"Super Mario World" was released in Japan on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) on Nov. 21, 1990. Being that I wasn't alive in 1990, I had the Gameboy Advance port of the game, released in North America in February of 2002.
From what I can remember — because I was only 5 years old at the time — it was my very first GBA game. For that reason alone, it holds a place very near and dear to my heart. I can't tell you how many nights I stayed up by the light of a lamp, due to the GBA's front-lit screen, trying to find one of this game's many hidden secrets. Even looking at it objectively, I believe "Super Mario World" still holds up as the best Mario game.
First of all, let's take a look at the premise of the game.
Following the events of "Super Mario Bros. 3" — a staged theatrical event, as confirmed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself — Mario & Co. decide to take a vacation from the Mushroom Kingdom to Dinosaur Land, where Princess Toadstool is immediately kidnapped by Bowser and his seven Koopaling children.
Mario and Luigi befriend a dinosaur named Yoshi and learn that Bowser and his family have been wreaking havoc all over the place, and now you have to deliver a classic mushroom-fueled beat down.
Not only does this game introduce gameplay mechanics new to the Mario series, like the spin jump, but it also marks the first appearance of Yoshi, and fresh new power-ups like the cape feather and locations like the Ghost Houses.
The biggest thing that will probably catch anyone about this game, although you won't see it until a bit into the game, is just how expansive this game is. It's essentially an open-world game — I'm using that term loosely, but the concept is present. The game lacks linearity, and throws some real "curveball" levels at you with creative level designs that push your reflexes as a gamer.
Take a glance at this overworld map, if you've never seen it before. The first image is the general overview, while the second image displays levels not immediately shown and secret worlds (Star World and the Special World) as well as a few more details like the entrances to Star World. Unlike its predecessors or later installments, "Super Mario World's" overworld was connected as one large world map, rather than separate worlds traveled between during a moment where the screen goes black.
"Super Mario World" had a set structure with its nine worlds, but gave you the option of skipping around and backtracking along set paths that had to be unlocked, rather than letting you roam freely, which is much more akin to the "open world" concept we're familiar with nowadays, used in games such as "Skyrim" or "Fallout."
Think of the first "Legend of Zelda" game for the NES (overworld map shown below). One of the reasons why some people can't stand it — I personally never expected to see myself having a temper tantrum at the age of 16 when I first played it on Virtual Console — is because there's virtually no handholding. The game gives you no sense of direction, and you're expected to just explore until you find things, with no specific order required. With such an expansive overworld, it was kind of a low blow on Nintendo's part to not provide some form of guidance when navigating the game. The later Zelda installments either had a good balance or too much handholding, although your preference and liking for each game depends on how you prefer to play.
What sets "Super Mario World" apart from other Super Mario games of the past — or even contemporaries for the DS and Wii/Wii U — is really just how much there is, and how much you're allowed to skip. There are seven major worlds in Dinosaur Land, and two "special" worlds — one of which has five entrances that strictly serves the purpose of helping you skip around the overworld. Evidently, the world speed run record for Super Mario World is just a little less than five minutes, due not only to the overworld's secrets but obviously in-game glitches, but the ability to skip around is a great factor for speed running this game.
Playing the game, you'll find that some levels will have not only one secret exit — a gameplay mechanic not unfamiliar to Mario fans — but will have two or three exits aside from the main one. You can skip from early in the game straight to the ending and it's technically not cheating. The way these exits are set up is something beautiful as well. There are a total of 96 exits in "Super Mario World," 24 of them being secret exits — twice as many secret exits as New Super Mario Bros. for Wii U. Later Mario games, such as the New Super Mario Bros. series for the DS/Wii/Wii U, lack a certain amount of challenge or creativity in secret exits, and, as a result, it may just bring you to a cannon that shoots you like a bullet to the start of another world in the game, presenting a degree of nonlinear gameplay, but still very guided and controlled in terms of direction.
Super Mario World had you go above and beyond — literally.
In some cases, you'd have to get over the top of the visible screen or even bypass the main exit to the level by going under it. You may have to dive bomb a Yoshi underneath a platform and narrowly escape the clutches of death. Often you'd need to activate the colored switches in the overworld, permanently filling in empty spaces in levels where corresponding blocks would be. Or, alternatively, you could find another, riskier way to get there. Most often employed by this game was the use of key/keyhole pairs, an entertaining mechanic surprisingly not used much, if at all, in later games.
These various methods of finding secret exits would then lead you to more levels — really making you work for it, here — to get to another world of the game, or even just direct alternate routes through the overworld. It's strangely fulfilling because this game emphasizes multiple ways to reach the same goal.
And the secrets don't end there — the game's visuals will also change depending on how skilled you are. I still pride myself on having spent so many hours that I have the five stars on my save file — each one representing another finished aspect of the game. Having all five changes sprites and color schemes in the game, such as the overall color scheme of Dinosaur Land changes from a summer theme to an autumn theme, Koopa shells become helmets that look like Mario's head, Piranha Plants become jack-o'-lanterns, Bullet Bills become birds, Goomba wear sunglasses, etc.
The thought of the absence of a linear overworld, with adequately challenging gameplay and endless secrets to discover, are the reason why I believe "Super Mario World" is still the best Mario game, and the reason I've recently picked it up to begin the madness anew. It's something I find both wildly enthralling but simultaneously terrifying.
If you don't have an SNES anymore, and can't find a copy of the GBA port, it's available on Virtual Console on both the Wii and New Nintendo 3DS. But trust me — you'll need to set aside a lot of time.
