Super Mario World was the
flagship game for the
Super Nintendo. It was quite easy to beat, and did a lot to showcase the
effects of its time (
mode 7 scaling, multiple layers, the music of the
SNES, etc). It did what it had to do: give people a
moderate challenge, and advertise the system with a familiar face (
Mario). Many people feel that
Super Mario World was inferior to
Super Mario Brothers 3 in game play. This perception is due to
SMW coming out at the
infancy of a
console, before the games matured, while
SMB3 squeezed every ounce of
performance out of the
NES.
The sequel to Super Mario World, (Super Mario World 2:)
Yoshi's Island, is one of the best 2-D platform games of all time. It is difficult, cute, non-violent, and is all in all a great family game, that I still can't beat.
Super Mario World introduced us to a few new characters that we now take for granted:
Yoshi (who did not make it into Mario 64), for instance, and a few new monster types that have persisted. Ghost Houses found their way into
Mario 64, as I recall, so I can only postulate that this new tradition will continue.
A few secrets about Super Mario World:
- Original theme music: If you leave the game sitting in the Special World (off of Star Road) for several minutes, the original theme mixes in and begins to play. It's not as nice as the very well arranged type in Mario All Stars, but it is still good.
- Mario masked troopas: If you beat all the stages in Special World, the Koopa troopas get Mario Masks, and their names change in the ending sequence.
Super Mario World appeared in at least two different
SKUs, one of which was the standalone that came with the unit, and another was with
Super Mario All-Stars (it was a selectable game on the main screen).