I’m starting a new thing. Every Monday I want to talk about a classic video game.
Mind you, the definition of “classic” is arguable, but as far as I’m concerned, if it a.) came out more than a couple of years ago, and b.) makes me feel all nostalgic when I think about it, it’s fair game.
Seeing as I’ve been gaming most of my life, and seeing as friends have actually made fun of me before for my propensity to wax nostalgic about old games rather than play new ones nine times out of ten, I’m sure I won’t run out of games for this feature for a loooong time.
For my inaugural edition I figured I’d go with a tried and true classic that I’m sure most of us can agree on. It’s not my favorite Mario game (Super Mario RPG & Mario Bros. 3 are probably my two faves in that category), but there is no denying… Super Mario World was amazing.
When I first got this game it came with the Super Nintendo we got for Christmas, and pretty much everyone was hooked. See, basically what this game did was take the tried and true Mario formula… and make it HUGE.
If my memory serves me correctly, when you count secret areas there are close to 100 levels packed in here. And secret levels there were galore. Secret passageways, secret bridges, secret underwater areas, and entire secret “worlds” such as Star Road or “Special”. Special included the one level that I could never beat. When I actually saw it easily done on YouTube years later, I was quite shocked. I mean, my inability to pass that level had been haunting me for years.
Now let’s change gears from secret worlds to secrets within the normal levels. In order to unlock a good number of the secret levels, you had to discover… secondary finishlines, so to speak, in the normal levels. These often came in the form of finding a key in a level and having to drag it to a keyhole. Other times it would be a second goalpost hidden away behind the first. Beating the level this way would invariably open up secret paths and more secret levels.
There were secret techniques to beat certain levels, too. The Ghost Houses were set up to be nothing but a houseful of secrets and puzzles, forcing you to think outside of the box to beat the level the normal way, much less the “secret” way. Oh, and who can forget the easy way to surpass all the angry saws in the Cheese Bridge area?
…though, I sort of think that your ability to use this technique wasn’t intentional, because you couldn’t do this anymore in the Game Boy Advance version. Poo.
You didn’t have to find all the secrets to beat Bowser, though. You could do it in under fifteen minutes from start to finish if you knew the correct path. I always loved Bowser’s castle in this game, by the way. You had a choice of “rooms” to go in and each room had some sort of different “mini-castle” in it. I thought it was a really neat and original idea (I’d certainly never seen something like that before.)
I could ramble on and on about this game forever but ultimately I think the best compliment I can give it is this: when I bought my Game Boy Advance years later and I had enough money for one game, I looked around at all the shiny new GBA games…
…and bought the port of Super Mario World.
Haha, I am playing through this again going for a full clear. Play it inbetween raiding. One of my favourite games ever.
Thanks, now I have the castle theme stuck in my head.
Some of my favorite things from SMW (no particular order):
1. The animations of destroying the castles. (My favorite: The one that blows up in Mario’s face. I think it was Roy’s.)
2. Yoshi
3. Being able to store an extra power-up. I always carried a spare feather.
4. Star World/Special Zone-The Star World required a lot of creative thinking to find the “true” exit and some of the Special Zone worlds were HARD.
5. Forest of Illusion. I both loved and hated that zone. If you picked the wrong exits you ended up going in circles but sometimes you had to think outside the box.
Getting all 96 exits on this game still is a lot of fun (as can be seen on my original cartridge, which has 2 full-cleared savegames).
This is arguably the best non-RPG game for the SNES, and certainly the best Mario game I’ve ever played. My friend knew every single secret in the game by heart, and he would unlock every single one of them every time we started over.
This game had a LOT of very interesting levels, mechanics, and hijinks. Also, Yoshi. ’nuff said.
HI Pike
I’m really looking forward to this feature in teh mondays to come. I didn’t think that I was much of a gamer before WoW hooked me in 2006, but my perception was changed when I realized I had played all 6 space quests. That got me thinking that I might have been gaming for a while…
Oh good gods, I remember playing that game for hours at a time, putting off sleeping, eating, going out… everything…
damn you for making me itch to drag out that ancient console and cart… damn youuuuuuuuuuu! KHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! ::shaking fist to sky in very shatneresque gestures::
erm… um… hi! sorry about that… ::wanders off to hide::
That’s the first video game I -ever- remember playing. Galaga was also really, really good.
I have the Game Boy Advance version of this in hiding somewhere. I’ve never beaten it. I don’t think I’ve even gotten very close. I’ve never played the SNES version.
I’ve always loved the looks of the various Bowser’s Castles. In all of the Mario Kart games, for example, the Bowser’s Castle tracks are always my favorites.
You’ve also accidentally jogged a memory of my very first “real” video game. At least, the very first one that I can remember playing. If this was Super Mario World, the one I had must have been Super Mario LAND, for the original Game Boy. The big gray brick with the black and white screen.
It got to the point where I could get to the last level with minimal effort, but I was never able to beat it. Now the cartridge is long gone, and I think every now and then about the good ol’ days playing it…
@ morkuma – You always pick awesome games >.>
@ Shagrat – Star World/Special Zone was so awesome in its uniqueness. Probably one of the most memorable zones in video games, period.
@ Triz – Nice! I never got the 96. I think my brother did once…
@ Nim – I agree, easily one of the best games on the SNES, which is saying a lot because there were a LOT of good ones.
@ Vulpinor – hehe. I’m looking forward to this feature too! ^_^
@ Nyte – DO IT.
@ Cheesekings – Good choice for a first game, I think. 😉
@ Will – Oh man, I totally remember Super Mario Land. I didn’t get to play it very much because if I remember right my dad borrowed the Game Boy and games from a friend for a week or two and I only got to play it for those couple of weeks. Good times…