Topic: NSMBW vs. SMW

i've always thought World was the best 2-D mario. i'm anticipating getting New Super Mario Bros. Wii for Christmas, and am interested in hearing how you all think it stacks up.

(and... i kinda wanted an excuse to show off this video. )

I feel that Mario World will always outshine every other Mario game in terms of grand scale and epic-ness (if that's a word), but as for fun factor, I let other gamers decide since every Mario game is fun in it's own way.

The only Mario games I loved more than World are 64 and Galaxy, 64 for its grand sense of awe, and Galaxy for how amazing I thought it was. Doesn't keep it from being the best 2D one, though.

Super Mario World has always been my favorite game of all time. But I'm going to be honest: NSMBW is better by a country mile.

I could never get into Super Mario World. SMB3 is better by far. Nothing will beat that other than Sunshine.

I just played through NSMBW (using Warp Canons and short cuts) in a short sitting in two-player mode. It is an absolute riot in multi-player. I've heard three and four player modes are too chaotic, but two-player mode actually makes the game significantly more interesting, which is quite an accomplishment when the single-player alone already made it my favorite Mario. I'd really love to do Coin Battle with four-players some time, probably over Christmas. This game is damn near perfect. SMW was my favorite for a long time, but this takes the cake.

This one is easy: Super Mario World.

I thought the Koopa Kids took the cake...?!

Edit: New Super Mario Bros. Wii is definitely better. It's just pure fun.

SMW will always be my favorite, but NSMBW is still fantastic. It just needed more secret levels (not World 9, ones in the regular worlds) and the ability to play as Yoshi wherever.

oooh.... that's better than a normal mile!

man, this is really making me want to get this game, now, especially with Adam's glowing praise.

There are a few things that SMW does better like the switch palaces and the ability to ride Yoshi anywhere but I think overall New SMB Wii is better. The thing that made SMW great was the variety of levels, the clean visual style, the "just one more go" when you failed, the unconventional Ghost Houses, Yoshi and the epic battle with Bowser at the end. New Super Mario does all of that and in most cases does it better but also adds a multiplayer mode which is ridiculously fun.

Super Mario World is a classic but there is no way its "better" than New SMB Wii.

if you're talking about single player, super mario world still has the edge... barely. i think the 16-bit color overdose of smw has more charm than the modern 3d-rendered 2d of nsmb, and it has a little more depth when it comes to the amount of secrets and unlockables; new super mario bros. wii is a little too easy to pass 100%. i got most of the star coins on my first playthrough, and other than the coins there's really just a few alternate exits here and there. i really wish they would have hidden some more stuff in there.

that said, when you have 2 or more people nsmbw is much more fun. the game changes completely with each extra player, so it can be really fun to replay with more of fewer people just to see how it works. the controls will become second nature to you in no time; i played super mario world the other day and kept trying to ground pound and pick objects up by shaking the controller. it made me feel stupid, but it just goes to show how useful and comfortable those new abilities in nsmbw are. if they had just added more star-world type hidden stuff and maybe a few more yoshi levels, it may have wound up besting mario world.

I guess I have to be an oddball here, and say that my favorite Mario game of all time is Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It was a fun twist on the traditional Mario story, it had brilliant graphics and music to boot, and it added a ton of new game play elements (thanks to the far extended use of Yoshi) while keeping the core Mario experience intact. However, between Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros., that's a tough decision. I think if you want a tougher game that will give you more of a challenge to beat, then New Super Mario Bros. is the way to go (tougher as in the levels themselves are actually more difficult to beat, not that the hidden materials are more difficult to find), but if you want a larger world with tons of hidden secrets, then Super Mario World is definitely the way to go!!!! But alas, must one Mario game beat the others? Can't all the Mario games just get along? lol

I never played Super Mario World back in the day. I tried it a couple of years ago though and it was fun and all, but I found the controls made it a little hard to get into... I'm sure one day I'll give it another go!

I personally think NSMBW is far better. But either way it's totally worth playing (kind of stating the obvious here).

@zemulii: The controls in SMW made it hard to get into? They are simple! (Sorry for yelling)

SMW wins in my book, I love it so much though.

The controls in SMW aren't that hard are they? Jump, Spin Jump, Fire, Item Drop. The only thing simpler about New SMB Wii is that they removed item drop and mapped spin jump to a shake of the remote.

Not criticising, just confused that you think its hard. Unless you were playing on a Gamecube controller in which case I completely agree.

SMW wipes the floor with it in every single department.

What exactly is the core Mario experience? The ability to jump? I don't really see many similarities at all. It is pretty much a new series that they just called SMW2 to sell better since Yoshi's name was still new to everyone.

Wow, it's very rare that someone sings the praises of Sunshine.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a good game. Yes, it offers a lot more new features but I feel that its less pure than Super Mario World which is and shall always will be a classic. SMW's level layouts seems like the developers really went over them again and again to finetune each and every single one. NSMBW doesn't have this; more each level has its own gimmick and that was enough for its developers.

Now if I had never played SMW or NSMBW before, I think I would prefer the modern game simply because its easy to impress by the various gimmicky levels and that I would have no nostalgia for the old game. The only thing that really disappointed me with NSMBW though are the bosses. The DS version had much more variety in bosses attacks and how to beat them; although I do appreciate the Koopa Kids returning, I felt the battles with them to be quite underwhelming. Bashing Bowser Jr. into the walls was quite fun though.