The groundbreaking game still stands up after almost 20 years.
Story: It's a little known fact how similar the story is to Sonic 3. In Super Mario Bros. 3 Mario knocked out Bowser's airship, which somehow he got on, and it fell into the ocean near Yoshi's Island. Upon arriving he thinks "What a perfect place for a fortress" and tricks the local dinosaurs into becoming his minions while he builds his new super-fortress. Mario, not knowing this, took Princess (Peach) Toadstool there on vacation only to have her get captured by Bowser and taken to his secret lair. Mario, and Luigi who just happens to show up, now has to save her.
Characters: Mario's the hero again, and Luigi can be played as if you used player 2. New to this game is the ability to trade lives between players, so Luigi fans could have Mario give all but one of his lives to his little brother, then kill him off to play as the little green man, and Mario fans could do the same to give Mario a headstart (You could give the lives back to get him up again). Toadstool's the damsel in distress, captured by Bowser the Koopa King and his seven kids, who return as the bosses of the fortress. New to the series is Yoshi, whom Mario can ride around levels, as well as performing various tricks like jumping on spiky enemies or getting high jumps. Goombas are mostly gone, hidden within the fourth world. In their place are Rexes, Dino Rhinos, and Dino Torches to make Mario's life miserable. Kamek also makes his first appearance as Magikoopa who haunts a few of the castles. Boom Boom is also dead, but the fortresses remain, now under the control of Reznor.
Gameplay: Mario can run, jump, and stomp, just like usual. As simple as it is, it's enough to beat the entire game if you aren't afraid of one-hit death. The usual Mario power-ups are here too, from Super Mushrooms to give you a height boost to Fire Flowers that let you hurl balls of flame, to the new Cape that lets you jump extremely high and float back to the ground. Mario can now carry a spare item in the box above his head, replacing the item menu on the map of Super Mario Bros. 3. Minor features make the game better then ever, from the ability to toss items upward, to an improved method of swimming, to Mario actually being a little shorter and fatter then Luigi. It's still good old Mario brother style though, as you'll find the first (And second) tme you jump on that annoying Rex or beat Bowser in his hidden fortress.
Difficulty: Not too hard. It's not a cakewalk, you will likely die a few times on your way to the finish, and the bonus worlds will zap your lives faster then anything, but it doesn't measure up in difficulty to the NES games, and the save feature insures you'll never have to restart the game. You still can though.
Unlockables: None really, you gain new worlds as you go along and hidden lives and rooms are everywhere, but the only bonus for beating every level is a star by your save slot. Collecting all the Dragon Coins gets you nothing more then a ton of lives, which are rather easy to gain as it is.
Technical Details: The graphics are great, multiple layers are found in the foreground and background and extra details have been added to characters to make them more unique, Luigi's no longer Mario's green twin anymore. The music is great too, upbeat and (Dare I say it?) funky beats. Once again there's extra detail attention with certain power-ups, with Yoshi adding a drum beat to any music and the balloon power-up slowing it down. The sound effects are good, but there's no voice acting, not that it's needed.
Multiplayer: As stated before, two players can journey through the game together. They share the same map, any level one unlocks can be played by the other, but they can't journey through the same level or interact with each other beyond sharing extra lives.
Replay Value: If you only want to beat the game it'll last a few hours (Unless you cheat and use Star Road, then it'll take shorter). Beating every level increases the length by double, but even that shouldn't take more then a few hours. After that all that's left is replaying the levels, which is exceedingly fun, especially when you explore again and try to find all the secrets. Fortresses cannot be replayed normally, but even that has a code built into the game by the designers so you can rebeat the Koopa Kids and pesky Reznors, while exploring the fortresses to learn their secrets. All in all you'll enjoy coming back to the game for hours.
Final score breakdown:
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sounds and Music: 10/10
Fun: 10/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Pros
You can now play as Yoshi
Over 70 levels to find and beat
Save feature allows you to quit and come back at any time
Power-ups are varied and fun
Gameplay never gets old
Cons
Multiplayer doesn't promote interactivity
Lives are too easy to come by
Overall: 9.8/10 There likely won't ever be a perfect game, I've rated many games in the high 9s but none are truly worth of a perfect. But Super Mario World comes the closest of any game yet.