[SPOILERS (?) BELOW]
Considering this is my first quote-on-quote "proper game review", it seems like a good place to start with a supposed classic.
In this case, that classic is Super Mario World released on the SNES in...1990? Almost 30 years ago?! Talk less about time flying, and more time screaming along in a jet plane at Mach-10.
Anyhow, I decided to play through the game to see what all the fuss was about and see if it was as up to snuff as so many people made it out to be. Is it a genuinely good platformer that still holds up, or are the nostalgia goggles fogged up a bit more than usual?
What I can say is that it is still good, but not quite as good as so many people make it out to be - at least, in my opinion. I have to add that last bit; otherwise, "certain people" might not realise that this opinion piece is my opinion.
But less fluff, more fluff...er, about the game, I mean. Firstly, I think one of the things that makes Super Mario World so iconic is it's art-style; and I'm not necessarily referring to the fact that the game is on a 16-bit console. Rather, much of the game has this very charming minimalistic and cartoony look that makes the environment and enemies recognisable, which is something the Mario games have always been good at, conveying to the player effectively what is what. So in terms of the looks, the game gets a big tick from me. Now on to the platforming mechanics, or as the academics like to call them, the jumpy-stompy stuff.
For Super Mario World, the jumpy-stompy stuff is very satisfying, largely because Mario turns on a dime and movements can be made so precise. This is particularly evident in the swimming areas where you can directly control just how fast (or slow) you swim. Not to mention, in addition to Mario's usual power-ups, you get a cape which, in many levels, allows you to perform enormous sequence breaks.
I can imagine a poor designer slaving over a level for hours on end, honing it to perfection, only for Mr. Bloody Cape Programmer to come along and say, "That's a very nice level, but it's a shame the player's just gonna be able to fly over it all because of the cape I added. Sucks to be you!"
But that's what makes the game so fun! The fact that the mechanics are so refined, and that the game allows you to break its design using said mechanics makes it a joy to play - especially since using the cape requires some modicum of skill, being able to fly over entire levels with it is incredibly rewarding.
And of course, the music is fantastic as well. Not much more to say there, but I think it's fair to say that this game's soundtrack is pretty much synonymous with Mario and Nintendo at this point.
But now on to what makes the game not so great.
First of all, the Forest of Illusion, while an interesting idea of having the player be forced to find a secret exit to leave the area, is a flawed concept because A) this is pretty much the only time in the game where this idea gets used in a significant and mandatory way and B) it's only one random pipe in Forest of Illusion 3. This could have been a cool mechanic, by having multiple exits and ways of leaving - much like the final level in the Valley of Bowser. But unfortunately, this is not the case. Don't get me wrong, I figured it out relatively quickly and it was very gratifying to find the solution - but I can't help but think I happened upon the secret exit by chance, and players younger and not as lucky might have some difficulties considering they've been conditioned by the game to progress through levels in a linear fashion.
There's also a few times where there are non-interactive objects like trees which block your vision, and make it hard to see where you're going, leading to some unfair moments. Speaking of unfair, this game can be that. It's nowhere near the level of it's contemporaries, and while many deaths were indeed my fault, there were a few moments where I felt me losing a life was undeserved. Most consisted of the game seemingly "eating" my input on a sloped and slidey surface, while others resulted from poor hitboxes. Most notably, I could jump over a Piranha Plant, and It'd be practically nibbling at my bum - yet, I'd live. But then, I'd jump onto a pipe as the Piranha Plant is descending and die instantly from my foot touching the 3-4 pixels of the Plant still left exposed. There were also a few moments in a boss fight or in a "freeze frame moment" (e.g. Yoshi coming out of the egg, a boss falling from the ceiling and creating a shockwave effect) where I barely had any time to react before getting hit or dying. While I'm positive a number of these deaths were the result of my own poor skill, others...not so much.
Finally, I think the game could have been more lenient with it's save points. Thankfully, savestates in an emulator or on Virtual Console can alleviate this problem somewhat for not-so-skilled gamers such as myself. I'd also like to point out that I tried not to abuse them and savestate only when necessary - otherwise, this game would have frustrated me a lot more with the amount of levels I would have to replay after "game-overing" and being sent back a level or two.
Altogether though, this game is still a damn good time, but I would recommend playing it on an emulator if you can, especially if you're like me and you need to, and I quote, "git gud".
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