Saturday, February 4, 2012

2. Super Mario World (SNES)


When the Super Nintendo first launched, Nintendo was mired deep in a console war with Sega’s console, the Sega Genesis. Worryingly, Sega was quickly gaining ground as Nintendo was late to the 16 bit era. Sega even had a new game called Sonic the Hedgehog and kids were eager to play it. Luckily for Nintendo, they still had Mario, and they still had Shigeru Miyamoto (the creator of Mario). So, in 1991 with the launch of the Super Nintendo, Nintendo released Super Mario World, the first 16 bit Mario game. Super Mario World delivered the goods. The graphics were crisp and bright, and the gameplay expanded on the classic Mario moveset and gave Mario a new item, the feather. Most notably, however, was the addition of Mario’s dinosaur friend Yoshi, who Mario could ride on. The levels were massive too, with 96 levels and goal posts crammed in the cartridge. Super Mario World is a must own for the Super Nintendo, and is the best game on the system. Still, as flawlessly executed as this game is, it’s not my favorite Mario title.

2 comments:

  1. I traded in my NES with Mario 1, 2 and 3 to buy a Super NES with Mario World (my dad couldn't afford it otherwise). Though those are all great NES games, I can't say I wasn't disappointed I did so, especially since I bought SMAS a bit later on.

    My first memory of SMW was in an arcade, I believe. Somebody was playing Yoshi's Island 1 and being slaughtered by the moles... I knew then that I had to acquire this game.

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  2. I remember when I was 5 or so and my older brother picked up the SNES. I'm not sure if it came packed in with Mario World or not, but I know we got it really soon after that if we didn't already have it. Heh, you remember when Mario's about to plummet to his death and you can get a little higher by jumping off Yoshi's back? Poor Yoshi.

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