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[secretanchitman]

I completely disagree with the OP. Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros 3 are better than NSMBU in just about every way.

The recycled artstyle and music in NSMBU plus rendering in 720p didn’t do it any favors either.

 

[Newk86]

I think you got Super Mario World and Super Mario Brothers 3 confused OP. World both looks and plays better, and its secrets give you more, challenging levels to play, while 3's just skip stuff. I still remember being shocked as a kid when we found out that World was the older game!

Edit: What the heck!? SMB3 on SNES is actually a remake? Now I'm very confused... (but not about World being better).

 

[DrGrus]

There's no such thing as bad 2D Mario. Like, I'm supposed to believe NSMB games are bad, but the platforming is fun and rock solid. Heck I love Super Mario Land for GB and I still play it from time to time.

I agree. It seems that people always want to be on the extreme when it comes to opinions.

And yes the NSMB games I have played is good games.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I think you got Super Mario World and Mario Brothers 3 confused OP. World both looks and plays better, and its secrets give you more, challenging levels to play, while 3's just skip stuff. I still remember being shocked as a kid when we found out that World was the older game!

I think you are the one who is confused...

 

[Sciz]

I think you got Super Mario World and Mario Brothers 3 confused OP. World both looks and plays better, and its secrets give you more, challenging levels to play, while 3's just skip stuff. I still remember being shocked as a kid when we found out that World was the older game!

You may want to check your release dates.

 

[Forkball]

I want to help you OP.... but you may be beyond saving.

1. There are so many unique and inventive levels regardless of whatever tile set is used. Remember that level where you had to jump across dolphins? Or fly through the air avoiding spinning blades? You go into a GHOST SHIP at one point. There are many creative levels, and even the more standard ones have unique secrets and paths. The Special Zone levels alone are completely different from anything we got in the NES games and still stand out as incredibly unique today. They were absurd Mario Maker levels 25 years before that game even came out. The ghost houses and castle stages are among the best of that type even today.

2. Super Mario World has a very unique art design that is completely different from what came before it. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the world map is far beyond SMB3. It doesn't have the traditional plains/desert/swamp motif that we're all tired of, so going back to the game is still fresh. I love the look of the Vanilla Dome personally. Also the enemy design is excellent and certainly a step above the NES games.

3. It may not have as many levels as SMB3, but they are far meatier and encourage replayability with the Yoshi coins, color block switches, and secret exits. So many SMB3 are incredibly short. Like under a minute. Some SMW levels are quick and straight forward, but others are much more expansive with alternate routes and challenges.

4. The world map doesn't have minigames, true, but I love the design of it, and it serves another purpose: hinting towards the secret exits. It feels like a real world instead of level grids like SMB3.

5. I don't really think it matters what Yoshi is the best, as most of the time you have to deal with what they give you. Obviously for the extremely hard levels you want to have a specific powerup set ready to go, but all Yoshi's are fun to use.

6. The enemies are awesome. Having the GALOOMBAS not die from a single bounce instantly shows you that the game is very different from its predecessors. Chargin' Chucks are awesome and challenging. The koopas are also very fun in that they are multicolored and can still walk around without their shells. They completely changed up old enemies while also putting in fun ones.

7. I never felt the game was super easy. The castles are legitimately challenging, especially that one where you have to ride those snaking blocks. Special Zone will definitely test your reflexes, and many of the secret exits are cleverly hidden.

8. Ghost Houses and fortresses are so different so I don't know how you can compare them. I will say the castle stages in World are better.

World has wonderfully creative level design that was so different from the NES games and still stands out as being very unique today. I like YI but scoff when people compare it to World. I will give you this: NSMBU is an incredible game and probably the best 2D Mario after World. They burned everyone out on the NSMB series, but its swan song was also its masterpiece.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Giving SMW another go since..2013?

I wanna do all 96 exists but god damn I really, really don't like it lol.

 

[RagnarokX]

I completely disagree with the OP. Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros 3 are better than NSMBU in just about every way.

The recycled artstyle and music in NSMBU plus rendering in 720p didn’t do it any favors either.

Recycled artstyle:

-Beta with NSMBWii placeholder assets

-NSMBU

Completely different artstyles:

 

[cartman414]

This might be the #1 reason why it's the favorite for many fans of Mario games? No 2D Mario game is perfect and they all have a different structure and intent behind them. People pick their favorite depending on their own taste and bias as expected lol.

I get that, but Mario doesn't lend himself as well to exploration due to his basic moveset as Wario or Kirby, for example. The thrill of Mario is precision platform jumping under a time limit amidst a gauntlet of enemies and traps, best exemplified by the final world of 3. You won't find many of those thrilling moments in World.

Word on the artstyle comparisons btw. Lol at the comparatively chromatic dullness of World getting a free pass while the console NSMB games are criticized.

I was always more partial to 2 than World. Felt more distinct. Makes me sad when that and Zelda II get bashed, while more follow the leader type games are considered the best ever.

 

[Charles Brandon]

In the UK it felt like Three and World came put about the same time because by the time Three came out in the UK, Super Famicoms had been imported for some time. There was only about 7 months between the official releases alos. Despite that, I always preferred three. The levels in three tended to go the extra mile so more often in terms of of their crazyness. I loved the Big Bertha and Angry Sun levels and some of the Pipe world levels were mind bending. World seemed slightly more prosaic in approach with the exception of the Ghost Houses, which were fantastic and had a Zelda feel to them.

One thing that always sticks out about both games when I go back to them though is the lack of any optional challenges. The NSMB games, 3D and the recent Yoshi game are full of optional challenges that really ramp up the difficulty and ingenuity. There is always a reason to explore every nook and cranny, where is in 3 and World, you sometimes end up skipping areas without even trying and there is really no reason to go back.

 

[PSFan]

I get that, but Mario doesn't lend himself as well to exploration due to his basic moveset as Wario or Kirby, for example. The thrill of Mario is precision platform jumping under a time limit amidst a gauntlet of enemies and traps, best exemplified by the final world of 3. You won't find many of those thrilling moments in World.

Word on the artstyle comparisons btw. Lol at the comparatively chromatic dullness of World getting a free pass while the console NSMB games are criticized.

I was always more partial to 2 than World. Felt more distinct. Makes me sad when that and Zelda II get bashed, while more follow the leader type games are considered the best ever.

I dunno, for me the thrill was exploring and finding hidden stuff. Like finding a pipe you could go down or the hidden gates in SMW. I think the exploration was just fine in the early 2D games. The platforming was never the main draw in Mario games for me. Maybe that's why I don't like the NSMB series as much as the old 2D Mario games.

 

[polyh3dron]

People say it's the best mostly because it's the first Super Mario title they experienced, a first-kiss syndrome in a sense.

huh? Like Super Mario Bros 1-3 didn't come before it?

Super Mario Bros on NES was my first-kiss syndrome for console games period, having only played PC games up to that point that didn't have scrolling screens in them or anything else graphically (or sonically) even close to what the NES could do. Having played a ton of NES and Genesis games before the SNES even came out, I still felt like World was the best, just because the graphics and music took gaming to a whole new place for me. Gone were the beeps and boops of the limited 2A03 NES sound setup, and even the more complex, yet still synthesizer-based Genesis audio, this was on a whole new level with the sample based music. Yoshi had me hooked, too, and I thought the level design was really well done, especially finding all the secret exits. Grasping the mechanics of the feather cape and spin jump also reeled me in.

 

[Theslammer]

Updated the OP with the Ghost Houses comparison.

SMB3 Fortresses > World Ghost Houses

What a weird comparison. The only comparison that works is comparing fortresses to fortresses.

 

[Mista Koo]

I need to play NSMBU, I really liked NSMB and NSMBW. I bought the Wii U too late and didn't think to go back, only played a couple of levels at a friend's place. Speaking of which how's New Super Luigi U?

Also someone should do a modified tile/texture pack for the game, alongside a new arrangement for the soundtrack. That would definitely allow it to be appreciated beyond that.

 

[GlamFM]

I replay World and 3 fairly often and I have played NSMBU.

Disagree entirely.

World is better than 3 and NSMBU does not deserve to be on this list at all.

 

[tkscz]

I gave so much shit over the years to the people who said that some of the New Super Mario Bros. games were better than World (especially U, which I played for the first time earlier this year, and it's fantastic). I sincerely apologize to all of you. You were right.

No, no no no no NO. The NSMB games are the most generic, boring, uninspired Mario platformers I've ever played. The levels are too simplistic and feel unimaginative. They all feel like boring carbon copies of better levels from other Mario games. They are design to be as easy as possible and it feels like I'm constantly playing the same level over and over again. The music is so boring that it actually hinders my ability to play it. Muting the sound and playing music from other Mario games actually makes it better. And I swear if I hear one more fucking BAH sound. I cannot understand how people enjoy NSMB more than Super Mario World.

 

[XandBosch]

No, no no no no NO. The NSMB games are the most generic, boring, uninspired Mario platformers I've ever played. The levels are too simplistic and feel unimaginative. They all feel like boring carbon copies of better levels from other Mario games. They are design to be as easy as possible and it feels like I'm constantly playing the same level over and over again. The music is so boring that it actually hinders my ability to play it. Muting the sound and playing music from other Mario games actually makes it better. And I swear if I hear one more fucking BAH sound. I cannot understand how people enjoy NSMB more than Super Mario World.

You should try 3D World. Easily better than World IMO. It's everything you've described NSMBU NOT as being. It's clever, pretty, fun, challenging, imaginative, referential, etc.

Damn I want it on Switch.

 

[tkscz]

You should try 3D World. Easily better than World IMO. It's everything you've described NSMBU NOT as being. It's clever, pretty, fun, challenging, imaginative, referential, etc.

Damn I want it on Switch.

Try 3D World? I have, played and completed 3D World and feel like it's the rightful sequel to Super Mario World. It's one of the best Mario platformers I've ever played, regardless of how easy it is.

 

[pirateluigi]

No, no no no no NO. The NSMB games are the most generic, boring, uninspired Mario platformers I've ever played. The levels are too simplistic and feel unimaginative. They all feel like boring carbon copies of better levels from other Mario games. They are design to be as easy as possible and it feels like I'm constantly playing the same level over and over again. The music is so boring that it actually hinders my ability to play it. Muting the sound and playing music from other Mario games actually makes it better. And I swear if I hear one more fucking BAH sound. I cannot understand how people enjoy NSMB more than Super Mario World.

I sometimes wonder if I played the same game as some of the other people on here. I found the level design in NSMBU to be some of the best I've played in a 2D Mario and then the twists that NSLU put on it made it even better.

Agree about the sound and music though.

 

[Zzoram]

I like NSMB Wii (didn't have Wii U) better than SMB3 or SMW, mainly because of the co-op. Local co-op is very important to me.

 

[XandBosch]

Try 3D World? I have, played and completed 3D World and feel like it's the rightful sequel to Super Mario World. It's one of the best Mario platformers I've ever played, regardless of how easy it is.

Oh right on, my bad. But seriously, right? It's fucking fantastic.

And you thought the whole game was easy? Those last few worlds are pretty challenging, especially if you're collecting the star coins and beating every level with every character or whatever, and the final world is downright punishing.

 

[sephiroth7x]

As a first comment, I don't think any of the Mario games mentioned have been bad (NSMBU etc.) and have enjoyed playing all of them.

With regards World against the others, I always saw SMW as the perfection of what had gone before it. I have never seen it as an evolution or a game that had something to prove.

It takes the player on a journey through a path dictated by its world map (not world by world which can feel very 'gamey') from a beginning to an end. It is the Mario formula, up to that point in time, perfected for me. I see your point with the Giant world from 3 and the new aesthetics it brought in... but SMW took everything before, refined it all and made it at the beginning of a new consoles generation.

SMB3 was the first Mario game I ever played, and then to play SMW after that was such a difference for me, such a leap, that it will always probably remain my favourite now through a nostalgia trip.

 

[UncleSporky]

NSMBU is awesome. And honestly NSMBWii was as well.

I wonder if part of the problem is how these games were sort of advertised as multiplayer Mario games, so everyone experienced them that way, which can be the most frustrating way to play it? They have the best level design of any Mario game when played solo. Full of cool gimmicks in every level. Great stuff.

 

[goldenpp72]

Totally agree with you, OP, and you've given some great supporting points to your argument that no one's really addressed properly.

I suspect this is going to be one of those opinions that lots of people dismiss reflexively then gradually come around on over the years.

Game is over 25 years old, I think we get it by now. I played it a year ago and still prefer it over the rest.

 

[MrBadger]

Can't disagree at all. World was my favourite 2D Mario when I was younger, but I never found it to be the best platformer of the era, or even that significantly better than 3. The (incredibly slow) map and secret exits are great, but the visuals, music and level design are all a bit boring, especially compared to the one before.

And yes, NSMBU is very derivative but I'd easily rather play that than World.

 

[ElFly]

NSMBU is fantastic

World is def better than 3. 3 has a lot of variety in powerups but honestly it feels a little shallow. and it is piss easy until the 7th world, maybe until the last world depending on your skill. You have a lot of powerups that change how you play, but you have not a lot of options on when to use those powerups until the later worlds. World gives you almost everything p early, so you can experiment more

besides stuff like the frog suit is replaced by being able to grab a block underwater, which is much more flexible than the suit. kuribo's shoe's resistance to some hazards is now Yoshi, who also gives you a sacrifice double jump, and can eat stuff. So some of the powerups are still there in some better forms. stuff like the tanooki suit and hammer suit have no equivalent, but they are not movement-oriented powerups, so World prefers not wasting time giving you their powerful attacks/defenses

World has a lot more depth -yeah, the cape is like the p-wing, but the p-wing only requires you mashing a button, while the cape requires you controlling it-, more alternative exits in levels. The grid in Mario 3 opened alternative map routes by just beating the levels in the choke points, but Mario World requires you to find the alternative exit in them. World also gives you the option to add some extra difficulty by skipping some block castles, which has no equivalent in 3

overall, each level in World is better than almost any equivalent in 3, and the Special World just bats it out of the park every time. And the moment-to-moment gameplay is deeper in World than in 3, even without stuff like the tanooki suit

 

[XandBosch]

If we're discounting the singler-player, BIG Mario games (64, Sunshine, Galaxy, etc.) then for me the ranking is as follows:

3D World
Yoshi's Island
3
World
1
NSMBU
2

I barely remember playing the other NSMB games since they all look very samey, so I'd count them all in the same spot.

To me 3D World is still the "modern" equivalent to World, and what those types of Mario games logically should have become as a norm. It still feels very "2D platformer" to me, despite being isometric 3D. Maybe because it also reminds me a bit of Mario RPG being that camera angle, I don't know. I just remember playing it and thinking "man, this is just too fucking good." The music is on point as well.

 

[SaviourMK2]

Are we really arguing over which gold medal is the shiniest? None if them are "bad"

 

[XandBosch]

Are we really arguing over which gold medal is the shiniest? None if them are "bad"

Good point.

 

[Plinko]

No, no no no no NO. The NSMB games are the most generic, boring, uninspired Mario platformers I've ever played. The levels are too simplistic and feel unimaginative. They all feel like boring carbon copies of better levels from other Mario games. They are design to be as easy as possible and it feels like I'm constantly playing the same level over and over again. The music is so boring that it actually hinders my ability to play it. Muting the sound and playing music from other Mario games actually makes it better. And I swear if I hear one more fucking BAH sound. I cannot understand how people enjoy NSMB more than Super Mario World.

The bolded is not even close to true.

Interesting, though, that the crux of your argument is, again, the music. It seems like the sound direction was so bad it is clouding the judgment of players.

 

[Velius]

Sorry but I'm looking at your reasoning and all I can think of is this:

I mean I think SMB3 is better than SMW too but your arguments are just pathetic.

 

[Raptomex]

Now everybody hates Super Mario World. Crazy talk. Almost as crazy as when GAF thought 3D World was the second coming of Jesus.

I've always said this is the greatest game ever made. Yeah, I've been playing it since I was a kid but compared to other platformers, even other Mario games, it's still unmatched in many ways.

- It's all about secrets. The level design is amazing. 70 levels, 96 exits.
- Controls perfectly. I've never had a problem.
- Amazing music.
- Tropical Goombas. Plus, this game has Koopa Troopa's wearing sleeveless undershirts. Adorable. Koopa Troopa > Goomba.
- Blargg!
- I think you're way off with Yoshi. SMW has the best implementation of Yoshi. Hatching baby Yoshi's. Feeding them until they mature. Different colored Yoshi's with different abilities. Yes, blue is the best. You can bring Yoshi almost anywhere minus castles and Ghost Houses. Talk about limited use in Sunshine, SMG2, and NSMB Wii. Correct me if I'm wrong but in those games you can only ride Yoshi in select levels, no? I don't remember. But I do remember not being impressed with any of the ways Yoshi was implemented in future titles. Why so limited? I expect to lose Yoshi only when I leave him behind or die. I should be able to get another one in any of the Yoshi levels whenever I please, too. Give me that freedom.
- The cape. You don't hover, you fly. You're not limited to how long you can fly either. Why has this or a variant not made a return? Why is my flying ability limited to hovering or constantly descending and/or timed? Let me fucking fly.
- The World map being stale is not a really problem for me. I found those enemy encounters blocking your way to be more of a nuisance in SMB3. Get the fuck out of my way.
- I can agree with the worlds are not unique. But quite frankly, I never cared for desert levels, or underground levels, even ghost houses for that matter, especially in the older games. So I don't mind having a mix of different themes in each world rather than being dedicated to one I normally don't care for. There is no snow world/levels because Dinosaur Island is a tropical place. That's my guess, anyway. Chocolate Island is awesome.
- Bowser battle was refreshing.
- All of the enemies in Mario games, especially early Mario games, have easy patterns. It's more or less about how many you have to deal with or a combination of environmental hazards and confined space along with the enemies that's the challenge. I think every standard enemy on it's own, even in earlier titles, is extremely easy to deal with.

To each their own, of course. But NSMB U better than SMW? That's funny.

 

[bionic77]

Are we really arguing over which gold medal is the shiniest? None if them are "bad"

This.

If you don't really like SMW you have insane expectations for 2D platformers.

Argue all you want about which Mario game is the best or the ranking of them, but I can't accept that SMW is anything but a fantastic game.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

If you look past the art style it really is the best. Amazing game.

Luigi U should be played too.

I'm sad that it took all the way to the end of the first page for someone to mention Super Luigi U. It's absolutely secretly the best Mario game.

 

[PSFan]

Oh right on, my bad. But seriously, right? It's fucking fantastic.

And you thought the whole game was easy? Those last few worlds are pretty challenging, especially if you're collecting the star coins and beating every level with every character or whatever, and the final world is downright punishing.

I thought 3D World felt like NSMB but in 3D. Everything the same but a 3D plane. I 100%ed it and really disliked it. And it was just as easy as NSMB.

 

[ivanthebearable]

I feel it OP. I do enjoy World but out of all the 2D Marios I’ve played, NSMBWii, NSMBU and most of 3 have been the most fun I’ve had. I don’t really count 2 as it isn’t technically Mario to me but I like 2 a lot too. I respect 1 but god it is such a chore to play nowadays.

Never played NSMB2 and NSMB DS was really dull imo.

If I had to personally rank them all I’d say

NSMBU + SMB3 >= NSMBWii > SML2 > SMB2 + World >>> SMB1 >= NSMB DS + SML1.

If I had to had the Yoshi games and Super Princess Peach in with them I’d put:

-Yoshi’s Island with U+3
-Super Princess Peach, Yoshi’s Island DS and Yoshi’s Story with 2+World

 

[RedSwirl]

Recently played through a bunch of 2D Marios for the first time. 3 is my favorite. No game after it did the world map quite the same way. In later games it's just a series of points to move across with some alternate paths here and there. In SMB3 it felt like a tabletop game of its own. In my eyes that gives SMB3 progression a certain dynamism and replayability the other Mario games don't have. 3 is the one I go back to when I want a 2D Mario fix.

 

[Kilrogg]

There's no denying that the jump between SMB1 and 3 was much bigger than between SMB3 and World. Technology aside obviously.

In fact, SMW feels like a sidestep in many ways. It's not necessarily worse, but it doesn't feel better either. Its world and enemies are a bit different, and the game expands on exploration and secret exits a bi, but as a whole, it doesn't feel much more ambitious than 3 was. And the worlds themselves don't feel as imaginative as those in 3 (like the pipe world and the giant world). It's an evolution, not the evolution of 2D Mario.

Let's put it this way: People rarely ever debate which is the more fleshed-out, better-realized and flat-out better game between SMB1 and SMB3. SMB1 is a great game, a seminal game, and thus iconic, but everyone agrees SMB3 is just so much more than SMB1. On the other hand, people often debate which of the two is best between SMB3 and SMW, despite the fact that SMW is a generation ahead.

That there's even a debate should tell you that maybe, just maybe, SMW could and should have been more, coming off SMB3.

 

[Leatherface]

SM3, YI, and SMW are all so high on the quality scale that it is really a toss up as to which is the best. It really comes down to personal preference. I probably had the MOST fun with SM3 personally but SMW and and YI are so damn good too.



NSMBU though... No way in hell is that in the same league as the other games..

 

[Taliban Stan]

Yoshi's Island is better imo but it's also like a totally different brand of platformer.

3 is better as a crazy game with everything and the kitchen sink thrown into it, but I like SMW more. 3 is crazy so there can be a ton of side stuff that may not be up your alley. SMW to me is like 3 but more focused and reeled in.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

NSMBU though... No way in hell is that in the same league as the other games..

It absolutely is. The tightness of the controls, the demands the later levels place on players, if you play the games together it really jumps out how much NSMBU is the furthest along in the series' evolution.

(At least until Super Luigi).

 

[Spinosaurus]

This idea that NSMBU couldn't possibly good just because of some weird stigma against the NSMB series is bizarre to me lol.

 

[TheDinoman]

I feel like New Super Mario Bros. U might be on the same boat with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite in that it proves that presentation is absolutely important for a game, even if the core gameplay/level design is still really good.

 

[Kilrogg]

I'm just seeing now that heretics are still arguing that Yoshi's Island is a Mario game. I loved the game to death back when I was a kid, but no matter how much Nintendo wanted it to be true back then by calling it "Super Mario World 2" on the boxart, it is not, never was and never will be a sequel. It's a spin-off, and the SMW2 moniker was just a marketing trick to make it more appealing. Same with Wario Land: it never was Super Mario Land 3. The sequel to SMW, for better or for worse, is New Super Mario Bros. Though you could argue it's an SMB reboot for a new era.

The only game that gets a pass for this kind of marketing trickery is Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, and that's because nobody cares about Lost Levels and Nintendo went to the trouble of reworking Doki Doki Panic into the far superior Mario game. Even though it's a different game, it's still Super Mario Bros. 2 in everybody's mind but the Japanese (maybe? I don't know how they see the game nowadays).

 

[balladofwindfishes]

- The cape. You don't hover, you fly. You're not limited to how long you can fly either. Why has this or a variant not made a return? Why is my flying ability limited to hovering or constantly descending and/or timed? Let me fucking fly.

Because it trivializes the difficulty for 90% of the stages. As long as it's not a cave level, you can basically just fly over the entire level.

 

[ElFly]

Because it trivializes the difficulty for 90% of the stages. As long as it's not a cave level, you can basically just fly over the entire level.

so?

just don't fly through the levels and go through them

bam

There's no denying that the jump between SMB1 and 3 was much bigger than between SMB3 and World. Technology aside obviously.

In fact, SMW feels like a sidestep in many ways. It's not necessarily worse, but it doesn't feel better either. Its world and enemies are a bit different, and the game expands on exploration and secret exits a bi, but as a whole, it doesn't feel much more ambitious than 3 was. And the worlds themselves don't feel as imaginative as those in 3 (like the pipe world and the giant world). It's an evolution, not the evolution of 2D Mario.

Let's put it this way: People rarely ever debate which is the more fleshed-out, better-realized and flat-out better game between SMB1 and SMB3. SMB1 is a great game, a seminal game, and thus iconic, but everyone agrees SMB3 is just so much more than SMB1. On the other hand, people often debate which of the two is best between SMB3 and SMW, despite the fact that SMW is a generation ahead.

That there's even a debate should tell you that maybe, just maybe, SMW could and should have been more, coming off SMB3.

it's a quality over quantity debate tho

smb3 has more levels, powerups, variety in world design

smw is better overall

should smw have more levels and powerups to rival smb3? sure it'd be great. but what it has is already enough

 

[balladofwindfishes]

so?

just don't fly through the levels and go through them

bam

The game encourages you to fly by throwing long stretches of flat land at you, Cape Feathers all over the place, and hiding Dragon Coins in the air in a few stages.

I don't think handing the player a new mechanic, telling them to use it, and encouraging them to use it, and then saying "but don't use it too much because it actually breaks the game" is good game design.

 

[VDenter]

The game encourages you to fly by throwing long stretches of flat land at you, Cape Feathers all over the place, and hiding Dragon Coins in the air in a few stages.

I don't think handing the player a new mechanic, telling them to use it, and encouraging them to use it, and then saying "but don't use it too much because it actually breaks the game" is good game design.

The cape completely breaks the game. It is probably why we have not seen it since Mario World.

 

[bosh]

Would is a fantastic game, 3 is a masterpiece and has never left my top 10 of all time.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I'm just seeing now that heretics are still arguing that Yoshi's Island is a Mario game. I loved the game to death back when I was a kid, but no matter how much Nintendo wanted it to be true back then by calling it "Super Mario World 2" on the boxart, it is not, never was and never will be a sequel. It's a spin-off, and the SMW2 moniker was just a marketing trick to make it more appealing. Same with Wario Land: it never was Super Mario Land 3. The sequel to SMW, for better or for worse, is New Super Mario Bros. Though you could argue it's an SMB reboot for a new era.

The only game that gets a pass for this kind of marketing trickery is Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, and that's because nobody cares about Lost Levels and Nintendo went to the trouble of reworking Doki Doki Panic into the far superior Mario game. Even though it's a different game, it's still Super Mario Bros. 2 in everybody's mind but the Japanese (maybe? I don't know how they see the game nowadays).

For reference, here is the Officially Official Nintendo Official List of Official Mario Bros. Games: The Official Listing