Super Mario World is awesome, I completely agree. The integrated map is really nice. The special and hidden levels have effect in your gameplay and they lead you to different ways. The dead sound is great.

And the level end is just perfect, way better than the flag post. Flag post is too boring, in older games you just got points, but nobody cares about points in SM. And in new SM the top give you 1up, but if you don't hit it, too bad, just points. SMW is way different, got the gate bar, congrats. When you reach 100 you win a chance for a bonus. A chance, you still don't get 1up.