![]() The challenge continues after the game is complete with a surprisingly wide-ranging Challenge Mode. Just rushing through to the end goal is kind of missing the point. Outside of those coins, the levels are absolutely packed with hidden secrets, including coin-filled rooms, 1-ups, and hidden exits which unlock secret levels (there's even a nice twist on Super Mario World's Forest of Illusion, where players can easily get trapped until they find the hidden exit to the next world). Beginning players willing to ignore that temptation might have an easier time of things. To be fair, I brought some of this on myself by trying to find and collect the three challenging hidden star coins in each level. I consider myself something of a Mario expert, but by the game's last few worlds I saw my maxed-out total of 99 extra lives dwindle down to the low 60s as I tried to make difficult jumps and manage tight spaces filled with enemies. While the first few worlds are easily manageable even by beginners, the challenge ramps up quickly after that. U is also one of the most difficult 2D Mario games Nintendo has ever created. Most of the enemies and concepts are familiar from old Mario games, but the new ways they're arranged here is nothing short of genius. Even the end-of-world boss Koopa Kids, which have often been barely distinguishable copies of one another in the past, each have their own unique attack style and personality this time around. It never feels like the game is just padding out the level count with a slightly altered repetition of a previous idea. ![]() I was a particular fan of the maze-like Ghost Houses, most of which took me down multiple paths and dead ends before I found one of the exits. Each new stage seems to introduce a wholly new concept from what came before: caverns with shifting floors and ceilings, castles with hanging metal chains used to swing over lava pits, sky levels where the floor is made of trampoline-like clouds, elevators with narrow paths through exposed electrical sparks, and an underwater level with an ever-present giant eel in pursuit. But the real strength here is the sheer inventiveness in the level design. The return of long-forgotten enemies like Torpedo Ted and the tiny hopping Thwimp put a stupid grin on my face, as did watching the branching World Map grow and come to life as I beat levels, just like in Super Mario World. Part of the pleasure of playing is pure nostalgia. U, the first real Mario title to launch with a home console since the Nintendo 64, is the best two-dimensional Mario title in decades, and the first since Super Mario World to really capture the appeal of the 8- and 16-bit classics that came before it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that New Super Mario Bros. Wii provided its share of imaginative fun, but it was a bit too focused on the new gimmick of playing co-operative multiplayer. The first New SMB title on the Nintendo DS was too straightforward and too short, and the recent 3DS sequel had an off-putting focus on coin collecting. series, that Mario World magic seemed lost to the ages. Yoshi's Island brought its own wonderful twist to that formula, but it wasn't really Super Mario World 2 no matter what the subtitle said.īy the time Nintendo finally got back to 2D Mario games with the New Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World refined its predecessor's concepts to create a 2D platform game that truly showed off the new Super NES, and it still stands as the peak of traditional 2D Mario titles. After Nintendo successfully expanded and opened up the Mario formula with Super Mario Bros. It's kind of a shame Super Mario World never got a proper sequel.
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