Topic: Super Mario World - RFN RetroActive Discussion Thread

[kraken613]

If Rock Band was giving up points I would have this....

I went through my game collection and I didn't have it for SNES. I am now on a quest to find a copy. (Well that took me like 5 minutes to find and order.... got it for $4 from one of the sellers I regularly buy NES and SNES games from.)

[TheYoungerPlumber]

For those of you who thought the item collecting for SMW was a bit frustrating, there is a secret area in Donut Land that has unlimited supplies of Cape Feathers, Yoshi, and Fire Flowers. Go there, and the rest of the game is cake.

My sister used to farm that level for extra guys all the time.  It was so annoying. 

Yes, that is annoying. Especially considering there are several levels where you can stock up on lives.

[TJ Spyke]

But Top Secret Area also lets you get Yoshi. Lives don't matter much, but Top Secret Area is usually the fastest way to get a blue Yoshi.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

On the topic of stockpiling lives, I seem to recall Vanilla Secret 3 having an insane trick where you would carry a P-Switch at the middle of the level back to the beginning where all the Koopa Paratroopas are, then step on the switch and collect all the coins for a huge multiplier which soon starts giving 5-Ups at a time. It's weird that they even included these extra methods when you essentially gain 8-Ups every four levels, if you earn 30 star points at each level's end and play the easy bonus game.

Anyway, I'm currently at Choco Island 2, I think, or somewhere around there. The game has been a relative breeze in terms of difficulty thus far. I don't remember it being like that when I was younger though; I guess that with age comes experience, which probably applies to a lot of you replaying again now.

The sole factor that has caused my death several times is, strangely enough, Yoshi. Having invested a lot of time in Yoshi's Island & Yoshi's Island DS since my prior playthrough of Super Mario World, it has been quite disorienting to control a Yoshi with regressed capabilities. The lack of the ability to stick out his tongue upwards has caught me off guard at quite a few instances. In addition, the missing Flutter Jump has resulted in a number of deaths that could have easily been avoided if my perception of how Yoshi should play hadn't been altered so greatly by later titles. It just feels alien to me that he is unable to perform these actions. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Mop it up]

You shouldn't ever need the huge amount of extra lives they throw at you. This game is not difficult.

But Top Secret Area also lets you get Yoshi. Lives don't matter much, but Top Secret Area is usually the fastest way to get a blue Yoshi.

How is that? I thought you just got a green one from the box.

[Pandareus]

Random observation: When you reach the exit holding a red shell, it transforms into a mushroom. If you're holding a blue shell, it transforms into a feather.

I haven't experimented with more colors.

[TJ Spyke]

You shouldn't ever need the huge amount of extra lives they throw at you. This game is not difficult.

But Top Secret Area also lets you get Yoshi. Lives don't matter much, but Top Secret Area is usually the fastest way to get a blue Yoshi.

How is that? I thought you just got a green one from the box.

If you are Caped Mario and have a Feather in your item box, you will get a blue Yoshi. If you are Fire Mario, you will get a red Yoshi.

[Sundoulos]

You shouldn't ever need the huge amount of extra lives they throw at you. This game is not difficult.

Once they introduced a save anywhere feature into games, 1-ups became nearly meaningless anyway.  I think they're still included just because it's fun to find ways to acquire them.

Playing this reminds me of how jazzed I am that the Koopalings are coming back.   I wonder if Bowser Jr. is going to be in the game as well?

[anand]

Yeah, a ton of people complained about the lives in games like Super Mario Galaxy, but who cares? It doesn't really detract from the game, and green mushrooms will always be a source of joy.

I wish more games still used scoring systems, though. Nintendo seems to have really shied away from that (perhaps to discourage competitive play?), unfortunately. Galaxy saves your Star Bits collected, when it should really be more of a time-based thing. Fans have WILLED scoring into the Metroid series, and Zelda has probably never had it (except for Link's Crossbow - don't miss!). Yoshi's Story had a robust scoring system, but the widespread hate towards that game probably didn't do much to encourage Nintendo to keep going down that path...

A lot of XBLA games really prioritize scoring and leaderboards, but that's where the 'arcade' comes from, I guess.

[MegaByte]

You shouldn't ever need the huge amount of extra lives they throw at you. This game is not difficult.

But Top Secret Area also lets you get Yoshi. Lives don't matter much, but Top Secret Area is usually the fastest way to get a blue Yoshi.

How is that? I thought you just got a green one from the box.

If you are Caped Mario and have a Feather in your item box, you will get a blue Yoshi. If you are Fire Mario, you will get a red Yoshi.

Only in the GBA version.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Wow, I never discovered that--probably because I very rarely visit the Top Secret Area these days. Seems like a horrid tweak that belittles the Star Road levels. You gotta at least work a LITTLE for your special Yoshis!

[gojira]

Wow, I never discovered that--probably because I very rarely visit the Top Secret Area these days. Seems like a horrid tweak that belittles the Star Road levels. You gotta at least work a LITTLE for your special Yoshis!

I also don't like now the GBA version is a bit easier.  In the original version you always go to small Mario when you get damaged.  If you have a cape or fire power in the GBA version you lose it but stay as big Mario.  So if you have cape and have a feather in the item box and you get hit you can use that feather from the item box you automatically get a mushroom in the box.  So by not going to small Mario, you will likely have two extra hits before dying.

[Mop it up]

The sole factor that has caused my death several times is, strangely enough, Yoshi. Having invested a lot of time in Yoshi's Island & Yoshi's Island DS since my prior playthrough of Super Mario World, it has been quite disorienting to control a Yoshi with regressed capabilities. Has anyone else experienced this?

Not exactly that, but something similar. After all of my years of playing Super Smash Brothers, I sometimes forget that Mario doesn't have a second, mid-air jump in this game.

[noname2200]

I finally had the chance to give the podcast a listen (it's been a crazy week). I think James and TYP pretty much understood what I was getting at. Greg's comment about the Star Road and Special World in particular encapsulate my meaning...although for Greg's sake I'm glad Johnny didn't read the part about how I treat Yoshi! I do have one addendum though: I forgot about New Super Mario Bros. (a bad sign in and of itself); World has that game beat in almost every way.

I hadn't seriously considered WHY World has that sense of continuity, but I think you guys nailed it when you pointed to the then-new save feature (and it's that type of insight that keeps me listening). The ability to take your time and come back to the game at your leisure also really helps the exploration aspect, since you're able to replay the red levels a dozen times to find the secret exit, safe in the knowledge that investing an hour into a single level won't stop you from beating the game later.

In terms of gameplay, I actually favor this type of play over the more arcade-style NES Marios, even if I miss the greater challenge that comes from that earlier style (and, I maintain, the greater imagination that went into the other Mario games, before and since). There is a strange trade-off, though, since I think that making exploration the hook can make the initial play longer and more satisfying, while simultaneously dampening replay value: I like the 3D Marios (where the focus is almost entirely on the type of exploration and discover that World created) more than the 2D ones, but I find that I can play all three of the NES more often without tiring of them. Am I the only one who feels that way?

[TJ Spyke]

They covered it in the podcast already? I really should listen, I have a HUGE backlog of podcasts though (22 days, 9 hours, 45 minutes, 31 seconds),

[MegaByte]

Wow, I never discovered that--probably because I very rarely visit the Top Secret Area these days. Seems like a horrid tweak that belittles the Star Road levels. You gotta at least work a LITTLE for your special Yoshis!

I also don't like now the GBA version is a bit easier.  In the original version you always go to small Mario when you get damaged.  If you have a cape or fire power in the GBA version you lose it but stay as big Mario.  So if you have cape and have a feather in the item box and you get hit you can use that feather from the item box you automatically get a mushroom in the box.  So by not going to small Mario, you will likely have two extra hits before dying.

In SMB3, you would become small Mario when hit in the Japanese version, but the intermediate step was added for the US release.  And then they went and made the game even easier for the GBA release.

[D_Average]

God I love the music in this game!  Completely forgot how great it really was.