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SUPER MARIO WORLD Company: Nintendo Released: August 1991 Genre: Side-Scroller Graphics: 7.5 Control: 9.0 Sound/Music: 8.0 Storyline: 8.0 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 SUPER-NES.COM

This is where it all began. I had never imported a video game system until the Super Famicom. But when I saw screenshots of Super Mario World, I just had to get it early. I've always been a huge fan of the Super Mario Bros. series and Super Mario World definately lives up to the mammoth reputation set by previous SMB games. Not only is it an outstanding and lengthy game, but it makes really great use of the Super Nintendo's Mode-7 scaling and rotation effects. Super Mario World takes everything that was great about the previous SMB games and rolled them into one terrific side-scroller. When compared to later SNES releases, Super Mario World does look a little plain, but at the time of its' release, it was the king of the hill. Sporting really cool Mode-7 scaling and rotation, the game was able to manipulate complex sprites onscreen in ways, up until that time, were impossible on other systems. Even as good as Super Mario Bros. 3 looked, Super Mario World eclipsed it in every way imaginable. Beautifully colorful, and detailed worlds come alive, featuring everything from fiery stone dungeons to eery haunted houses. Althought the scaling and rotation effects are all over this game, it's when you face Bowser at the end that you get to see some sweet mode 7. It's obvious that Nintendo saved the best for last. So although SMW may look a little dated when compared to some other SNES titles, for it's time, it was cutting edge. I'll admit that I didn't think Nintendo had it in them to outdo the soundtrack that they came up with for Super Mario Bros. 3. Leave it to the big N to prove me totally wrong. It's often quirky musically, but SMW has one outstanding soundtrack. I guess Nintendo wasn't satisfied just showing off the Super Nintendo's graphics chip, it seems that they also wanted to show off the SNES's advanced sound chip. The music is certainly not on par with an rpg soundtrack, like say a Chrono Trigger, but for the type of game this is, it fits like a glove. By far and away the best SMB soundtrack to date and a true testament to how well the developers at Nintendo knew the sound hardware of the Super NES, even early on. One thing that has always made the Supeer Mario Bros. games so appealing, I think, is their simplicity in control design. The first three Super Mario Bros. games all used a standard two-button control scheme which consisted of one button for shooting fireballs and running, and then the other button for jumping. In Super Mario World I guess Nintendo felt it was time for a slight upgrade. New in Super Mario World is the ability perform a "spin" jump. This allows Mario to break certain blocks that are under his feet. You also have something called a "reserve box", which stores an extra powerup at the top of the screen. When you lose your current powerup the reserve power-up will drop from the box at the top of the screen allowing Mario to quickly grab it. This will come in very handy on some of the tougher levels later in the game. Other than these minor changes, this game plays much like all previous SMB games before it. Another thing worth mentioning is that SMW is a fairly lengthy game. You won't finish this one in one sitting. It's got all the gameplay of previous SMB games with just enough new twists to keep things interesting. I could spend a month talking about Super Mario World. It continues the tradition of high-quality side-scrollers that the SMB games have established over the years. It was also the perfect "show-off" game for Nintendo's new super system. This game was recently re-released for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance system thus proving that even all these years later, it's still one of the best out there. Although I still think Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best SMB game of all-time, Super Mario World is nipping on its' heels. Don't miss this one.