Poll: The eternal debate... Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World?

[MajorTomServo]

It's one of those personality-gauging this-or-thats, like pancakes vs waffles or coke vs pepsi.

Which 2D Mario side scroller reigns supreme?

For me, it's a really close call, but I give my vote to World. It was the first Mario game I ever played, so it has that nostalgic factor for me. Usually though my answer comes down to whichever one I've played most recently. How about you?

 

[Savagezion]

World all the way. Yoshi FTW. Plus I just dug the overall improvements to the series in general. My brother insists on 3 though. You also got to twirl to break bricks! C'mon!

 

[StriderShinryu]

That's a tough one. I think SMW is the better experience being essentially a polished version of SMB3, but SMB3 just feels to this day to be more creative and "fun." I've gotta go with SMW being the better game.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Honestly, Super Mario World is probably the more entertaining and easy of the two, maybe partially because I don't have it quite as memorized. I actually only got to play SMW for the first time when the Gameboy Advance version came out and I was already an adult, since I never played a SNES before (all my friends had NESs and I had a Sega :C). But even later on it was really fun and I'd like to play it on a tv screen sometime.

But I'm still going to go with SMB3 for personal reasons, cause that was my special Mario tape and it introduced the Koopa Kids. Also it has that awesome fast doomship level.

 

[madwarper]

Got to go with World. It was just bigger, with more of an emphasis on exploration than merely getting through the current map the fastest or using a whistle to skip it entirely.

 

[Dragoon]

I'm going with World, it's pretty much better than 3 in every way apart from charm, there was just something about 3 that was endearing.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Gotta go with 3 I actually didnt like world for many years but thats not an issue anymore. I liked the maps better in 3 and how each one had a slightly different theme I especially liked giant world even though it didnt show up much (world 6 I believe).

Also 3 gave us the raccoon tail and Tanooki suit which were way cooler than the cape. World just wasnt as fun imo even if from a technical standpoint it could be considered the better game.

World just felt like a rehash/slight evolution of 3 to me and one that lost the something that made 3 so good.

 

[thesilentman]

Oh you! We all know that Mario 3 was the best! Don't deny it, you do know!

Yeah, it's Mario 3 for me. It's what got me into gaming, and I replay it every year to reexperience the wonder I felt at the game when I was a little kid.

 

[Darks63]

Three had its charm, but on the whole World was a lot better overall it had more diverse worlds to explore. Wolrd also felt less repetitive as well.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

World all the way. I can still enjoy SMB3 on it's own merits, but being able to replay levels seals the deal for me. Plus the ghost mansions were tiiiiiiiight. World wouldn't have existed without the ground broken by SMB3 (being able to pick up, throw, and run with objects like turtle shells, secrets that can only be reached by flight, scrolling levels forcing you to keep moving), but World had that great multiplayer aspect to it in that you could replay older levels with your friends to see who performs better. Once Mario or Luigi beats a level in SMB3, if memory serves, it's unplayable by the other.

That being said, the music in 3 blows World away.

 

[FourCartridge]

SMB3. It felt like it had imagination, charm, and was "complete" despite being Yet Another Sequel(even in plotless games this stuff still has effect). The power-ups were more varied, as was the enemies, there more locales to visit compared to World, and the Kings were people to interact that didn't try to kill ya; a clear middle act in the 3-act structure.

...Forget it, it's gut feeling. =P

 

[thiosk]

smb2 is the best.

ha!
SMB3 IS OKAY BUT smb2 involves throwing radishes at shyguys. RADISHES

Does smb3 have radishes?
The defense rests.

 

[Silvanus]

Gonna have to say World. It had Yoshis (of various colours, no less), Star World, and better secrets. I'm aware I may be biased, as I was quite a lot older by the time I played SMB3.


Thaaaat said, I would put Yoshi's Island above both. That game was the closest thing to 2D perfection.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...It was the first Mario game I ever played, so it has that nostalgic factor...

This is likely going to be the deciding factor for either/or and it's going to be the reason this debate will continue existing until we all get too old to remember which is which.

Anyway! I played World more often and can't even remember owning Super Mario Bros 3. I have it as part of the Wii collection but it's in storage at the moment...and I've never beaten that one when I did have a chance to play around with it.

Super Mario World however got a lot more attention out of me. I never made it to Tubular World and I don't even think I completed the Star World but I did beat a majority of the standard levels and, defeat Bowser multiple times. I'm pretty sure World was the first game I ever beat.

Since I spent so much more time with it, World wins out for me personally. I need to play more SMB3...

 

[FourCartridge]

smb2 is the best.

ha!
SMB3 IS OKAY BUT smb2 involves throwing radishes at shyguys. RADISHES

Does smb3 have radishes?
The defense rests.

Yes, SMB3 does have radishes... On the GBA port's e-Reader. XD

 

[Lunar Templar]

3

the only real improvement (post All Stars) is the interconnected world map and the ability to keep 1 extra power up for a back up or to swap on the fly (made moot by the lack of power ups)

World has like what? ONE power up besides the Mushroom, Flower and Star? Oh Right, Yoshi .... yeah no, not a suitable substitute for a HUGE lack of power ups.

 

[likalaruku]

For me its "Mario RPG vs Paper Mario".

 

[the doom cannon]

gotta vote smb3. it was my very first video game

 

[Weaver]

I went with 3, simply because I played it more

 

[RedDeadFred]

World.

Yoshi and the Cape made that game my favourite of the 2D Mario games.

Also, SMB2 is better than 3 IMO.