very good looking one, she is only accessible from the Star Road.

Blue Yoshi: My personal favorite Yoshi, this amazing dinosaur will, whenever he mouths a shell of any color, sprout wings and have the ability to fly! Along with gaining the attribute of the shell he eats, this Yoshi has the power of flight. I recommend using this Yoshi as much as possible, as his talent is most useful and a great help on your journey! Like the Yellow and Red Yoshies, this Yoshi can only be found on the Star Road.
Try This: On Star Road, you must build a baby Yoshi into an adult by feeding it enemies. To speed up the process, feed it one Star. The Yoshi will immediately become an adult, and you can finish the board quickly!

Bowser- 9/10: While this character is not playable, he deserves a spot on the character list. Up to his usual tricks, Bowser has kidnapped the Princess, and taken her to his castle deep in Mario’s World! While he is still evil, he seems to have very little involvement in the game until the end. His children (such as Iggy or Wendy) are bosses for each level, so you see him not once before you enter his castle! It is a disappointment that Bowser has so little “screen time” in this game.

Tip: Bowser’s castle has two entrances! Look out for the second, “Back Door”!

Princess (Peach) Toadstool- 8/10: As with Bowser, you do not get a good glimpse of the Princess until the final battle. Poorly drawn, and “wiggly”, she is a poor representation of the true Peach. I believe that Nintendo could have done much more with her drawing, and incorporated her more into the game, showing her escaping at several points, or anything else. Her involvement, other than in the plot, was minimal.

Gameplay/Controls- 10/10: Super Mario World was truly made well. Chock full of monsters, boards, levels and people, Super Mario World is great. Easy to figure out controls, the game is fit for players new to the SNES system. A truly great remake of a classic, Super Mario World kept its players on edge.

Controls 10/10: Easy. Compromising, obviously, of just six buttons and a directional pad, the controls are easy. Below I will describe what each button does, and some tricks:

“A” Button: Pressing the “A” button causes Mario to spin. With a Cape, Mario can hit enemies, and Flower Power will allow him to spray the air with Fireballs in all directions. Not much else with this button.

“B” Button: This is the ‘true’ jump button. Press this and Mario will jump into the air, straight up. When flying, you will use this button to lift off the ground.

“Y” Button: This is the prime button of the game. Press it once with Flower Power and you’ll shoot one Fireball. With a cape, it will let you spin once on the ground. If you run holding the “Y” button and are wearing the cape, you can fly if you press the “B” button when your hands stick out.

“X” Button: Does Nothing.

“Start” Button: Pauses the game, and, on the world map, allows you to look the whole world over (press it once). If you beat a level, and return to beat it again, you can press “Start” and then “Select” to warp out of the stage safely.

“Right” and “Left” buttons: Allow you to look a few inches ahead or a few inches back without moving (the screen shifts). Nothing more.

Gameplay- 10/10: With 96 boards, chock full of secret levels, the Block Palaces, and several ways to beat a board, Super Mario World is a powerful and great game. From the Donut Plains to the Forest of Illusion, every level is not only different, but also unique from anything before. Even though the bosses are the same children we met in Super Mario World 3, they fight differently, and seem like new people. While this fact may not be enough to draw back some players, the game is still fun, and I know I will always love it.

Secret Levels- 10/10: Super Mario World is one of the greatest games I have ever played in the area of “Secret Levels”. Not only with secret levels riddled throughout the world, there are two complete secret areas, each with over 5 levels, levels with two or three separate ways to beat them, and several Switch Palaces.

The Star Road/World of Positive Terms: The Star Road is the only place in the game where you can find the Multicolor Yoshies. Linked through “Star-Warps” throughout Mario’s World, the Star World is comprised of five levels, each with a differently colored Yoshi, and two ways to beat it (one with Lock and Key and one crossing the finish line). After finishing the final level, your game will be opened up to the “World of Positive Terms”, as I like to call it. This world has about eight levels, each with a positive name, such as “Tubular” and “Groovy”. These boards are, in my opinion, for true Super Mario World experts. Without experience, you will have a lot of trouble with these levels. Amusingly, when you finish, the world will change colors! I found these two worlds very amusing, and I visited them often, playing them over and over again.

Switch Palaces: Another truly unique and ingenious part of this game, the Switch Palaces add a new level of difficulty to the game. Hidden throughout the world, these Switch Palaces replace differently colored outlined boxes with colored boxes. Four different colors, only two of these blocks give out items when hit.

Yellow Blocks: Released at the first Switch Palace, these boxes give out Mushrooms when hit from underneath. They are the most common colored box, and can make up floors as well as just blocks, making it difficult to finish some levels due to gaps in the floor.

Green Blocks: Released at the second Switch Palace in Donut Plains, Green Blocks give out a feather whenever you hit one. Far less common than the Yellow Blocks, they can also make up floors, but are much less likely to be found so.

Red & Blue Blocks: These blocks give out nothing when hit. Found at the Third Switch Palace (at Vanilla Dome) and the Fourth Switch Palace (Forest of Illusion), these blocks do very little except create a makeshift floor. They are very rare, however, and getting their Switch Palaces only helps near the end of the game.

The Gameplay, Secret Levels and Controls for Super Mario World are easy, fun and quick! Easy to master, the controls are useful for a beginning SNES player. The world is riddled with exciting and new Secret Levels, itching at you to discover them. With great and extensive Gameplay, Super Mario World is fun, and lasting.

Graphics-9/10: Super Mario World has great graphics, though some are a bit “elementary”, compared to other games at least. Super Mario RPG reached perfection, while Super Mario World was just on the edge, due to some shoddy monster and Boss drawings (Morton being a prime example). Below I will explain.
 

Background Graphics-10/10: Of anything in this game, I found the range and detail in the backgrounds the best of everything in the game. From the forest backgrounds in many of the levels, to the crystalline backgrounds of many other boards, this game is complete and outstanding in this area. Nintendo should be proud that they could produce such great drawings. If I could, I would give them an 11/10, yet that’s not nearly mathematically possible (at least in the ratings).

Character Graphics (Mario/Luigi/Yoshi/Peach/Bowser)-9/10: These graphics were quite good, but not to the caliber they could have been. I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that, when Yoshi turned, it was as if he was actually moving (he looked 3-Dimensional). Although, as I said before, I found Princess Toadstool’s graphic very poor. Blurry and unrecognizable, she wasn’t very beautiful or, as she claims, “pretty”. Her drawing seemed to be the result of tired Nintendo artists finishing in a hurry. Despite her appearance, all other characters were well drawn, and Mario returned to his former glory, red and blue as always.

Item/Foreground Graphics- 10/10: As I have talked of the items before, I will just restate that they are easily recognizable and done well. Blocks and Items alike are easily hit, drawn well, and not too amazing other than that.

Animation- 10/10: I felt the animation in this game was great. Mario and Luigi looked like cartoons from the television while you played, flying with their cape, or leaping while shooting fireballs. Monsters and characters alike, turning and moving with 3-dimensional precision, make this game amazingly well done in the animation area. Even the foreground, when moving, looks good and full. Being drawn and colored well does not make everything for a game, and Super Mario World shows this with great animation work.

The graphics in Super Mario World, overall, are very good. With beautiful backgrounds, and great animation, this game deserves a 9/10 in the Graphic department. A truly good job done by Nintendo.

Soundtrack/Effects-9/10: Super Mario World truly has a great Soundtrack. Bringing back the old songs, and some of the new, this game has a great soundtrack. The sound effects, as well, are fun and, at some points, down right hilarious! Super Mario World has amusing, and truly well done special effects and music.

Background Music- 10/10: Super Mario World has a new set of soundtracks, each correctly set to the board’s theme. With different songs for Ghost Houses, certain levels, and bosses, the game’s soundtrack variety is truly expansive. Some songs will stick in your mind for a long time, including the tunes that you’ll recognize from the old games, hidden here and there among the levels, tempting a past Super Mario World player to remember his Mario experiences before! Nintendo did a great job on the soundtrack.

Sound Effects- 8/10: With such a game, good sound effects are a given. However, this game’s sound effects are not only good, but also amusing at points. When Baby Yoshi becomes an adult, a squeezing sound is released that has not yet failed to get a chuckle out of me. However, some sound effects can be tedious, repetitive and annoying, and I find I would rather not hear them. That point alone is why sound effects only gets an 80%, but it is an important fact. When the sound effects start to get old, the game can follow.

Replayability-10/10: Super Mario and replayability come hand in hand. As I have mentioned before, Super Mario World is full of secret levels, levels with one more way to beat it, goals to obtain, and 8 full levels to beat (Star World included), this game can be played over and over without one feeling as if it is old. I often find myself picking up this game’s cartridge, sticking it in my SNES, and playing for hours, or days, discovering things I never knew about the game, and rediscovering much, much more. A most interesting way to replay this game is to play through the series, starting with Super Mario Land, and playing through all the way to Mario 64, playing all five games. I have truly enjoyed all the Mario games I have played, and am anxious for the next sequel to come out. Super Mario World, truly exciting, can be played as a new game every time you pick it up. Don’t miss out!

Buy or Rent?- Buy : If you can find Super Mario World, I would recommend buying it. I would suggest looking in your local SNES used-game store, or searching on e-Bay, as this is not a game to pass up. Truly the fourth classic of the Mario series, Super Mario World does not only remind the player of past Mario games, but introduces a new story, new characters, and new ideas. For any new SNES player, this game’s controls are easy to master, and are a true help to beginners. Chock full of secrets, allies, enemies, and of course, Bowser, this game has it all. Go to your local SNES used-game store today, and buy a copy of Super Mario World!