It’s a very interesting question. In terms of which game I’d rather play, it’s SMW. But in terms of technical achievement, SMB3 is unquestionably better (in my opinion of course).
SMB1 was a watershed moment for gaming - perhaps the biggest that there ever was. SMB3 was a revolutionary improvement on top of that. In light of that, SMW almost feels like a bland port. This isn’t to say it’s bad by any means, but in terms of the impact that it had on gaming as a whole, it’s not very significant and just feels like an iterative improvement.
SMW is still a great game! And if I could only play one for the rest of my life, I would choose it over SMB3. But in terms of historical impact on gaming, I would say that SMB1, Mario64 and SMB3 were more revolutionary.
I played and beat world with my dad on a rented Super Famicom before Super Nintendo came out.
We didn’t have an instruction booklet and all the tutorial stuff that came up was in Japanese so we went the entire game without knowing you could throw shells upwards. So when we got to Bowser at the end we thought you had to be able to fly so you could dive-bomb the motherfucker. Took us so many tries getting there with a cape and a backup before we eventually each got it. Man, did I feel dumb when SNES came out and I learned the truth, but also a perverse pride, like being one of the few people to beat something before it gets nerfed.
Not really related but this made me think of that for the first time in years.
Tough choice but I’m reluctantly picking World. It’s probably because as a kid I had a NES, but never a SNES, so all my SMW play was at friends or the demo kiosk at the store.
Not until I was a 20something when I traded a used motherboard for an old SNES and played the shit out of it.
The Best Buy demo kiosks added an absurd amount of shine to unworthy consoles. I’m still waiting on my $800 3D0. It can’t suck if it’s that expensive!? I played the Road Rash demo, mind you!
Sears is the one I remember using the most. My parents would let me hang out in the all but abandoned video game section while they bought a lawnmower, some pants or maybe a frying pan.
I definitely remember the lawnmowers. The pants. The apparently orgasmic tools. But I don’t think mine had a kiosk. Honestly, I probably spent more time at neck-breaking Walmart kiosks than at any other.
That one was my favorite because I don’t think many knew it was there, the section was always empty, and in the years they had it, the thing kept working unlike all the other stores…
3 is extremely cool and all, epecially for what NES can output. But SMW has an insane mechanics with higher skill ceiling. Speaking as a player who haven’t played any of these two but watched some pros/speedrunners play them.
SMBWorld had a much deeper realm of secrets and challenges, and a much sharper aesthetic, and was tied directly to the new, shining world of 16-bit gaming which it took full advantage of to make better visuals and audio. I would love to be able to relive those weeks of playing SMBWorld for the first time and the feelings of awe and amazement and discovery that went with them.
Yeah, essentially SMB3 for the NES was remastered in Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES. It was later ported to the GBA under the title Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3.
The graphics are much better in the ports, but the soundtrack doesn’t quite hit the same when compared to the NES version. The physics are also different in the All-Stars/SMA4 versions and some people prefer the NES version’s physics.
On a related note, there are some cool ROM hacks based off the NES SMB3 engine - Mario Adventure 3 released the other year and is a blast:
I don’t understand why they feel the need to hide it.
I can liken my opinion on it to that of Generative AI: Consumers have the right to be informed. Hiding whether AI was used (or SBI/other similar agencies in this case) is not a good look. If a consumer doesn’t want to buy games that SBI has worked on, it is the consumer’s right to know if a game has been worked on by SBI so they can make an informed decision. In just the same way a person would want to know if Generative AI was used in a game, some consumers want to know if SBI or other similar companies were used during a game’s development. And this of course works opposite too. If someone wanted to buy a game specifically because SBI worked on it (which I personally can’t see being a real reason to buy a game, but to each their own) then they too should be able to be clearly informed on the matter.
Basically, hiding something like that is anti-consumer. It gives the impression that the developers are trying to trick consumers into buying something they don’t want.
For example, if there was a video game which directly funded something you didn’t like, let’s say something like directly funding Russia’s war against Ukraine, you would want to know that before you bought the game, right? When you find out where your money went, you probably wouldn’t be very happy, would you? If you had known that information before you bought the game, that likely would have changed your decision to buy the game, right? Now of course, war is a bit more extreme compared to social politics, but the idea is the same. You would feel tricked. You would feel upset. Its the same idea. Consumers want to be informed, and hiding information from consumers is not friendly to consumers. The developers should have just updated the game description to include that SBI worked on the game and left it at that. The drama would likely not have reached its current level.
This is stupid and it doesn’t make any sense. People should have a right to know if it’s inclusive? If other races are portrayed? If other sexual orientations are portrayed? The only people who mind are bigots, and they can just move on. What’s especially remarkable to me is that bigots aren’t satisfied with not partaking, they desperately and pathetically need others to share that view, because in their minds, then it isn’t wrong.
People have a right to know if a company worked on the game or not, just like they have a right to know if Generative AI was used, or if it funds something they don’t like. It doesn’t matter if you or I think it’s stupid or not.
I’m not sure I’d say the consumer has a right to know, per se, but they may well have an interest in knowing. Whether or not a developer/publisher/whoever opts to provide this kind of information may itself be a factor in consumers making a purchasing decision, and, if some information isn’t being provided up-front, consumers can and should ask questions. Ideally, those questions and the answers would be public-facing.
I am a little miffed at responses down this comment chain somehow seeing your opinions as evidence of bigotry. It’s, like… people can disagree, people can have thoughts about things. Just because someone seems not to agree on one point doesn’t make them your polar opposite on everything, and surely shouldn’t lead to name-calling and gatekeeping. That’s the kind of behavior that leads folks to see everyone on “the other side” as extremists of some kind, if every time you interact with them they just jump to hard responses at the slightest provocation.
To be clear, that part was all directed at the others’ behavior, not really yours.
Signed,
A lefty non-bigot who doesn’t think anyone in this thread (among those whose comments I read) is showing any actual signs of bigotry
As per my understanding, Sweet Baby Inc was/is a DEI consultant that would advise on accurate portrayal of minorities in games that wished to have them represented.
How accurate they were/are or how much their input is being used, I can’t say, however the easily swayed have taken to the idea they’re an evil shadowy cabal that mind controls companies and has them add brainwashing techniques meant to bring about the downfall of western society (the MAGAts that is).
they’re an evil shadowy cabal that mind controls companies and has them add brainwashing techniques meant to bring about the downfall of western society
I personally prefer SMB3 because the controls feel tighter, where SMW sometimes feels “floaty”. But it’s a subtle difference. SMW gives you way more content, but not all of it is as good or as well-designed as the levels from SMB3 (though again, the difference is subtle.)
Mario Sunshine’s level design was not as well structured, but it had a lot of really interesting content. SMB3, SMW, and Mario 64 are my top 3 Mario games, but I can’t decide the order.
Sunshine was rushed and it shows. I played it contemporaneously but never got terribly far.
I played it a couple years ago all the way through when I got my Steam Deck and it had a ton of rough edges. It was a bit of a struggle to get through.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne