Retronomicon 07.17.09: Super Mario World
Posted by Lee Price on 07.17.2009
In the inaugural Retronomicon new 411 writer Lee Price takes a trip into his childhood with one of the best games ever released, Super Mario World.
Hey all, I'm Lee and I have a shiny brand spanking new column for you dealing with old stuff. The Retronomicon is here to give you the ins and outs of the classic games of yesteryear, as well as perhaps shedding a bit of light on some forgotten or never even known classics that I reckon are worth a look. However as this is the first column I figure start with a biggie and it doesn't get much bigger than Super Mario World.
The Background
The year was 1991. The USA and its allies were launching Operation Desert Storm, assumedly to provide the inspiration for another classic game in Desert Strike. Mike Tyson was arrested and charged with rape, further completing his fall from his Punch-Out peak. And a relatively upstart company (at least in the console market) called SEGA had been making Nintendo edgy as sales of first the Master System and later the Megadrive (Genesis to all you guys across the pond) had been slowly but surely increasing in both Europe and the US. Nintendo still had its Japanese stronghold, but a slew of quality and arguably cooler titles, such as Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and of course Sonic The Hedgehog, were beginning to make waves that were making the big boys at Nintendo HQ just a little nervous.
Sonic in particular had taken the Western world by storm, with his attitude and coolness appealing to kids and young teens much more than the mascots Nintendo relied on. On top of this the little blue critter was helping SEGA shift a ton of its new 16-Bit console all while making Nintendo and its aging NES all seem a little redundant. Urgent action was required. Nintendo had developed the SNES, many would argue in response to the emergence of the Megadrive as Nintendo had seemed happy to rest on its laurels for a while with the massive sales of the NES both at home and abroad. But a new console wasn't enough. A killer app was needed. Enter Shigeru Miyamoto and an old fan favourite.
The Game
Super Mario World was a revelation in the platforming genre. Where Sonic had gone for unparalleled speed the year before, Mario had taken the opposite tack and increased the quality and complexity of its level design, as well as introducing a new character into the Mario world in Yoshi, who would become popular enough to star in his own top quality game a few years later, as well as becoming a pretty much ever present in every Nintendo spin-off game that followed.
The story, as always, remains pretty much the same. Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and this time Mario must traverse the perilous Dinosaur Land to rescue his beloved princess. As usual the game doesn't bother to explain just why he does this for the ungrateful bitch but then again this is a Mario game. Story was not a factor, especially as this was a platformer from the period where story just simply wasn't expressed beyond giving the player a reason to make the constant left-to-right journeys to reach the end.
Graphically the game is near-faultless. It doesn't try to do anything too complex or revolutionary, but its distinct art style, with cold and beautiful colours alongside relatively basic shapes and shading, suits the game perfectly and is just what is required. The backgrounds remain vivid yet uncluttered, something the Sonic games, in particular Sonic 3, would fall foul of in later years. The character sprites are well modeled too, again in keeping with the basic but well-crafted art style that remains consistent throughout the game. More graphically complex titles would come along later, but as a showcase for what the SNES was capable of, the in-game graphics matched up to anything the Megadrive had to offer. And they were just the beginning.
Not only did Super Mario World offer graphics as good as anything that had come before, the technical superiority of the SNES was further showcased in a number of ways. The Mode 7 rendering system within the console allowed for further expansion of the 2D universe that Mario inhabited. This meant that background layers could be scaled to easily create a sense of depth and visual perspective that the Megadrive simply could not compete with at that time. On time of this it also allowed for sprites to be rotated, which added further possibilities to the level design, and was consequently showcased numerous times throughout the game. On both a graphical and technical level, Super Mario World had scored points over its rivals at SEGA, but the meat of the game lay in the playing.
While the core gameplay had remained virtually unchanged since Super Mario Bros 3, Mario himself had developed a few nifty new moves since his last games, chief amongst them being the spin jump. This allowed for the player to reach a number of difficult to access areas within the levels, as well as allowing for full exploration of what were extremely open levels for the time. Most levels had multiple paths through, and many even had secret exits that could warp the player further into the game, or send them to a secret area such as the Star Road or Special Zone.
Additionally, the implementation of Mario's new sidekick Yoshi allowed for further depth to be added to the gameplay as Yoshi created a whole new dynamic to the game. They came in four colours and each had a unique ability, for example Red Yoshi could throw fireballs, which provided the player with even more pathways through the game as well as providing an occasionally welcome change from the regular run and jump gameplay that Mario was already so well-known for. After all who doesn't want to ride a dinosaur that eats enemies, could spit fire or even fly? Exactly.
This level of depth had simply never been offered on a console platformer before, and the impact of the games design can be seen in the later 16-Bit Sonic titles, which strayed away from the high-speed formula that had made it popular and began implementing a more power-up heavy and multi-structured approach to its level design. This couple with the use of a World Map, similarly to Super Mario Bros 3, meant that the player could choose for themselves just how much of the game they wanted to play to reach completion.
The music complements the game perfectly. Most of the music is a variation on the same song, but the song fits the game perfectly and the adjustments made, such as making the tune slower and adding echo in the caverns based levels or speeding up the tempo for the more exhilarating air-based levels, do exactly what intended and also demonstrate the superiority of the SNES's sound chip in comparison to the paltry Megadrive offering. The various other tunes on offer all fit the mood perfectly, whether it's the Title Screen theme, or the small snippets or old Mario tunes in some of the other levels, they all create a whimsical feel that goes together with the game like sausages to mash.
Overall Super Mario World was as close to perfection as a 16-Bit platformer could hope to get. And Nintendo achieved this on their first time out. There is almost nothing that a gamer could dislike about this game beyond it not fitting their personal tastes, as the execution of every aspect is pretty much flawless.
The Aftermath
With the release of Super Mario World, Nintendo cemented its dominance of the 16-Bit console market. Although SEGA were always biting at their heels, Nintendo remained on top for the entire period, only faltering when Sony entered the fray in a bizarre twist after Nintendo, in a move which would come back to bite them in the arse, shunned them and their CD based technology in favour of licensing to Phillips and continuing with cartridges for the N64.
The game itself went on to reach legendary status. Despite Miyamoto's claims that he was unhappy with the game and felt that it had been rushed, it achieved critical acclaim across the board and regular appears on "Greatest Games Ever" lists. On top of this it is also the top seller for the SNES, with sales in excess of 20 million. Not bad for an overweight and uncool plumber.
The game also set the standard for the waves of platformers that followed in the 16-Bit era, and remained the standard bearer throughout, with few challengers to the throne and a slew of imitators making up the rest of the competing pack.
The Final Word
There isn't much else to say about Super Mario World, it's a gem of a game that simply must be experienced by any retro head. Hell, every gamer should play this title at least once to understand the monumental impact it had on platformers at the time. Hunt it down on the SNES, either on its own or in the amazing Super Mario All-Stars collection, or alternatively try picking up the GBA re-release. Just make sure you play this game at least once.
Spreading the Word
Well that's that for my first column, hope everybody liked it. I'll be back next week packing the old rose-tinted specs for a nice hard hit of nostalgia.
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