Nintendo Adds Super Mario World And Super Punch-Out!! Switch Online Special Versions

Honest question: Does anyone even play these "SP" versions? I still don't think I fully understand what they're for.

@spiderman0616 I have the same question... what a waste of space...

@spiderman0616 The SP version are either versions with items and inventory unlocked from the start, or versions that start you off from a certain point that's normally hard to access. Like a save state, pretty much.

@spiderman0616 Impatient kids that wanna skip to the end so they have more time for Fortnite.

What a stupid update.

I really wish they added these in a sub-menu for each relevant game or something. I don't like that they use so much space among the "normal" games.

Oh good! This is the NSO update I was hoping for!

😏

I wish the SP additions were, you know, actually interesting. Say, the 64DD version of F-Zero X. Or the Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Or the Satellaview versions of Zelda and F-Zero. Those would get me excited. We'd be talking about practically new games or expanded experiences. These save states, on the other hand, are a waste of space.

@Sarkos

I just push them all to the bottom while the normal games are alphabetized.

They’re actually two great SP editions. Means you don’t need to clear the game to get to the stuff you otherwise probably wouldn’t bother with.

@HIGHscores85

I do the same! But I still wish there was a better option.

What about the GBA SMW with Luigi (who looks like Luigi, jumps higher, and slides? SP that into it!

@nessisonett I agree. Also a way to practice fighting the final boss.

For Mario World, the entire Star Road is unlocked. Some may have difficulties with those levels.

It takes away the reward of beating a tough level or finding a hidden path, but it would let younger kids explore all the levels.

That sprite swap in Super Mario World scared the ***** out of me hahahaha. I thought I broke the game when it happened. Great SP adittions, great for people that have already beaten the games in the past, and for people that just want to see what happens after you beat the game.

@Sarkos I agree. They should just add a cheats feature, and expand the number of save state slots so you can keep your progress separate if you want to.

Super Punch-Out!! is probably less useful. If you haven’t learned the fighting techniques along the way, the final fight will probably destroy you.

People are being pretty hard on this. I've beaten Super Mario World several times, but I can't remember if I've ever completed the Star World. This is an easy way for me to checkout what happens without playing for 10 hours first.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Ah yes, because we didn't scour magazines or, later, the early internet for hours on end looking for cheat codes. I certainly didn't beg my mom for a game genie.

Most kids didn't actually beat the games they had, but they had those level select and unlimited lives codes on hand for sure. Heck, in the 90s before GameSages/SegaSages was absorbed by IGN, it was getting as much or more monthly traffic than them. Early gaming sites were cheat codes first, everything else second.

@Beaucine never thought about such special versions. Would love to have those.

I think we have some useful SP versions:

• Metroid/super Metroid: easy way to see all endings, even if you aren’t that skilled
• super Mario Kart: you can play multiplayer on all maps/ccm without unlocking it first
• Zelda II: weird and tough game, a start boost could be interesting for a lot of player

What I miss is a tloz version which starts with the second quest. Maybe this could be interesting for someone.

@frogopus I appreciate you bringing this up. Older adults today who grew up gaming in the 80s and early 90s too regularly talk about how awesome they were at games and how much harder the games were back then. While that was certainly true for some kids, I vividly remember most kids were using cheat codes and game genies to "beat" games.Or in some cases we just played the first few levels over and over.

I'm convinced that most people who remember beating Contra don't remember that they cheated. And most people who remember loving BattleToads don't remember that they never beat the hover bike level.

Indeed, the SP Punch-Out is just a save file.
Normally to reach the Special Circuit, you need an undefeated record. Even using a single Continue (or "Retry") I'm sure disqualifies the run. I think you'd have to actually erase the save after a loss. Unforgiving.

@sketchturner I've heard Contra isn't THAT hard, it requires practice (though I'm imagining not nearly as much as Battletoads. Though I ordered a copy of the reprint of the Japanese version which is said to have been rebalanced so mortal humans can finish it, I heard it's better to run modern produced carts on clone hardware.)
I think I recall seeing my friend finish it 1CC, or at least without the code. I know there's some people who have even one-life (or "no miss") cleared Contra. Haven't seen it in Battletoads though.

Meh they still offering these lame SP versions?

April Fools, right?

Could you imagine the speedruns of these SP versions? Every item unlocked, every level unlocked, LITERALLY PUT AT THE END OF THE GAME in some cases. It could lead to some interesting plays that wouldn't normally happen in the regular game speedrun.

Should have been the Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World combo with everything unlocked.

@KingMike Yes, certainly there are many people who have beaten Contra legitimately (and other similar difficult games). I just think the number who remember beating it at 6 years old, first try, while blindfolded, without any cheats is terribly inflated. Tales of beating crazy hard NES games at a young age have become the modern day fish stories.

@sketchturner I don't think they're necessarily big fish stories short of flat out implausible feats like you mentioned. When I was a kid I obviously had no disposable income, so games like Ninja Gaiden/Contra were played religiously, obsessively, with no concern for time or doing the same thing a million times over.

Without the luxury of being able to play anything whenever you want meant that 'git good' was practical advice next to cheat codes. As an adult I don't have the time or motivation to do that in general, so in that regard I've gotten worse as a gamer as I've gotten older.

This is cool man, I forgot about the sprite swap after beating special world!
Good memories

@sketchturner Speaking as someone who grew up playing NES and SNES games, it is definitely possible that some people are embellishing their memories and looking back with rose-tinted glasses.

That said, I think that more realistically kids at the time had much more time and energy to dedicate to perfecting a run. Part not having to deal with adulting, and part not being free to buy any game at the drop of a dime.

@TKundNobody you could always start on the second quest by entering your file name as ‘Zelda’.

@StuTwo I know. But I think for casual players, who never finished tloz or googled it, could be surprised.

I think sometimes the save states do detract from the intended experience of playing the games. Other times - like with these SP editions - they make parts of the game more accessible to those of us who are now adults without the time to dedicate to ridiculous feats of pattern recognition (& also lacking access to the “at the time” social knowledge of secrets within the games).

What the NSO service really needs is an NES Remix style set of challenges for each game. Those games on Wii U did the task of presenting old games (and their “widely known at the time” secrets and techniques) in a very elegant way.

Be cool if everyone that bought a nes or snes classic mini could download the games on the switch

A lot of these SP Versions don't seem that appealing, but if they don't take much time over say, an actual translation of a game we don't have like SMT, it's just extra, which I'm fine with. The Super Mario World one might actually be neat, because I can't imagine there's many people who actually beat Special World, then re-played the whole game again to see the weird stuff outside the credits.

A surprising amount of people seem bitter over what's a very minor feature, because it's not some other theoretical major feature.

As someone who has never been able to beat Metroids fast enough to see the best endings, I'm glad these SP versions exist. Sure, I can google and youtube them, but it's not the same as seeing them as your own accomplishment.

These sp version are great for old gamer that don't have that much time. They basically show you end or post game gameplay. It's particularly useful if you've already played and finished the games elsewhere.

@farrgazer @TedGundy
That is certainly a legitimate factor--as kids, most of us didn't have many games back in the 80s & 90s. I remember working for months (even years) to beat games with absolute BS difficulty simply because I had relatively few games to play, and I was determined to finish every game I owned.
I used to get maybe a few games every year. Whereas now it's not uncommon to buy a few games in a month. If I face a game that is obnoxiously difficult, I just delete it and move on.

@Edu23XWiiU Me too! XD XD

I never understand the appeal of Punch Out, why do peoples like that game?
I don't see any appeal from Punch Out games even on Wii which from gameplay style for a Boxing game, your objection is just hit and dodge without ability to move aside to different position like real boxing match. Doesn't even look interesting for me.
I can say K-1 games on PS2 is way much better than Punch Out games as you can move to different direction like Tekken style and you can hit the opponent by punch or kick.

Give us rom hax

@HammerGalladeBro The Shinespark cutscene in Fusion where the devs thanked sequence breakers before telling them to play the game how they were expected to.
(what is it, like 10 pixel-precise Shinespark chains or some BS you'd have to be able to do to get beyond the obstacle that stops most of the population from seeing that cutscene legitimately?)

Until someone discovered a pixel-perfect skip to counter the dev roadblock.

@Anti-Matter Maybe it's a regional thing? I've heard Punch-Out!! for some reason just never took off in Asian regions.
I think the Wii game was only the second game (aside from the Mike Tyson version of the original) to even get a standard physical retail release there.

I got super Mario world and a snes when i was 5 ... Took a few years but unlocked everything multiple times... Really not that hard to do.. feels a bit like bloat

@KingMike
I mean from the fighting style.
I don't like the fighting style of Punch Out with just Hit and Dodge only. Doesn't look like a real boxing match for me. It was like Hit and Dodge game for me.
I prefer K-1 for Kickboxing games on PS2 with fighting style like Tekken and ability to change camera angle and using punch + kick.
This is the reason why do i like K-1 games than Punch Out games.

These special editions are super laaaame.

@Diogmites Good point

If they were actual edits to make the games more fun, like new levels, new powerups, etc. it'd be neat. As it is I don't see the point

@Anti-Matter I think you're mixing up the appeal of Punch-Out and confusing it with legitimate boxing/fighting sims, which is something it never tried to be and not why people play it in the first place. It's like comparing Outrun with Gran Turismo, two different things that aren't competing concepts.

Nintendo has already beaten these games and now share their savefiles with us, so that we do not need to play these games?

Jesus christ. What's with all the whining? You don't like thise SP versions? DON'T PLAY THEM! Nobody is forcing you! This is for anybody that may have already played them before and want to jump in with everything unlocked. Why the anger? Why the tantrums? "It takes space"....WHAT SPACE?!

God! You guys are getting more and more unbearable.

So Super Mario SP is just if you've completed Star Road? I need to check it out, in all the years I've played it, I'm sure I missed one hidden level.

@Angelic_Lapras_King Maybe I'm a lazy kid, but I've tried some of the SP versions and they're kinda fun! It is nice sometimes when you want to do kill some time and not start a game from scratch to just jump in late game or play the Secret Levels right out of the box. Think of it like the old Game Genie codes and I think they preserve that retro experience of screwing around with late-game stuff and are officially endorsed by Nintendo.

If Nintendo doesn’t fix their business practices, I’m going to be sticking to the power of emulation for my Nintendo games.

@Wexter Shame on you for liking the SP versions, you're supposed to be complaining about how useless and unfun they are. It's like you think games are meant to be played or something.

@ArcticEcho I know right!? And here I thought I just put them on a shelf to look nice as if it was an old hardcover book! Who here actually thought you should play games

@spiderman0616 Super Mario Kart SP is well worth being there because all the cups and ccs are already unlocked from the start. Otherwise, you need to start at Mushroom Cup 50cc and work your way up.

Honestly, I think they've mostly been implemented well as a way to dip into a cool feature before investing masses into the game. Wouldn't do it for VC format, but it works for this model imo

Having the SP versions of games feels like the equivalent of a TV Show I used to watch with these 2 dumb kids who somehow found themselves on a high intelligenc, low ratings game show called "High School Quiz," in the middle of the episode, the developers of the game show thought they could boost ratings by having dumb people win, and then those dumb kids running around telling everyone how smart they are.

I am sure Nintendo will make it so all a player needs to do is walk into the final boss, so all non gamers can pretend they 100% Super Mario World.

@HammerGalladeBro but it won’t be your accomplishment as you used the SP ROM to see the ending leaving it as a bit of a hollow victory.