Super Mario World Discussion

[Redstar]

The one. This is what got me into the Super Mario games. I used to play this game all the time, easily getting through all 96 exits for 100% completion. I just loved everything about the game, from it's fun enemies to the dinosaur theme most prevalent on Chocolate Island.

I think they really did something great with this game, even though I understand that most people consider Super Mario Bros. 3 to be the height of the series. After having finally played through and beaten that title I can certainly see why people feel that way and I do agree, but Super Mario World was there for me first.

While it may be too easy and somewhat short, it's still a great game that I recommend anyone play. It introduces so much to the series. Honestly, though, if it didn't have Yoshi it'd offer almost nothing to the casual player, and even now I see a lot more people saying that even Yoshi wasn't enough for them to like it.

[Phlibbit]

But I love the atmosphere and overall style. And Yoshi, of course. It's the last game that really felt like a Mario one until...Mario Galaxy? Maybe SM64DS.

[Redstar]

It does have a whole universe that feels a lot more alive than the earlier games did. I agree about the atmosphere and style. Playing the earlier games you sort of get a feel for a mythical land, but it's nothing more than a surreal adventure. SMW actually immerses you in a real world with living enemies and terrain.

[Phlibbit]

Yeah. The others are more abstract feeling. SMB feels like a legend. SMB2 feels like a tripped out dream. SMB3 is on the right track, but SMW did it the best of those 4.

[Redstar]

People say that the Mario games have had no advancement, either in story or theme, but if you examine each they really have evolved into something new with each iteration.

[ultimateemail5000]

I actually had a SMW kick earlier in the week and played through a lot of it, I went ahead and beat the special world after the Boo house in the second world. I do like this game but it really can't beat SMB3, to me I think its because of Yoshi. When Yoshi first came out he was a great character, looking at him now, I think he is a very trashy character and I do not like him. I hate when you ride him and the Jamaican music plays with the normal music. But my favorite Yoshi is the blue one obviously for his flying ability. I also don't care much for the dinosaur theme, since to me Mario is supposed to be about saving Mushroom people. But I understand they wanted to do something different.

But overall this game really isn't a bad game, it just to me feels like after having all the awesome power ups in SMB3, we get a cape, fire flower, and Yoshi's abilities, which are the same thing Mario has. They can shoot fire, and fly. Mario can't cause an earthquake and make his enemies falll to their doom like Yellow Yoshi could, but if he had a Kuribo shoe he probably could.

[Redstar]

I do like this game but it really can't beat SMB3, to me I think its because of Yoshi. When Yoshi first came out he was a great character, looking at him now, I think he is a very trashy character and I do not like him.

Yoshi really is probably the one true gimmick in the franchise. He worked for his time in that one game, but it hasn't aged very well. I like what they were able to do with the character beyond his introduction, but even now I feel that he's not being used as well as he should.

[Phlibbit]

Yoshi is the one true gimmick in the franchise?

I know you're not as down on Super Mario Sunshine as the rest of us, but come on now. F.L.U.U.D. is the definition of "gimmick."

[ultimateemail5000]

I like Mario Sunshine, but I do agree. I would rather have Yoshi rather than F.L.U.D.D.. FLUDD was just Miyamoto's way of making Mario with a gun. When they were making SMS they saying Mario was going to be mature. So we got a colorful game, Sunshine in the title, and a water gun.

[ultimateemail5000]

yeah Mario is so mature that he has a mickey mouse voice. *rolls eyes*

He's" mature" now because he no longer does the V symbol with his hands. That's what one of the things they were saying by making him mature. Luigi does however in SSBB. So maybe Luigis the immature one.

[Redstar]

Yoshi is the one true gimmick in the franchise?

Miyamoto has said himself that they didn't implement Yoshi as well as they had hoped and it somewhat shows. I enjoy Yoshi as much as the next person, but I can see that they haven't utilized the character very well since his original appearance. It's only just now that we're seeing Yoshi back in the main games with Galaxy 2.

[Phlibbit]

Exactly, I agree. Yoshi was the absolute WORST in SMS, from a gameplay standpoint. He was much, much better in Galaxy 2.

Although he's a separate character, in games where Mario interacts with him I just view Yoshi as a higher form of a power-up. Look at him that way and it might make a little more sense.

And going off the whole "he wasn't implemented well in SMW," the same could be said about the cape powerup. It's just another version of the raccoon tail. The innovation I think in that game was more of the world-building and that sort of thing that you mentioned earlier.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Yoshi is nightmare fuel in Sunshine.

As for World, I think my favorite part (besides nostalgia for the then-new 16-bit graphics) was having a whole cohesive world... something newer games have gotten progressively worse about.

[ultimateemail5000]

I actually enjoy having Yoshi in sunshine just because of the fact he vommits. Anything else I don't really care about, it pisses me off when he falls in water. Especially if I'm trying to ride the boats to the lonely island that needs Yoshi to puke on the paint covering the warp pipe.