Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
In a retrospective interview, the core team said Miyamoto wielded the most authority during development.
In an interview with TOUCH Magazine, then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi pointed out that sales of the Famicom were slowly dropping ever since its peak about two years earlier, and that if they continued supporting it, players would eventually "get bored" and move on in favor of better-quality games, which would be "a dangerous situation" for them.
According to Tezuka, the software tools were not yet fully developed, and the team had to "go along with starting something new".
As development of Super Mario World progressed, the team opted to use a "dinosaur land" setting, so Tezuka asked designer Shigefumi Hino to draw a reptile-like creature based on Miyamoto's sketches.
Hino originally produced a design that Tezuka deemed too reptilian, and "didn't really fit into the Mario world", so he encouraged the designer to create a "cuter" character.
As development progressed, Kondo grew concerned over how people would react to his unusual combinations of instruments as he noted the use of more traditional square waves and triangle waves had "gained acceptance" with consumers.
Karn Bianco from Cubed3 enjoyed the relaxed visual style, and praised Nintendo for keeping everything "nice and simple" designing a game perfect for children.
IGNs Lucas Thomas said it was a significant leap over the visuals of the 8-bit era, but in retrospect felt it did not distinguish itself from being a graphically-upgraded continuation of its predecessor, Super Mario Bros.3.
Morgan Sleeper of Nintendo Life said Super Mario World was the "graphical holy grail" that retro-styled games aspire to, and he insisted that its design holds up well today.
Swan said it used the SNES' PCM chip to its fullest potential, and both he and Glancey agreed that the sound effects were "mindblowing".
Goyon praised the originality of the soundtrack, and thought the technical contribution of the SNES allowed players to enjoy a "globally magnificent" composition.
In 2009, a poll conducted by Empire voted it "the greatest game of all time".
In 1996, GamesMaster ranked Super Mario World 3rd on their "The GamesMaster SNES Top 10" list.
In 1995, Total! named it the 11th-best SNES game and said it was "a contender for the best game ever".
Shigeru Miyamoto has said that Super Mario World is his favourite Mario game.
In the "New Games Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu, the four reviewers gave 8, 9, 9, and 8, for a total of 34 out of 40, earning a place in the Gold Hall of Fame.
In the "New Games Cross Review" of the special issue of Famitsu, scored by different reviewers, it received 9, 9, 8, and 6, for a total of 32.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 25.76 out of 30, as shown below.
This score placed it 7th among all Super Famicom titles (323 titles in total, as of 1993).
In addition, in the "Best 30 by Category" printed at the end of the "Super Famicom All Catalog '93", a special supplement to the 1993-8 information issue of SUPER FAMICOM Magazine, it took No. 7 for overall rating, No. 4 for characters, No. 8 for music and sound effects, No. 9 for controls, No. 5 for absorption, No. 17 for value for money, and No. 9 for originality
As of 2011-8 (Heisei 23), the Wii Virtual Console version had earned a bronze rank (recommendation level 80-85%) in "Everyone's Recommendations" within Minna no Nintendo Channel.
The game book Super Famicom Daihyakka, published in 2017, introduces this game as 1 of them in the section "20 super-god games boasting legendary fun".
It recorded cumulative sales of about 20,610,000 copies, the 1st highest of all time for Super Famicom software worldwide, and in Japan about 3,550,000 copies were sold, placing it 2nd, behind Super Mario Kart (3,820,000 copies).
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the game scored a total of 34 out of 40, earning a place in the Gold Hall of Fame.
In Japan only 2 titles launched alongside the console: Super Mario World and F-Zero.
Super Mario World has sold 20.61 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling SNES game.
In the United States, Super Mario Advance2 for the Game Boy Advance sold 2.5 million copies and earned $74million in revenue by August 2006.
In December 2019, review aggregator GameRankings ranked Super Mario World as the 78th highest-rated game of all time, with an aggregate score of 94% based on nine reviews.
The best-selling game is Super Mario World, with over 20.6 million units sold.
It sold more than twenty million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling SNES game.
Super Mario World has sold 20.61 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling SNES game.
The visuals and presentation were two of the most praised aspects.
Karn Bianco from Cubed3 enjoyed the relaxed visual style, and praised Nintendo for keeping everything "nice and simple" designing a game perfect for children.
AllGames Skyler Miller and Alex Navarro of GameSpot both praised the characters, colourful visuals and animation.
Four reviewers in Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the number of secrets and diversity among its levels, expressing appreciation that Nintendo did not recycle assets from Super Mario Bros.3.
Goyon praised the originality of the soundtrack, and thought the technical contribution of the SNES allowed players to enjoy a "globally magnificent" composition.
The best-selling game is Super Mario World, with over 20.6 million units sold.
Super Mario World was the first Mario series game developed for the then-upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
As Super Mario World was the first game developed for the SNES, Kondo felt "overjoyed" at being able to compose music by using eight sounds at once.
Super Mario World was officially unveiled in the first Shoshinkai event on July 28, 1989, during a press release.
Super Mario World was produced during the console warsa result of the rivalry between Nintendo's SNES and Sega's two-year-old Mega Drive systemwhich outsold the console and led to intense competition between the two, being the first time since December 1985 Nintendo did not lead the market though it eventually overtook Sega.
Super Mario World was first released in Japan on 21 November 1990 under the name of Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4.
All-Stars contains enhanced remakes of the first four Super Mario games released for the NES: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.2, Super Mario Bros.3 and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
In a poll conducted in 2008, Yoshi was voted as the third-favourite video game character in Japan, with Cloud Strife and Mario placing second and first.
Nintendo also issued a version for arcade cabinets so players could try the game before buying it.
In its final issue in October 2014, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked Super Mario World the third-greatest Nintendo game, behind The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) and Super Mario Galaxy (2007).
Outside Japan, a Mario Set was released bundling with the console the limited edition software Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, which included this game as well as Super Mario All-Stars.
Hino originally produced a design that Tezuka deemed too reptilian, and "didn't really fit into the Mario world", so he encouraged the designer to create a "cuter" character.
A Super Mario World clone, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, was in development for the Philips CD-i device by NovaLogic from 1992 to 1993, but was cancelled because of the console's commercial failure.
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