Super Mario World

Super Mario World is a Super Nintendo video game.

Super Mario World (SMW) was the first game Nintendo made for the Super Famicom for its Japanese release, and the Super Nintendo for its release in North America and Europe, thereby being the 16-bit console debut of Mario. The game has also been released for Game Boy Advance as Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World. It was first released on 21 November 1990 in Japan and in August 1991 in the United States.

In the US and Europe, its prequel is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, though the games are rather dissimilar. This is because the original Japanese version is a stand-alone game called Yoshi's Island, as opposed to being a prequel of Super Mario World.

Less than a month after the game's American release, DiC produced an animated TV show based on the game, although some of the game's elements and names were renamed or changed for unknown reasons.

The game was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the music was composed by Koji Kondo, and the graphics were designed by Shigefumi Hino.

Overview

SMW contains a map screen on which the player moves, similar to Super Mario Bros. 3. It features 7 worlds, 72 courses, and 96 exits (some levels have more than one exit). Secret exits open up new routes on the overworld map, often leading to secret levels.

Super Mario World featured the first appearance of Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi. Here, Yoshis appear in four different colors (green, yellow, red, and blue), each with slightly different abilities. Later on, the 'green' Yoshi would become the norm, although the other colors would reappear later on (in such games as Super Smash Bros.). There are also Baby Yoshis in the Star World levels which can be picked up by Mario. After eating three enemies, three berries, a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, or Star Man, they will become a fully grown Yoshi of the same color.

The plot of the game involves Mario and Luigi trying to save Princess Toadstool and Yoshi's friends from King Bowser and his Koopalings, who have returned despite their defeat in Super Mario Bros. 3.

The gameplay action is sidescrolling as in previous Mario games and it takes advantage of the Super Nintendo's 16-bit graphics and stereo audio. The game consists of a journey through levels in seven worlds: Yoshi's Island, Donut Plains, Vanilla Dome, Cookie Mountain (sometimes called Twin Bridges), Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Island, and the Valley of Bowser. There are also two secret worlds--Star Road and Special Zone (accessed via the Star Road)--which can be found by completing secondary goals in specific levels.

The game has often been compared to Super Mario Bros., in the sense that both games "set the bar" for all subsequent sidescrollers released on their respective systems (although, unlike SMB, which followed Mario Bros., SMW did not follow a game called 'Mario World'). Super Mario World introduced many now common concepts to action gaming, such as giving the player the ability to revisit levels to find overlooked secrets. It was one of the first games to reward the player for "getting one-hundred percent" (finding all the secret exits in the levels, many of which lead to secret levels), an idea that has since become very popular. Super Mario World is still considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever because of its simple, yet creative and addicting gameplay.

In addition, with the augmented capabilities of the SNES, Super Mario World was a step forward for the graphics in Mario games. All of the objects and characters in the game moved from the flat sprites in the NES to a more three dimensional look. For example, in Figure 1, a Goomba is shown with careful highlighting, while Mario's front is brighter than his shaded back. This gives the player the perception that a light source is coming from the top right corner of the game screen. Additionally, Super Mario World used the SNES's multiple background layers for parallax scrolling and other background effects, as well as occasional sprite scaling and rotation effects.

A copy of Super Mario World came with each Super Nintendo upon the system's release in Europe and America. Although this package deal was later dropped, it would be revived in similar form with the inclusion of Super Mario 64 with each N64 console sold (at least at first). Due to this promotion, Super Mario World still holds a record as one of the world's best-selling video games.

The game was packaged in a special version of Super Mario All-Stars called Super Mario All-Stars/Super Mario World, which was released in 1994.