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[jmizzal]

Never cared for Super Mario World.

I really love SMB1, 2 and 3 though.

If we're talking newer games 3D Land is better than 3D World.

Same loved SMB 1-3 but never got in to World when I got my SNES

But then Mario 64 came now we were back

 

[Y2Kev]

YI is coming on strong playing World 3! It's going to be neck and neck for me to see which game is better!!!!

 

[F34R]

Now I'm all into playing all of them lol.



NSMBU right now. While these pictures aren't anything indicative of what I'm seeing.. the quality on my 4k tv is amazing. LOVE IT. Also, playing on the Wii U pad makes me want it more and more on the Switch.

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

One further note about the nsmb series, while being solid enough platformers, neither are as ground breaking as 3 and World. Nsmb just played it way too safe and didn't do anything to make themselves as impressive as 3 and world.

World is definitely better than New Super Mario Bros. NSMBU though...

 

[QisTopTier]

Who cares how ground breaking they were, it's about playing the games now and how they compare vs each other in that regard

 

[bounchfx]

Let me guess. You are basing this comment entirely on the premise of it's art style rather than its level design.

mostly yes. plus the music. but I do own the game and I've played it, but I stopped because it didn't really appeal to me. Mario games are some of my favorite games of all time, but it didn't do much for me. I've been planning on giving it another shot but I don't have access to my Wii U recently. I bought it day one, wanted to like it (despite it's visuals and overall presentation), and it didn't do much for me at all. Maybe the level design gets better or more impressive later in the game, but I don't give games much time these days if they don't grab me from the get go and compel me to continue. Too many other games out these days to waste time on things I'm lukewarm about.

 

[Spinosaurus]

I've never liked World as a kid, and could never enjoy it despite trying many times. I just can't enjoy 2D Mario if momentum isn't a big part of it, and I honestly hate how Mario controls.

SMB3 and NSMBU are def the best for me.

 

[CAR105 3]

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.

WAT?

 

[QisTopTier]

WAT?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l2Pnu9FnXE lol

 

[Theslammer]

WAT?

You never encountered these?

 

[SolVanderlyn]

You never encountered these?

....no.

I love when stuff like this happens.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Yoshi's Island is the best, to hell with Jeff Gerstmann!

 

[GusZamboni]

i probably agree with 3, but SMBU? hard to tell, even if its consider by some one of the best, i cant stand the game

 

[jstripes]

At least we can all agree that SMB2 is trash.

When I first played SMB2, it was different. When I learned it was a re-skinned Doki Doki Panic, I felt a bit betrayed. But looking at it all these years later, it's an amazing game that stands on its own, and contributed a whole lot to the franchise.

Didn’t realise people disliked nsmbw/u artstyle, personally think it’s great and makes the older games look really bad. It retains that mario charm but brings it to the modern age.

The NSMB art style is... sterile. It's too plastic, and self-restrained.

 

[III-V]

At least we can all agree that SMB2 is trash.

Ahw hell no

 

[Theslammer]

....no.

I love when stuff like this happens.

I will be DAMNED!

 

[ZeoVGM]

When I first played SMB2, it was different. When I learned it was a re-skinned Doki Doki Panic, I felt a bit betrayed. But looking at it all these years later, it's an amazing game that stands on its own, and contributed a whole lot to the franchise.



The NSMB art style is... sterile. It's too plastic, and self-restrained.

While I overall agree, NSMBU looks great.

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

I always thought World was a disappointment even back then. The class of the 16 bit Era for Mario type games were DKC, Yoshi Island, Sonic the hedgehog, and Decap Attack.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

Now that y'all bring it up, they could have done a lot more with the dinosaur/prehistoric theme. I always forget about it until I see those crappy dinosaur enemies.

NSMBDS was uninspired IMO, but I can definitely acknowledge NSMBU as a game with very, very good level design despite my fatigue with the series.


It's really weird hearing people describe World, not 3, as slippery. 3 is the "slippery" one, as in, Mario has a lot of momentum. You need to hold the opposite direction for a little while to finally reduce your speed to zero. Meanwhile, World Mario stops and turns almost on a dime. This is one of the major reasons I never liked World Mario as much--the challenge in mastering Mario's momentum is pretty much gone. Momentum-based gameplay was the core appeal of Mario 1 and they changed it here.

I feel like World is the best example of friction with the surface, actually. I feel like it's the least slippery. YI feels pretty slippery to me. Maybe because you automatically run.

See this is what I always hear, hence me questioning my sanity haha. 3 definitely doesn't stop on a dime, but for whatever reason I have always had a MUCH easier time playing it than World. I never feel like Mario in World does what I want. I haven't played either recently enough to get more detailed about it unfortunately. Will need to fix that over Holiday break.

 

[biggersmaller]

Well put.

Sweet 16bit graphics and beautiful art

Cool flying mechanics

A saving system

A god damn dinosaur is your ride

Which has special color-coded abilities

You can hatch said dinosaur and nurture him to adulthood

Beautiful continuous world map that gives a sense of choice and exploration and adventure

Tons of secrets

Cute short animations for each castle

Star Road

Special World

Post-world

Mask Koopas

Mega Moles

And I could go on.

SMW needs our help!

Better animations

Far greater music

Ghost Houses

Cool spin mechanic

Better flying mechanic

Multiple exits within levels

Branching paths on world map

Switch boxes

Better level design.

 

[GDJustin]

I mean I think you're being too harsh on World, but I mostly agree with you, OP. For years I've defended World as the greatest 2D Mario game and one of the greatest Nintendo games ever made, period.

But after playing through it again on the SNES Classic I kinda had the same slow, creeping realization you had. This game just... isn't that special. I still think it's great but it's no Super Mario Bros. 3 which feel like a more epic journey, is more challenging, and has better variety.

 

[AuthenticM]

People keep mentioning the Ghost Houses of World as a plus, when the fortresses of SMB3 were better Ghost Houses than the actual Ghost Houses of World.

 

[XandBosch]

3D World is still the G(Mario)OAT for me. It's everything I want in a Mario game, and more. It's too bad it's tethered to hardware that barely anyone bought or liked.

 

[QisTopTier]

At the end of the day though, it's not really fair. Mario Maker is by far the best 2d mario game

 

[AwakenedCloud]

At least we can all agree that SMB2 is trash.

As long as you're talking about Doki Doki and not the canonical SMB2, we cool.

 

[CazTGG]

More like Super Mediocre World, am I right?

Spoiler

Yoshi's Island is way better than its predecessor. Super Mario World is far less impressive in terms of level design, visuals and sound than the game that before (Super Mario Bros. 3)/after (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island).

 

[chemicals]

Mario 3 is my fave. SMWorld is amazing, even legendary... But SMB3 is just so good. Ridiculous.

 

[Dr.Hadji]

People keep mentioning the Ghost Houses of World as a plus, when the fortresses of SMB3 were better Ghost Houses than the actual Ghost Houses of World.

THANK YOU! I've been saying this for years. The fortress where you turn a room of bricks into coins to make it to the next area is THE BEST!

 

[Type_Raver]

Welcome back.

I loved it back in the day, completed it 100% too. But tried to revisit it a few times over the past years but it doesn't hold for long. Definitely loved revisiting Yoshi's island a lot more, plus they have some of the best boss battles!

 

[Discopizza]

I played them all when they were new, and I just never got into 3 that much. Every time I play it, I just get tired of playing during or after the Giant World. Can't stand the autoscroll levels, especially the airships.

Played that and World earlier this year and still enjoyed World enough to finish. I'll have to go back to NSMBU soon, since the Wii U is still hooked up.

 

[RagnarokX]

People keep mentioning the Ghost Houses of World as a plus, when the fortresses of SMB3 were better Ghost Houses than the actual Ghost Houses of World.

Yes, the mechanics that make ghost houses what they are were established in 3. Warp door mazes, p-switch doors, boos.

And if you get technical, forests were in SMB1 and SMB2:

And really SMB1 and SMB2 do more with the concept, since the Trees are pretty unique platforms whereas the trees in SMW were non-interactive. The most they do is obscure platforms and enemies.

 

[kubev]

I love Super Mario World. I think it speaks to the quality of the game that I'm still driven to unlock all of the levels and paths. I'd consider Super Mario Bros. 3 to be my second-favorite mainline Mario game, but its appeal doesn't even come close to that of SMW for me. When I play through SMB3, I more or less just use the whistle trick to skip right to the final world, as I have very little interest in playing through the majority of the levels in the other worlds. Sure, giant world is pretty awesome, but I'm not about to suffer through the other worlds for that.

I think what makes SMW interesting is how it uses slopes and how it uses secret exits. I think it's a shame that you really can't faithfully recreate any SMW levels in Super Mario Maker, and I daresay that it makes the construction of "normal" levels really uninteresting to me. I love the flow that slopes introduce to some of the levels, and it's a shame that we couldn't have access to them in SMM. Honestly, after reading the OP, I'm even more bummed about the lack of focus on SMW in SMM, because I think it would've been cool to have access to all four Yoshi colors to see what sort of puzzles or challenges could've been sculpted for user-made levels.

 

[AuthenticM]

Updated the OP with the Ghost Houses comparison.

SMB3 Fortresses > World Ghost Houses

 

[RagnarokX]

Speaking of level themes, I'd like to point out that there are 2 basic kinds of level themes in 2D Mario. There are level type themes and world themes.

Examples of level type themes:
Ground
Underground
Bridge
Mushroom

Examples of world type themes:
Grassland
Desert
Ice
Jungle

SMB1, 2, and SMW are comprised mostly of level types with rather generic backgrounds. SMB3 introduced the concept of combining level types with world themes to increase the amount of variety. The NSMB series continued and expanded on this, increasing the variety of combinations.

 

[BasilZero]

Nah, SMW is great. Game as a whole has tons of new mechanics, lots of variety... good secret system. Strong visuals and sound.

YI & SMB3 are great too.

NSMB* is fucking trash. Regurgitated ideas. Boring level after boring level. Poor variety. Weak visuals and sound. Terrible games.

Gotta agree with this post

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Gotta agree with this post

It's rather insubstantial. Super Mario World has a "great secret system" that makes the game more about secret hunting than platforming - the last thing you want from a platformer - and powerups so strong that it doesn't feel like the game was even designed around them (as opposed to NSMBW and U, which have a lineup of varied powerups with unique strengths).

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

It's rather insubstantial. Super Mario World has a "great secret system" that makes the game more about secret hunting than platforming - the last thing you want from a platformer - and powerups so strong that it doesn't feel like the game was even designed around them (as opposed to NSMBW and U, which have a lineup of varied powerups with unique strengths).

Literally the entire back of Mario and platformers in general is built on secret hunting even dating back to the first game. Also most of it is optional but it adds more replayability.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

OP is right in that SMB3 and YI piss all over SMW.

OP is wrong that NSMBU is better than SMW, tho.

 

[Renekton]

What are you thoughts on NSLU?

 

[RM8]

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.

 

[Afrodium]

I always thought I was weird for not being all that into World. Even as a kid it just never really clicked for me.

Yoshi's Island was always my favorite, but it's been a very long time since I've replayed it and I'm worried it won't hold up.

 

[pirateluigi]

What are you thoughts on NSLU?

Not the OP, but NSLU is the secret best 2d Mario.

 

[kodecraft]

Sorry, I'm a World guy.

NSMB was cool when it was the first of its kind but with so many rehashed sequels it's lost its charm to me.

 

[jufonuk]

Three is best in the way it just blew the doors open.
Graphics gameplay. Power ups. Secrets. Not just warp pipes ?!? Wait what..

Also theee was central to the plot of the film “the wizard” I had to have this game gimme
Playing it for the first time my mind was blown I couldn’t believe how insane and deep the game was.

Obviously three is the best right ?!?

Then World came along and added to it and gave it a nice 16 bit lick of paint. speed things up, added yoshi, more hidden secrets and levels. I fell in love with Super Mario games again. 3 and world are always vying for first place as my personal greatest classic SMB game.

So now it’s World right ?
So both 3 and world have merits as the legits greatest 2d Mario games of all time.

Then the NSMB series came along at first I decided to give it a go. It felt alright but bland still I purchased each one only to feel the same It’s ok, not great vibe, but NSMBU. that felt like they were going for the old school vibe the classic deep rich gameplay And yeah it works, but the music and artwork while functional just have no heart or soul like the old school kings. So you automatically kind of relegate it in your mind.

The greatest current 2D Mario game in the series is maker.

You all know this to be true.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

This is maybe one of the most tired debates in all of gaming.

Some prefer 3,some prefer World. I am a World guy, and played Mario before he was even Super. Most of your points are flimsy opinions, and a similar opinion list could be made of 3.

It's cool to prefer whichever, but yowza am I sick of the debate.

This right here. It's all subjective opinions. Personally I love super mario world. The atmosphere in the game was unmatched. Sounds and music are the best in the whole series. I played mario when it was a goofy arcade game with a screen you looked down upon in restaurants. Played all the rest since too. I love world. The colors,the cape and sound it made while flying, yoshi, and the level board. Shame on people who think it's overrated lol.

 

[Kurt]

At least we can all agree that SMB2 is trash.

Lol no ny far. Its too different maybe. But its the firstmario game with backtracking. Besides that it has one of the most memorable enemies. The music is realy good and memorable. It has some nice ideas in it like heaving a portal to find the thing or digging sand. And much much more. Still hope for a sequel on this.

 

[ramparter]

New Super Mario Bros U has pretty great art imo. The backgrounds alone are tremendous. Samey in relation to other NSMB games, sure, it's still pretty all the same.

I agree in general but something about the colors and the 2d / 3d blending is off.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

The greatest current 2D Mario game in the series is maker.

You all know this to be true.

It has the potential to be. There's just too much lag when playing it on my TV. And it's not much better on the Wii U pad. When it comes to 2D Mario, I need as lag-free an experiece as possible. But the game itself is great. Hopefully there's a Switch version in the cards.

 

[TLZ]

NSMBU is garbage.

Garbage? Really? You couldn't pick a more suitable word? Garbage like 1/10? I can't believe it. It's impossible. That's extreme.

NSMB* is fucking trash.

Seriously wtf is with these extreme opinions?

 

[Cobalt03]

Heresy