A Mario Retrospective - Part IV

Super Mario World

This game is what really got me back into the Mario universe. After my NES broke, I was exposed to nothing but the original 3 Sonic games for a few years. When I got my SNES, it came with Super Mario All-Stars with Super Mario World, featuring my old favorites in an updated form, along with the all-new game Super Mario World.

The Japanese version of the game features the subtitle Super Mario Bros. 4. I think that’s pretty cool.

The story of the game follows Mario, Luigi, and Peach as they take a vacation in Dinosaur Land. As always, Bowser finds a way to kidnap the princess and ruin everything for everyone. This time around, Mario and Luigi have help, as the friendly dinosaur Yoshi joins the hunt for the missing princess.

Even compared to SMB3, this game is gigantic. Featuring over 90 levels, this monster occupied my time for a couple weeks, at least. The 7 worlds of the game include Yoshi’s Island, Donut Plains, Vanilla Dome, the Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Island and the Valley of Bowser, among other, smaller areas, including Butter Bridge.

In each world there resides at least one boss, with the Valley of Bowser housing both Larry Koopa and Bowser. As you can probably guess, the seven bosses in the game are all Bowser’s Koopa Kids, with the final boss being Bowser himself. The bosses can be found in their respective castles, with fortresses housing lesser boss Reznor also dotting the landscape. The boss battles are more varied here than in the earlier Mario games, but they do tend to become repetitive. Six of the boss fights fall into one of three categories: Iggy and Larry Koopa must be knocked into a lava pit from a teetering platform, Wendy and Lemmy must be bopped on the head as they pop out of pipes, and Morton and Roy Koopa walk around an enclosed arena, climbing up the walls and walking on the ceiling. Ludwig von Koopa, the apparent black sheep, is fought in an open arena as he jumps around and shoots fireballs at your plumber of choice.

The enemies in the game are even more creative than in previous installments, such as the segmented caterpillar Wiggler, reinvented Flying Hammer Bros., and Chargin’ Chuck, the football-playing turtle. The variety of enemies keeps things fresh throughout the game to the very end. And let me just say, I hate Rip Van Fish with a passion. Those were the little jerks that slept until you swam by, when all hell broke loose. I remember whole platoons of those guys chasing after me. But I digress…

My favorite part of the game has to be the Forest of Illusion. There are so many ways to finish the world’s levels that I find myself refusing to rest until I’ve found all the exits. The levels themselves are a lot of fun, too, challenging players as they search for all the nooks and crannies they can.

If someone you know thinks that Mario games are too easy, you have three choices. You can a.) agree with them (jerk), b.) make them play the original Super Mario Bros. 2, or c.) direct them to the Special Zone of this game, in which you are forced to endure eight levels of pure gaming hell. I must have spent hours upon hours trying to beat these levels; I certainly lost life after life on that ice level. Jeez.

In terms of pure gaming goodness, it doesn’t get much better than Super Mario World. To correct what I said earlier, about SMB3 being the pinnacle of the series, here’s a different idea: SMB3 completely revolutionized the series, then SMW revolutionized it again. After a few playthroughs, I’ve come to realize that Super Mario World is a lot more fun than I found it as a kid. If you want the whole Mario experience summed up in one game, look no further than here.

Super Mario 64, yet another reinvention of the Mario franchise (and gaming in general), is up next.