I thought Super Mario World was several steps back from Super Mario Brothers 3 and I can't wait for this game.
Something tells me you would have anticipated the release of Super Mario World during its development, especially since it was titled Super Mario Brothers 4 (and I think that stuck in Japan). Things might change when you actually play this.
EDIT: This is at least the third thread I've derailed by expressing my dislike of Super Mario World.
Meh, who cares? All we have is a 2-minute trailer to go on so there's not really much to talk about concerning Galaxy 2. Might as well discuss previous games now because there will be plenty of time to discuss this game once some solid details are revealed.
I don't care about secrets in a Mario game, I didn't particularly like the implementation of Yoshi in World even though Yoshi's Island is top 10 for me, you can't seriously be saying the powerups in World are anywhere near as good as the ones in 3, I don't want backtracking in a platformer. Maybe it's just because I've beaten Mario 3 a few dozen times and I've only played through World a couple times but I don't think 3 is harder than World.
By what you are describing, it sounds like the game was just different than what you wanted. I can see how you would be disappointed in it but I'm not sure if it is fair to say it is a step back just because it is something different.
The powerups in Super Mario Brothers 3 were underutilized so I did want to see them return, but everything in World just seems more refined than SMB3. I still find SMB3 to be the best 2D Mario game, but World is also something special to me.
Pap64 wins the thread though. Twice.