SUPER MARIO WORLD REVIEW

Let me set the scene: Way, way back in the day, (1992 to be precise) I walked into my local games retailer to have a look around. There were rumours that, in our tiny town, they had somehow managed to get hold of Nintendo’s new console, the successor to the mighty NES. Not only that but it was on display to the public and was playable. A few friends and me decided to check out the rumours. On the way various bits of info that we’d all heard were spouted out. “ I heard Mario gets to ride on a dinosaur!” “I heard its even bigger then Mario 3 with wicked graphics!” “I heard it’s so powerful it costs a small fortune”. You have to understand we were fairly young. We arrived to a surprisingly empty shop and optimistically walked in. What happened next I’ll never forget for it was the first time I ever got to play Super Mario World and I’ve been playing it ever since.

Back in 1990, Sega’s Mega Drive was making fairly big strides in terms of the market against Nintendo’s NES, because it was more powerful, it had better graphics and it had a game you might have heard of called Sonic the Hedgehog. This cheeky blue spike ball appeared to be beating Mario at his own game and Nintendo needed to get their 16bit console out with a killer launch title that would put Mario firmly back on the platform throne. Legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto was put in charge of making Mario 16bit but what he achieved no one could have imagined. Super Mario World was as close as gaming perfection could get.

Bowser had once again stolen the Princess, this time whilst Mario and Luigi were soaking up the sun in Dinosaur land. Of course plot was never a Mario games major concern. Rescuing the princess meant traipsing through 96 levels, from creepy forests to chocolate mountains, to reach a final confrontation with the dastardly Bowser. The game was one or two player and was bundled with the SNES when it was first launched.

The first thing that would strike you was the graphics. They were bright, bold and clearer then anything the Megadrive had to offer. It didn’t move as fast as Sonic but each world had its own style and the game as a whole was incredibly individual and yet familiar if you had played Mario before. It also featured some fairly technical (for the time) transparency effects and made full use of the SNES’s sprite rotating and resizing abilities, with the final Bowser battle being the best example of this. It didn’t quite match Nintendo’s other 16-bit big launch title, F-Zero, but the graphics did an admiral job of creating a fun and vibrant atmosphere. It’s a testament to the game that the graphics were hardly touched in the recent Gameboy Advance remake.

The sound was fantastic, with the SNES instantly making a mockery of anything Sega had to offer. It featured crystal clear instruments and noises and unforgettable jingles that would be whistled for days after hearing just once. However, the most impressive thing I found about the sound was the way it added to the atmosphere. When you are in a cave the music is backed by dripping and eerie echoes. In the ghost houses you have to put up with creepy single strings fading in and out. And who can forget the first time you jumped on Yoshi and a whole bongo drum beat seamlessly joins the music.

The core of the game, the reason it is loved so much is how it plays. Mario controls exactly like you would expect and when he has the cape he flies like a dream. Also, when upon Yoshi’s back, eating up monsters is so simple it becomes second nature in no time. The levels are all widely varied, with each one being different from the last, and there is an intelligent difficulty curve that makes the game feel difficult but never unfair. However, it’s really the depth of the game that makes it stand out. There is so much to see and do on each level that you never really feel finished. Most levels have more then one exit and some are incredibly fiendish to find. You can complete the game straight through, and the game shows the number of exits you have found next to your save game, but you will never feel satisfied until you have the full 96 next to your game. And that’s the beauty of the game. You’re always left wanting more and not once do you ever feel bored.

Looking at the game in 2004, it’s still hard to find fault. It was such a perfect piece of platforming in its day that its still fantastic fun to play now. Since nearly all platform games are 3d now there has not been much of a revolution in 2D platforming so it’s safe to assume that Super Mario World was and is the peak of the genre. Now that Nintendo saw fit to release it on the GBA hopefully it will open up whole new audiences who missed out the first time, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll release and new 2D Mario. After all, that’s where Mario is most at home.