Super Mario World

aka: SMW, Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4
Moby ID: 6591
SNES Specs
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Description official descriptions

Mario is having a vacation in Dinosaur Land when he learns that Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped by the evil King Koopa Bowser. When Mario starts searching for her he finds a giant egg with a dinosaur named Yoshi hatching out of it. Yoshi tells Mario that his fellow dinosaurs have been imprisoned in eggs by Bowser's underlings. The intrepid plumber has to travel to their castles, rescue the dinosaurs, and eventually face King Koopa himself, forcing him to release the princess.

Super Mario World is a jump-and-run platformer and a follow-up to Super Mario Bros. 3. The gameplay is similar to previous installments and includes fast-paced platforming in (mostly) side-view stages populated by various enemies and traps, which must be completed within time limits. Mario has access to his traditional power-ups — the Super Mushroom that makes him bigger, the Fire Flower that allows him to throw little fireballs at enemies, and others. A new power-up is the Cape Feather: when wearing the cape, Mario can spin to hurt enemies, and fly as long as the player is able to sustain his balance in the air. Another new feature is the possibility to ride the dinosaur Yoshi, who can eat enemies and gain special attacks from some of them. In order to unlock certain areas, it is sometimes necessary to physically pick up and carry items (e.g. keys) and use them in appropriate places.

The game's world is divided into several large areas, each containing a number of stages. Outdoor scenarios prevail, but there are also many underground and underwater levels. Each large area has at least one ghost house, typically containing more elaborate traps and ghostly non-destructible enemies. In order to venture to the next area, the player usually has to visit a castle (a more difficult stage with harder enemies and dangerous traps) and defeat the boss enemy guarding it.

Many stages have secret exits, which lead to optional areas, such as fortresses with recurrent boss enemies, interconnected stages of the Star World, and Switch Palaces, which allow the player to materialize specifically colored bricks in all the stages, gaining access to power-ups and other secrets. Secret areas may also open access to other dinosaur types, with different abilities such as breathing fire or flying.

Spellings

  • スーパーマリオワールド - Japanese spelling
  • 슈퍼 마리오 월드 - Korean spelling

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Credits (SNES version)

23 People (16 developers, 7 thanks)

Lead Director
Map Director
Area Director
Programming Director
Mario / System Programmer
Object Programmer
Background Programmer
Map Programmer
Area Data Input
Character Graphic Design
Sound Composer
Special Thanks
Producer
Executive Producer

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 93% (based on 41 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 393 ratings with 9 reviews)

A great Mario game.

The Good
Where to begin, where to begin. We all know and love the Mario games. Super Mario World is no exception. This was the best Mario game for SNES and one of the best ever. The new 16-bit graphics gave the game a better look and feel. The gameplay was also improved and the game runs much better than the NES versions, which ran quite well also. Once again, Bowser is taking over the world or something and you have to stop him. There are many new enemies introduced into this game. The levels look better and so does the sound and graphics. Everything that could have been improved from Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES), was. There are move things that Mario can do and more challenging levels. The game overall is harder, but more fun. This was the first game I owned for the SNES and it's one of my favorites. The unique star system is also fun. I like trying to collect 100 starts to play the mini games. I don't know why, but I just do. Also, I like that you can hold another power-up so that when you lose your own, you can get another almost immediately. Plus you can save your game or restart in the middle of a level if you die while playing it after the checkpoint. This game is definitely a classic and a must buy for anyone who has a SNES.

The Bad
Well, obviously there are things wrong with every game. Super Mario World didn't have to many. There was the occasional glitch, which reminds me of the time I was at the last level and got stuck in the wall. After I restarted the game, my game data was lost. I almost screamed. Anyway, I think that the graphics could have been a little better, like in Donkey Kong Country. There were many games that had 32-bit style graphics. This game wasn't one of them. Overall though, there wasn't too much wrong with the game, though it did lack the feature to save at any time, and not just preset locations.

The Bottom Line
Super Mario World is a great game. I takes an old classic and adds a new twist. Everything was upgraded to look better and play better. The game involves many new ideas and innovations. As the game progresses, not only does it include new ideas, but it also becomes harder and harder. In the original Super Mario Bros, the game didn't really get harder until world 6-2, but hey, that's just me. Anyway, I would recommend this game to anybody who owns a SNES and likes Mario.

SNES · by Classix (80) · 2006

One of the best platform games ever.

The Good
Nintendo has always had the skill to produce games that are just so good that you have to keep playing. I have played Super Mario World through 5 times in the last 5 years. OK, nowadays it goes by the memory, but it never lets me down.

Like most Super Mario games, the Super Mario World includes cute graphics and sound effects, a soundtrack that you could listen all the time and a playability that is as close to perfect as it can get. You can control Mario completely with the controller.

With all that good, you could at least have bad level design in the game. But no. SMB has over 90 different levels to play and that's a lot. It takes close to a week to play the game through for the first time. The skill levels are brilliant. It's always challenging enough to keep you from playing the game straight through, but still easy enough so that you won't get frustrated.

Another revolutionary thing is that you can keep playing the game after you have played it through. There might even be new secret levels that you haven't found yet. I happened to find a new route in my last time. I was amazed.

And then there's also the fact that you can play this game no matter how old you are. I've seen a four year old playing this game from start to finish. I've also seen an 80 year old granny playing this game. It doesn't matter. The game doesn't any violence in it, which is a very nice exception in today's world with GTA's and Carmageddons.

The Bad
Well, you could say it's too addictive... But that isn't a bad thing in my scale.

The Bottom Line
OK, the game is old. It's pure luck if you happen to hit a SNES today with the game. I have tried the emulator version of the game, and it's OK, but not as good as the original. You just can't get the feeling with a keyboard or the zillion-button gamepad you have with PC. Nor with the 15-19 inch monitor.

But if you don't mind the old(but it's still very cute and funny, it's really not THAT old) graphics, this is the ultimate run & jump game for everyone around.

GO NINTENDO!!!

SNES · by Zamppa (99) · 2002

A great game - possibly the best Mario Game ever!

The Good
Hmm... where to begin? To start, it had the best graphics of it's time. It has excellent music and good controls. There are 96 levels, some are hidden, some are Castle's, Fortresses or Haunted Houses. You get power-ups suck as the Mushroom, Fire flower and Magic Cape. There are lots of new and exciting enemies. Each castle is unique in it's own way and has a cool boss at the end. Each fortress has just as many enemies and traps at the castles and each has 4 Reznior's at the end. There is usually one ghost house in each of the 7 world's, and the ghost houses are usually trickier than the normal levels. You also get to ride on Yoshi and there are different colors of Yoshi that have different specialties. What can I say, great game. If you think it's to easy just try doing it with no power-up's (I completed the whole game this way - no Yoshi, either).

The Bad
Well, the game's great but there are definitely things to add here. One thing is if you play a lot you get to good and it's to easy. But the main thing I don't like about it is okay, you beat Iggy, then Morton, then Lemmy, then Ludwig and it's all cool. Then Roy is exactly the same as Morton. Should he be harder, though? Like maybe it takes 5 jumps to destroy him and he throws punches at you or something? Then Wendy's the same as Lemmy and then Larry, the last boss besides Bowser, is the same as Lemmy, the first boss! Larry should be much harder, though, since he's near the end and Lemmy was way back at the beginning!

The Bottom Line
Go get it and play it. It's fun.

SNES · by darthsith19 (62) · 2006

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The SNES version of Super Mario World appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

This game took approximately 29,000 hours to program. (Sources: Nintendo, World Features Syndicate)

Sales

Super Mario World sold over 20 million copies and is,a so 2003, the second best-selling Mario game (only behind the original Super Mario Bros., which sold over 40 million), the best selling Super NES game and the best selling 4th generation console game ever. The reason for those huge sales: It was the original "pack-in" game for the Super Nintendo. A copy was included in the package when you bought a new SNES.

Yoshi

Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to have Mario ride an animal since Super Mario Bros. (among other discarded ideas), but couldn't figure out how to make it work within the limits of the Famicom's graphical capabilities. This was finally resurrected in Super Mario World as Yoshi.

Yoshi's arms in the game are orange no matter what color Yoshi you are riding. Art on the box and in the game manual portray only green Yoshi with green arms. The re-release on the Game Boy Advance now has each color Yoshi with arms matching the color of his skin.

Awards

  • EGM
    • 1992 Buyer's Guide - Best SNES Game of the Year
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #11 (Best 100 Games of All Time) (SNES version)
    • February 2006 (Issue 200) – ranked #88 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time"
  • Game Informer
    • Issue #100 (August 2001) – #46 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1992 – Best SNES Game in 1991
  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #2 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
    • Issue #37 – #1 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Echidna Boy, Marquerite Richardson, MegaMegaMan and PCGamer77

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Wii added by Corn Popper. Arcade, Wii U added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. New Nintendo 3DS added by Harmony♡.

Additional contributors: chirinea, Mumm-Ra, Sciere, Joshua J. Slone, Alaka, Luchsen, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, Michael Cassidy, Rik Hideto, FatherJack, A.J. Maciejewski.

Game added June 6, 2002. Last modified March 7, 2024.