/vr/ - Retro Games

It missed 35 different power ups and suits

It's a super complete Game though. Literally secrets within secrets.

Yeah, it missed the fun level design of SMB1-2-3

Not as much variety in the worlds as previous mario entries and several interesting mechanics go underused. For example, yellow koopas and silver P-switches could have been used more. It really feels like they had to rush these levels in time for release, but at least that means most of them are straightforward and simple fun. That's just a few things that I feel are missing when I play SMW.

>>8983543
Yoshi is the best power-up ever, along with his rare varitions. Much better than getting a single gimmick power-up that you can only use once in the entire game in my opinion.

>>8983539
It lacked distinct themes in levels like in SMB3

>>8983612
Nothing was rushed. They actually ended up gaining extra time for development because the launch of the SNES was delayed.

>>8983539
It truly missed an ice world (and no, that Donut Secret level just above Valley of Bowser doesn't count).

>>8983539
It’s okay but blatantly uninspired and pretty disappointing that it was the only new mainline mario game of the 4th gen. The visuals are halfassed, the music is lame, and the level design is boring shit. The whole thing feels very low effort on Nintendo’s part. If they did a proper smw2 it could have rectified the situation

>>8983539
It's a bit too much of a fleeting experience. The save mechanic lets you hobble through the game without the basic repetition and buildup that was central to SMB3.
It's an understandable evolution since Nintendo was always trying to broaden their audience, but it makes for a less satisfying result imo.

>>8983539

Dunno, I never got that feeling. Played through it a bunch of times back in the day.

Had fun!

>>8983760
I think it's completely fine that it doesn't include a shoed-in ice world. Dinosaur land is more of a tropical place anyway.
there's also Awesome (one of the levels in Special World) that's an ice levels and imo one of the best levels in the game.

>>8983539
the worst about SMW is that it ends, and all endings are sad anon

As much as i love SMW it lacked variety. Worlds were just grassy shit and in the best of cases, a different color palette. I don't really cared for the Power-ups of SMB3 as i never really used them

>>8983841
This, I think. I played through it a few years back and it felt too easy, but that's probably the actual reason.

>>8983539
Yeah, difficulty.

Simple, The game lacked and difficulty or challenge to the player.

It was a game for "beginners"

>>8984840
>>8984645
I think a lot of it has to do with the save feature.
Though I agree SMW is generally easier than 1, 2J or 3, it also has some of the hardest levels in the series, though they're optional. (then again a lot of SMB3's harder levels are also optional)

>>8983612
Are we not gonna mention how most of the levels feel empty?? Some level feel like they take place in the sky or above ground

>>8984986
>Are we not gonna mention how most of the levels feel empty??
No because SMW is full of stuff everywhere, levels like Donut Plains 1 is insane with the amount of shit going on all the time. Try to find any level in the previous Mario games that have as much stuff.
>Some level feel like they take place in the sky or above ground
What does this even mean? Mario games always had height levels.

>>8983539
You're not the only one, I loved SMB 1-2-3, but SMW just didn't grab me the same way. It was the first game in the series that I didn't even finish.

>>8984986
I like the extra freedom, it's like a transition phase between NES Mario levels and N64 Mario levels. They made the levels bigger and the movement and mechanics faster and more complex, also multiple goals within the levels (secret exits, dragon coins, rare items, etc).

>>8983539
>>8984645
I think it is actually this. You can't lose the game. It simply isn't a challenge to beat.

>>8983539
I feel the opposite, there's way too much going on. It's hard to do a completionist run through because the secrets are everywhere

>>8983539
The level design is pretty unfocused especially with the cape giving you too much freedom. Example of a game with focused level design is Rayman Legends where progressively harder challenges based on a theme or concept give you a sense of accomplishment. However, the cost of tighter level design is less exploration and freedom. Many SMW levels are sloppy and lack satisfying challenge especially with the cape so I think it should have been tighter.

Game was rushed for the SNES launch. Miyamoto was disappointed in it and promised that future SNES games will have more to them.

>>8983539
It's too easy, there's lack of attention to detail in the level design compared to SMB3, and the cape breaks most levels.

It's fun, but it's also partially a tech demo.

>>8983539
feels weirdly sparse and empty. levels have fewer pits and less platforming than 3. a lot of levels feel like you're just meant to run from left to right. there's frequently a sense of "that's it?..." at the end of a stage. the gameplay has a more laid-back feel which works for the exploration stuff but it spreads the challenge too thin.

>>8987495
read: >>8986084
any source on Miyamoto saying he was disappointed with SMW? He cited is as his favorite Mario title (though some other times he said SMB1)

>>8987603
Only source I could find was the actual wiki itself for World. It could be a made up quote similar to Miyamoto's Donkey Kong Country quote.

like control that doesn't feel like you're constantly on ice, for one

Could I get some Mario rom hack recommendations? After playing through some Sonic ones I’m convinced rom hacks might be the best thing since sliced bread.

>>8988757
I still never played any SMW romhacks, but I hear Return to Dinosaur Land is pretty good.

>>8988769
Just watched a video review on it and gonna grab it. Looks like a legit sequel to SMW.

>>8983841
SMW needed a save feature, nobody is gonna play 80+ levels in one sitting you sperg

I’ve never liked the music of SMW for some reason. I think have some kind of psychological negative connotation for it when I was a kid but I can’t remember.

>>8983956
>tropical
That's a fair point, but compared to the environmental variety of SMB3 (which included, among others, the previously mentioned ice world, even if it could be considered "shoed-in"), the feeling that there was something missing in SMW is an understandable one.

>>8983539
I’ve tried to get into Mario several times and I always end up bored. I dunno if it’s the settings, the controls, or what it is. Pretty much the only Mario related things I like are the crazy hard Mario Maker levels and I think it’s because they have the same feel as spelunker sometimes.

Still, wish I could get into Mario 1-3 and see what people like about them so much.

>>8983539
Nothing lacking, but I never fully got on board with the setting, aesthetics. That's what felt weird to me. It doesn't feel like a "quintessential" Mario game.

>>8989017
I dunno, SMW always felt like a pretty damn robust game to me, if anything I felt it had even more than what you can ask for, with the Star Road AND Special World.
>variety
I really love all the different kingdoms in SMB3, but in terms of actual themed levels, it's still the basics of Mario: athletic, underground, underwater, heights and castle.
SMW even added the Ghost Houses, which was a neat addition because it left the fortresses and castle to be purely action-oriented (SMB3 fortresses were often more puzzle than action).
SMW also has the forest location.
And again, even if it's just 2 levels, SMW still hace ice levels (and also some ice sections in some underground pipes in some levels)

>>8989001
I agree that, as designed, SMW needs a save feature; but that's not the point in >>8983841. After all, if you go by longplay videos SMB3 and SMW take a roughly similar play time to beat from start to finish (SMB3 is probably longer if you make a point of clearing every level in both).

The key difference is how 3 is designed with a system of warps proportional to the player's knowledge of the game.
Beginners are intended to play the game normally and build core skills based on repeatedly playing the same early levels several times in subsequent sittings; this is cushioned somewhat with Worlds designed to allow for different routes (plus little shortcuts the player will keep finding), but levels are also shorter in general though numerically there's around 20% more than in SMW iirc.
Once you discover whistles (of the 3 available, any player can be expected to find at least one on his own eventually) you can start skipping ahead if you feel like starting off from the last world you reached in previous sittings, but obviously that means less inventory powerups, and less extra lives if you don't know how to farm those effectively yet.
An intermediate-to-advanced player can get to ANY World in the game in less than 3-5 minutes and "start" from there. But then you still have the choice to just invest 2-3 hours and play the entire game through in a single sitting.

It's a really, really good and thoughtful structure from a design standpoint, but as pointed out before it's intended for a player experience that was more appropriate in NES times.
Nintendo's philosophy was always about opening things up for more casual players, and SMW was the result of that: with the save feature anybody can cut through the game like through butter and see most of the content without having to beat most levels more than a single time. The tradeoff is that the learning curve can't be designed as reliably and the overall difficulty of the game is lower in general as a result.