Plumber platforming at its finest.
Ok, you have heard this before, " Bower has captured the Princess!" and really, did you expect an intense storyline? If so, its not here. But thats okay because the rest of this game is flawless.
Being this is the first SNES game, its graphics didn't break any 16-bit records. But since most people had been playing with 8-bit graphics since 1985 on the NES than ( unless you owned a Mega Drive ) this was amazing to look at. Sure, the backgrounds are a bit needy, and the animations per object was pretty low, but it was a fresh start from the older 8-bit graphics. Some nice effects include: lava bubbles and boils, cold environments are icy and slippery, and other effects like some smoke and debris in the cut-scenes where Mario destroys castles is a nice touch. Overall, the first SNES game's graphics haven't aged at that much and still are charming.
The music is what you would come to expect from a Mario game. Some really catchy tunes like overworld music 1 and 2, underwater, and koopa kid boss fights keep tradition of the Mario soundtracks and overall its original and its some quality work. And the music always seems to fit the environment, don't ask why just play the thing. The sound effects are also what you would expect, cartoony and charming,and are rarely annoying. That goes to show that 2D Mario games all have something in common.
The game is pretty long. Theres a varying number of hours spent playing depending on skill. Also about skill, you'll need quite a bit of it to beat the whole game, its quite hard when you get to about World 6 so be prepared. Any Super Mario Bros 3 fan knows that game is full of secrets, well this game takes that to the next level. Sadly, the Warp Zone has been replaced by the star world which can only help get around the massive world. What I mean is, when you warp to anywhere but Bowers Castle, you can't really move to a level, instead you must make your way there then unlock that warp spot. However, the sheer number of overall secrets in the game more than makes up for it. There at least 3 secrets per stage, some minor and others are huge like the star world secret where theres a WHOLE stage thats a secret, yeah really a whole secret stage.( its also very hard) Each stage has about 6 levels including the castle. Often there are multiple routes in a stage. For example, in Stage 3 you can either go right to the castle or left to the secret way, bypassing the castle altogether. Adding on to the massive amount of levels and secrets, you can replay any level or stage if you please and a level with a secret is marked as red.
The gameplay is classic Mario fare, its simple, addictive and screaming for a good speed-run. Difficulty, its there, the silky smooth controls, its there, what you want from a 2D Mario game, its all intact. I can't really explain it in words, just play it, you'll see.
To put it simply, Super Mario World is Super Mario Bros 3 but enhanced to the point of perfection. Not to say 3 wasn't any good, no, its awesome. But this game has to take the cake for best Mario game.