On vacation in Dinosaur Land, Mario and Luigi get word of Bowser-brewed trouble afoot. With help from Yoshi, the helpful little dinosaur who joins them for the first time, they set out to save Princess Peach from the Koopa King. They'll have their work cut out for them as they travel through nine huge worlds to hunt down Bowser and his evil Koopalings: Wendy O., Iggy, Larry, Ludwig Von, Lemmy, Morton Jr., and Roy.

Along the way, Mario and Luigi will ride Yoshi, search for P-Switches, find secret paths, blast fireballs and soar into the skies with the help of the Cape. Their quest won't be easy: Dino Rhino, Chargin' Chuck and a host of unforgettable enemies await in one of the Mario Bros. biggest and most challenging adventures ever!

Note: All 96 levels from the original Super NES game are included, from the eerie Forest of Illusion to super-tough Star Road and powered-up Special World! Also includes the classic Mario Bros. arcade game! You can team up and work together or jump into a battle with up to four players! It's also compatible with Super Mario Advance for single or multi-pak four-player action.

Almost every Mario fan on the planet would probably point at Super Mario World and call it the greatest Mario game ever. In every way it outshines its predecessors (at least in my opinion), while in many ways it far surpasses its successors in playability, replay value, appeal, and gameplay. Not to mention, it introduced into the Mario series the my own favorite character, Yoshi.

Anybody who enjoyed the Super Mario Bros. games from the NES shouldn't think twice about purchasing this game. In many ways, Super Mario World (from here on out abbreviated SMW) is similar to its direct predecessor, Super Mario Bros. 3. Both have an overworld map, both have at least three power-ups (though SMW only has three), and both, unlike Super Mario Bros. 1, has full support for moving backwards. Their story is more-or-less the same, too--Peach is captured by Bowser, and Mario must storm through the Koopalings (Bowser's kids, all of whom are older than Bowser Jr, who won't exist until Super Mario Sunshine) to get her back, going through eight worlds in the process (SMW, very charmingly, names each world after a type of food, sans worlds 5 and 8). Super Mario Bros. 3 was responsible for introducing a plethora of Mario enemies, and while this is not the case for SMW, SMW introduces Yoshi, who would appear in almost every Mario game since in some form.

But it is the differences that make SMW stand out from every other Mario game out there (except Super Mario Land 2, which is almost like a Gameboy incarnation of SMW). If you've ever played more than one Mario side-scroller, you may notice that their collection of enemies is always more-or-less the same. Though most of the enemies in SMW either never appeared again or were already mainstream, there are notably only Goombas in a select few levels, and even then they don't appear until World 5 (if I'm not mistaken). The player in SMW is mainly confronted with either Koopas, Boos, or Buzzy Beetles, with very little else in-between. The final battle with Bowser is completely different from any other Mario game out there, though, so even the monotony of Dinosaur Land's population is made up for by how creative the game gets at Mario's confrontations.

In my opinion, though, the best thing about SMW is the replay value. The Game Boy Advance remake's US cover boasts that the game has over 90 levels. You don't have to play through hardly as many to beat Bowser and save the princess--however, to complete the game and unlock both the unbelievably difficult extra world and alter the population of Dinosaur Land into Pumpkin People (and more), it is necessary to complete every single level--a challenge, because most, including almost all of World 4, are accessible only after finding the hidden exits in regular levels. You'll find yourself going through levels countless times, trying to find that hidden key, or that other exit in a Ghost House, and believe me, sometimes it can be mind boggling (one of the secret exits in one of the Ghost Houses is far above Mario, completely out of view, so high you must fly to it, without ever having an indication it was there before hand). If you complete all of the especially challenging World 9, you receive a special bonus of going to an unnumbered world where every level is maddeningly hard. And there are so many secrets to discover in Dinosaur Land, from new locations to Switch Palaces to Ghost Houses to the Secret Area (a must for the harder levels), that you'll be playing the game for hours even after saving the princess.

Unless you want the bragging rights of having the original SNES version, I'd recommend getting this remake instead. They are both virtually identical, but the GBA version includes a checklist of all the Princess Coins (Dragon Coins in the SNES version) you've collected (not to mention there's a bonus for finding them all, whereas they simply give you an extra life in the SNES version), the GBA version is portable (a must due to how long the game takes to complete), and, probably the one that hit me hard after buying the SNES version after losing my GBA version, the special Yoshis unlocked in World 9 are made available outside World 9 in the GBA version, whereas in the SNES (and Wii) version, it is necessary to re-complete a level in World 9 with whichever special Yoshi you want (for example, in the GBA version, if you wanted a blue Yoshi to reach the secret exit in one of the World 4 levels, all you had to do was beat the corresponding World 9 level and then find a Blue Yoshi while being Cape Mario, such as in the Secret Area; however, in the SNES and Wii versions, to get a Blue Yoshi you must re-do the level it appears in and complete it with him, then bring him back to the level you wanted to use him in and hope you don't lose him).

The GBA version of Super Mario World is the best of all of its incarnations, even out-shining the release on the Virtual Console (which shrugged off the GBA version's changes). It is easily the best of the Super Mario Advance series too, and makes a good pair with its sequel, Yoshi's Island, which also conveniently was remade in the SMA series. Highly recommended, one of the best GBA games out there.

I was lucky enough to be around when Super Mario World first came out. The game made a huge impact upon its release, and it changed the way platformers were made. Super Mario Bros. 3 was already a big change from the original, but this...this was an even bigger change. Better graphics, bigger levels, alternate exits, secret worlds, Yoshi, and a pretty extravagant ending (at the time). Up until I had to sell my SNES just a few years ago, the game would get regular play because it's that good. But this review is for the GBA version. I got this for my daughter, who even at her early age, is doing really good with games. 'thought it'd be a good stepping stone to introduce her to the traditional Mario formula because of how accessible it is to people of all ages, and since it can be played on the DS too. Well, it looks like going from the SNES to the GBA was a big change in its own right.

Basic story that you should all know by now- Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool. Mario goes to save her. 'jumps around and runs through tons of different levels. The end. But along the way, you'll have to take out Bowser's kids, clear out some ghost houses, and if you want, find the secret Star Road levels, and then the secret levels within those too! The game takes a while to beat, though hardcore players can probably clear the whole thing in one sitting. The game has a good save feature, and for this GBA version, you can now save and continue/quit whenever you want. Gameplay is very easy since you're really only using 3 buttons and the d-pad, and really, anyone can play this game. When you find an egg, Yoshi will emerge, and you can ride him and take an extra hit, eat enemies, fly if you eat a blue Koopa shell, and use him as a boost if you can't reach a high area on your own. And he finally has green arms instead of orange ones now too! Mario's got some tricks of his own as well, including the fire flower and magic feather. With the fire flower, he can shoot fireballs, and shoot them in both directions during a spin jump. With the feather, Mario dons a cape and can fly after running a short distance, and even glide around if you hold down and then hit up real quick. If you thought flying as a raccoon or tanuki was cool, wait until you see the cape.

They changed a few things for the GBA port, most of which are little things. Like now, you can switch between Mario and Luigi on the map. It's kind of annoying since you can choose this whenever you stop at an area on the map, as if the game's reminding you of the feature, instead of selecting who you want to play as at the beginning of the game, but it's still a nice addition. Luigi's sprite changed to his sprite from Super Mario Bros. 2 on the Mario All-Stars collection, and he has the same extended jump from that game too. Truth be told, it's a bit more difficult to play as him now because of this. The other changes aren't that big of a deal, but the main one is the one a lot of people are either overlooking, or somehow not bothered by it. Since this was made for the GBA, before the DS came out, it plays with just the A, B, L and R buttons. A is the default run/action button, and B is your regular jump, but the spin jump- something required for a lot of things in the game, is now the freakin' R button, a shoulder button! Even after playing this version for a few days, I can't get used to it. It feels weird, but it's not like they had a lot of options for controls at the time. Oh, they also put in the obligatory Mario Bros. arcade game (you know, the old Mario vs Luigi game where you just collect coins and take out Koopas by hitting the floor from under them). It's been included on every single Super Mario Advance title, and is fun for a few minutes, but at this rate, it's overkill.

The graphics and music suffered a bit in the conversion to GBA. Everything looks a bit watered down and less vibrant, and some animations don't seem as smooth as they once were. Most of the sound effects are the same as the original, as is the music, but because of the hardware, it doesn't sound as good as it once did. 'no big deal for people who never got to play it in the early 90s, but for people who grew up with the game, you'll notice.

Super Mario World for GBA is worth your money if you like platformers or want to see how good Mario was back in the day before everything got dumbed down since now most games hold your hand for the first 2 hours and show you how to do the most basic of things. But the uncomfortable controls hurt the score for me, as does hearing the stupid Mario and Luigi voices that were added in. 'just little complaints of mine that have nothing to do with the overall game, but for people expecting a perfect port, this ain't it. Maybe we'll get lucky and an updated Mario All-Stars will come out for DS at some point.

All I have to say about this game is that it worked great, and is just a great game.

Game is great- can't get my son and husband off it. Only problem is that it keeps freezing up.

Super Mario is always fun, even in a small screen format. The package of games is a real value.