Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi return in this 16-bit classic now available on your GBA.
If there’s one thing the Game Boy Advance is good at, it’s delivering accurate ports of Super Nintendo games. Nintendo continues this tradition by bringing Super Mario World to the handheld with flying colors. All 96 levels have managed to make it into this tiny cartridge, not only making it the largest action-platform games on the system, but also one of the best.
Super Mario World opens up with a short cinematic showing Luigi and Mario flying about some new lands with their stylish yellow capes. While on their excursion, Princess Peach is kidnapped by Bowser, thus leaving it up to the brothers to travel great distances to rescue her. Along the way they come in contact with new enemies as well as new allies, most notably Yoshi. This green dinosaur allows Mario to ride atop its back, thus allowing the player to suck in the enemies with its long tongue and spit them back out to dish out some damage. As you progress through the game you’ll come across other colored Yoshis that will possess different powers to aid you in your quest. Many consider Super Mario World the best game in the Mario series due to its sheer size, many secrets, and awesome level design. There is definitely a lot to see and do in this game and it will keep even the most skilled players busy for quite some time.
For those of us that grew up with the Super Nintendo, the real question is whether or not it’s worth the $30 to play the same game we did 11 years ago. The answer will vary depending on how much you liked the original game. The GBA version is basically a carbon copy of the SNES game. Unlike Mario Advance, which saw some graphical upgrades over the original NES Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario World doesn’t sport better graphics. In fact, the music even takes a bit of a hit on the GBA due to the sound chip not performing up to par with the Super Nintendo’s, which causes some of the compositions to sound “tinny” and not as rich as the console version. There are some additions to the game to distinguish it, such as in-game voice clips and the inclusion of the original Mario Bros. game (the same version seen in Mario Advance). Luckily, the voice clips aren’t nearly as annoying or as frequent as those heard in Mario Advance and actually add to the experience. For example, Mario will shout out “Lucky!” when you nab a 1-Up, which never seems to get old. If you loved Super Mario World on the SNES, then this game is a shoe-in for a spot in your Game Boy Advance library.
I already touched on the graphics, basically saying they’re identical to the Super NES version. This isn’t a bad thing though, since the game uses many of the Mode-7 special effects and transparencies to full effect. Indeed, the Ghost Houses and boss encounters offer up some slick visuals that don’t seem the least bit dated despite the new technology now available in today’s systems. One thing that must be mentioned is the brightness of this game. Nintendo has really learned how to program its GBA games so they appear crisp and bright. Since we all know how hard it can be to have perfect lighting while playing the GBA, it’s refreshing to play a game that looks decent even under low light conditions.
Super Mario World does offer up some new gameplay as well. Before you enter any level you can choose to control Luigi or Mario. Luigi can jump higher and farther than Mario, but he is also more difficult to control. In addition, when he nabs a fireflower his fireballs will bounce around a bit more. While this is an intriguing addition to the game, it really doesn’t add a lot to the way it’s played. I’ve talked with numerous people who own the game and no one enjoys playing as Luigi because the controls are too imprecise. At least in Mario Advance there were some levels where you needed to use Luigi. This isn’t the case here and it seems like he’s an afterthought thrown in at the last moment.
When all is said and done, what you get in Super Mario World is a good port of the SNES game. Luckily this is one of the best action-platform games ever released. Now you can take it anywhere and play it anytime you like. This game still manages to pack in the fun and is simply a joy to play. I’m looking forward to Mario Advance 3, which will be a port of Super Mario Bros. 3, my favorite Mario game of all time. In the meantime this game delivers the goods, especially to those who have never before played Mario World before.
