Living in the modern world, it’s pretty much impossible for anyone to get away with anything, as the internet is constantly updating on everything in this world so that nothing is a secret anymore. That being said, there was a time when this wasn’t true, which is why a lot of things in games like Super Mario World ended up flying under the radar. As we got older, we moved onto different games and unless we were looking out for it, a lot of the secrets of the game ended up going unnoticed by us, even if we did think of ourselves as being quite the Super Mario World expert!
What we’ve done is pull together some of the interesting little things and secrets about Super Mario World that we bet even the biggest fans likely don’t know about, unless they’ve been keeping up to date with the game years after it was popular. This is a chance for people to learn a little bit more about a game that they probably felt they already knew everything about, or to test themselves to see if they’re one of the biggest Super Mario World fans. Who knew that we would still be learning about games that we played all the time as children years after when we’ve moved onto bigger and better things?!
So, we think it’s about time that we got started, took a look at one of the best loved games of all time, and see how much everyone really knows about this gaming classic. If everyone is ready, we think we should get stuck in!
29 It Can Be Beaten In A Minute!
There are a lot of people out there that have dedicated a lot of time to investigating everything about video games, wanting to get right into all of the codes and glitches that exist within the system to see how they can manipulate the game with this knowledge. In the very first level of the game, performing an incredibly precise set of movements and button strokes, players have actually been able to get the game to glitch straight to the credits sequence of the game, essentially allowing them to beat the game within a minute!
28 The Dolphins Weren’t Safe In The Japanese Version
One of the greatest things about having a Yoshi in this game is that not only does it add an extra barrier to failure, allowing players to be hit without taking damage, but the friendly dinosaur can also eat a lot of the enemies. This gives Mario somewhat of an edge over the enemies that could take him out if he were to touch them without a Yoshi, while also making enemies like the dolphin scary as they are immune to the dino’s tongue! However, this immunity was only present in the Western releases of the game, as the dolphin’s are edible in the Japanese version.
27 The Secret World Beyond Star World
A lot of us have managed to get to the secret star world while playing Super Mario World when we were younger, but a lot of us actually struggled to beat it, as it expected a lot more from the player than the main world! However, for those that did end up beating the star world, they would find that the game wasn’t over there, offering the player a chance to beat an even harder set of levels, a further secret world that when beaten ended up having a long lasting effect on the wider world. Many people never managed to get to it…
26 Yoshi Was Nearly A Koopa!
Before the Yoshi were designated as being their own species in the Mario universe, we were all led to believe that he was actually a dinosaur, but what a lot of people don’t know is that he was originally going to be a Koopa! Yes, the people in charge of Super Mario World wanted to have Yoshi be a Koopa at first, one that had decided to turn good and help Mario out. While we quite like this idea, we’re glad the way that they went, revealing that the Mario universe had an entire race of Yoshi, all different colors, all across the world.
25 Things Change After The Secret World…
For a lot of young people trying to figure out this game when they were younger, just taking out Bowser was enough to consider this game finished, not having to take on the secret world afterwards to prove themselves. However, those that have completed the secret world will know that it actually has a lasting effect on the game as a whole! If people start a new game on the same file, various colors will have shifted and changed, such a green to orange, and certain enemies look different as well!
24 Big Boo Isn’t Invincible
Anybody that played Super Mario World as a child will know that there was a lot to be scared of when setting foot in the haunted house levels, with the Big Boo being the main reason to turn away and run! However, years after the game came out, people discovered that there was actually an incredibly easy way to take the enemy down! One of the moves that many people rarely utilize in the Super Mario series is the ability to slide down declines, which leads to Mario taking out any enemies in his path, yes, including Big Boo!
23 We Nearly Got The Tanooki!
One of the most enjoyable things about the third installment in the Super Mario series was the amount of suits that the player could put Mario in and the way that this affected how we could play the game. Nintendo clearly understood this as they were close to putting the Tanooki suit into Super Mario World, but instead decided to go for something new. Yes, they went for the flying feather, the one that gives Mario the cape which can help him fly and even take out enemies or blocks that would otherwise be impossible to remove!
22 A Musical Easter Egg
Both the gameplay and visuals of Super Mario World continue to be brilliant to this day, but one of the others things that we all enjoyed about the game was the music! This stuff is universal and the Super Mario series has always had a great soundtrack to dance along to while playing through some of the harder moments in the game! Well, Nintendo decided to explore the music from the past in Super Mario World, with the player being offered a remix of the original Super Mario Bros. music if they stay idle on the secret world map screen.
21 Steal Lakitu’s Cloud
While we understand that there will be a lot of people out there that already know about this one, we think that it’s important to make sure that our lists are giving information to all different types of people. Yes, we know that we’re blowing some people’s minds with this, but it’s actually possible to steal Lakitu’s cloud in Super Mario World. Go back and take a look, as people will find out that it actually leads to some pretty decent secrets as well!
20 Where Did The Sunken Ship Come From?
Anybody that played through the game that came before Super Mario World will know that a lot of it revolved around getting onto the airships of various Koopalings to take them down and slowly restore order to the land below. However, what they may not know is that many have theorized that one of these ships can be found in Super Mario World. There’s a level where Mario must swim through a sunken ship, filled with boos. We don’t want to think about what that means happened to all the people in the airship that Mario took out…
19 It’s Miyamoto’s Favorite Game Of All Time
This guy is one of the most beloved names in video gaming, so it’s no surprise that people are always happy to hear from him. He has mentioned in the past that he reckons that Super Mario World is his favorite game of all time, and we know for a fact that there are a lot of people out there that agree with him! Whenever we play this game, knowing that it is Miyamoto’s favorite game just makes it all the more enjoyable. We can see his smiling face in the back of our heads the whole time.
18 The First Mario That Could Be Saved!
When video games first became popular within the arcades, the only thing that the cabinet needed to save was the various high scores of the best players in the area! However, it became a problem when home consoles rose in popularity, as people didn’t want to have to sit and play an entire game in one sitting! This obviously meant that developers has to come up with a saving system for their games, and Super Mario World was the first game in the series that allowed people to actually save their game and come back later!
17 It Revels In Allowing Exploration
Anybody that has played Legend of Zelda will know that one of the things that Miyamoto loves to place in his games is the ability to explore, for the player to naturally uncover much of the world as physically possible. A lot of what he has done in video games has mirrored how he felt as a child, uncovering the areas around his childhood home. This sense of wonder in exploration can be found in Super Mario World as well, with so many secrets that are not signposted at all!
16 There Was Going To Be Different Levels Of Difficulty
Yes, believe it or not but Super Mario World was going to have differing levels of difficulty at one point, before the developers decided that they would rather have a single experience open to all players. To this day, people are still arguing about whether different games should have difficulty levels, and which is the best to go for to fully enjoy a game, so we’re glad that Nintendo decided to swerve this so that people wouldn’t be still talking about it changing one of the world’s greatest games…
15 Where Did The Map Koopaling Go?!
We all know that as technology has moved forward, we’ve all been able to have a look at a lot of the data hidden in the games that we loved when we were younger. Doing this gives us an insight into how they were made and sometimes data that didn’t end up being used! One of the things that was discovered was that Super Mario World was going to have a Koopa that could follow Mario around the map, presumably in a similar way to the enemy that could follow Mario in Super Mario Bros. 3, but they decided against it in the end.
14 Mario Can Fall Through Walls
One of the things about video games is that people can play them however they want, with people always coming up with new ways to show off their skills. One of the various ways that people like to play games is by trying to beat it as fast as physically possible, with some people even discovering that there are new ways to play the game, including glitching Mario through the walls so that people can finish the game even faster, moving past barriers that would stop most normal players!
13 Who Wants Infinite Blocks?!
One of the many techniques that people put into practice when they’re trying to see just how much they can get out of an old game, what they can exploit to try and get the fastest finish time out of a game, is to glitch things so that they can get the upper hand. Anybody that has watched people messing with the limitations of Super Mario World will know about the Infinite Block glitch, something that gives players the chance to get something from a block without actually having it disappear! Infinite lives here we come!
12 There Are A Lot Of Musical References With The Koopalings
When we were younger, we used to love these little guys, as even though they were evil, they offered something genuinely interesting and wild in a world that is otherwise quite laid back. Nintendo clearly agreed as they used these characters to place musical Easter eggs into the game, basing the Koopalings names on actual musicians. Anybody that is interested in their rock music will instantly recognize the names Iggy and Lemmy for example! Interestingly, these names were actually decided upon by Nintendo of America!
11 Lost In The Woods Just Like Link
The developers that work for Nintendo, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, like to make references to their earlier games in the ones that they’re working on in the present, which is a great chance for them to keep reminding players of their triumphs. Many people have made the point that the forest area of Super Mario World is clearly an allusion to Legend Of Zelda, representing how it felt to get lost in that world on numerous occasions. A Link To The Past also included a wooded area that players got lost in!
10 We Immediately See One Of The Secret Levels
If people played Super Mario World as much as we did when we were younger, then this image will be enough to flood their brain with nostalgia, but what a lot of people didn’t know when they first booted up the game is that this screen we watch Mario run across if we leave the title idle is actually one of the ultra secret levels found at the end of the game! It’s funny to think that some people never got to see the full level back in the day, only ever getting this little glimpse.
