Streets of Rage Series Resource

Easily my favorite beat em’ up series of all time, Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle is an essential for any retro gamer. The gameplay in this series is timeless, setting standards in the genre that have rarely been surpassed. The music is the best in the genre bar none, and can be included in talks for best video game soundtracks of all time.

In addition to the objective greatness of the series, the games have been central to many of my childhood memories and are so universally appealing that even my wife, who has only a mild interest in video games, adores the games.

Below is a link to a hub pages article I wrote that includes an overview of the entire series as well as fan projects. The article was written before I created this blog, but it contains a tremendous amount of useful information.

https://hubpages.com/games-hobbies/streets-of-rage-series-resource

 

What do you think about the Streets of Rage Series? Is it the best beat em’ up series ever, or am I biased (probably)? Comment Below.

PSA: Battle for Net Neutrality 

To keep it simple and brief, ISPs are pushing Congress to abolish net neutrality. This would allow ISPs the control internet speeds, displayed content and much more. The internet as we know it will cease to exist, replaced with a corporate-controlled shell of its former self. These companies would have the ability to charge extra for full speed access to certain sites, like social media, much like HBO packages on cable. These companies are already like Shinra, from FF7, don’t give them anymore power.

Fight for the Internet below, the vote is in 2 days:

https://www.battleforthenet.com

Retro News: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Announced for Switch, Xbox One, PC and PS4

Piggybacking off of the recent announcement of Megaman 11 and the future re-release of the of the entire Megaman X series, Capcom has again made my week with the announcement of a 30th Anniversary Street Fighter Collection. The collection is jam-packed with content, containing the following:

  • Street Fighter
  • Street Fighter 2
  • Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition
  • Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting
  • Super Street Fighter 2
  • Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo
  • Street Fighter Alpha
  • Street Fighter Alpha 2
  • Street Fighter Alpha 3
  • Street Fighter 3
  • Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact
  • Street Fighter 3: Third Strike


In addition to the massive collection of games, there will be four games with online functionality including Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Street Fighter 2: Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.  The pack also contains a sprite viewer, versus CPU battles while waiting for online matchmaking and save states to bookmark single player progress. 

Street Fighter II was one of the first few games my cousin taught me to play when I was two years old, and for that reason the series has held a special place in my heart. I have spent countless hours on consoles and in arcades being thoroughly mediocre at this series, and relishing every second of it.

Is this a return of Capcom to its former glory? Or just a quick, albeit desirable, cash grab? 

Retro Revamped # 1: Bravely Default (3DS)

Image result for bravely default cover

Retro Revamped is a series of review articles written about new games that attempt to embody the founding principles of their respective genres, whilst still yielding an experience that feels nuanced and fresh. What constitutes a game that “feels” retro is completely my subjective opinion, and may not have been the intention of the developers.

Introduction

Bravely Default is a spiritual successor to the DS game, Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light, which sought to carry on the legacy created by the original Final Fantasy on the NES. Unlike The Four Heroes of Light, however, Bravely Default, chooses to innovate rather than rely purely on nostalgia and fan-service. This game retains the turn-based elements of antiquity, while enhancing it with an innovative battle system that uses risk-reward as a central tenet.

This game is responsible for reviving my interest in JRPGs, following a 5-year hiatus related to burn out. I grew up in the golden age of RPGs, during the SNES and PSX days and have played hundreds of games in the genre, including some obscure titles. As time went on I had less and less time to spend enveloped in 60-90 hour JRPGs and had to settle for other genres with less daunting playtimes that provide more short-term rewards. Despite lack of time Bravely Default hooked me so fast I was quickly trading valuable sleep for just a “few more minutes,” that quickly turned in to hours.

Continue reading “Retro Revamped # 1: Bravely Default (3DS)”

Blazing Lazers Resource (Turbografx-16/PC Engine)

Link to the TL;DR Review:

For those who don’t like words: Blazing Lazers TL;DR Review

Introduction

The TurboGrafx-16, also known as the PC engine in Japan, was at the time the go to platform for shmups. In Japan the console was immensely successful, but in the United States it sold very poorly after a seemingly successful launch. The lack of user base resulted in a number of the systems incredible games being ignored by the US consumer base. Blazing Lazers, also known as Gunhed in Japan, was one such game, despite being one of the most popular on the console.

Blazing Lazers was based on the 1989 Japanese science fiction film Gunhed. All references of the film were removed from the North American release, for obvious reasons. The player controls the Gunhed Star Fighter in an attempt to destroy the evil Dark Squadron.

Continue reading “Blazing Lazers Resource (Turbografx-16/PC Engine)”

Megaman II Resource

Megaman II Resource (NES, Wii Virtual Console, Iphone, Ipad, Ipod Touch, Sega Genesis)

Although the first Megaman game, released in 1987, had not so stellar sales, CAPCOM gave permission to Megaman’s development team to create a second game in the series. This would improve upon the previous game in nearly every aspect: audio, visual, gameplay, etc. The “Master Robots” were increased from 6 to 8 allowing for a longer, more complex game (it was the intent of the creators to have 8 bosses in the original, but they were strapped for time). Megaman II is the best selling Megaman game to date, and has always been a favorite among critics and players alike. This article is dedicated to one of the greatest videogames of all time, and arguably the greatest game in the Megaman Franchise. This article will contain everything you need to remain informed about this 1988 classic.

 

Game Review

Graphics: 10/10

For an NES game these graphics are perfect to me. Though this is long before the time of graphics even appearing to be 3-D, CAPCOM fully utilized the 8-bit power of the NES to create vivid colorful backgrounds and large impressive bosses in Dr. Wily’s castle. All the backgrounds fit the levels perfectly. Towards the end of the game some of the backgrounds become less impressive, but the darkness kind of fits the end game ambiance so I give it a pass

Audio: 10/10

Best NES soundtrack ever, no jokes. The tracks are very upbeat and Dr. Wily’s Castle 1 theme is considered one of the best songs in videogame history.

Controls: 9.9/10

Megaman II’s controls are slightly improved over the original game, but basically keeps the same TIGHT controls that the Megaman series has become known for. Megaman does not jump ridiculously high like most game’s heroes, but it is still much better then some NES games that jumping is absolute torture because the hero jumps like an inch. His jump, in my opinion is the perfect balance of these two extremes. Movement, jumping and shooting are all incredibly smooth and can be performed simultaneously without any issue. Climbing ladders is somewhat slow and when hit by enemies falling speed is nuts off of ladders, but thats the only issue with the controls I can find (this can be corrected by holding up on the D-Pad, while falling you will grab the ladder again after the initial shock of a collision.)

Fun: 10/10

This game is ridiculously fun and is a great game to start at if you are new to the NES Megaman series, which are considerably difficult if you are not used to the games. All the levels are awesome and different enough to make this game unique among the series. You can choose at which order you tackle the Robot Masters to choose your own path through the game. After defeating each boss, you obtain their weapon which does critical damage against one other robot master in the game, so it is quite possible to beat the game quickly by exploiting the weaknesses of each one. My only gripe with this game is it is a little to easy, especially when compared with the nearly impossible Megaman I… some of the boss battles in that game were BRUTAL. There is however a Difficult Mode to choose to make up for this, which is only slightly more difficult, but good enough to get this game a perfect score for FUN.

ALSO THIS GAME CAN SAVE YOUR DAMN PROGRESS with a password system, which is so awesome and such an improvement over Megaman I.

Replayability: 9.5/10

This game is highly replayable as there are so many paths to take through the game and two difficulty levels to try. This game is a TIMELESS classic and you can pick it up 20 years from now and still have as much fun as you do know. The only reason this section got any points off is because of the lower difficulty of this game (however, this may make it even more replayable for some because this game is actually possible to beat)

BOSS GUIDE

The suggested order in which you should defeat the bosses: METAL MAN, FLASH MAN, QUICK MAN, WOOD MAN, AIR MAN, CRASH MAN, BUBBLE MAN, HEATMAN (Keep in mind this is one of the few Megaman Games were the order almost doesn’t matter because METAL MAN’s weapon absolutely decimates everything except a few)

Robot Masters

Metal Man

Seriously the easiest battle ever for the best weapon in the game. Use the Arm Cannon against him and he will go down quickly. What you need to do is avoid his Metal Blades, which is actually slightly challenging, considering you are battling him on a conveyor belt. The best strategy is to jump up and down shooting as quickly as you can, this makes Metal Man shoot is blades in a way that leaves an opening for you to jump through.

When you defeat Metal Man you get his weapon and the ability to shoot metal blades in all directions (including diagonally). This weapon also requires very little power so it basically replaces the arm cannon for the rest of the game.

Flash Man

Maybe even easier than Metal Man… Use the Metal Blade to demolish Flash Man, but really the arm cannon does the job as well. He has a pattern of charging towards you while jumping up and down, you can probably just get away with taking the hits and continuing to shoot, but he can be dodged when he gets close. Jump over him and shoot him some more then he repeats the pattern.

After you defeat this poor excuse for a Robot Master, you get a pretty useful power: time stopper. The enemies on the screen freeze and can’t move, but it used its whole power in one shot. Another drawback is the inability to stop it once started.

You also get Item-3, which is useful for reaching high places. It attaches to a wall and allows you to jump on it. It’s the least useful of the 3 items in my opinion, but it is still good.

Quick Man

Quick Man is an especially easy opponent if you have acquired the Time Stopper weapon. Use it once and it will drain his health half way, the arm cannon should finish the job. If you haven’t its still okay he isn’t especially hard. He moves very quickly across the screen towards megaman and will occasionally jump and fire a boomerang. A player with even slight skill could take him down with the arm cannon, but using a Crash Bomb will do the trick if you are willing to let Megaman take a little damage. Simply fire a Crash Bomb at the wall and stand under it, Quick Man will continue to rush towards you and be caught in the explosion. A few hits of this should significantly damage/ kill QuicK Man.

When you defeat Quick Man you will gain the ability to shoot his Quick Boomerangs. It is a pretty useful weapon as it returns to you after firing. This is my second favorite weapon in the game I’d say… but nothing compares to the Metal Blade.

Wood Man

Wood Man is a little tubby tree stump who is a bit of a pain in the ass if you do not have a weapon that can damage him. He is surrounded by his leaf shield for most of the battle except in the instances in which he decides to fling it at you. He also has leaves fall from the ceiling which are damaging as he simultaneously launches the Leaf Shield at you. To avoid this position yourself between the falling leaves as far as possible from Wood Man, when he fires the shield jump over it. This is harder than it sounds.

Woodman is weak both to Atomic Fire and Crash Bombs. A fully-charged Atomic Fire can kill Woodman in one hit, but does not effect him if the shield is up. Crash Bombs are very effective and penetrate his shield, so I tend to stick with the Crash Bombs because one can just fire away instead of be way to precise. Now if you are following my suggestion you won’t have either of these… WHAT!?!?!? Well thankfully the Metal Blade will be more than enough to defeat him because they can be fired so rapidly, but this requires more skill dodging his leaves (You definitely can do it trust me)

After winning you receive the Leaf Shield, which surrounds Megaman with the same shield as Woodman. The shield can also be fired both horizontally and Vertically (for vertical hold the D-Pad up)

Air Man

Air Man is somewhat of a challenge, at least more than some of the others. This challenge comes not from being able to take alot of hits, but from his annoying attacks and patterns. Air Man has a pretty predictable pattern that can be taken advantage rather easily…. IF you can recognize it quickly enough: he blows tornadoes toward you (5 or 6) 3 times in a row and then will jump to the other side of the screen and blow tornadoes again. Where it gets difficult however, is the random placement of the tornadoes that he blows at you forcing you to adapt. He also blasts wind that will push you backwards.

You want to attack Air Man when he is jumping from one side to the other… he will it takes him two jumps to make it across so blast him, preferably with the Leaf Shield which takes a large chunk of his health away with each hit. The Arm Cannon will still do the job relatively quickly, but avoiding his attacks becomes even more important.

After defeating him you get his Air Shooter, which shoots out a tornado and Item-2, which is a rocket-propelled platform that quickly moves you in the direction you are facing without having to worry about pitfalls (it will fly away without you if you are not quick so be forewarned).

Crash Man

Crash Man is a pain for me and always has been. I have always had alot of trouble with him… UNTIL I started beating Air Man before playing against him. So my main hint for beating Crash Man is beat Air Man First . Now that we have that out of the way he is very easy now shoot him with the Air Shooter a few times and he is dead. He tends to jump and shoot his Crash Bombs this is when you want to hit him as the Air Shooter naturally travels upwards when fired.

If you want to be stubborn and use the Arm Cannon, well I finally learned how to defeat him… DON”T STOP MOVING, seriously just run and gun with the arm cannon avoiding his jumps and crash bombs. Easier said than done, but it is definitely possible. Some people can defeat him unscathed, but I usually get hit AT LEAST once.

When you defeat Crash Man you get his Crash Bomber as a weapon, which can be used both to attack and blow out walls that are composed of small blocks.

Bubble Man

Some say Bubble Man is hard, I disagree. You have to have a good touch with underwater jumping to defeat him with the Arm Cannon, but its definitely possible. The spike lined ceiling, which kills you in a single hit, is more of a threat than Bubble Man himself. He swims around semi-slowly firing his bubbles at you. Just jump slightly and shoot (DO NOT HOLD THE JUMP BUTTON TOO LONG OR YOU WILL HIT THE CEILING).

Now if you followed my suggested order, you already have the Metal Blades… If this is the case its the easiest battle ever. Stand at the bottom and aim the Metal Blades at Bubble Man who is at the ceiling. Shoot fast and avoid jumping as it is now unnecessary.

Once You defeat Bubble Man you receive Bubble Lead, which shoots a bubble across the ground which travels until it hits something.

Heat Man

Heat Man is one of the coolest looking Robot Masters (besides Metal Man of course). He is somewhat challenging, but winning is definitely possible. He shoots three fire balls at you which then form fiery columns of death. When you hit him he sets himself aflame and hurls him at you making him temporarily invulnerable. This pattern can be taken advantage of by constantly hitting him with the Bubble Lead which severely damages him. A hit will cause him to charge at you, thus skipping the fireball shooting portion. He isn’t so bad really.

After defeating Heat Man you get the Atomic Fire weapon which is able to charge for a stronger attack. You also get Item-1, which allows you to use up to 3 upward floating platforms at once to better traverse the levels.

Wily’s Castle Bosses

Wily’s Castle 1

Mecha Dragon

I remember the first time i fought him, thought he was invulnerable to attack… what a pain. Luckily I figured out his weakness: Quick Boomerang. The setup of the platforms as seen in the picture and this is important in dodging his attacks simply jump between the 3 platforms (making sure to mix it up enough to keep away from the dragon… a solid strategy is to jump from the back block to the two front ones in alternating fashion). As you dodge the dragon keep shooting him with Quick Boomerangs and he will die (I don’t think anything else actually works)

Wily’s Castle 2

Room (Wall) Robot

This boss forms from the very room itself. Sections of the walls combine to form robots and are a pain to kill with the Mega Buster. However, the Bubble Lead can easily kill the robots if you can manage to hit them (Try jumping as they are forming). If you are having trouble with the Bubble Lead, use the Metal Blade, which can more easily hit them, but requires a good amount more shots to take down this Boss.

Wily’s Castle 3

Guts Man Bull Dozer

This is a massive recreation of Guts Man from Megaman I, but re-shaped into a vicious looking bulldozer. This is an easy ass fight with the Quick Boomerang. Just jump onto the platform of this bulldozer and shoot him in the face a bajillion times with the Boomerang.

Wily’s Castle 4

Wall Cannon Room

There are Cannons lining the walls protected by walls, both of which can only be destroyed by the Crash Bombs. However there aren’t enough crash bombs to finish the job. MY SOLUTION: destroy all the walls, then let cannons kill you, then replay level and regain power for the Crash Bombs, Then destroy all the cannons (the walls will remain missing). The advantage is this is simple, the disadvantage is that it is annoying and takes one life away from you.

There is another solution if your play it out right, bombs can be placed in specific places to blow up two things at once, and some walls need not be blown up. A video detailing how to do this is below (STARTING AT THE 5:12 MARK on the video)

How to beat the damn cannons

Starting from the 5:23 minute marker in the video (the whole video actually shows how to beat the previous boss too)

Wily’s Castle 5

Wily’s Castle 5 is simply a room full of transporters. You simply have to go through each one a fight the games bosses all over again, use the same strategies, with a few exceptions. Use the metal blade against metal man, for a OHKO, that’s right he dies in one hit by his own weapon. Also I would suggest saving Crash Bombs (or what’s left of them), Atomic Fire, and Bubble Lead (MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!) for the next phases of fighting. After defeating all the Master Robots a final time, another transporter becomes available, enter it and prepare to fight Dr. Wily.

STAGE 1:

The first stage of the battle you face against a flying robot. If you have Atomic Fire left you can hit the robot in the black bubble with 2 fully-charged shots of fire, if not you could use the arm cannon OR metal blades… I find metal blades easier since the can shoot diagonally. Wily shoots a laser ball out of the bottom of the machine that comes toward megaman in a U-shape. The U-shape will become steeper and steeper the more in the air you are since the ball homes in on you, its still pretty easy to dodge though.

STAGE 2:

The second stage of battle, Wily pokes his head out now and he is visible, but still in the flying machine. If you have any Crash Bombs shoot directly at Wily with them to make quick work of him. If not, you can use the arm cannon or Metal Blades to shoot Wily directly, once again I suggest the Metal Blades. Wily will shoot the same laser balls at you, but this time they bounce of the floor at you and he fires them nearly continuously, these are a little more difficult to dodge, so you may take a few hits.

YOU WIIIINNNNNN ….. not yet!

Wily’s Castle FINAL

Ok so this level has no enemies its a straight shot to the boss room, but there is lava dripping from the ceiling that is absolutely devastating to be hit with, proceed very cautiously and slowly time your movements right to make it to the Final Boss with FULL HEALTH.

When you enter the boss room, Dr. Wily appears in his little UFO looking thing and then transforms into….

Alien Wily

Yeah, he’s an alien now…. ok. You have no choice but to use bubble lead, its the only thing that works against him (that I know of at least). He simply floats around the room and shoots single shots of small laser balls at you, which are pretty simple to dodge and only do moderate damage if they hit you. BUT, DO NOT LET HIM RUN INTO YOU, if Wily runs into you it does MASSIVE damage avoid it at all costs. The best time to shoot him with bubble lead is when jumping and dodging a laser ball, make sure you are shooting when you are above him so it drops on him. This battle is kinda hard so stay on your toes.

After defeating the final boss, you will find out the alien was just a projection, and the real Dr. Wily begs for his life.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU BEAT THE GAME

Continue reading “Megaman II Resource”

Super Mario World Resource

SUPER MARIO WORLD Review

Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released August 13th 1991 is easily one of the greatest platform games of all time and arguably the best game in the Mario series to date. Its popularity to this day should be no surprise considering the various re-releases of the game, and the fact that it had become a collectors item to many (an unopened, factory sealed Super Mario World (SNES) goes for like $700 on amazon.) Anyway enough of the nonsense on with the review:

 

Graphics: 9/10 (Based on the SNES console’s capabilities)

Although by today’s standards these graphics would be considered rather basic, for 1991 these were top of the line. All the colors are presented to create a fun and exciting 2-D world and are varied greatly throughout the game. The player sprites are impressively detailed for a SNES game and even the minor characters are well done. Although the graphics are impressive to a point, they are no match for games like Donkey Kong Country and Starfox, which take the SNES to its graphical limit.

Controls: 10/10

As with most Super Mario entries the controls are simple, but very tight and responsive. In this game in the series additional actions are incorporated to better utilize the SNES controller which offers more buttons than its NES counterpart. These new moves such as the spin jump offer a fresh twist on the Super Mario by allowing the player to perform more actions and interact more completely with the environment. It helps alot that the SNES controller is one of the most comfortable of all time and Super Mario World surely takes advantage of this.

Fun: 10/10

This is by far the best Mario adventure to date and it has been over 20 years since its release in North America. The simple platforming action is timeless and easily much more complex than its predecessors. There are hours and hours of secrets to be unlocked and plenty of room for some two player action. Super Mario World is the same game in one or two player mode, but the cooperative efforts of two make the game much more enjoyable. The addition of Yoshi adds a whole new layer of gameplay allowing the player to take advantage of the green dinosaur’s impressive power. Better yet there are various hidden Yoshi variants that have unique powers of their own. Easily one of the most enjoyable experiences on the SNES.

Replayability : 10/10

This is where the game shines, it offers so many hidden levels and multiple ways to beat levels that it will keep you entertained for hours and hours (maybe even years.) I have been playing this game since I learned how to pick up a controller and to this day, 20 years later i continue to play this game regularly

 

The Controls

The Controls of Super Mario World are simple, but there are a couple of button tricks that aren’t so obvious to the new player. So make sure you learn them to become a better player

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The Basics

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Y Button

———–

The Y button is your action button. Use this button for the following:

– Hold down to run in combination with the D-Pad

– Press while wearing the cape to spin attack

– Press while having fire power to hurl a fire ball at the enemies

– Hold down while in the air and wearing a cape to slower your descent.

– Eat an enemy while riding Yoshi (and spit out that enemy once eaten.)

– Enter a level, when on the world map

B Button

————

– the B button has one main function JUMP.

– Can Jump further when in combination with the Y-Button when running.

– Enter A level when on the world map

A Button

————

– Spin Jump, this can be used to smash blocks (specifically the ones with “faces”)

– Spin jump with fire power to unleash a fire attack in both directions.

– Hop off Yoshi.

– Enter a level when on the world map

X Button

————

– Not really intended for use, but has functions

– Run in same manner as Y- Button

– Attack with cape and fireball in same manner as Y-Button

– Enter a level while on the world map.

L & R Buttons

——————-

– Exchange lives with another player in 2-Player mode by pressing one of these on the world map

– Press both simultaneously to enter a castle you have already defeated (Boss won’t be there though)

– In a level press one of these to shift the camera in left or right. Allows you to see dangers ahead.

D-Pad

———-

– Move (press left or right)

– Crouch (press down)

– Look up (press up)

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Advanced Skills

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High Jump

—————

While Riding Yoshi jump normally, than while in mid air quickly dismount, by pressing the A-Button, to leap further into the air. This makes getting to hard to reach places much easier. This also can be used to escape a pitfall death.

Controlled Jump

———————–

This is a vital skill for the speed player. When jumping simply press back on the D-Pad to come back a bit while in mid air. This is useful for more accurately landing on platforms at high speeds.

Cape Dive Bomb

————————

When flying with the cape press down on the D-Pad to launch to the ground at high speed, the shockwave will knock over shelled enemies.

Cape Flutter

——————

While flying with the cape alternately press left and right on the D-Pad in a controlled manner to flutter up and down. This can increase the distance of your flight exponentially.

 

CHARACTERS: Mario and Luigi

Mario and Luigi are back again to bring peace to the world. Obviously these are the player controlled characters and are most present in the game. In the SNES version they are no different and are basically just red and green copies of each other. Keeping up with the earlier games in the series Mario and Luigi are silent heroes and don’t say much throughout the game. Their goal is to save Dinosaur Land from Bowser and the evil Koopalings and of course save the Princess.

CHARACTERS: BOWSER

The evil menace who has plagued Mario and Luigi since their first adventure is back to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting heroes on vacation in Dinosaur Land. He now has a new means of transport, a crazy helicopter type apparatus which he uses in the final battle. No longer is he killed by simply knocking him off a bridge by cutting it, there is instead a more interesting battle in your future.

CHARACTERS:

The Koopalings

These little henchmen make their return in Super Mario World after making many an airship a pain in Super Mario Bros. 3. Each one has their own individual castle which is the final level of each area. Defeating them is generally simple, but some of the later Koopalings have some tricks up their sleeves that may test the skills of even the most seasoned veteran.

CHARACTERS: Yoshi

The newest addition to Mario’s squad. Yoshi and his many multicolored brethren ease Mario and Luigi’s trek across the perilous Dinosaur Land of which he is a native. He can accompany Mario and Luigi in any level except castles and ghost houses (Yoshi awaits the heroes return outside and they reunite, so you don’t lose him for entering such levels.) Green Yoshi can hatch from an egg as a full adult, while other colored variants require a feast of enemies to grow into mature form, but their abilities are more consistent and useful. Super Mario World is Yoshi’s first appearance and he has since become a staple in the Mario Universe.

CHARACTERS: Princess Peach

Once again captured Princess Peach Toadstool is in need of rescuing. She is being held captive in the Valley of Bowser in the very last room of Bowser’s Castle. Who will rescue her, who else? Mario and Luigi.

The Power Ups

In Super Mario World there is an array of power-ups and a new way to make use of them. Two power ups can be held at a time one on your character and one at the top of the screen that drops down either when pressing the select button or when you lose your current power. The amount of power ups has decreased from SMB3, but the addition of Yoshi keeps Super Mario World up to par.

The Mushroom: Powers Mario up, allows you to break blocks with your exponentially bigger head. No special power is granted, but you can take an additional hit from small Mario form.

The Cape: Flying reinvented. Pick up a feather and your ready for flight.The Cape is the replacement for the raccoon tail in SMB3 and works in a similar manner. Pick up speed, jump and fly away. Enemies can be hit when spinning as well. The new addition is the ability to dive bomb while flying, and to use the cape as a sort of parachute slowing your descent and sustain long distance flight (by alternately pressing left and right). One hit and your small.

Fire Flower: Not much has changed, use the fire power to fry enemies with a single button press. The additional power is using the A button spin jump which shoots fire in all directions. One hit and your small.

Yoshi: The dinosaur allows you to take an additional hit without losing any powers. When hit Yoshi runs away but can be re-obtained by simply jumping on his back again (watch out for pitfalls because Yoshi will plummet to his death.) There are many different Yoshis hidden throughout the world see the hidden level section for links to guides leading you to these colorful dinos.

The Star: Invincibility is granted for a limited time, kill whatever you can as fast as you can, kill many enemies in a row and gain extra lives.

Green Mushroom: 1up

Moon: 3up, the other celestial body in SMW is a real treat. These are truly a rarity and are very well hidden in the levels.

P Balloon: Mario inflates for a limited time and floats around. You have complete control in any direction, but are very slow moving.

Wings: Can only be used when riding Yoshi. Hop into the wings with Yoshi and gain the ability to fly throughout the entire level. These are truly a rare item and are vital in reaching some of the games secrets.

NOTE: In the GBA version the cape and fire flower allow you to take 2 hits. One reverts you back to Mushroom Power state, and the next makes you small Mario.

BOSS GUIDE

Reccuring Boss: Reznor

Reznor: Reznor are recurring dinosaur like bosses that are fought on a revolving platform. Each Battle starts with a floor over lava which slowly disappears as the battle rages on. The strategy is to quickly kill the first by hitting the bottom of the platform it is standing on, then jump onto its platform as soon as possible. Once on the rotating platform wait for the next Reznor to be directly overhead and jump to kill it and land on your platform again. Now you can jump between the two free platforms to eliminate the others by hitting them from below in the same manner.

Iggy Koopa

There are 2 ways to defeat Iggy Koopa, the point of both is to knock him off the platform he and Mario/Luigi is on. The first method is to jump on his head when the side Iggy is on is at its lowest point to knock him off, the second is to use fire power to do the same thing from a distance. This is a really simple boss fight, but may require you to jump on his head or shoot fire at him more than one time as he can only be killed by falling to his death in the lava below.

Morton Koopa

Morton Koopa is the easiest Boss in the entire game, thought there are not many really hard bosses in general. You are in a room with enclosed with 2 walls on each side and a floor and ceiling. You can kill Morton before he ever reaches the left wall by jumping on his head 3 times (giving time between each hit for him to revert back to his original shape)

Lemmy Koopa

The Battle against Lemmy Koopa is the first battle that takes at least some thought. The room is enclosed by walls with a series of pipes in the middle forming a platform that you stand on, and that Lemmy hides in. There is one real Lemmy and 2 fakes which are incredibly easy to tell apart. The Key is to jump on the real Lemmy 3 times and avoid the lone fire ball that circulates the room. If you accidentally hit the fake Lemmy, you will not die, but it will reset the position of all them if you do not quickly strike Lemmy.

Ludwig von Koopa

Ludwig is another easy boss, His main attack is shooting fireballs out of his mouth. When you hit the Komposing Koopa on his head he retracts into his shell and comes flying at you, dodge this attack, he will then shoot fireballs again. Rinse and Repeat… 3 hits kill him.

Roy Koopa

Roy Koopa is an interesting battle, it is very similar to the battle with Morton except this time the walls close in on you and Roy is more dangerous. You must defeat him before the walls close in completely and kill you. Jump on his head 3 times to defeat him. After each hit he will walk around the walls and walk on the ceiling and jump down at you, which is where your next opportunity to hit him.

Wendy O. Koopa

The Battle with Wendy is exactly the same as the battle with Lemmy, but their are now 2 fire balls which make the battle slightly more difficult. To make things easier try to be sure to have at least mushroom power so that you can take an extra hit before dying. Otherwise just follow the same strategy as Lemmy, but be much more selective in when to attack Wendy.

Larry Koopa

Larry Koopa is actually pretty hard even for Mario Veterans. The battle set up is identical to the battle with Iggy (the tilting platform), but with some painful new editions: There are 3 fireballs on the left, middle and right of the platform as well as Larry own fire ball attack that slides across the ground at you. You have to jump on Larry When he is standing between the fire balls to knock him off the side as you did with Iggy. I would suggest having at least a mushroom power to take a hit, but a fire flower would be infinitely more helpful as fireballs can also knock him of the side. If you are not precise and careful it may take more than one attempt… I tend to have much more trouble with Larry if I don’t have a power of some sort than I do with Bowser with no power.

Bowser

Bwahaha you made it to Bowser… but the battle with him is much more complex than every other boss in this game. Try to make it to the battle with some sort of power, because you will likely take some hits. If you have nothing don’t be way too worried as the Princess helps you out at the shift between each stage of the battle by giving you a mushroom (Just don’t let it go off the screen). This fight can be separated into 3 parts

PART I: Normal Bowser

In the Initial part of the battle Bowser simply swoops left and right in a “U” shape, coming to his lowest point in the middle… so avoid the middle of the screen. Eventually he will start throwing out Mecha Koopas, the weird little wind-up-toys, 2 at a time. The idea is to hit a Mecha Koopa on the head, pick it up, and toss it upward (pick it up by holding Y, then hold up and release Y…. if you are playing on GBA same idea, but use the B button. To get some extra height on the toss you can release the shell in the same manner, but while jumping). It takes 2 hits on the top of Bowser’s head to initiate the next phase of the battle, but before it starts there is a strange interlude where Bowser leaves the screen and fire rains down in 2 waves, which CAN KILL YOU. Avoid the first wave and then the second (the first wave will start disappearing as the 2nd starts coming down so use that to your advantage.)

PART II: Bowling Ball

In this phase Bowser drops a bowling ball on you that rolls across the ground until it leaves the screen, avoid it by jumping over it or spin jumping off of it. Be particularly careful jumping over the ball when you are close to Bowser’s Propeller. He will continually do this, just hang in there until he throws out more Mecha Koopas… keep dodging and throw the Mecha Koopas up at him the same way you did in Part I. 2 hits will do him in… another firestorm occurs DODGE IT.

PART III: Bouncing

In this phase Bowser hops up and down in attempt to crush you, Run and slide to make it under him and run away to avoid dying. He will pause his bouncing barrage and throw out some Mecha Koopas (which he can kill if you have them in flattened form…the form they take when you jump on the once), you already know what to do. 2 more hits and he’s dead. Good Job.

The GBA Version Boxart

The GBA Version Boxart

Re-Releases

Super Mario World was included in a special compilation on the SNES after its initial release: “Super Mario AllStars + World” which included enhanced SNES remakes of the NES Mario Classics (including the previously unreleased Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, entitled the lost levels in All Stars.) Super Mario World has also become readily available to today’s players. It has been re-released in an updated version on the Gameboy Advance handheld system. This new version features a few gameplay changes including Mario and Luigi character differences, A player with the cape or flower being able to take more hits, and power up placement changes. The GBA version is all the fun of the original with the added bonus of gba linkability and Super Mario Bros. Arcade. The video below, provided by youtube, is an unbelievably thorough examination of the SNES to GBA differences. (See the Amazon Spotlight widget to the right if you are interested in purchasing this version.)

Also for the more modern wii system the game has been re-released in its original SNES form available to download on the expansive virtual console network. The Wii emulation of this game is near flawless and cheap. The Wii version however does require the use of the Wii Classic Controller (or Gamecube Controller) and an internet connection (for the download) to play.

I am very pleased with the increase in availability of this game over the years. When i was forced to sell this game when my SNES broke i was pretty pissed, but luckily I was able to re-attain it on various other consoles to compensate for the tragic loss. These re-releases allow for an entirely new generation (and an older generation with broken consoles) to enjoy one of the best games on the SNES, and maybe one of the best games ever made.

SNES to GBA Differences PART 1

SNES to GBA Differences PART 2

SNES to GBA Differences PART 3

The Secret Areas

Star World
Star World

Super Mario World has one of the most extensive world maps of any Mario game and many levels and many secret goals in each level to unlock alternate routes and even secret worlds.

Secret Goal Guide

[I take no credit for this incredible guide it is solely the property of the author, StarFighters76. ].

The most interesting of the secret worlds are the Star Road and Special World areas. In Star Road each level can be beaten two different ways, one of which requires a keyhole hidden rather discretely in each. To add to the fun each level has its own unique yoshi egg, that hatches when approached by the player. At this point you have to hold the baby yoshi (in the same manner you would hold a shell) and feed it until its maturity by eating enemies. When grown each one of these Yoshis have their own ability when holding ANY color shell in its mouth. For example Blue Yoshi sprouts wings when eating any Koopa Shell (regardless of its color), while Green Yoshi needs to specifically eat a Blue shell to Fly. This flying ability is invaluable and makes finding the secrets in levels throughout the normal game infinitely easier. What are the rest of the Yoshi Powers? I don’t want to ruin it, but if you are interested you can check the Star World Guide provided.

Star World 1 Guide

Star World 2 Guide

Star World 3 Guide

Star World 4 Guide

Star World 5 Guide

[All these guides are property of Strategy Wiki and its authors. Very Concise Guides to each Level]

The Special world is a collection of the most challenging levels, seen no where else in the game all with hilarious titles like gnarly and tunular to name a few. Each level has some sort of gimmick that makes it difficult. For example one level you may have to use P-Balloons to maneuver through a level, but the power runs out quickly limiting the time you can waste dodging enemies before picking up the next balloon.

Special World Guide Starts Here

[once again not my property]

With such a large amount of secrets it is easy to see why Super Mario World has one of the highest replayability value of all games especially if you don’t use walkthroughs (why spoil the fun). A hint: every level on the world map designated by a red dot can be beaten two ways. (Keep an eye out for Ghost Houses because they usually have multiple goals, but don’t have any tell I am aware of)

Star Road Video Guide

 

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