What game do you prefer: Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World?

[user313856]

FIrst, everyone: be respectful, understand subjectivity, and that there is no wrong preference here!

Mario 3 and Mario World are the two most beloved 2D platformers in Mario’s franchise, and two of the greatest 2D platformers ever made, period. What is your favorite, and why?

Also, don't feel like you need to have the original version of both games in mind when deciding your vote. For example, there is nothing wrong with voting for Mario 3 having in mind a preference for the All-Stars or GBA versions over the original NES one.

 

[Leviathan]

Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World. That way you never have to choose.

In all seriousness, tough call. I'll give the edge to World. The more open-ended level and map design makes it more fun to go back to and find all the secrets, even though Mario 3 is probably the tightest all-around game and has the better difficulty curve.

 

[Fone Bone]

I can't choose. I love them both equally but for different reasons. Super Mario World is more fun but Super Mario 3 is more challenging (outside of the Star Road from World). They are both great.

 

[wonderfly]

Super Mario World. It's arguably the best of the 2D Mario platformers.

"Super Mario 3" defined all of 1990 for me. "Mario World" defined all of 1991 to 1996 for me.

 

[Pooky]

It's kind of been forgotten by history that there was some feeling at the time, at least in the games press and industry, that Super Mario World was a bit of a disappointment for not evolving much beyond Super Mario Bros. 3, particularly given that it was jumping from 8 to 16-bit hardware. I think even Miyamoto said something about World being a way for designers and programmers to "find their way" with the new hardware, although he has since called it his favourite Mario game (although it's not the only game he's given that honour).

That said, I'd give the edge to World. The levels are more consistent, and more memorable. As much as I love the Tanuki Suit and the Raccoon Suit, which is more than I love World's cape, World ultimately had an even more notable addition with the introduction of Yoshi.

 

[Leviathan]

It's kind of been forgotten by history that there was some feeling at the time, at least in the games press and industry, that Super Mario World was a bit of a disappointment for not evolving much beyond Super Mario Bros. 3, particularly given that it was jumping from 8 to 16-bit hardware. I think even Miyamoto said something about World being a way for designers and programmers to "find their way" with the new hardware, although he has since called it his favourite Mario game (although it's not the only game he's given that honour).

A lot of that comes down to timing. SMW was Nintendo's first game on 16-bit hardware, period. So it looks fairly plain to what would come afterward.

Sega, OTOH, had been making 16-bit arcade and Genesis games for years, and they were able to apply all that they learned to Sonic the Hedgehog. IT didn't help that Sonic beat SMW to market everywhere outside of Japan.

 

[user313856]

It's just that Mario 3 was such an insane leap forward that there was no hope that another 2D Mario platformer could be as revolutionary. Mario 3 truly had perfected the formula and its potential to insane levels. It blows the first game out of the water, like very few sequels ever made.

Super Mario World was acclaimed, but the few criticisms generally had the common ground of saying that it hadn't been as revolutionary as Mario 3. But I really feel like that was an unfair and impossible burden to put on the game.

It's no wonder that Nintendo's next 2D platformer in the Mario franchise, which was Yoshi's Island, dramatically changed the formula, the characters, the controls, and so on. I really think that after Mario World, Miyamoto and his team didn't really think there was much more new stuff that could be done in the standard 2D Mario platformer formula, it would just feel very stale. I think they felt they really had done it all.

 

[Trevor]

It's just that Mario 3 was such an insane leap forward that there was no hope that another 2D Mario platformer could be as revolutionary. Mario 3 truly had perfected the formula and its potential to insane levels. It blows the first game out of the water, like very few sequels ever made.

Super Mario World was acclaimed, but the few criticisms generally had the common ground of saying that it hadn't been as revolutionary as Mario 3. But I really feel like that was an unfair and impossible burden to put on the game.

It's no wonder that Nintendo's next 2D platformer in the Mario franchise, which was Yoshi's Island, dramatically changed the formula, the characters, the controls, and so on. I really think that after Mario World, Miyamoto and his team didn't really think there was much more new stuff that could be done in the standard 2D Mario platformer formula, it would just feel very stale. I think they felt they really had done it all.

And here in North America it was such a leap from Super Mario Bros 2, which had been a leap in terms of graphics from Super Mario Bros. 1, of course the controls went down hill and 2 kind of disappeared quickly. (Of course the Japanese 2 had the same graphics as 1 so 3 was really a leap for the Japanese market.)

But I still remember seeing in 1989/90 the Globe commercial for Super Mario Bros. 3 and that pull out to Mario’s head all across Canada & the US. Nintendo really pulled out the advertising stops for the game.



Here’s a compilation of Mario 3 commercials from all over the world.