Super Mario World (video game)



"It's a bit more exciting! A bit more challenging! A bit more perfect! A bit more colorful! A bit more realistic! A bit more levels! A bit more secrets! A bit more enemies! A bit more friends! A bit more sound! A bit hotter! A bit cooler! A bit weirder! A bit more revolutionary! A bit more Mario! A bit more of what you want! It's 16-Bit, and it's yours only if you get Super Nintendo! Now you're playing with power-SUPER power!"

- Super Mario World Commercial

Super Mario World is a 1991 video game produced by Nintendo as a launch title for their sixteen-bit console, the Super Nintendo. It features their iconic mascot Mario taking a vacation alongside his brother Luigi and Princess Peach (then still referred to in America as Princess Toadstool) to the faraway Dinosaur Land. There, as is prone to happen, Princess Peach is captured by Bowser and kept in his castle, this time located in the deep underground. Of course, Mario must journey through the entire continent to get to her, beating down Bowser's loyal lackies/children, the seven Koopalings, along the way.

This game is most notable for having introduced the world to Yoshi, Mario's now-famous dinosaur friend and his ability to eat the baddies. The game was followed-up in 1995 with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, a prequel starring Yoshi as the player character and featuring Mario as an infant. The game is fondly remembered as one of the biggest highlights of the Super Mario Bros. series, alongside the classic Super Mario Bros. 3. It also happens to be Shigeru Miyamoto's favorite Mario game.

It is also known for dueling with the then-new Sonic the Hedgehog series, erupting in one of the biggest Fandom Rivalries of all time.

The game was later remade for the Game Boy Advance as Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2.

Years after its initial release, Super Mario World has a booming ROM Hack scene, thanks in no small part to the likes of Kaizo Mario World. A non-exhaustive list of such games can be found in the Game Mod Index in general, and in the category for SMW hacks specifically.


 * 1-Up: Just like the original Super Mario games, a green mushroom gives you a 1-Up. There are also moons that give you a 3-Up; between the generous number of 1-Up mushrooms and some instances of Infinite 1-Ups (not to mention the bonus game, which can give you up to eight 1-Ups), it is very easy to Cap at 99 lives (or 999 on GBA) before you're even halfway through the game.
 * And the Adventure Continues...: The GBA version starts with an intro that ends with a Last-Note Nightmare, as seen here; however, if you beat the game, the result makes up for it.
 * Ash Face: Happens to Mario when he destroys Castle 5.
 * Attract Mode: Featuring Mario running through the "Groovy" course.
 * Autobots Rock Out: Especially noticeable in its Itadaki Street DS incarnation.
 * Balloon Belly: Literally with the P Balloon power-up.
 * Berserk Button: Knocking the flower off Wiggler's head makes him turn red and more actively chase Mario.
 * Big Bad: Bowser.
 * Big Boo's Haunt: Starting with Donut Plains, there's at least one ghost house per stage.
 * Except the Twin Bridges area.
 * Big Eater: Yoshi.
 * Blackout Basement: The last area of Bowser's castle before the boss (unusually, it's controlled by the player).
 * Brutal Bonus Level: The Special World.
 * Tubular.
 * Catching Some Zs: Rip Van Fish likes sleeping that way.
 * Cat Smile: The Monty Moles have this.
 * Chain-Reaction Destruction: One of the castles goes down with that spectacle subtrope.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Early in the game, you are taught how to throw objects upwards. For most of the game, except to hit a few out-of-reach item blocks, this ability goes largely unused. However, the ability is necessary in order to defeat Bowser.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Toad is, for some never-explained reason, not in this game at all, even though he resurfaces in every major Mario game hereafter. This resulted in him being dropped in the Animated Adaptation as well.
 * Color-Coded Multiplayer: The last of the series to make Mario and Luigi look identical save for the Palette Swap.
 * The Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World version gave Luigi a unique sprite.
 * Continuity Nod: The Sunken Ghost Ship level is based on the flying ships present in Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Damsel in Distress: Princess Peach, and the Yoshis.
 * Dem Bones: The Dry Bones, Boney Beetles and Bonefish.
 * Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Both Yoshi and the Reznors (triceratops) breathe fire.
 * Rex also resembles a Celtic dragon, and not a Tyrannosaurus Rex at all.
 * Down the Drain
 * The Dragon: Larry Koopa.
 * Funny because he's the lowest ranking Koopaling in Super Mario Bros 3. Ludwig, the previous second-in-command, is now the middle ranking Koopaling.
 * Edible Theme Naming: Donut Plains, Soda Lake, Chocolate Island, Vanilla Dome, etc.
 * Egg McGuffin: Yoshi.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Yoshi, Rex, Dino-Rhino and Dino-Torch.
 * This may have been the thinking of the game's creators. The game takes place in "Dinosaur World".
 * Heck, even the islands are in the shape of dinosaurs!
 * Extreme Omnivore: Yoshi. He can eat a key if you let him.
 * Game Mod: An entire website is devoted to it.
 * The Goomba: Averted with this game's Goombas, surprisingly enough. They aren't instantly defeated by a simple jump, only stunned. The Japanese version classifies them as a sub-species of the normal Goomba (called Kuribon as opposed to Kuribo). The weakest enemies in the game are shell-less Koopas.
 * Gretzky Has the Ball: Chargin' Chuck is the poster child.
 * Guide Dang It: Some of the Secret Exits. Hint: Yoshi's tongue can go through walls.
 * Hint 2: Going under the gates at the end of a stage does not trigger them.
 * Healing Checkpoint: If Mario is in his small form when reaching the checkpoint, he will automatically change into Super Mario.
 * Heroic Dolphins: The game features a few levels with Scuba-wearing Dolphins that jump out of the water regularly and can be used as platforms to reach far away areas. They can be eaten by Yoshi too.
 * Horse of a Different Color: Yoshi.
 * Instant 180-Degree Turn: Averted with the Koopas (while they're wearing shells, at least), Yoshi, Iggy, Morton, Ludwig, Roy and Larry.
 * Iris Out: During the end of the level or warps.
 * Level Ate: Come on... "Donut Plains", "Vanilla Dome", "Cheese Bridge", "Butter Bridge", "Soda Lake", "Chocolate Island"... in the latter, it's even possible to die by getting burnt by hot chocolate!
 * Level Editor: A fanmade level editor, Lunar Magic can edit levels of Super Mario World ROMs.
 * Luminescent Blush: Happens to Mario when Peach kisses him at the end of the game.
 * Market-Based Title: The game was released as Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan, but eliminated the subtitle elsewhere.
 * Me's a Crowd: Some Chargin' Chucks can split into three identical copies, which all then proceed to attack.
 * Musical Theme Naming: The five eldest Koopalings are named Ludwig von Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Iggy Koopa and Wendy O. Koopa.
 * Whether it was a decision on the localisation team's part or not, the triceratops boss Bui Bui is renamed Reznor in the US and EU versions.
 * Mutually Exclusive Powerups: The Cape Feather and Fire Flower.
 * Nerf: The Fire Flower isn't quite as useful this time around. Though it does have the nifty side effect of turning the enemies it does work on into coins.
 * Nintendo Hard: "Tubular" and the rest of the Special World may qualify, as might the later fortresses, but this game is also infamous for the sheer amount (and cruelty) of its custom-made hacks.
 * Platform Hell: Not the actual game, but the many, many ROM hacks of the game, the most well known of which being Kaizo Mario World ("Hacked Mario World"), Super Kusottare World ("Super Asshole World") and Super Mario Tabarnak ("tabarnak" is a French Canadian expletive roughly equivalent to "fuck!").
 * With one of the most hellish being Item Abuse.
 * Powerup Mount: Yoshi.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Koopalings and, to a lesser extent, the Rezones.
 * Recurring Riff: Most of the music in the game uses the same motif at some point.
 * Jumping on Yoshi adds a drum beat to whatever tune is currently playing.
 * Except in Sunken Ghost Ship, the only ghost level you can take a Yoshi in.
 * Refining Resources: Mooks and items on screen when you pass through the level's end goal transform into coins.
 * Get 5 or more mooks on the screen when you do this, and you get 1UPs for each one past the 4th.
 * Holding an inanimate object (Key, P-Switch, Springboard) and crossing the goal transforms it into a power up based on your status and reserve item. Held Koopa, Spiny, and Beetle shells do not work this way (they are mooks, and thus become coins).
 * Removable Shell: Starting with this game, Koopas are like this.
 * Ring Out Boss: Iggy and Larry are both fought on a teetering platform over lava. You have to knock them off with either stomps or fireballs.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Bowser kidnaps Peach, but instead of heading directly to Bowser's castle to save her, Mario heads all over Dinosaur Land, systematically killing each member of Bowser's extended family one by one... and also incidentally to rescue all of Yoshi's friends, who've been trapped in eggs by the Koopas' magic and are being held by the Koopalings...
 * Averted if you choose to take the most direct route to the front door of Bowser's castle by using the Donut Plains Star Road.
 * Savage Setpiece: Rip Van Fish.
 * Schmuck Bait: In some stages, you'll encounter Fishin' Lakitu, the enemy floating around in a cloud at the top of the screen who is now dangling a 1-Up mushroom at the end of a fishing line. If you grab the item, he'll rain Spinies down on you for the rest of the level.
 * Score Milking: The Good Bad Bug in Forest of Illusion 1 where you stomp on Wigglers with Caped Mario. Fixed in the GBA port.
 * Second-Hour Superpower: The feather power-up is not seen until the first level of Donut Plains (the second world of 7 in the main quest).
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop: Aside from several That One Levels, the difficulty is much more manageable than earlier games. The official Strategy Guide points out that SMW is easier than Super Mario Bros 3 after all four Switch Palaces have been activated, but one of those has a Nintendo Hard fortress in front of it.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Before entering every Ghost House, Fortress and Castle, Mario and Luigi dismount Yoshi, though he waits for them outside. Strangely averted for the Sunken Ghost Ship (imposed somewhat by technical limitations; for the fortresses and castles, the engine had trouble with both Yoshi and Podoboos - leaping fireballs - in a level).
 * Skippable Boss: You can skip Koopalings 2-7 and head straight for Bowser if you use a secret passage (see World Map below).
 * Sleep Mode Size: Mario becomes smaller when his Super Mushroom powers are temporarily drained.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Some of the subterranean stages.
 * Spike Balls of Doom: In this game, there's an underwater variety and a variety spinning on chains.
 * Spinning Out of Here: Star Roads spin you.
 * Stalactite Spite: Some of the spikes tend to fall from the ceiling when approached.
 * Stealth Pun: This game introduces an underwater counterpart to Bullet Bill known as Torpedo Ted. Which makes the two enemies.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: The Level 1-1 theme from Super Mario Bros. plays in the Special World, but the player must wait 9 loops.
 * Totally Radical: The Special levels, named Gnarly, Tubular, Way Cool, Awesome, Groovy, Mondo, Outrageous and Funky.
 * Turtle Power: The Koopas, Koopalings, and Bowser himself.
 * Unique Enemy: Fishin' Lakitu, Fishin' Boo and Torpedo Ted.
 * Updated Rerelease: Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2. Adding voice clips and giving Luigi some unique features like a different sprite set (so he's no longer simply a Palette Swap of Mario), his super jumping powers from Super Mario Bros. 2 and the ability to spit out any enemy to use as an impromptu weapon while riding Yoshi, which makes taking out some hard-to-kill enemies a breeze.
 * Variable Mix: Yoshi is always accompanied by bongos.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: When jumping off Yoshi in mid-air, Mario will kick off Yoshi upwards, even if he and Yoshi are already falling downwards. What this means is that if you are falling down a pit, you can quickly jump off Yoshi, making it to a landing, while your trusty steed valiantly falls to his (presumable) death. One of the secret exits actually requires you to use this tactic. Of course, Yoshi's back the next time you find an egg...
 * Where's the Kaboom?: There are small cutscenes showing Mario reducing each castle to rubble after beating their respective bosses. The Forest of Illusion castle starts the same way as the basic cutscene, but then has the bomb fizzle out. When Mario (or Luigi) steps closer to inspect what went wrong, it explodes, leaving them frizzled and covered in soot.
 * Wings Do Nothing: The Rex enemies.
 * World Map: Extended on the previous game, this game was relatively non-linear, and you could easily defeat Bowser after only beating a handful of levels if you knew which hidden exits to take.
 * The shortest route to the end is only twelve stages long including Bowser's castle, and the only stages that must be completed no matter what route you take are Yoshi's Island 2 through 4, Iggy's castle, Donut Plains 1, and, if the Front Door and Back Door are counted as instances of the same stage, Bowser's castle.
 * Demonstrated here.