+1. Current backlog completed count:
10.
Super Mario World (SNES, via emulator)
I love playing this game, and play it at least once a year. Because this game is pretty awesome. For one, it was the first Mario game that, as a kid, made me feel like I was "going on an adventure." I think a huge part of that was the World Map in which you could replay levels, which is something I wish to this day that any version of SMB3 had. And all of the secrets (secret items, secret exits, etc.). The way the world map changes "seasons" (from summer to autumn) when you beat Special World. The game obviously controls flawlessly, looks fantastic, and honestly an unquestionable masterpiece. There can't be enough good things to be said about this game.
But one strong opinion I have (opinions? in a gaming forum? Ha!) is that this game is actually a
downgrade from Super Mario Bros. 3 in some ways. Even though the levels are longer, have more verticality and more obstacles, I feel the game is easier. I think a lot of it comes down to Mario being able to activate an "Overpowered Mode" when he takes this:
I've always thought the Super Cape was overpowered as hell. You can defeat the majority of enemies with the cape spin. You can slow down Mario's descent after a jump, which means you don't need to be all that precise with your jumps. You can defeat enemies anywhere, even in water levels. (You couldn't do that with the Raccoon tail in SMB3). You can do a dive/ground pound move that kills most (all?) nearby enemies. And even if something hits you during this dive move, you are invincible, all that will happen is you get taken out of the dive move and you gain a few frames of invincibility while descending. Lastly, he's got this "parachute cape" move that means that you can just hover over entire levels, essentially giving this game's version of SMB3's "P-wing."
Just with that alone, you could dominate the entire game, easily. Of course, you can choose to not have that power up -- and I often don't. Except that a lot of times, the levels are
designed to have this powerup. Like I said earlier, there's a lot of verticality, and a lot of items (e.g., Yoshi dragon coins) or other cool secrets (3-up moons) at high points of several levels.
And, if Overpowered Mode isn't enough, Mario can go into "God Mode":
Wait, I need to zoom in on the actual "God Mode"
Cape Mario on Blue Yoshi is borderline "press A to win"
Now, it would be fair to say that Blue Yoshi is a lot more optional than Cape Mario, since (unlike Cape Mario), levels are not designed around Blue Yoshi. Anyway, between the Cape and the Yoshis, I wish they were nerfed somewhat, so that the levels could be designed around them, but you'd still have some sort of more prominent "risk/reward" factor while playing through the levels. Yes, with these powerups, the game still has a risk/reward: low risk, high reward.
Random note: the Clown transitioning from this:
to this:
was my very first video game experience of "Whoa, shit just got
real".
Some Achievements were actually a really nice challenge, so playing this game felt incredible, yet again. I will probably keep playing this game in some form until I'm an old man. Thank you for the awesome times, Super Mario World... thank you:
