The SNES controller has six action buttons compared to the NES's simple "A" and "B," and Nintendo puts the extra inputs to work by giving Mario two different flavors of jumping. Luckily, Mario has a new move set and power-ups to help him survive his "vacation" in Dinosaur Land. The colossal Banzai Bill is one of the first foes you meet in Mario World. Unlike Mario 3, not all ghosts in Mario World are stymied by a stare. These haunted mansions are brimming with illusions and secrets – not to mention restless souls capable of killing Mario with a touch. In addition to levels that ask you to adhere to the classic Mario ruleset (move from left to right and avoid enemies and pits until you reach the end goal), you need to tackle new and tricky terrain like Ghost Houses. "What, Nintendo, are you too cool for raccoon tails now?"īut when I played Mario World for the first time, I quickly learned Nintendo wasn't trying to alter its past image it just had a whole bunch of new ideas it wanted to try out. Though even I must admit it was initially a little off-putting to observe how differently Mario World looked and played next to Mario 3. Its map offers more opportunities for exploration, its levels are longer, and there's a host of new challenges to contend with. Mario World feels less rigid than Mario 3. Nintendo's decision to make Mario World so different from its predecessor is ultimately the right one. Do not write a school report on Mario World's winged Rex for your dinosaur unit. But Super Mario World takes us far away from familiar fields and guides us to Dinosaur Land, a prehistoric realm inhabited by "dinosaurs" whose bizarre biology is more suggestive of dragons and other fantasy creatures. Given the critical and commercial success of Super Mario Bros 3 for the NES, few people would've begrudged Nintendo for re-visiting the Mushroom Kingdom with a brighter color palette. Now if only I'd funneled that quasi-religious fervor into ending world hunger or something useful. Better still, Super Mario World is a gem of a game, and I did the right thing by standing up for it. I wasn't executed or exiled, but a Sega fan once lobbed a block of wood at me in Wood Shop, and I guess that kind of sucked.Īh, but the magic of hindsight lets me smile back on those days. Unfortunately, my classmates were too riled up by the 16-bit Console Wars to heed my wisdom. Sonic's more about raw platforming and speed." Yeah, Sonic has speed and style,īut Mario World has half-naked Koopa Troopas in undershirts. It's a game that rewards players who wander off the path. "Yeah, Mario World is slower than Sonic, but that's because Mario World is about exploration and careful movements. That's something I noticed as far back as the early '90s, when my friends were gushing over Sonic the Hedgehog's sky-high "Cool!" factor and Mario World was dragged through the mud in commercials for the Sega Genesis. That's likely the reason why Super Mario World for the SNES isn't a very fancy-looking game, but its depth is unmatched by other action titles. "We've always wanted to make Mario ride a dinosaur, so now that we have the means to make him do so, Mario's going to ride a damn dinosaur." Once that's done, Nintendo uses whatever's left to gussy up a game's graphics and sound. First, it does what it can to realize long-held dreams for its series, e.g. Whenever a new console lets Nintendo tap into additional processing power, it traditionally funnels those extra resources into its games' mechanics. Join us as we review all the games on the SNES Classic Mini Edition in chronological order!