Super Mario World (Super Nintendo) Review

By Karn Spydar Lee Bianco 15.10.2003

Review for Super Mario World on Super Nintendo

Super Mario World, introduced the new character Yoshi into the series, adding a new dimension to the game. This wasn't all that made the game special though, oh no...

So let's get the trivial things out of the way first, let's start with ooh, the storyline. Mr. Evil himself, Bowser or king Koopa or whatever you want to call him, has kidnapped Princess Peach, and guess what? That's right; Mario's off to get his darling girl back. On his way, he travels to Yoshi's island, where he meets, *drum roll* Yoshi! Who being the nice little fella he is agrees to help Mario out, of course he has his own motive as well, as well as Peachy girl, Bowser's gone and captured lot's of Yoshi's friends, and put them in some dark, dank castles. So in return for his services, Yoshi's wants Mario to get his friends back, fair enough we think. Well with that well and truly out of the way, let's move onto the main game now shall we.

Now let's talk about the graphics first of all. There just what you would expect from Nintendo, everything is nice and simple. It's all very colourful, nothing is too distracting. The animation all runs nice and smoothly, it seems to have been designed for kids, but that really doesn't matter, provided you are young at heart, you'll love this game too, no matter how old you are. Seeing as how minimalism is still the 'hip' thing to have in your house, this game will fit in nicely for those of you image concerned people. The whole feel of the game is affected by the graphics (obviously), which means it all feels very relaxed; it's definitely a pick up and play game. Of course you can get nice and involved. For example finding all the exits on the map will take a fair bit of skill, time and effort, but otherwise it's just a nice laid-back game, which can be slipped in and out of with ease, in the knowledge that you'll enjoy every moment of it when you do. Perhaps a bad point but perhaps not, is the fact that the game is rather easy, although this may add to the simplicity and quick burst of play notion, it can lead to the game seeming to be a bit lacking for hardcore gamers.

Screenshot for Super Mario World on Super Nintendo

So it's left down to the gameplay to make the game stand out, and it doesn't fail. Although it doesn't exactly have stand out gameplay, it just feels SO right when you're playing. It is certainly one of the smoothest platformer's in existence. Of course there's an extra feature in this Mario game, absent in all others up to this point, and as mentioned earlier this is of course Yoshi! He really adds an extra dimension to the gameplay, he doesn't take much getting used to at all, as he is quite similar to Mario, but still refreshingly different. For example, as well as being technically invincible, (He can fall off the edge of the world though) he has new abilities which can be very useful for the player. Once Mario jumps on Yoshi's back like a big green pre-historic horse, you take control of him. First off is his ability to eat enemies, you heard EAT them. Doesn't sound like a particularly good move does it now? Oh how wrong you are, for you see, are little friend Yoshi here has a very large red tongue stuck in his mouth. Which can be launched out at any time, if it hit's an enemy or edible object, (for example an apple) Yoshi will eat it! Items like apples are automatically swallowed and you receive points, however for enemies a new element is opened up. If you eat a Koopa with a shell, the colour of the shell decides your ability, for example snap up a red shell and you can shoot fire! Other colours allow you to fly for a short period of time and even shoot the shell back out to smash other enemies.

Screenshot for Super Mario World on Super Nintendo

It doesn't end there though, no sir-ree-bob. Yoshi also has some very lovely boots on his feet, which means he can jump on stronger enemies and hurt them, even when Mario couldn't manage. We also mentioned earlier that Yoshi is nearly invincible, well let's go into that a bit more. When Yoshi is hit by an enemy he drop Mario and starts running around like a loony, provided you find him again (and he doesn't run into an abyss) you just get back on him and carry on as normal. It's for this reason, amongst others, that Yoshi is so valuable in the game, he acts as a saviour on top of the usual 'get hit as Super Mario become normal Mario' type health system, Complied with his special abilities make him a VERY worthwhile addition to the Mario series. There are some minor details that make the game work just that bit better for example, the screen can scroll both left and right now, which means if you miss something or feel like exploring for goodies, it's all much easier now. Other little details like being able to jump off of Yoshi mid-jump to get EVEN higher, just gives the feeling of more control over the character.

Screenshot for Super Mario World on Super Nintendo

As you will be aware of by now, Super Mario World is set on an overworld map. Nice and simple every time you complete a level you get to move onto the next one, until you've uncovered the path to get all the way over to Bowser's castle. Of course it isn't quite that simple. Many of the levels have 'secret exits' which require you to do various things in the level to discover. For example Ghost houses often hide a secret exit somewhere inside that just needs to be found like a normal, but other levels may require you to find a key then an exit. This adds another layer to the game, finding all the exits in the game, as stated earlier is quite a tough little challenge, one that you will be rewarded for as well... Well that's about it, all that's left is to go and play the actual game, enjoy it all of you.

Screenshot for Super Mario World on Super Nintendo

Cubed3 Rating

9/10
Rated 9 out of 10

Exceptional - Gold Award

Rated 9 out of 10

Lovely game, considered by many to be Mario's greatest outing yet. So unbelievably fun and gameplay simple enough for a 4 year old but so immaculately presented that it will entice even the most experienced gamer. Nintendo knew what they were doing when they made this.

Developer

Nintendo

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

2D Platformer

Players

2

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  10/10 (15 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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