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After replaying Mario World, I realized it's not all that. 3, YI and NSMBU are better

Bgamer90

Banned
I can see how a person can like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Yoshi’s Island better but New Super Mario Bros. U too? Wow. That game lacks personality in my opinion. Feels like a parody of every 2D Super Mario Bros. game to me (which includes Super Mario World aka Super Mario Bros. 4).
 

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
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.
 
NSMB U was fun except for that one stupid ghost house that I shouldn’t have played too late and the damn tiring art aesthetic.

But yeah Mario 3 does have a lot of memorable levels. But I do think Mario World enemies are quite memorable and unique. Sport Chuck, sumo fire, small ninja in the castle, sleepy and then annoyed fish, Hammer Bro dude who looked like Santa Claus, the dumb koopa who kicked his shell at you, Caped Koopas, Banzai Bills, Rhinos, lava hippos, Swoopers, etc.
 
I didn't have a SNES so played SMW on GBA, I enjoyed it a lot but it's probably my least favorite Mario out of all the ones I played (including NSMB DS which most people like to shit on).
 
I completely agree. World is fine, but it did not feel like a leap above SMB3, and it felt like some steps backwards in some other ways. I'm not sure if I've ever beaten World. I usually get bored and when I pick it back up again years later, I start over.
 

randomscribbles

Neo Member
SMB3 definitely has higher highs, but it also has lower lows. The auto scrollers aged horribly. SMW is where the formula got perfected, which meant consistently good levels with less radical experimentation.
 
SMW took the series to a new level. Alternative exits and secrets (yeah, I know other games had it but not the same), the yellow cape, and the introduction of Yoshi. Not to mention Star Road and Special World?!!!? You have got to be kidding me.

.

If you're playing them all now for the first time you might have a different take on it, but back then World just blew our minds.
 
This is something SMB3 fans always say and makes no sense to me. You have the option to skip the level if you know how to use the cape, but you'll miss the whole level, including secrets and coins. It's your choice, but almost everyone just plays the level.

Is Mario 64 a bad game because you have too many movement options that let you skip levels? Is Mario Odyssey going to be bad because you can just roll and spam Cappy in the air to speedrun the game? Giving these options is a good thing, you still have a great platformer, but with more depth.

None of those games have an option that lets you skip 90% of the level

You either have to stop using the run button or constantly fight against the game trying to get you to skip the level in SMW

If you want a power up you also 50/50 have to use the cape since they got rid of all the cool ones. And the fireball is worse at killing enemies too.

I don't think tapping left on the d pad to fly forever adds depth.
 
If NSMB, NSMB Wii and NSMB 2 didn't exist, NSMB U would be hailed as the best.

Because it is.

If NSMBU was released with a different art style people would be praising it to the heavens.

Best 2D Mario game by far.

zadMz.gif
 
Going back and playing it, it's still reigning champion for me. No other Mario controls as well, has the same charm, it has the best overworld and music, and is the most satisfying to complete.
 

BriGuy

Member
3 and World are on the same level to me. Love them both and always will. NSMB series is ok (Wii is probably the best), but I've never had a desire to return to them.
 

Rival

Gold Member
3 has always has been my favorite 2d Mario. But World blew my mind back when it was released. NSMB WiiU is a great game overall but the lesser of the 3. I really need to give that a replay though. Haven’t touched it since shortly after the WiiU released.
 
"the enemies are boring and bad"

"where are the goombas?????"

Yeah, I thought the same thing. =P Feels weird to criticize a game for not having the same enemies as a previous game and doing something different.

The thing with Mario 3 is, for its time, it encounters a big problem: it gives you a large amount of content with no way to save. If you want to go through all the content and not skip anything, you have to give up a whole evening at least. World's save system makes it better designed just based on that, and it's not going into what else I like better about it. I used to be a big fan of 3, and I still am, but it's no longer my favorite.

P.S: Love your username.
 
None of those games have an option that lets you skip 90% of the level

You either have to stop using the run button or constantly fight against the game trying to get you to skip the level in SMW

If you want a power up you also 50/50 have to use the cape since they got rid of all the cool ones. And the fireball is worse at killing enemies too.

I don't think tapping left on the d pad to fly forever adds depth.

People are literally beating Odyssey levels in 5 minutes with the Cappy mid-jump, Mario 64 gives you so many options it's possible to skip whole levels just with long jump and wall jumps. But as I've said: no one skips entire levels with the cape, especially if you're playing the game for the first time or is searching for the secret exits (that were promoted a lot, so people know about them). This is a common arguement made by SMB3 fans that doesn't represent reality.

You're also ignoring that Mario World introduced Yoshi, better than most power ups in SMB3. In general I think Yoshi, items, colored blocks, cape, balloon > frog suit, boot and raccoon.
 
More points that I forgot:

-The world map is stale. As in, nothing happens on it. In SMB3, there would be hammer bros. that would block your way, card games that would appear, the super-secret floating money ship, the levels in world 8 where a hand would grab you to force you to play it. World has an interconnected map, and that's great, but it doesn't compensate.

-The potential of Yoshis with different abilities is squandered. They bother putting in Yoshis of different colors, but only the blue one is really that useful. Both the yellow and red yoshis serve nothing of value. Seriously, who here replayed those Star World levels to get a yellow or red yoshi? The devs could have given each different-colored yoshi some meaningful ability, and design some levels around these abilities, but no. Let's go further: how about levels in which different paths open up depending on the color/ability of your Yoshi? Why couldn't we have that?

-The game is piss-easy. I played through the game last night by not doing the palace switches until I was done with the rest of the game. It was the first time I played the game like that. Even then, the game was too easy. I barely got any challenge. SMB3, YI and NSMBU, on the other hand, offer plenty of challenge. Better-designed levels, for sure.
 

VDenter

Banned
Yeah World seems to have had a weird development cycle. I distinctly remember Miyamoto calling World unfinished. Considering how odd the game feels next to SMB3 and them having to make it in time for launch it wouldn't surprise me. I remember reading some article a long time ago on the development on the game and apparently it was supposed to be a much more similar game to SMB3 than what we got with the final product. But some people at Nintendo complained about the game being too similar to its predecessor which resulted in them having to scrap allot of the work they had done up until that point.
 

NeonZ

Member
SMW took the series to a new level. Alternative exits and secrets (yeah, I know other games had it but not the same), the yellow cape, and the introduction of Yoshi. Not to mention Star Road and Special World?!!!? You have got to be kidding me.

Mario 3 already had secret exits though, there just were less of them since they were tied to the flutes. Although it didn't have secret worlds, it did have moving map enemies and even secret bonus stages that were dumped by World.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Funny, I feel the opposite. Playing SMW again on the SNES Classic reminds me why I love it more than the NES Marios I replayed last year. The controls are more precise and the levels are less gimmicky overall than 3’s levels. Additionally SMW’s emphasis on multiple level exits makes me want to explore each nook and cranny more.
 

bionic77

Member
I do like YI better than SMW but I also think it's crazytown to call World uninspired or overrated.

I played a few levels when the classic came out and it still feels and plays perfectly. Still one of the better platformers ever made IMO.
 
Thanks for putting this into words. I don't hate World, but I've never liked it and have always felt like I was missing something integral. It was also my first Mario I owned too so I always felt like it was weird that I never liked it
 

jwhit28

Member
More points that I forgot:

-The world map is stale. As in, nothing happens on it. In SMB3, there would be hammer bros. that would block your way, card games that would appear, the super-secret floating money ship, the levels in world 8 where a hand would grab you to force you to play it. World has an interconnected map, and that's great, but it doesn't compensate.

-The potential of Yoshis with different abilities is squandered. They bother putting in Yoshis of different colors, but only the blue one is really that useful. Both the yellow and red yoshis serve nothing of value. Seriously, who here replayed those Star World levels to get a yellow or red yoshi? The devs could have given each different-colored yoshi some meaningful ability, and design some levels around these abilities, but no. Let's go further: how about levels in which different paths open up depending on the color/ability of your Yoshi? Why couldn't we have that?

-The game is piss-easy. I played through the game last night by not doing the palace switches until I was done with the rest of the game. It was the first time I played the game like that. Even then, the game was too easy. I barely got any challenge. SMB3, YI and NSMBU, on the other hand, offer plenty of challenge. Better-designed levels, for sure.

The world map is the part I like most over SMB3. It makes the whole game feel grander than the boardgame style maps most other Mario games used. The only platformer that does it better is DKC3.
 

Neverfade

Member
Everyone entitled to opinions yadda yadda but I’m having a hard time reconciling that someone could form one as awful as this.
 

Artdayne

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

Hmm, nope. Super Mario Bros. was my first and Super Mario World is the best that I've played, and the last Mario I've played quite honestly.
 
I understand opinions can vary wildly from person to person, but it is incomprehensible to me - assuming you enjoy the genre in the first place - that this is an opinion that actually exists within a real human somewhere in the real world.

It exists and it's real. DKCTF is the best platformer since SMB3, NSMBU is garbage compared to them.
 

ghibli99

Member
Yeah, NSMBU/NSLU were my favorite Mario side-scrollers since 3 and SMW, and in certain ways, I liked the Wii U games more. The art gets a knock, but I think they did a really nice job, especially on the backgrounds. Love how the clouds move, and there is so much parallax going on. I don't love YI as much as some do. The art and music are wonderful, but I found getting all the red coins to be just too frustrating. That game was at its best for me when I wasn't in collectathon mode, and it's the least 'Mario' game since SMB2 (US) to me.
 

BigDug13

Member
I prefer World over 3 for three simple reasons.

Spin-Jump, Throwing Items Upwards, and levels that aren't over in what feels like less than a minute which feel like they're everywhere in 3.

3 is from an era where you're supposed to beat the game in one sitting and no ability to save. The levels have to be short or you'd never beat it.
 
SMW is fucking legendary. It definitely wasn't my first game in the series either. My first was the original Mario Bros. Been gaming since I was like 3 years old on the NES. No "first kiss syndrome" here. It's a well designed game and crazy good for a pack-in too.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
OP sums up my opinion of World pretty well. Too easy, the levels that are actually hard are kind of bullshit (does ANYONE like Tubular?)

I actually think the blue Yoshi is probably too good, considering how easy the game is in the first place. Having all the colored Yoshi's just be gimmicks like the red and yellow one would have made more sense.

The cape is the worst designed Mario powerup ever. People keep clamoring for it to come back but it's gamebreaking.

IMO Tier 1 of 2D Mario is 3, NSMBU, and NSLU. Tier 2 is World and NSMBW. Shamefully, I have not played YI.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I agree as far as level design goes and it is a fairly easy game.

But no other Mario feels as good to play. The movement, the cape...just feels so good. Was never a fan of the heavy momentum based jumping in other Marios.

YI feels good as well due to the lack of momentum based jumping, but Yoshi feels sluggish in comparison.
 
I'll give you it's a debate between 3, World, and YI, but I'm sorry, I can't agree that NSMBU is on the same level.

In general, I really dislike the "Added challenge by collecting three Angry Birds collectables!" mechanic. All the NES and SNES games had plenty of challenge without resorting to something like this, and in my opinion, were better games for it.
 
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