Super Mario World (Nintendo Switch / SNES) Review

 When I first played Super Mario World in 1991, the series' 16-bit debut wasn't as immediately mind-blowing as the legendary NES trilogy. But as the years pass, I find myself feeling cozier with each return visit to Dinosaur Land. Expanding beyond his established repertoire of running, jumping and fireball flinging, Mario is a far more versatile character, capable of mastering a more intricate, manipulatable world. With his robust move set, minutes in Mario is climbing fences with Koopa Troopas, flipping to the other side and punching them into the bubbling lava. The game immediately hints at its more open-ended, exploratory nature by presenting you with the choice of two beginning stages. World even introduced a certain dinosaur who hatched his own successful series on the Super Nintendo.

On top of Mario's overall feel being perfected, the game offers a slightly more cerebral experience with most stages having 2 exits and ghost houses being puzzle based. Much larger, more vertically oriented, and graced with a mid-way save point, dozens of stages will linger in your memory, enticing you to revisit the island. The Koopa Kids mix up their tactics, and the rare Reznor mini-bosses feel far more special than the non-stop beatdowns by Boom Boom. Unlike the straightforward NES trilogy, World is meant to be explored at a leisurely pace, as if you're part of the Mario crew's vacation before it was sabotaged by Bowser. While inching through the island's toughest stages or charting outer space, you can always fall back on the slightly inefficient save system, or revisit completed levels to farm lives and power-ups. A couple, relatively small complaints include the reduced transformations and a few absurd difficulty spikes only a super player may overcome.

Presenting colorful, but modest graphics, I can distinctly remember first viewing the game and being underwhelmed that this was all a whole new Nintendo system had to offer. But what it lacks in extravagance, it more than makes up for in charm, such as the quirky touch of the Koopa Troopas exiting their shells and a world map so enticing and comfortable, you'll wish you could personally visit and swim amongst the dolphins. 

Catchy and memorable on the NES, the SNES is where Koji Kondo's music reached the level of genius. From the heart-pounding, anxious ragtime of the Athletic theme, nasty hip-hop beat found within the Vanilla Dome, hypnotic underwater waltz, to the incredibly intricate castle symphony, this is arguably still the best Mario has sounded.

Super Mario Bros 3 may still be more thrilling and addictive, but Super Mario World is where the series met it's peak state of elegance and wu-wei. Feeling so effortlessly competent, it could thus radically experiment and bloom in to far more than what was previously possible. Like Mario pursuing a fleeing Yoshi upon being hit, Nintendo themselves have been 'chasing the dragon' ever since. Despite Nintendo's vast resources, experience, efforts and ideas, none of their 2D sequels could quite recapture the carefree magic of Super Mario World.