Saturday 26 January, 2008

Summary:
Super Mario World is a sequal to the previous Super Mario game on the NES. SMW offers both a series of levels for Mario make his way to the end of, or plug in a second controller and play co-op as Mario's brother Luigi joins the adventure. The goal for each level is to reach the end of the level without being killed by enemies or terrain obstacles. The eventual goal is to defeat the King Koopa Bowser and rescue Princess Peach.

Gameplay 1:
Though I have played through this game many times and discovered all the secret levels I opted to start a fresh game and attempt to view the game as a new player would. By the end of the first gaming session I had managed to knock out the first world and was close to engaging the second boss.

The simple platform jumping fun that comes from this game paired with the power-ups the Mario can collect such as fire power or flight makes adventuring through Super Mario World enjoyable time and time again. Some gamers may chose to do time trials, or unlock the many secret levels of the game through beating red stages via some hidden alternate method unique to each level. Furthermore the highly unique graphics of the Super Mario World astonish gamers with vivid colors and strange architecture.

Gameplay 2:
In this session of gaming I ventured into the second castle, then from there into the vanilla dome and into castle three. In all of the above the visual style has transformed from the magical bright colors of the outdoor world to a dark and dank setting cast in the caves of the vanilla dome and then into some sinister reptilian architecture of the castle levels, augmented by the lava pits common of all boss castles. These later levels provided a more rigorous challenge for the player but were also much more entertaining, balancing the effort/reward ratio.

The approach to level design seems to have changed a little since the previous world. In one particular case the level flow was from bottom to top rather than from left to right like all previous levels and the player had to work his way to the top with a series of pillars and ladders and platforms and the like. Another implemented an automatic scrolling screen forcing the player to keep pace for fall off the screen and die.

Design:
The design of this Super Mario World is roughly similar to the previous ones in that you jump from platform to platform in a 1 dimensional with jumping with the inclusion of power ups and strange monsters to prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal of the end of the level.

In Super Mario World little has changed from Super Mario 3, except the for implementation of the feather cape, which allows Mario to fly whereas the previous leaf raccoon suit only allowed Mario to slow fall. Level design wise more has been done with moving platforms than in the previous game, and the concept of switch blocks was implemented which allows the player to make levels easier if they discover secret levels with switch blocks in them.

Lastly, Super Mario World heralded in Yoshi, Mario's lovable dinosaur companion who Mario rides into battle againts the Goomba and Koopa armies that Bowser commands. All in all the game bears an epic experience that is fun to the end and every time you play it again.

A good entry, but in design you should really concentrate more on the game as a stand alone project not in comparison to the previous games, or if you do compare it really go into the differences that were offered between the different platforms and how this game is so drastically different then the other ones and WHY it makes it better or worse.