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Super Mario World
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is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo as a pack-in launch title for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has gone on to become a tremendous critical and commercial success, becoming the best seller for the platform, with 20 million copies sold worldwide. Like in previous games in the Mario series, the plot involves Mario traversing different lands on a quest to rescue Princess Toadstool who has been kidnapped by Bowser.
In Japan, Super Mario World is also known as Super Mario Bros.
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is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo as a pack-in launch title for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It has gone on to become a tremendous critical and commercial success, becoming the best seller for the platform, with 20 million copies sold worldwide. Like in previous games in the Mario series, the plot involves Mario traversing different lands on a quest to rescue Princess Toadstool who has been kidnapped by Bowser.
In Japan, Super Mario World is also known as Super Mario Bros. 4 and it was one of the launch games for the system, along with F-Zero.
The game has been re-released three times, first as part of a combo with Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES in 1993. Secondly, it was released on the Game Boy Advance with modified gameplay, as the second part of the Super Mario Advance series. The third re-release was for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America in 2007; there were no changes from the original SNES version.
Gameplay
Super Mario World is a side-scrolling platformer. The game consists of seven main worlds and two secret worlds. Super Mario World contains an overworld, which provides a passive overview of all the game's levels. Each of the game's 72 levels is accessed individually from the world map. Most levels have one exit, though some have a second exit which is usually hidden. In total, the game has 96 exits.
Mario is capable of a variety of new moves, including a "spin jump", which adds power to the typical jump. Mario can pick up and throw items, but is now also able to throw them upwards (a move necessary to complete the game) or set them down gently. In addition to the classic Fire Flower ability to project fireballs, the Cape Feather, based on Super Mario Bros. 3's Super Leaf, allows Mario to fly with a cape. He can also use the cape to glide down slowly, travel long distances while airborne and attack enemies. Conveniently, Mario can receive power-ups even when he is regular Mario, eliminating the need to "power-up" to Super Mario first. The player has the ability to scroll the screen to the left or right by pressing the respective shoulder buttons, except in levels that scroll automatically.
Super Mario World introduced Yoshi, a dinosaur companion that Mario can ride. The Yoshis appear in four different colors (green, yellow, red, and blue), each with a unique ability. There are also Baby Yoshis in the Star World levels which can be picked up by Mario. After eating five enemies, five coins, or any power-up, a baby Yoshi will become a fully grown Yoshi.
Super Mario World contains several new types of blocks, one of which is a yellow block, which spins on its horizontal axis when hit, rendering it temporarily passable, then reverts to its solid state after a few seconds. (To destroy these blocks permanently, Mario must get a Super Mushroom and then spin jump on top of them.) New red triangular blocks grant Mario the ability to walk on vertical surfaces such as walls or pipes, or can be used as a trampoline when riding on Yoshi. There are also blocks which function as a train-like platform, moving in various directions while the player attempts to keep up.
Most enemies hit by fireballs from Fire Mario will turn into coins which can be collected, rather than getting knocked off the screen. This action reappeared in New Super Mario Bros. For the first time Bowser does not breathe fire in the game, and uses a machine to attack Mario.
When the player has gained a power-up, additional power-ups are stored in reserve. The player can use this stored item at any time, and it will automatically deploy when Mario loses all power-ups.
Super Mario World was the first Mario game to provide the option of exiting a level without losing a life or completing it. This capability is only activated after the player has finished the level at least once. When replaying a level, players can exit to the map screen by pressing the START button to pause the game, then pressing SELECT. It was also the first Mario game to use a visible halfway point marker in levels; if the player is able to activate the marker, and dies or exits the level before reaching the end, they will arrive at the marker's location when re-entering the level. The marker will stay "set" even if the player does not immediately re-enter the level, and will not be reset until that level is completed. The marker will act as a power up, turning Regular Mario into Super Mario (if Mario is small when he crosses the line).
Star World and Special Zone
The secret exits in some levels lead to one of five portals to Star Road, an otherwise secret realm. Each portal gives the player access to a level in the Star World, though only one portal is needed to gain access and beat all the Star World levels. However, if all portals have been found it makes for quick travel between distant parts of the game world.
Each level in Star World has two exits. The normal exit simply counts toward the total number of exits found; to properly complete it, however, the player must find the key and the keyhole (i.e. the secret exit) in each level to complete the circuit around the Star World and advance to Special Zone by finding the secret exit in Star World 5.
In the Special World, there are eight additional levels which are often said to be of particular difficulty. Some have unique characteristics not seen in any other part of the game. In the American translation, the levels are named with expressions from surfer slang (in the following order: Gnarly, Tubular, Way Cool, Awesome, Groovy, Mondo, Outrageous and Funky) whereas the Japanese version has other names describing the approximate difficulty of the courses (each two levels would refer to itself as the same course). Save points are provided after every other level.
Completing the Special World results in a drastic change in graphics on whichever file the levels were completed. Piranha Plants become pumpkins, Koopa Troopas now wear Mario masks and their colors have been switched so purple and yellow shells are now more common, and Bullet Bills become Pidgits. The world map takes on a different color scheme, using more of an Autumn palette. However, the levels themselves do not change color. In the Game Boy Advance port, however, this change does not take effect until all 96 exits are found.
In the English SNES version, the redone enemies have new names, but in the Japanese version and Super Mario Advance 2, the enemies share the same name since they are basically the same enemy. In Super Mario Advance 2, two additional enemies receive a face-lift: Pokey and Goomba (the latter of which is thought to have been considered for it in the SNES version since it has two identical copies in the game data, one of which is used after Dinosaur Land changes).
Development
The game was directed by Takashi Tezuka and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. The music was composed by Koji Kondo, with Shigefumi Hino as the graphics designer.
Music
Koji Kondo composed all of the music used in Super Mario World, using only an electronic keyboard. Most of the music used in the game, with the exception of the Title Screen Theme, the Ending Theme, the Overworld Map Themes, and Bowser's Theme, is a variation on the same melody. The music is played normally on the overworld levels. It is then slowed down and made to echo in caverns, moves in a slow, wave-like fashion (in 3/4 or waltz time) in Underwater levels, and in the athletic theme it is played fast and lively to suit the level taking place in the air. When riding on Yoshi, the soundtrack of any level is accompanied by bongo drums.
The Castle Theme and Ghost House theme have remnants of the basic SMW theme, but played in a minor key to evoke feelings of anxiety.
Waiting around on the Special Zone map screen for about two minutes (eight loops of the Special Zone theme, which is itself a variation of the Starman music) causes the map music to change to an updated steel drum version of the original Super Mario Bros. main theme. This resets to the original Special Zone music upon entering and exiting a level. A song comprising the title screen music and ending music is a musical option for the Isle Delfino stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The castle theme as well has become available for play in the same game.
Reception
At the time, Nintendo was late to the 16 bit video game market, which was slowly being conquered by Sega and their Mega Drive/Genesis system. A new game, Sonic the Hedgehog, helped create numerous sales and greater popularity for Sega. Shigeru Miyamoto stated at the time that because of the very limited production time, the game was not as good as he had hoped and that with time the quality of games for the system would increase allowing more emotion and story. Despite this, on GameRankings the game received positive scores, with a 97% average score and has been ranked number 4 on the voting average list with the average vote of 9.2.
It was also rated the 8th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. The game placed 7th in Official Nintendo Magazines "100 greatest Nintendo games of all time".
It was also placed in fourth best 'Mario' game of all time by ScrewAttack.
Impact and legacy
The game has often been compared to Super Mario Bros., in the sense that both games established the standard for all subsequent side-scrollers released on their respective systems. Super Mario World was one of the first games to reward the player for "getting one-hundred percent" (finding all the secret exits in the levels, many of which lead to secret levels), an idea that has since become very popular.
In addition, with the augmented capabilities of the SNES, Super Mario World advanced the graphics in Mario games. All of the objects and characters in the game moved from flat sprites to a more three-dimensional look. Super Mario World also used the SNES's multiple background layers for parallax scrolling and other background effects such as sparkling stars, as well as occasional sprite scaling and rotation effects.
A copy of Super Mario World came with each Super Nintendo upon the system's release in Europe and America. A prequel was made in 1995 entitled Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island featuring Yoshi as the main protagonist.
Ports and remakes
Super Mario All-Stars
The game was packaged in a special version of Super Mario All-Stars titled Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, which was released in 1994 only in the United States and in Europe as the pack-in game for the Super NES "Super Mario Set" bundle. This version included four save files (instead of three) and a different sprite set for Luigi, instead of being a green recolor of Mario's sprite like before (however, the sprites for Luigi crouching on Yoshi and running sideways via a Triangle Block were not changed, resulting in inconsistency). The PAL version was only available in Australia, the UK, the Scandinavia through Bergsala AB, and in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria).
NES/Famicom version
In 1995, a group of hackers/programmers released an unlicensed version for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was, unlike most unlicensed games made, faithful to the SNES title.
The game was made on a tight budget and released with several levels (which, through ROM hacking, have been found to be unmodified copies of the parallel SNES levels) left inaccessible and hidden from regular play, the ending sequence having been placed after clearing the fourth castle.
Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Super Mario World was ported by Nintendo R&D2 to the Game Boy Advance as Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 in 2002. This version of Super Mario World adds a handful of features, such as a reward for getting every Yoshi Coin in all levels in the game, and some gameplay differences between Mario and Luigi (notably their jumping, their behavior on Yoshi and what happens upon hitting 10-coin blocks).
Virtual Console
Super Mario World was one of the first games to be announced for Wii's Virtual Console service with a cost of 800 Wii Points. Nintendo of America later removed the game from its list of Virtual Console games for 2006. Eventually it was released in Japan on December 2, in America on February 5, 2007[March 2007/V213 Issue of Nintendo Power (page 40)] and in Australia and Europe on February 9, 2007.
A timed playable demo of the Virtual Console version is also available in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which can be found in the "Masterpieces" section of the game.
Related products
Less than a month after the game's American release, DiC Entertainment produced a Super Mario World animated series based on the game, although some of the game's elements and names were renamed or changed. It was the last Super Mario cartoon series. DiC Entertainment later released Super Mario All Stars, which was a compilation of previous Super Mario cartoons. While this compilation was technically the final Super Mario cartoon series, Super Mario World is regarded as the last original cartoons series.
There was a direct sequel to Super Mario World planned for the Philips CD-i, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, but this game was canceled during development because of the CD-i's poor reception and limitations.
See also
External links
- - Game resources
- - General information
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