Has Super Mario World aged well?
Now that it is released on the Wii, some people might wonder if the game has aged well enough. The answer is simply a yes.
Graphics: The graphics in the game look really good. Every level is different, and there are a lot of different monsters:
9/10
Gameplay: The gameplay in Super Mario World is like in every new Mario game. Similar to others but with new additions that enhace the experience. This game was the one who introduced Yoshi, a dinosaur that helps Mario in his travels to save Princess Peach. Mario can ride on Yoshi, and Yoshi can eat almost anything, from monsters, apples, mushrooms, etc. Depending on what Yoshi eats, is the result you'll get. For example, when he eats a blue shell, he can fly, and when he eats a red shell, he can shoot three fireballs.
Yoshi can be used in almost every level, excepting Ghost Houses and Castles, which are sort of the "boss" levels.
While Ghost Houses are all about finding an exit before you die or time runs out, Castles have a Boss at the end. This were interesting boss battles, but at times, just too easy.
There are a total of 96 levels in the game, but some are hidden, and you have to unlock them. Fortunately, it isn't that hard to unlock all levels, since you can see which levels have secret exits in the map. It still is hard though, because even when you know what level has a secret exit, you'll have to find it yourself.
As if the variety and replay value was little, there also is a Multiplayer mode. It's like in previous Mario games, where each player wait for the other player to finish, and one controls Mario and the other one controls Luigi. The multiplayer starts off really fun, but it later gets a little annoying, since you have to wait for player 2 to finish his/her level.
Mario and Luigi can also use some powerups in the game, liek the fire flower or the flying one, which were already known. That adds a lot to the gameplay.
The gamecube controller does feel a little weird at first, but you get used to it really fast. I didn't really use the classic controller, so I can't say about that one.
Something that was a little annoying though, was the save system. The only way to save your game is to beat a castle or a ghost house, so I found myself going back to the first levels to get lives every once in a while. However, something good is that you can go to the wii menu anytime, even in the middle of a level.
10/10
Sound: The sound in the game is simply amazing in my opinion. The castle music is one of my favorite themes of all time, and songs never get really annoying.
9/10
Story: The game's story is what you'd expect. Bowser's kidnapped Peach. However, this time he's also kidnapped Yoshi's friends (which are just different colored Yoshis).
6/10
Concept: The game's concept is really good. It takes eveything from previous Mario games, and transforms it into 16-bit awesomeness.
8/10
Replay Value: There are so many levels, that at times, I didn't even know which one to go. There are a lot of secrets to find, so this game will last a lot more than you expect:
10/10
Difficulty: To be honest, for the most part, this game isn't that hard. You'll sometimes get stuck at levels, but it's hard to get stuck for more than an hour in one level.
However, despite it not being so difficult, it is somehow difficult to find the secrets, so that really adds to the difficulty.
7/10
Fun: I had a lot of fun with this game at first. Then I started having some boring moments when I didn't know what levels to play, but they were few. However, I didn't really feel too compelled to beat all levels after my game erased, since I beat the game and it got stuck on the "The End" screen. It didn't erase THE WHOLE game, but it did erase some levels.
Despite everything, I really think this game is really fun and worth a try:
9/10
Conclusion: Super Mario World has aged really well from the 16-bit era. It's not just one of the best VC games, but also one of the best wii games at the time, and for the prize of 800 wii points, you just can't miss it.