Super Mario World is Miyamoto's favorite Mario game

by Richard Mitchell on Nov 9th 2010 8:00PM

Speaking to Game Hunters during Mario's 25th-anniversary celebration at the Nintendo World Store, Mario maestro Shigeru Miyamoto revealed some interesting tidbits about everyone's favorite plumber. When asked what fans don't know about Mario, Miyamoto revealed that the development team on Super Mario Bros had considered using the NES D-pad to make Mario jump instead of the A button. We know, madness.

Another revealing bit of trivia: Miyamoto admitted that his favorite Mario game is Super Mario World. Miyamoto liked that the game combined the traditional action of the series with new map features, making players "think about where they were going and what they were going to do next." He added that many of the Super Mario World staff went on to become producers and directors.

Strangely, Miyamoto neglected to mention the SNES game's standout feature: namely, that the cape is awesome.

Source: Game Hunters

Tags: nintendo, Shigeru-Miyamoto, snes, super-mario-25th-anniversary, super-mario-world

Reader Comments (62)

He has good taste.

Try and stare at Miyamoto without cracking a smile.
He looks like a little kid who just opened that Christmas gift he was hoping for :)

Yellow farting Yoshi ftw.

That's great, and Miyamoto, you sure really bring the Cape back :D

Yes! After 947 hours of Mario World vs. Mario 3 debates my life finally has meaning! Yes!

@Acosta02

This question was answered for me a few years ago. I lent my little brother my SNES copy of All Stars, and he called me later that day, asking where that one really good Mario game was and why it wasn't on there.

That's always been my favorite too. :)

@Rollins
Mine too! I loved Mario Bros 3 but the map system on Super Mario World was amazing. Plus... c'mon man Blue yoshi?

And yes, the cape was awesome. Bit of a steep learning curve for some people, but awesome once you get the hang of it.

My favorite too yay!

I'll one up that, Super Mario World is the best game...period.

Well, Super Mario World is one of the 4 games that I replay every year or so. It's easily one of the top 3 games of all time.

Without SMB3, there is no SMW. One was revolutionary, the other..evolutionary. That should end the debate.

MARIO LOST IN TIME

@smoothy
How so? I would argue that SMW, while less revolutionary, is superior to SMB3 in nearly every conceivable way, similar to how Super Metroid is entirely superior to the original Metroid. They're both great games, and SMB3 holds up better today than Metroid, but I'd still argue that SMW is better in retrospect.

@gatotsu911

Without Pong, neither game would exist.

@smoothy

I played both when I was an an unpretentious kid. I loved Super Mario Bros 3, but when Super Mario World came out, my jaw dropped. The graphics were incredibly impressive to me, "IT'S LIKE A CARTOON!!!", I gushed in my head. And at the time I thought there was no comparison to SMB3. The fact was both were two incredibly awesome games but I never thought they competed with one another and I never thought that while I played SMW that it felt like SMB3.

SMB3 was classic refined and polished. SMW was another step in gameplay. Yoshi and his different colors that actually meant something. To this day, there's no game that uses yoshi as well as in SMW.

And today, I still don't see why there's such a comparison by some folk. They're both Mario games but they both did different things. To act like SMW was just a small step up seems silly to me. When people play New Super Mario Bros they think of SMB and SMB3 before SMW. I think that's also indicative of SMW being more than just a simple evolution.

If any game seemed like a small step up it was going from Super Mario 64 to Super Mario Sunshine. Of course, even there there's much debate.

@smoothy

So the best game of all time is Tennis for Two, the very first game ever?

I think Galaxy 2 is superior to Galaxy 1. One may be revolutionary, but not necessary the best.

@smoothy

By your logic, Windows Vista would be superior to Windows 7.

SMB3 = Vista
SMW = Win7

Aw yeah. SMW is my favorite Mario game ever, and is up there with my favorite games period.

It's been a damn shame that almost no features besides Yoshi has been used in any game since then. The level design, items and branching paths were seriously well done. I've been playing it again lately, and I'm seriously jonesing for a New Super Mario Bros style version of it.

SMG2 and SMW are my favorites. Star Road forever.

He looks so cute staring at that cake.

OK... So if it is his favorite then why didn't it make the 25th Anniversary Collection?

@Vidikron

I'll second this. It makes me sad that they couldn't make a real classic collection.

@Vidikron I guess it was an internal decision to only release the same version of the anniversary edition across all territories. North America was the only market where they added Super Mario World to the compilation (and making it unique to the point that All-Star's version of Mario World has different Luigi sprites). Also I'm guessing Nintendo REALLY wanted people to spend 800 points in their online shop instead of throwing it on the disc.

@Vidikron

not enough room on the disc

@Vidikron
Thatwould be less money.

@Vidikron I agree 1000%! I already own All Stars. This should provide something different. Remakes of the Gameboy ones perhaps? Anything? :( I will likely get it anyway...again.

Without a doubt my favorite (Cape is the best) Was actually able to beat all of the game. Exploring was the best

That's my favorite too!

Everything about Super Mario World was fantastic. As stated above, the cape is pure win wrapped in awesome!

It's pretty vindicating to know that Miyamoto has the same taste in Mario games as I do.

Ok, While I'm thrilled to feel validated by having him agree with me that Super Mario World is the best one; I can't help but feel conflicted.

If it's also his favorite, why don't we see another one? Preferably classic high res cartoon 2d look and not updated beyond that. Maybe a hybrid of that and New super Mario bros.

Who am I kidding, I'd take just about anything he could give me for true Super Mario World 2. Consequently I'd also love another 2D Zelda game, ala Link to the Past that isn't on a handheld. That would be delicious indeed.

@Mmmmz

This is how I feel as well. They keep going back to the SMB style game and never touch on SMW. Yet SMW is his favourite game!?

@Mmmmz What's wrong with handhelds? I love me some Gameboy/DS Zelda.

Agree, the map is great. Only Yoshi's Island and SMB3 even come close.

Star World #1, I remember the first time seeing it and then realizing I just had to spin jump and break all those turning blocks. Every. Single. One.

My favorite is Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Not only is it my favorite Mario game but it's also my favorite video game. A kid in the Make-A-Wish Foundation needs to demand this game on DSiWare.

@Bumper

It's already on VC.

What the make-a-wish kid needs to demand is a sequel. Square devved-Nintendo produced

Meh. SMB3 is still better.

/dodges incoming shoes

Mario World is too straight forward and all the levels lookalike just rearranged differently. While Mario 3 offers variety, like costumes, giant world, snow world, dessert world. Fun times!

This makes the decision not to include SMW on the Mario anniversary set even more baffling than it was already.

I wonder what he thinks of Super Meat Boy.

I didn't expect that after hearing he felt that SMW felt incomplete.

Never played it, had a NES, not a SNES. Sounds like I may have missed out

@Premature ejaculation man

O.o

Ugh If there's any Mario game I hated the most, it was Super Mario World. It felt a little foreign for some reason. The graphics or the gameplay. ...I don't even know why the game felt so awkward for me. Perhaps it was introduced at an odd time in my childhood. (when I started to play RPGs I think)

That aside, all the new games piss me off in a good way with thier challenging levels and fun music. I would choose Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario Sunshine as my all-time favorite.

@pluupy
Sunshine is possibly my favorite as well.
Ive been meaning to play it again for a while now

3 had the better powerups (Outside of the cape), but World was the better game.

And yet, we've not had a good combination of such, ever. Mario needs more powerups in games. More wacky powerups.

Bring back the SHOE!

I'm pissed I missed this!
Serious ? : Was this invite only or was it open to the public?

I still remember opening up the "Bizarro World" version of the map and thinking it was absolutely the most enchanting thing I'd ever seen. That and Link to the Past are wholly responsible for my obsession with "light world/dark world" game designs.

Ive never played super mario world. I take it its good?

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Super Mario World is Miyamoto's favorite Mario game

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