this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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I think I'd have to go with SMW

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[–] PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 69 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Super Mario World all day long.

SMB3 was an absolute banger and revolutionised the platforming genre while making the hardware run things it had no business doing, so much so that even id Software took inspiration from it.

World just improved the formula in every single way though. Far from ragging on SMB3, World just took an amazing game and polished it up beyond what was expected.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They made both games at the same time. In my opinion there isn't even a competition. Both games are showcases of the best of each console.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

Sorry, that's not correct. SMB3 was released in 1988 in Japan. It was delayed in North America until 1990 and released in the same year as SMW, while Nintendo of America ironed out its Super Nintendo console launch.
Super Mario World, in fact, started development as a port of Super Mario Bros. 3.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (4 children)

SMB3 has better powerups, though.

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[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

making the hardware run things it had no business doing,

Speaking of hardware limitations, Kirby's Adventure plays like a mid gen SNES game, I have no idea how they got it running on NES. I need to play through it again

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Kirby's Adventure is the largest NES game ever officially released in terms of ROM size, and has a frankly absurd amount of graphics tiles. Just consider all of those required for the copy abilities thumbnails alone and you'll see what I mean. It pulled basically every trick the MMC3 mapper is capable of, and was definitely a masterpiece of the system in the original sense, i.e. it displays astonishing mastery of the mechanics of the Famicom/NES.

What I find more amazing is that the MMC3 isn't one of the mappers that confers any additional sound channels and the American NES didn't support that capability anyway. So the entirety of the game's iconic soundtrack fits within the confines of the NES' two square waves, one triangle wave, one noise channel, and singular PCM channel.

I think ultimately it ran into memory constraints, even with the additional 8 KB provided by the mapper. If you sit back and look at them as a whole, its levels are all quite short. It's still my favorite NES game bar none, though.

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[–] Fluffy_Ruffs@lemmy.world 41 points 1 month ago (1 children)

SMW for me but that's not to downplay just how unbelievably good SMB3 was at the time.

[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago

Especially coming from the Jank that was smb2.

[–] shutz@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 month ago (3 children)

SMB3 was a revolution. SMW was an evolution.

I personally prefer SMB3 because the controls feel tighter, where SMW sometimes feels "floaty". But it's a subtle difference. SMW gives you way more content, but not all of it is as good or as well-designed as the levels from SMB3 (though again, the difference is subtle.)

They are both all-time top games, as is Mario 64.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

World has everything 3 introduced and more with better visuals. So SMW is the right answer.

Really it comes down to level design. And IMO, the secret star road levels are some of the best even counting later games. Tubular! Gnarly! Radical!

But if Yoshi's Island was an option...

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

SMBWorld had a much deeper realm of secrets and challenges, and a much sharper aesthetic, and was tied directly to the new, shining world of 16-bit gaming which it took full advantage of to make better visuals and audio. I would love to be able to relive those weeks of playing SMBWorld for the first time and the feelings of awe and amazement and discovery that went with them.

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[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 14 points 1 month ago

SMB3 easy choice for me. I like the NES soundchip over muddy SNES just in general and the physics in SMB3.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The choice is obvious.

3 has Tanukis.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] MeowerMisfit817@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

i swear i never saw a kuribo shoe on this and played the game for five months now

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[–] stupidcasey@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

B. For the simple reason the color palette doesn't look like shit.

also it is full of more variety,Yoshi, better secrets, better audio, Yoshi, better physics, you can go backwards and Yoshi,

[–] draneceusrex@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Yoshi, full stop.

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[–] MeowerMisfit817@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I can't see SMB3 without remembering that once I was playing it with my brother and my dad comes in, saying he hates that game.

Later, we ask him why does he hate the game, he says he's really got no reasons, but still hates the game.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

My dad would routinely come in and see anything we had going on the TV, from cartoons to video games, and express how much he hated that thing, or how he didn't understand how we could enjoy it.

Parents out there... don't do this. Stop feeling envious or resentful of children for being able to be happy.

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 10 points 1 month ago

As much as I love SMB3's powerups (hammer bro 4 life), I'd go with World because you can replay levels and even castles with L+R. Fuck Tubular, tho

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Apples and oranges they’re both the best game ever.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago

SMW. Peak Mario on SNES.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

3 is my favorite of the two, but World was objectively better in terms of mechanics and overall design. Still, I'll always play 3 if given the choice between them.

[–] kadaverin0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Super Mario World. More gameplay with better graphics and sound. It was the first video game I ever beat.

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[–] namingthingsiseasy@programming.dev 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's a very interesting question. In terms of which game I'd rather play, it's SMW. But in terms of technical achievement, SMB3 is unquestionably better (in my opinion of course).

SMB1 was a watershed moment for gaming - perhaps the biggest that there ever was. SMB3 was a revolutionary improvement on top of that. In light of that, SMW almost feels like a bland port. This isn't to say it's bad by any means, but in terms of the impact that it had on gaming as a whole, it's not very significant and just feels like an iterative improvement.

SMW is still a great game! And if I could only play one for the rest of my life, I would choose it over SMB3. But in terms of historical impact on gaming, I would say that SMB1, Mario64 and SMB3 were more revolutionary.

Yoshi's Island is my favorite however.

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[–] Skkorm@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

World and is not close

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 month ago
[–] hakase@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

3 over World, but SMB2 is the best Mario game on the NES.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Which SMB2 ? SMB2 in Japan was later released internationally as “The Lost Levels”. The SMB2 that got release in the US and Europe was actually a reskined Japanese game called “Doki Doki Panic” which means it wasn’t even really a Mario game in the first place!

[–] hakase@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I knew this comment was coming.

The SMB2 that was a direct sequel to SMB1 came out for Famicom Disk System, not NES. There's only one SMB2 that came out for NES.

Also, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic was an advertising game released specifically for Fuji TV's Yume Kōjō entertainment expo in 1987. As such, because it was just a one-off event title, they took a prototype platform game that Miyamoto had already influenced Tanabe to make more "Mario-like" (but was shelved when the Famicom couldn't run it as intended), reskinned it to feature the characters and setting of the expo, and released it for the Disk System.

So, NES Super Mario Bros. 2 was a polished, Mario-themed reskin of a rushed reskin of a prototype Mario-esque platformer.

All of that is to say that, yes, Doki Doki Panic was in fact most likely a Mario game in the first place.

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

SMB2 is the best Mario game on the NES.

This is like people who prefer Star Trek IV over II or VI, and I respect the off-kilter energy.

[–] digredior@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 1 month ago

The meme options should have been B then A

[–] nomorebillboards@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

SMB3 controls better.

[–] deacon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

SMB3 has gotta take this but just barely.

Super Mario world is obviythe better game because that's the one I have more nostalgia for.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

3 is extremely cool and all, epecially for what NES can output. But SMW has an insane mechanics with higher skill ceiling. Speaking as a player who haven't played any of these two but watched some pros/speedrunners play them.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's people alive who haven't played these??

TIL

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[–] ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

I have played and beaten both games too often to count, and while they're both excellent the way Mario controls in SMW always throws me off for the first couple of minutes. I can't quite put my finger on it, but SMB3 just feels better, more weighty I guess.

[–] 4grams@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Tough choice but I’m reluctantly picking World. It’s probably because as a kid I had a NES, but never a SNES, so all my SMW play was at friends or the demo kiosk at the store.

Not until I was a 20something when I traded a used motherboard for an old SNES and played the shit out of it.

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[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago (5 children)
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[–] zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

SMB3 is peak Mario, but Super Mario World is probably second place.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

SMW, easily. Being able to freely use the map to play levels at will and unlock secrets still hasn't been matched by any other 2D Mario game.

Graphics and music-wise, it's fair to use the SNES version as a comparison, so that's mostly a wash.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Me: pencils in SM64

Teacher: “I have nothing left to teach you.“

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[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Why choose when you're an All Star, baby!

Edit: oh right. Only one version of All Stars included SMW, hehe

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I'm gonna go apparently against the grain and agree with OP. Choosing is hard. Both amazing games.

[–] teft@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

World. 1000%

[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I'd pick SMB3 on the SNES/GBA vs. NES over SMW.

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[–] arran4@aussie.zone 4 points 1 month ago

I liked 3 a lot, it introduced a lot of new elements paving the way for world. But world IMHO is better.

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