Reviews from

in the past


Maybe the best 2D Mario ever made? A great remake of the SNES classic, and it works great as a handheld game. Controls are super tight despite its age and it's worth coming back to if you enjoy platformers at all.

plays great, just has meh sound and really washed out visuals. If only this had been released a little later into the Advance's life, when the SP was a thing and they didn't need to bleach the hell out these games to make them viewable it would be much better, but whatcha gonna do

All-time favorite. Probably the most foundational experience of my gaming career.

Do you want to play Super Mario World on the go?


Just play it on your Switch, idiot.


Just logging this here for the sake of completion. If you want my real review of this game, check out the original SNES version

pretty decent port of a classic game. these types of re-releases feel so nostalgic of it's time. especially love the added voice acting

i stole my sisters gameboy to play this

As someone who didn't have a SNES, it was a great way to have the second best Mario game.

A fine version of the best 2D mario with some slight level changes and the addition of playing with luigi with his physics. The music is worse and the screensize is smaller and the colors are washed out, but thats what you get for being on the GBA. If you can play the original then stick with that, but this is a good alternative for its time.

Nostalgia, juego para críos pero algunos niveles... uff, complicadetes. Buenos niveles y entretenido.

This is just a slightly worse and portable Mario World wow

Para mi es la versión definitiva del juego,creci con este juego y muchas veces he abierto la gba sp solo para hacer alguna partida.Pero esta vez decidi hacerme todo,las monedas y todas las salidas,menuda experiencia

Its like Mario World but you can play as Luigi

What if i got really into speedrunning this game specifically.

Hot take alert: You don't need me to tell you Super Mario World is a 5-star game, but maybe you do need me to say the GBA version might be the best version of the game. Reduced visibility is a thing, but it's not that bad. The ability to play as Luigi is a lot of fun and his floatier physics will challenge your muscle memory. And it tracks your dragon coin collection! Play it with a palette improvement hack on an Analogue Pocket.

Im sorry everybody. Nostalgia has won and this is still clearly the best version of Super Mario World. Its no accident that 2-D Mario got boring again when they put him up on console

THE BEST VERSION OF SUPER MARIO WORLD, I AM OBJECTIVELY CORRECT

All Super Mario games are masterpiece.

only played the first world, star world, and the special world, but they were fun and the special world in particular offered a good challenge.

Nothing to add here from my experience on the SNES Version. It's the same game , but with worse audio quality and some quality of life changes.
I like that now you have a list of levels where you can see collectibles , exits and teleport instantly to levels without slowly traversing the entire map.
Luigi is significantly worse to use compared to Mario and meìakes me feel like the game is in slow mode for some reason. I don't aunderstand this Super Mario Advance trend of putting Luigi as a playable character if it's so unfun to play.
So what's better , this or the SNES Version ? Personally i suggest to play the SNES Version since there aren't much changes or added content and Audio is just better.

I initially played this on my Game Boy Player for a little while, but later sold the cartridge after beating Bowser on the original through Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online. Years later, I had second thoughts and decided to emulate it using mGBA on my modded Wii, this time aiming to find every exit and collect every Dragon Coin (this version keeps track of them). In the end, I earned 3 stars on the select screen, I will not be going for 5.

I think it took a second, more thorough playthrough for me to finally "get" Super Mario World. The branching paths on the overworld map encourage exploration and reward sharp-eyed players, and Yoshi more than makes up for the shortage of power-ups compared to Super Mario Bros. 3. On top of that, the level design is more varied than ever, with cleverly implemented stage elements that make individual courses even more memorable than that of its predecessors. My only disappointment was with the bosses, save for Bowser; they were clearly treated as an afterthought, but then again, doesn't nearly every other 2D Mario game do this? I now see why the original game is hailed as an SNES icon, and I'm more than willing to recommend it to those less acquainted with retro titles.

That said, this review is covering the GBA port, not the SNES version. Many have said it already, but I'll say it again: the screen crunch is an issue, and a hard one for me to ignore. When you port a platformer to a system with an aspect ratio it wasn't designed for, you're often left with a comparatively cramped game. The level design is tweaked to accommodate this new orientation, but I noticed the screen was constantly shifting left and right at the slightest movements, frantically trying to adjust to my inputs; ironically, this only made landing jumps harder. Super Mario World is tough but fair, while Super Mario Advance 2 makes me question whether or not I really could've anticipated that Para-Koopa coming. The quality-of-life adjustments and other new features are nice to have, but to no fault of their own, the developers could not overcome the screen crunch.

I'm sure it was nice in 2001 to play a wonderful game like Super Mario World on the go, but QoL enhancements aside, there is little reason to play this port nowadays.

It's a competent port, but the original version is better. The screen crunch, reduced audio quality, and washed-out colors all make this worse.

Butchered version of one of the best 2D Mario games

The main additions to this compared to the SNES original are playable Luigi with similar physics to SMB2 with his trademark slippery run and higher jump.

As well as track-able collectables, now you can see what Yoshi Coins you have collected throughout each level, while Secret Exits had a tell in the original they’re also denoted on this screen.

There are cute little animated sequences when you hit each goal.

I think it’s a fine way to experience Super Mario World and many probably prefer it, sound and visuals have some compromise. Thinner sound and with some scrolling vertically due to the GBA aspect ratio.

There’s a fan hack of the original that adds in these systems to the SNES original.

The detail I never picked up on is the costumed bullet bills look like Kirby’s owl shaped friend or something. Very cute.


Can't understand how every Advance Version of Mario feels like a downgrade.

First time playing through this for 100% and collecting all dragon coins. It felt great

Mario World is still my favorite 2D Mario! Great updates to the original, besides the soundtrack of the GBA, which is serviceable. A timeless classic, and the GBA version is the best way to play it, now on NSO!

My favorite version of SMW by far. Luigi da best