Video games - Super Mario World

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	Video games - Super Mario World

Super Mario World (SMW) (Japanese: スーパーマリオワールド/Suupaa Mario Waarudo/Super Mario Brothers 4: Super Mario World) was the first launch game for the Nintendo Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System game consoles. It was first released on 21 November 1990 in Japan and in August 1991 in the United States.

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

Game description

Mission

Once again, Princess Toadstool has been kidnapped by King Bowser and his Koopalings. Mario and Luigi must set out to rescue her. The character gallery from earlier Mario games is notably expanded with the addition of Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi, as well as many minor characters.

Gameplay

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, Twin Bridges Area, Forest of Illusion, Chocolate Island, and the Valley of Bowser. There are also two secret worlds - Star World and Special World (accessed via the Star World) - which can be found by completing secondary goals in specific levels.

SMW contains a map screen on which the player moves, expanding this concept which was introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3
. It features 72 courses laid out across the seven worlds, 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.

The Yoshis appear in four different colors (green, yellow, red, and blue), each with slightly different abilities. There are also Baby Yoshis in the Star World levels which can be picked up by Mario. After eating five enemies, three berries, a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Starman, or Cape Feather, they will become a fully grown Yoshi of the same color.

Impact

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. 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 addictive 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. Though this package deal was later dropped, it helped Super Mario World on its path to becoming one of the best-selling video games of all time internationally.

Related products

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.

It has also been released for Game Boy Advance as Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, the remake being the best-selling Game Boy Advance game of all time so far (if discounting the combined sales of Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire).

There is also a NES conversion by an unknown developer, created in 1995. It, while similar to the SNES version in some aspects, is very incomplete in comparison.

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.

Star Road and Special World

The secret exits in some levels lead to one of five portals to Star Road, an otherwise secret realm. Each portal allows the player to complete one level in the Star Road. The levels here all have a baby Yoshi of a particular color, which must be fed several enemies or coins for Mario to be able to ride. Feeding a colored Yoshi a star results in them growing up immediately.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Super Mario World ]

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