Super Mario World

Super Mario World (originally known in Japan as Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4) is a main series Mario game and a launch title released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on November 21, 1990. As such, it is the sequel to Super Mario Bros. 3. The game was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, featuring music composed by Koji Kondo, and graphics designed by Shigefumi Hino. An updated version was later released on the Game Boy Advance as part of the Super Mario Advance series, titled Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2. The original version was also re-released on the Wii and later the Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. This is the first Mario game in which Yoshi, Wigglers, Monty Moles, Banzai Bills, Swoopers, and Magikoopas appear, as well as a save feature. The game also features 2D graphics with linear transformations.

The game was followed in 1995 by a prequel, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which is set many years before the events in Super Mario World. Yoshi's Island spawned its own series of sequels.

Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that ever since they finished Super Mario Bros., the design staff wanted to have Mario ride a dinosaur. It was believed to be impossible technically until the Super NES was developed. According to Miyamoto, sixteen people were involved in the creation of the game, and it took about three years to make. At some point during the game's development, it was meant to be released in North America and Europe under the full Super Mario Bros. 4 title, but it was later shortened to simply Super Mario World. Miyamoto has stated that this is his favorite Mario game.

In addition to the game itself, there is a cartoon series that is based on the game which debuted on September 14, 1991, one month after the American release. The series takes place in Dome City, and was produced by DiC Entertainment and Nintendo.

Story
After Bowser's previous defeat, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool decide to recuperate in Dinosaur Land. Meanwhile in Dinosaur Land, the Koopa King and his Koopalings trap Yoshi and his friends in enchanted eggs, eliminating the opposition as they secretly rebuild their forces. Shortly upon their arrival, the Mario Bros. realize that Princess Toadstool is missing. While searching, they find the Koopa Troop army. Upon freeing the friendly Yoshi, he exclaims that the Koopas have invaded, confirming that Peach's persistent captor has indeed returned and taken the opportunity to claim the princess.

As Mario and friends travel through Dinosaur Land, they uncover the Valley of Bowser. After defeating Larry, the Mario Bros. have access to the front door of Bowser's Castle. Bowser is fought on his castle roof in his Koopa Clown Car, holding Princess Toadstool hostage. Upon his defeat, he gently drops the princess and retreats. Princess Toadstool rewards Mario or Luigi with a kiss as fireworks celebrate freedom, signifying that their vacation can resume with their new good friends. The reunited team returns to Yoshi's House where they and three other Yoshis watch the Yoshi eggs hatch into babies, removing the spell.


 * From the instruction booklet

After saving the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser and the rest of the Koopas in Super Mario 3, Mario and Luigi needed to recuperate from their adventures. Together they agreed that the best place to vacation was a magical place called Dinosaur Land. But while Mario and Luigi reclined on the beach for a relaxing nap, Princess Toadstool disappeared, apparently seized by evil forces. After searching for hours for their missing friend, Mario and Luigi came upon an enormous egg in the forest. Suddenly the egg hatched, and out popped a young dinosaur named Yoshi, who proceeded to tell Mario and Luigi a sad tale of how his dinosaur pals were sealed in similar eggs by a group of monstrous turtles. "Monstrous turtles!," exclaimed Luigi. "Bowser and his bunch have returned!" Mario slowly nodded his head in agreement and, along with Luigi and Yoshi, set off across Dinosaur Land to find the Princess and to free Yoshi's friends. As they began their journey, Yoshi handed Mario a beautiful cape. "This may help you," Yoshi said. "Some say it has magical powers." With a little luck (and help from a magic cape), our hearty crew can defeat the seven worlds of Bowser's Krazy Koopa Kritters. Many locations are well-hidden so explore everywhere and try everything. Not all locations have to be explored to rescue the dinosaurs and save Princess Toadstool, but there are many "starry" treasures to be found in far-reaching places. You'll need to search all areas to find what kinds of treasures are there… in Super Mario World.

Gameplay
The object of the game is to get to the goal tape to advance to the next level. While on Mario's way to the goal, he must encounter many enemies and collect power-ups and use items to help solve puzzles and destroy enemies.

Controls

 * Spin jump
 * Jump
 * /: Dash/Interact/Special ability
 * Scroll camera left (doesn't work in auto-scrolling levels, Yoshi's House, Top Secret Area, or Boss Rooms)
 * Scroll camera right (doesn't work in auto-scrolling levels, Yoshi's House, Top Secret Area, or Boss Rooms)
 * Pause
 * Use item/Return to map from a completed level (When paused)

Secret bonus changes
After the player beats every special level, the following changes occur:
 * World Map: The colors of the map become Fall-themed, like grass and the trees of Forest of Illusion turning orange.
 * Koopa Troopas and Koopa Paratroopas: Change into Mask Koopas.
 * Jumping Piranha Plants: Change into Jumping Pumpkin Plants.
 * Bullet Bills: Change into Pidgit Bills.
 * Vines: Buds become pumpkins.

Worlds
If Mario and/or Luigi accumulate 100 stars by touching the flag at the finish, they play a bonus game where they hit blocks. Eight random blocks travel around a block that already has a determined power-up. Power-ups include Super Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, and Stars. Mario/Luigi can only hit blocks while they are at the bottom, and hit blocks continue to travel around the center (while retaining the hit power-up). Once the last block is hit, the blocks stop traveling and 1-ups are awarded. The number of 3-in-a-row matches determines the number of 1-Ups the player will receive (up to a maximum of 8).

Playable characters
Mario (and in 2-Player mode, Luigi) are the main playable characters. If Mario loses a life or completes a level in 2-Player mode, Luigi comes into play until he does the same. The two may also share extra lives on the world map. Unlike in some other Mario games, both of the heroes possess the same strengths and weaknesses.

Supporting characters

 * Dolphin
 * Princess Toadstool
 * Yoshi

Colored Yoshis
In addition to Mario and Luigi, Yoshis of four different colors appear in the game, which may be controlled once acquired and help the Mario Bros. in many levels of the game:


 * Green Yoshi, the default Yoshi. Like the other Yoshis, it is able to eat many kinds of enemies and jump on spiked enemies without taking harm as well as walk across Munchers. They can also utilize Shells for special powers, but unlike the other Yoshis, depend on the color of the Shell but not a special Yoshi power to pair with it.
 * Red Yoshi, a Yoshi that spits out any colored Shell in the form of three fireballs.
 * Blue Yoshi, a Yoshi that flies as long as a Shell is in its mouth.
 * Yellow Yoshi, a Yoshi that can shake the ground by taking a Shell into its mouth, defeating enemies with its impact.
 * Yellow Yoshi, a Yoshi that can shake the ground by taking a Shell into its mouth, defeating enemies with its impact.

Green Yoshis hatch out of Yoshi Eggs, usually found in various blocks throughout the game. If a Yoshi Egg is found but the player already has a Yoshi, the Egg will instead provide an 1-Up Mushroom. Red, blue and yellow Yoshis are extremely rare in Super Mario World. They live only in the Star World, a mysterious place accessible by using the five Star Roads found throughout the game. When they are first encountered, they are Baby Yoshis, small and unrideable, but through carrying them, the baby Yoshi's will eat the enemies they touch. When five enemies are eaten, they will transform into adult Yoshi's, and can now be used normally. Baby Yoshis of all colors hatch from the Yoshi Eggs rescued from the castles, during the ending credits of the game.

In the GBA remake, the color of the Yoshi that hatches always depends from the power-up the player has:


 * Green for Small Mario or when the colored Yoshi corresponding to the current power-up isn't rescued yet.
 * Yellow for Super Mario.
 * Red for Fire Mario.
 * Blue for Cape Mario.

Regional differences
A number of changes were made to Super Mario World when it was released internationally following its initial Japanese version. This included translating the Japanese names and words and tweaking various levels to make the game easier for international audiences.



Gameplay changes

 * Yoshis can eat the Dolphins as if they were regular enemies in the Japanese version of Super Mario World, but not in the international versions of the game. However, this change was later reversed in the remake, Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, allowing Yoshis to eat the dolphins in the non-Japanese versions of the game as well.

Level design changes

 * Donut Plains 2 has an added ! block after the three ? Blocks near the beginning of the level. Similarly, Vanilla Dome 1 has an added Cape Feather in one of the Rotating Blocks in the structure found early in the level in the international version.
 * The secret exit to Chocolate Island 3 was made more conspicuous through the use of two additional arrow signs, rather than the lone sign found in the Japanese version.
 * In Donut Secret House, the walls at the end of the two main rooms were extended a bit to fill the whole screen.
 * In the Sunken Ghost Ship, the three 1-Up Mushrooms at the bottom of the Ghost Ship are not present in the Japanese version.
 * Lemmy's Castle has a time limit of 400 seconds instead of 300 seconds. Funky also provided the players more time in the international versions of the game via the presence of nine green berries instead of the original three in the Japanese version; as having Yoshi eat green berries adds 20 seconds to the timer, this meant the international players could accumulate triple the extra time than in the Japanese version of the game.
 * In the Japanese version, the coins at the end of Funky spell out "YOU ARE SUPER PLAYER!!", while in international versions of the game more coins were added to correctly say "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!!".

Graphical changes

 * Both the file select and mode select title screens change between the different versions. In the file select screen, the Japanese text was changed to English for international releases, and in both cases, 1991 was added to the original's 1990 copyright date to reflect when the North American and PAL versions were released. The logo was also changed to make the shadowing of the letters less pronounced and the "TM" was rewritten in the same lettering style as the title itself. As shown in the comparison of the file select screens below, the PAL version differed from both the Japanese and North American releases in height. Each version also has their own marker to denote whether all 96 exits were found or not.


 * All instances of Japanese names occurring in-game were changed to English.
 * The sign at Yoshi's House was changed from katakana (Japanese script) to the English alphabet. Also the sign has shade in the international versions.
 * The enemy names were all translated as well, although rather than Japanese script, they were written in romaji (English letters) in the Japanese version itself. This includes the credits, the writing on Reznor's wheel, and the sign on Bowser's castle.

Textual changes

 * In addition to being translated, various other changes were made to the level names.
 * While block numbers were used in the original Japanese names, the numbers in the international version match the font style used in the lettering.
 * In the Japanese version, all level names were followed by 「コースｘ」, "Course X", but in the international version, the names were simply numbered (i.e. 「ヨースターとう　コース１」, "Yōsutā tō Cōsu 1", changes to "Yoshi's Island 1", instead of "Yoshi's Island Course 1").
 * Cheese Bridge Area, Cookie Mountain, Forest Secret Area, and Chocolate Island Secret's Japanese names were all followed by 「コース１」, "Course 1", but as there were no additional levels sharing these names, the numerical designation was dropped for the international versions.
 * However, the Special World levels were not numbered. Gnarly and Tubular were both 「おたのしみ　コース」 (Fun Course), Way Cool and Awesome were both 「マリオスタッフもビックリ　コース」 (Even the Mario Staff is Shocked Course), Groovy and Mondo were both 「スペシャリストのための　コース」 (Specialists' Course), and Outrageous and Funky were 「チャンピオンシップの コース」 (Championship Course).
 * The flavor text after defeating a Koopaling and destroying their castle was the same for every Koopaling in the Japanese version, and thus more generic. In international versions, each Koopaling is given their own flavor text.
 * While various enemies change designs after the game is changed to the Fall setting, in the credits, the replacements are given new monikers in the SNES version; in the Super Famicom and Game Boy Advance versions, their name remains the same.
 * Like the enemy names, the staff credits were also written in romaji in the Japanese version, but various small changes were still made:
 * The somewhat odd title of "Total Director" was changed to "Main Director", "Back Ground" was corrected to "Background", and all instances of "Programer" were changed to the "Programmer" spelling for the international release. "C.G. Designer" was elaborated upon as "Character Graphic Designer" outside of Japan, and various other titles were tweaked, with "Course Director" becoming "Area Director", "Course Editor" changing to "Area Data Input", and "Player and System Programer" becoming "Mario and System Programmer."
 * The spacing of certain words was also tweaked, and a colon was added to "Special Thanks" in the international version.
 * Dayv Brooks was added to the "Special Thanks" list for his translation work on Super Mario World.

Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World
The Super Mario All-Stars remake of Super Mario World gave Luigi a more distinctive sprite where he is taller, thinner and animates differently, while in the original he is simply a palette swap of Mario and his moves are identical to Mario's.

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Super Mario World was ported to the Game Boy Advance handheld system as the second installation in the Super Mario Advance series, Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2. Some of the more notable changes are new Luigi's sprite, the new amount of 999 lives that can now be saved, and the list of levels showing whether the secret exit and the Yoshi Coins have been found.

References to other games

 * Super Mario Bros. - If the player waits on the Special World map for two minutes, a cover version of the overworld theme will start playing.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2 - Unaltered Ninjis reappear, and Bullet Bills resembling Pidgits appear in the Fall.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3 - The Sunken Ghost Ship was once an airship from this game. Also, all of the Koopalings return here.

References in later games

 * Mario Roulette - Many sounds and graphics from here appear in this game.
 * Mario Paint - Many sounds and graphics from here appear in this game.
 * Super Mario Kart - Lakitu is near-identical in appearance in this game and many tracks in this game are based on levels here.
 * Mario's Time Machine - Many sounds and graphics from here appear in this game.
 * Mario is Missing! - Many sounds and graphics from here appear in this game.
 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - This game is a prequel to Super Mario World, though the stories are practically unrelated in sharing some settings and uses Yoshi as the main character, although there are nine Yoshis (or ten in the Game Boy Advance remake) for each stage for each zone. Also, Yoshi's sound effects from here were reused in this game.
 * Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - The Star Road found here is destroyed by Exor and it is revealed that Geno is from here. Yoshi's Island also returns as Yo'ster Isle, and a rendition of the overworld music from this game plays upon first meeting Gaz. Also, the overworld theme can be heard while singing a character to sleep.
 * Super Mario 64 - The idea of Switch Palaces is, in a way, carried over into this game. Also, Yoshi references this game when he says, "It has been so long since our last adventure!"
 * Super Smash Bros. - Mario and Luigi's down special, Mario Tornado and Luigi Cyclone, are based on the Spin Jump that originated in Super Mario World.
 * Paper Mario - The underwater theme from the level "Donut Secret 1" is a cover and used as the theme for this game's title screen.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee - There is a Super Mario World-themed level called Yoshi's Island. Banzai Bill also returns, and Mario can use his Cape as his side special move. Trophies of the Koopa Clown Car and Mario riding Yoshi are collectible.
 * Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - In a room in Woohoo Hooniversity, four question blocks from previous games (the names of which are even stated in their descriptions) can be seen. One of them is the question block from Super Mario World.
 * Super Mario Sunshine - When F.L.U.D.D. scans Mario, a video of Mario battling Iggy in this game can be seen.
 * Mario Party Advance - The results screen music after the player runs out of Mushrooms in this game is a cover of the overworld theme from Super Mario World. Goombas also appeared in the form they appeared in the game as well.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl - A short demo of Super Mario World is playable, and the Yoshi's Island stage returns. Mario's Cape move returns from Melee as well. Also, Bowser uses his Koopa Clown Car in the Subspace Emissary. Finally, the Title Theme and Ending Theme are covers and plays on the Delfino Plaza stage, as well as the Castle Theme on the Luigi's Mansion stage. Yoshi's Final Smash, Super Dragon, is based on the powers he can obtain from a Koopa shell, specifically the powers from a red Koopa Troopa and blue Koopa Troopa.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Yoshi reappears in this game, behaving exactly as he did in Super Mario World. The Spin Jump also makes a return.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2 - A cover of the music from the Ghost House levels is used for Haunty Halls Galaxy and Boo Moon Galaxy. A cover of the athletic theme is used in Hightail Falls Galaxy. Sound effects from Super Mario World are reused, such as the sound when Yoshi is mounted, when a door is opened and when the Switch Block time limit (the Teleporter time limit in this game) is about to run out. Yoshi reappears in the game. Yoshi's House also returns in the Sky Station Galaxy.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2 - Reznors returns in this game, as well as the cover of the battle theme. Also, the chime that can be heard while the game loads sometimes plays a small part of the Super Mario World overworld theme and in World 4, Super Mario World's snow level background is reused.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U - This game seems to be based off Super Mario World, with similar backgrounds and level styles. A Sumo Bro returns as the boss for the level Screwtop Tower. Baby Yoshis reappear as well. It also uses a single, continuous world map, similar to this game.
 * Super Mario 3D World - Along with having a similar name, this game features Chargin' Chucks and Goombas (renamed Galoombas), both of which haven't been seen in a Super Mario platform game since Super Mario World.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - Like in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a demo of Super Mario World can be found under Masterpieces. Two new songs based on ones from Super Mario World's music, namely "Fortress Boss" and "Super Mario World Medley" (Overworld theme, portions of the bonus game theme, Star World, and Super Star) appear as the selectable songs in the My Music section.
 * Super Mario Maker - One of the level styles is Super Mario World and part of the ending theme is used in the credits.

Critical reception
Super Mario World received universal critical acclaim. The game was placed 16th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997. The game placed 47th in the 200th Issue of GameInformer's "Top 200 Games of All Time".

Some believed Super Mario World was the best Mario game yet. Many praised the game's graphics, gameplay, and its building upon the previous games in the series. However, many argued if World was better than Super Mario Bros. 3.

Super Mario World was bundled with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System making it the most sold game for SNES, selling 20 million copies.

IGN rated the Game Boy Advance remake a 9.3/10 and the Wii Virtual Console version an 8.5/10. Allgame rated it 5 stars.

Pre-release and unused content
Dinosaur Land was drastically different than the final version, possessing an appearance similar to the various kingdoms of Super Mario Bros. 3. Specifically, it was to feature things such as Toad Houses (which could possibly mean that Toads were once considered to populate Dinosaur Land) and more Super Mario Bros. 3-style Fortresses. In addition to this, the game originally had the subtitle "Super Mario Bros. 4"

The balls on Iggy's and Larry's platforms can be destroyed by the sliding attack, as can the Grinders (using a triangle block). This results in glitchy graphics, most likely because the developers did not intend for these enemies to be defeated. The same thing happens if Mario does a nose diving in the second level of the Bowser battle. The Big Steely is defeated as a red sprite of Princess Toadstool's head.

In order to do this glitch, the player must go to the end of Chocolate Island 3. Under the goal, the player must jump off Yoshi to the Giant Gate so that the screen does not scroll up. If done correctly, Mario is barely seen when he finishes the level, and because Mario is not present on the bottom of the screen, the screen begins to flicker in many colors as the stage begins to fade out. When he comes back to the overworld map, the entire world is glitchy and colored with red and blue. If Mario visits Forest of Illusion or Valley of Bowser and comes back to the main overworld, the entire world will be ivory colored instead. The glitch ends if the player completes a level or visits Star Road.

First, the player must go to an area with a Koopa Troopa near a vine (like in Vanilla Secret 1). Then, Mario/Luigi must hit the block with the vine, grab the Koopa Troopa shell (hold the Y button) and take it on top of the block. After that, Mario/Luigi should kick the shell upwards (hold D-pad Up and stop pressing the Y button), press the Y button again and start climbing the vine. If done correctly, Mario/Luigi will be climbing the vine while the shell is at the same "place" with him. When Mario/Luigi jumps off the vine, the glitch will end, but he can do it as many time as they want. This glitch can also be done with anything that can be grabbed, such as keys and trampolines.

Staff
Twenty-three people were listed in the credits of Super Mario World, including notable Nintendo composer Koji Kondo for the sound programming and Shigeru Miyamoto as the producer. Takashi Tezuka was the overall director of the game, listed as the "Total Director" in the original Japanese version of the credits.

Trivia

 * This is Shigeru Miyamoto's favorite Mario game.
 * The 2D graphics with linear transformations in this game would later be reused for Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Wario Land 4. Additionally, the Mario, Luigi and Yoshi sprites were also reused for Mario is Missing and Mario's Time Machine.