SMW is not great if you compare it to SMB3... Also, SMB2 stuff

[AirVillain | 489]

So I had some time a few weeks back and decided one thing I wanted to accomplish was to complete Super Mario World (done it before but not recently). 

I've always enjoyed it and thought of it as a good game... but after starting to play all I could think was "This game is not as good as Super Mario Bros. 3."

To be fair to SMW, as it's a decent game, it should NEVER be compared to SMB3, as it will lose every time as it's not nearly as good. On it's own, and compared to 90% of the SNES library, it's a decent/good game.... but for SMW fans, it should just never be compared to SMB3.

Forgive me, as I didn't write a list down of things as I was playing, but off the top here are some reasons why SMW < SMB3 :

*The music isn't nearly as good. Right off the jump, it doesn't hit nearly as good as the SMB3. There are some good tunes in there, but the soundtrack in SMW just seems a bit repetitive. I also found the change in music kind of annoying when you jump on Yoshi. That music, for extended periods of time, isn't good. 

*The power-ups/costumes are not nearly as fun/varied as SMB3. You get a cape. That's it.

A cape is the only upgrade you get beyond the Mushroom and Fire Flowers from SMB. That's bullshit. SMB3 HAS A FUCKIN' TANOOKI SUIT!!! You can fly around and turn into a god damned statue. Not to mention Frog Suit & Hammer Bros. 

The best thing they could have ever done for SMW would have been to bring back the Tanooki Suit. 

With the cape/flower as the main weapons, it just gets boring. Okay.... so you could argue there's Yoshi. But... he doesn't do anything super amazing/fun.

*The save feature sucks shit. Everyone always claims this as a reason why SMW > SMB3.... well if it doesn't keep track of how many lives I have, what good is that??? Okay so you keep all the levels that you beat, but now you're at later stages in the game and you only have a few lives. It's horse shit. Or when you have to do some of the tricky star stages or Super Star area.... it's annoying you can't keep all the lives you've built up and earned. A few lives here and there in the Star section isn't a big deal when you've earned 50, but when you only start with 5, the deaths add up quickly. 

The better option in both cases of SMB3 and SMW is to leave the system on and play through it in a few sit downs, or an afternoon/evening. Thus, the save feature on SMW is useless. 

 

So yeah... SMW gets a lot of love, deservedly so in the overall sense of NES/SNES games, but it's just not nearly as good as SMB3. 

As games go for NES/SNES SMW is definitely one of the better games.... but with the vast majority of games being awful compare it to SMB3 and it's shit.  

 

[OptOut | 8,884]

Wait, is this a hot-take?

It's a longstanding debate as to which game is superior, there are pros and cons on both sides.

Personally, I like Mario 3 more, and it's possible that consensus is stronger that Mario 3 IS the better game. But Mario World ain't no slouch, I think most people who enjoy one will enjoy the other.

 

Put a poll in here immediately, before this thread gets out of hand!

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I used to prefer Mario 3 as well, but in more recent years I've fallen back in love with Mario World.

I think the music in World is way better personally. I always find myself singing along in World, where in Mario 3 it's just kind of background noise.

Mario World has Yoshi as his absolute best, and it's really mind blowing that Yoshi has never been done as well as he was in this game. I enjoy Yoshi's Island style games, but Yoshi had so many elements at play in World that it's no wonder he was such a breakout character. I feel like he hasn't been treated with as much love and care ever since, so World still feels special to play if you love Yoshi.

Star Road is obviously great fun, as well as the Special World. Some of those stages are pretty nasty, but that's what makes them interesting and fun.

Mario World also has something that very few Mario games have, which is the introduction of kicking shells upwards. It doesn't seem like a big deal when talking about it, but shells became a whole other beast in World just because of this one thing.

I enjoy the multiple exits, making a more open world map than the individual ones in Mario 3. A lot of the fun in Mario World is just finding ways to access all of the levels.

I think the enemy variety in World is on par with Mario 3, and some really cool and unique enemies are still seldom seen elsewhere. Some of them came back in Super Princess Peach, but outside of that Mario World's enemy selection still makes it interesting to play compared to other Mario games.

They're both great games to be honest, but they are quite different. I think Mario 3 had the benefit of being late in the NES life cycle, where Mario World had the misfortune of having to be pushed out the door quickly to compete with the Genesis. Yoshi's Island is a showcase of what a Mario game with more time to be worked on could be like on the SNES.

(Though I do understand the end product is all that really matters.)

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

SMB3 is the goat of all video games

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

Leaf> cape

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

Yoshi sucks

[OptOut | 8,884]

Also, gotta call put a couple things in your criticism here, just to be fair

27 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

Not to mention Frog Suit & Hammer Bros. 

The best thing they could have ever done for SMW would have been to bring back the Tanooki Suit. 

Those suits are gimmicks, they suck balls, apart from maybe the frog suit on like a handful of levels. You only get em once or twice, they don't define the SMB3 experience.

29 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

That music, for extended periods of time, isn't good. 

I also prefer the Mario 3 music, but this is just wrong, there's just a different vibe. SMW music is way more atmospheric, whereas Mario 3 stuff is more classic melodic stuff.

31 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

Okay.... so you could argue there's Yoshi. But... he doesn't do anything super amazing/fun.

Hardcore bad take right here. Blue Yoshi FTW.

32 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

Okay so you keep all the levels that you beat, but now you're at later stages in the game and you only have a few lives. It's horse shit.

Dude, one of the main criticisms of SMW compared to SMB3 is that it's WAY easier. Now you want endless lives too? The game is easy enough! The worst thing about the save system is that you can only save after like a ghost house, a castle or a switch palace, other than that the save system is dope.

 

Again, not to pick on you too much, I do agree that Mario 3 is better. But let's be fair to Mario World here, the game is fantastic.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,526]

Hot take: the Tanooki suit is not fun 

[OptOut | 8,884]

2 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Hot take: the Tanooki suit is not fun 

The best thing about the Tanooki suit is waiting 30 seconds for an enemy to walk past you when you are a statue, then immediately lose the suit to the next guy in line.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,526]

I guess my take was lukewarm since you beat me to it 

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

20 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Hot take: the Tanooki suit is not fun 

It’s fun the first time each time. But then it’s like “big gulps huh?…..welp, see ya later”.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

@OptOut not a hardcore bad take.

i don’t care for yoshi at all. When I play smw I purposely avoid him. 
the sprite is to big. I never been a fan of big sprites for the playable character. Bosses and enemies is fine but I don’t want to lug around some huge sprite it makes the control feel sluggish (placebo? Possibly.) 

plus he just a shitty idea imo. Woo who look at me riding a dinosaur….ya. Lame.

[Lynda Monica | 350]

8 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

@OptOut not a hardcore bad take.

i don’t care for yoshi at all. When I play smw I purposely avoid him. 
the sprite is to big. I never been a fan of big sprites for the playable character. Bosses and enemies is fine but I don’t want to lug around some huge sprite it makes the control feel sluggish (placebo? Possibly.) 

plus he just a shitty idea imo. Woo who look at me riding a dinosaur….ya. Lame.

Uhh, he's a gween donkey, obviously.

I disagree, but I do understand what you're getting at. Yoshi can be a hindrance at times, but they did have the good sense to not allow him in the more enclosed ghost houses and castles. He's a large object in underground sections, I'll admit.

But he's just so gosh darn cute.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[OptOut | 8,884]

2 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

@OptOut not a hardcore bad take.

i don’t care for yoshi at all. When I play smw I purposely avoid him. 
the sprite is to big. I never been a fan of big sprites for the playable character. Bosses and enemies is fine but I don’t want to lug around some huge sprite it makes the control feel sluggish (placebo? Possibly.) 

plus he just a shitty idea imo. Woo who look at me riding a dinosaur….ya. Lame.

Man, issues much? Who DOESN'T want to ride on a badass dinosaur and devour your enemies, stomp em underfoot, and lay eggs containing fabulous prizes?

And then, when all hope is lost, leap heroically from your steed to safety, abandoning them to a grisly fate so you can bang some princess? Epic.

Not to mention, flying, I mean. FLYING?! I mean the fire one is whatever and the sand dude, okay, but the blue one! Blue Yoshi... What were we talking about again? BABIES! The BABY YOSHI! You can use em like a little handheld suckem thingy, glup up all the baddies!!!

 

So wrong dude, SO damn wrong, man! Glad we had this talk. 

[OptOut | 8,884]

2 minutes ago, Lynda Monica said:

Uhh, he's a gween donkey, obviously.

I disagree, but I do understand what you're getting at. Yoshi can be a hindrance at times, but they did have the good sense to not allow him in the more enclosed ghost houses and castles. He's a large object in underground sections, I'll admit.

But he's just so gosh darn cute.

Don't give an inch. Stand your ground, Yoshi rocks. 

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

2 minutes ago, OptOut said:

 

And then, when all hope is lost, leap heroically from your steed to safety, abandoning them to a grisly fate

 

So wrong dude, SO damn wrong, man! Glad we had this talk. 

Do me a favor. Go play smw, get yoshi. Run and jump then change direction in mid air. Ugliest animation I’ve ever seen in a video game. It’s horrifically stiff and unnatural looking. End of discussion

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

3 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Don't give an inch. Stand your ground, Yoshi rocks. 

No, no. Lynda obviously isn’t a blind worshiper such as yourself.

[OptOut | 8,884]

1 minute ago, docile tapeworm said:

Do me a favor. Go play smw, get yoshi. Run and jump then change direction in mid air. Ugliest animation I’ve ever seen in a video game. It’s horrifically stiff and unnatural looking. End of discussion

I got something horrifically stiff and unnatural looking for you right here... 

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

4 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I got something horrifically stiff and unnatural looking for you right here... 

 Why is it so crooked?

Edited June 25, 2022 by docile tapeworm

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

Nah, I prefer Super Mario World.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

I prefer 3 but World is pretty dope.  Matter of fact, it's the last great mainline Mario game.  Mario platformers haven't been relevant since.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

3 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Matter of fact, it's the last great mainline Mario game.

Now there's a hot take, haha

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

44 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Man, issues much? Who DOESN'T want to ride on a badass dinosaur and devour your enemies, stomp em underfoot, and lay eggs containing fabulous prizes?

Yoshi is fun, my only issue is that he makes the game way too easy because he's an extra hit you can take, and if you re-catch him after he runs away, depending on where you are, you can take endless hits.  So if you're caped and on Yoshi, it takes like three+ hits to die, and that's not going to happen on a single level, like ever.

The only challenge of SMW is the one-hit-kills bottomless pits, because without those, the standard game would be a walk-over.  In fact, the last dozen or so times I've played the game, I've just warped to Star World ASAP and then played through Star Road, since those optional levels are the only courses that really give you a good go in the whole game.  Plus Star World has the colored Yoshi's that have interesting abilities, and they are fun to tinker with too.

TLDR: While SMW is an excellent game, I would agree that SMB3 is superior.  In fact, if SMB3 had come with a battery, I'd go so far as too say that it might have been perfect.  Plus it's on NES, so it wins by default...

Edited June 25, 2022 by Dr. Morbis

[Tulpa | 3,494]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

In fact, if SMB3 had come with a battery, I'd go so far as too say that it might have been perfect.

Careful, you'll get the SMB3 apologists who insist that the lack of battery is "part of the experience" and not a flaw in their favorite game.

[The Count | 527]

You make some valid points, but you must admit the multiple level exits, Star World, and new enemies paired with better graphics make a strong argument. I remember seeing it the first time as was wowed by the new technology compared to, in my mind, the archaic NES.