Super FamiComplete #2: Super Mario World (Redux)

 

Game Title: Super Mario World

Release Date: 11/21/90 (JP), 8/13/91 (USA)

Developed by: Nintendo EAD

Published by: Nintendo

My blog post for Super Mario World was the first blog post that I was really intimidated by, which was unfortunate because it was my second post. Everyone and their mother has a copy of this game somewhere, as it is one of the best selling games of all time (I rank it up there as the Robert Kincaid of SNES games). All gamers have the warm and fuzzies for this game, and rightly so. It is the game that made that made the Super Famicom/SNES the juggernaut it was, and easily one of the most iconic "Mario" games. This game sold more copies than the first two Sonic games combined, and this game sold more copies than any other Mario game before it, save the first. As much as Sega commercials and purists would argue that this game was "more of the same" and much more "methodical" than Sonic, there is no denying its staying power. It is easily one of the most ported SNES games, and remains very playable to this day. So in revisiting this game, I know I will not have terribly much unique to say about it. I know this blog has always been more focused on hidden gems on the system, but I don't want to use that as a cop-out. Instead, my intent for this revamp is to seek out and find as much neat minutia that I can compile about this game, so that way at least each reader will be surprised by something.

My history with this game
Oh my goodness, I have a relationship with this game that goes back to my days as a toddler. It was one of the first video games that I loved to watch my brother play, and started to play myself. I think I have played through this game at least twice a year from ages 5 to 31. I have done quick playthroughs, completionist playthroughs, all Fort runs, you name it. This is a game that I have enjoyed with friends, I have enjoyed on road trips with the GBA ports, and I usually play when I just need to shut off my mind and go on autopilot.

Some fun memories...

1) I remember my brother putting this cartridge into the NES to see what would happen. Granted this is my four years old fuzzy memory, but I swear that the game played. Only half the screen would render without colors, and eventually the game crashed.
2) I remember when my brother was still living at home (I was 19 and he was 24 but about to get married and move in with his fiance), my best friend Joe came over. My friend Joe is a storyteller, and we spent the entire night listening to Joe talk about his crazy family and we would switch off every time he died. The only issue is that Joe is insanely good as SNES games, and he beat both Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World without dying, all while telling stories. That was a good night.
3) I remember working at a country club, and one of the other employees realized that I collected games. After we worked a wedding and were released from work at 2 in the morning, I ran to my apartment to grab a SNES with Street Fighter II and Super Mario World, and we played both games in the lounge of the country club and drank the company's beer.

Background

This game was once again developed by Nintendo EAD, this time Team 1: Miyamoto, once again, limited his role to that of a producer for this title (though he still had a heavy hand in this production), and let Takashi Tezuka take over as the director (Tezuka would go on to direct other big projects such as Link to the Past; he is often called the "other" Miyamoto). The game took around three years to make (and even Miyamoto says he wanted more time on this project) with a team of sixteen people, which was a fairly large team for back then, especially over such a long period of time (many games were made in 6-8 months back then).

Miyamoto really wanted this game to feel "new" and different than what had come before it, and was unhappy with early builds of this game, as they felt too similar to SMB3. This game was also important for Nintendo's ongoing hegemony over the gaming space, as it was the first Mario game released in competition to the Sega Genesis, who was already about to debut Sonic the following year in North America.
Story and Setting
Unlike Mario Bros 3 which featured a set of worlds with stages within, Super Mario World features one large overworld map of an island called "Dinosaur Land." The basic story is that Princess Peach, while on vacation in Dinosaur Land, gets kidnapped by Bowser (of course), who had already taken over the island and established his Koopalings in castles dotted across the landscape (the Koopalings were originally Bowser's children, but Nintendo has since retconned this and made them just random underlings). Bowser had also captured and imprisoned the inhabitants of the island, the Yoshis; Bowser then used his sorcery to encapsulate them inside eggs. Yeah, remember when Bowser was also a dark warlock? Strange right? They kind of show that again in Super Mario Galaxy when he can disappear into dark portals, but they rarely show Bowser using his eldritch powers anymore.

Now this continent is split into 7 regions (8 if you include Star Road, the super secret area): Yoshi's Island, Donut Plains, Vanilla Caverns, Cheese Bridge, Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Hills, and the Valley of Bowser. One thing I love about each area is that it doesn't follow a theme, but it instead really works to make this area feel like a real place. When you enter a part of the continent on the overworld map, that area on the map is represented by the stage you are in. Let me show you in an example.

This is the map of the first world, Yoshi's Island. You start at that cute little cottage in the middle. You can actually enter that cottage and see it bereft of its owners, the Yoshis, along with a note saying that they have been kidnapped. Already that sets a setting rather than a stage. If you follow the left path, you notice a stage in a flat area with hills in the background. Well this is what the stage looks like...


If you then go right, into the woods on the map, you then have the second stage, which actually takes place in those woods.



If you go up to the lake, you then have not just an underwater level, but a mixture of water in the setting they have already set.

This is something rather unique for the Mario series, even after this point. If you look at the New Super Mario Bros. games, they tend to set a theme rather than a setting. For example, they will do a "desert" world, and then just make desert themed levels regardless of where the stages fall on their map. Even their Wii U entry of this series, which purposefully hearkens back to the world map style of Super Mario World, doesn't really deliver on this promise. They just cordon their map off into themed segments, again, and just make a bunch of levels around that theme.

The world itself is really rich. The feeling of making your way across this continent is really felt, and it makes you, as a player, want to fully explore the various environments that you are placed in. This hearkens back to the time honored Mario tradition of hunting for secrets. Each area has plenty of secret levels, Switch palaces (which have switches which can unlock colored exclamation blocks in the rest of the world), and even alternate pathways for you to explore (you can actually make it to the final castle with just beating the first world and a few more levels if you know the secret paths). This is a rich world, which is why to complete this game, you can't just beat every level, but you must also find every exit for each level. (There are 96 exits in total). A level with multiple exits will be demarcated by being red on the overworld map rather than yellow. Some of these exits are really obscure; the one that sticks out in my mind is Cheese Bridge 1, which has an exit goal post behind the first one, and you have to purposefully either sacrifice Yoshi at the end or fly between the platform and the bottom of the screen.

The design of the world is really fun too. The Forest of Illusions forces you to find secrets in order to exit the world (or else Mario just travels in circles on the map), all while the creepy trees of the forest grin at you. In the Valley of Bowser you can see the silhouette of Bowser flying in his clown car above his castle, and as lightning flashes he raises his arms to intimidate you (also the neon "Bowser" sign on his castle? Awesome). I really love, too, how the first area, Yoshi's Island, seems like the game world at first, and then, after beating the first boss, opens up to the world map as a whole. It gives you that feeling like, "oh wow this game is going to be huge."

Gameplay
Now I really hope this doesn't take too much explaining, because Mario hasn't changed too much over the years. Now this is a traditional Mario platformer, in that the goal of each level is to get Mario from one side of the stage to the goal on the other side (be it a goal post or a boss fight). The challenge lies in how Mario must navigate the stage, either through platforming challenges or the enemies/obstacles that he encounters. Mario can also use power-ups, such as his traditional power-ups like the mushroom or fire flower, but also some new power-ups such as the P-Balloon and, most famously, the Wing Cape. The Wing Cape is great in that it allows Mario to effectively fly, adding a great deal of verticality to the stages. Unlike the Raccoon Leaf or Tanuki Suit, Mario is able (if the player is skilled) to keep his flight going unceasingly until he meets an obstacle.

This feels like the first Mario game which truly tries to diversify up its platforming challenges. In one stage, for example, it is a forest littered with bubbles. Sometimes these bubbles carry power-ups, other times they carry enemies, and these bubbles pop at random intervals. Another stage is based completely on platforms that move on a track, but there are also chainsaw blades that move along the tracks as well, so the player must hop between them. We see a lot of what would be that "Nintendo" design where an idea is introduced to the player in a safe setting, and then the challenge with that idea is slowly ramped up. For example, in the first cave level of Donut plains, the challenge lies in the yellow platforms that rise up and fall down on a global timer. They start off easy, with little chance to hurt Mario, and may even help him with his jumps; as the level goes on though, these platforms become a hindrance and death trap as Mario is in danger when they slam into the ceiling. The level then throws in Swoops, Spikeys, and Beetles to make things more tricky. Now I will say that there are some levels where it feels a bit more unrestrained in how the ideas are presented (the Dino Rhino stage is really tricky and chaotic, and has this weird secret exit tied to you moving through the stage at a good clip), but over all, the stages in this game are excellent, and seem to be progenitors for Mario stages in the future.

The layouts of stages are also very diverse: some are left to right, some are vertical, and some are complete mazes. In recent Mario platformers, left to right seems to be the common theme, and the more complex level layouts/emphasis on exploring was gifted instead to the Yoshi franchise.

Graphics and Presentation
Graphically, this game is beautiful: unlike the original Mario games, which inherently had a blocky look due to the 8-Bit graphics, the edges in this game are much softer. As one author puts it, the blocks in this game look like "well worn children's blocks." Everything is colorful and inviting. Most objects in the world literally smile at you, and even the angry faced Goombas now look like pleasant little waddling apples (the Koopas now wear little wife beaters and boxer shorts when knocked out of their shells; adorable!).

The detail put into this game is quite astounding as well, and the game used some really neat visual tricks to highlight the technical capabilities of the SNES. Some stages, like the Ghost Houses, have masks and overlays to their levels (these levels, as well, also push the amount of sprites onscreen to very high levels for this time).

And what about the main man himself? Well Mario is definitely a lot more detailed. He is a bit taller than previous games, and his sprite is fully detailed regardless of whether he is "small" or "big" Mario. You can actually differentiate the various parts of his outfit, from his overalls to his mustache to the whites of his eyes. They even added in some nice little touches and details, such as when he falls from a large height, his hat lifts slightly off the top of his head. My only issue with his design is that it is a bit rectangular. I imagine this was to keep a clear hit-box for his character, so that no players could claim that it was the game's fault that they lost a life. I understand it, and it isn't a big concern, but Mario just looks a little chonky as "big" Mario. They did update this in the GBA port by making his sprite a bit more proportional to what we would expect from a human, even a cartoon one.

This game also adds the now famous (and with their own series of games) Yoshi. It is now a well known piece of video game trivia that Shigeru Miyamoto, since first designing Mario, had always wanted to add a mechanic of Mario riding a dinosaur. This was impossible in these early NES Mario games due to the technical limitations of the NES. It was impossible to incorporate Yoshi and keep the smoothness and style of play that they wanted for the original Mario  and Mario 3. So finally, Miyamoto got his wish, and Yoshi certainly does shake up the gameplay quite a bit. Yoshi has to be "found" in an egg to be used, and then he can be ridden. He really serves as more of a power-up than a character. When ridden, he is a tad bit faster than Mario, and doesn't have as much of a slip-slidey quality as Mario does when he gains momentum. He also can eat many small enemies with his  incredibly dexterous tongue. Perhaps his most infamous feature is that he can even give Mario an extra boost (or a chance to escape death) by letting Mario launch off of his back. This means you can jump over a large gorge and then drop Yoshi into the pit in order to clear the landing yourself. A little macabre. Some other details I love about Yoshi is how the music changes whenever you ride on Yoshi's back. No matter what, the soundtrack of the stage will add a percussion element (bongos) when you are riding on Yoshi (I especially love that they kept this in Super Mario Maker and even added this to a whole bunch of sound tracks). Another strange detail is the fact that to get Yoshi to extend his tongue, Mario punches Yoshi in the back of the head (?!?). I tried to rationalize this, but Mario is clearly striking Yoshi, and Yoshi is giving a pained look as he extends his tongue.

Enemy Design
Super Mario World is definitely well thought out in terms of the nemeses that Mario faces, as they reflect this new locale of "Dinosaur" land. They are, for the most part, familiar but slightly altered to match this new environ. For example, instead of Goombas, you have Galoombas; now they are not able to be killed by jumping on them, but they can be stunned and picked up. Koopa Troopas are still present, but now they also can be kicked out of their shells (and they wear cute little wife beaters and boxer shorts), and depending on the color of their shells they act differently (blue ones will kick their shell at you, yellow ones will turn into "star" Koopas when they enter their shell). You have bullet bills again, but you also have the Banzai Bill, which is HUGE (they put him in the first level as a statement piece when he suddenly blasts in from out of no-where). Then there are just the strange residents of Dinosaur Land: you have the Rex, which is a blue dinosaur foot soldier who, like Mario, starts tall but can be jumped on to decrease his size, the Blaargs, which are lava dragons, and the Dino-Rhinos, which also come in big and small varieties, and can breath fire.
 
My favorite villain is definitely the Chargin' Chucks, which were introduced in this game. They are Koopas who wear football outfits and perform a bunch of different "sports" maneuvers. Some will kick footballs at you, some will throw baseballs at you, some dig rocks (?!?), and others just try to tackle you. The sound they make when they run at you is a bit intimidating, and they are one of the few enemies that take three hits to kill.

Boss Fights
Unlike prior Mario games, the boss fights in this game have a lot of variety in their designs. The boss fights in previous games were all just different iterations of the same concept. In the original Super Mario Bros, you just had to make it to the other side of the bridge while "Bowser" jumped up and down and shot fireballs at you; it would get harder as the layout of the bridge changed and Bowser eventually started throwing hammers too. In Mario 3, the Koopalings (who make a reappearance as the bosses of this game too), were all just cage matches where you had to jump on their head three times and avoid them and the fire from their magic wands. In World, the bosses instead have to be dealt with in different ways. Larry and Iggy Koopa, for example, are each on a floating platform amidst the lava, and have to be struck until they careen off the side of the platform. Wendy and Lemmy play a weird shell game, where you have to guess which pipe they come out of, and then strike them instead of their decoys, all while avoiding floating fireballs. There are even mini-bosses at the forts that help add some variety (they are all these dinosaurs called Reznors, but they are a nice change of pace).

Even the big bad, Bowser, has an interesting fight. He attacks you in his Clown Car (the first game that this appeared in), and must have his own Mecha-Koopas kicked back at him.

What about them sweet jams?
The music is fun and fast paced, and perfectly fits the ambience of each stage. Most stages have that honky-tonk style piano that keeps the fun lighthearted and energetic, while the Ghost Houses have an eerie synthetic organ that fits the "haunted" motif. Underground levels focus on bass and percussion, and the castle themes are fittingly sinister. One thing I love is that almost every song in this game is a play on one central musical theme. Here are some of my favorites from the soundtrack.

Secrets

There is Star Road, which has a series of levels that each have secret exits, and the only way to progress in Star Road is to find these exits. When you finally reach the final level of Star Road, and find that secret exit, you then make it to the "special" world, which has the most intense platforming challenges in the game, and some of the wackiest mechanics. There is one level, infamously, built around the P-Balloon that is super short but probably the toughest level in the game. If you can conquer this challenge, the game map then changes to autumn colors, and every Koopa gets replaced with a creepy Mario abomination (the "shell" of the Koopa is just Mario's head...ugh). 

Also, the speedrunning community has found a ton of weird stuff hidden in the data for this game, such as a Pong clone where the ball is instead replaced by Mario's head. It is really crazy stuff. By the way, if you want to see some really neat stuff, please check out the speedrunning community for this game. They have discovered some really crazy glitches and exploits to break this game wide open. This game can be finished in a matter of minutes, and there are some really fun categories for runs (the "All Forts" run is a surprisingly fun category, and the 96 exits is always enjoyable). 

Ads and Marketing

  

 

The North American commercial is very straightforward (if 90s as hell).

The Japanese one is now my favorite thing in the world. It makes me so happy I am adding these commercial segments.

Other Random Stuff
If you are well versed in this game and would like to try something new, then I highly recommend looking into the ROM Hack scene for this game. My personal favorite is Brutal Mario, which is just a really difficult and weird version of SMW. The bosses are all ripped from other SNES games, and there are some novel gameplay levels (some which actually would hold up in the actual game). Best actual level: a level with bullet bills that home in on you. Weirdest level: the one where you have to continually feed a Boo so it doesn't eat you. Most bat-shit insane part: where all the Koopalings congeal into the final boss from Romancing Saga 2 and become an eldritch abonimation.

Other recommendations include the Kaizo games and their offshoots (borderline impossible Rom Hacks built around punishing the player at every turn), 100 Rooms of Enemies, and Mario's Amazing Adventure Revitalized.

Verdict

If you have never played this game, I highly recommend it. It is top five for me, hands down. It is probably the game I return to the most out of any game in my collection. It is just pure soul candy; it doesn't matter whats going on in life, this game just simplifies things. Even among Mario games, this is a standout.