GAME · 1990 · JAPAN
Super Mario World
- Developer
- Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- Platforms
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Super System, Wii, Wii U
35 archived facts 6 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
35 Interesting Facts About Super Mario World
Interesting Facts (25)
- #001
At one point the design team planned to place a "No Yoshi Allowed" sign in the game. Instead, they created an animation in which Mario jumps off Yoshi when entering ghost houses, fortresses and castles.
- #002
With sales of 20 million copies, Super Mario World is the best-selling Super Nintendo game and the best-selling fourth-generation console game.
- #003
It is possible to beat the game by playing only about a dozen levels by revealing the Star Road portals.
- #004
Yoshi's arms are orange in the game regardless of Yoshi's color. The artwork on the box and in the game manual depicts only a green Yoshi with green arms. In Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (2001), the Game Boy Advance re-release, each color Yoshi's arms now match the color of its skin.
- #005
In the Super Mario All-Stars (1993) version of Super Mario World, Luigi has his classic appearance from Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) — tall and thin.
- #006
Super Mario World is Shigeru Miyamoto's favorite Mario game.
- #007
On the Special Zone map screen, before playing any level or warping on Star Road, if the player listens to the music for a few minutes, the Ground Theme from Super Mario Bros. (1985) will play.
- #008
The game is titled "Super Mario Bros. 4" in Japan.
- #009
The sound Yoshi makes when hatching from his egg is the same as the sound Tamagon makes when hatching from his egg in Devil World.
- #010
In the Japanese version of the game, Yoshi could eat Dolphins, but this was not possible in other versions.
- #011
After all the Special levels are completed, the landscape turns to autumn and some enemies wear Mario masks.
- #012
This is also the first game in which Fire Luigi has a different color scheme from Fire Mario, consisting of a white cap and a green shirt with overalls.
- #013
Luigi's in-game sprite shows him wearing purple overalls, while his overalls are blue in the official artwork. Luigi's ghost colors in this game would later be used as his default costume in Super Smash Bros. (1999).
- #014
There is a hidden area near the start of the game. It has no time limit or enemies and provides a free Yoshi and free items such as Super Mushrooms (if you are Small Mario), Fire Flowers, Cape Feathers, or 1-Up Mushrooms if you have a Yoshi.
- #015
In early development, the red switch palace was placed in Valley of Bowser as the secret exit of Bowser Valley 3; however, it was removed and placed in Vanilla Dome 2.
- #016
All of the main worlds in this game — except Yoshi's Island, Forest of Illusion, Star Road, Valley of Bowser and Special World — take their names from a type of candy or snack (such as a donut or cheese).
- #017
In 2021, data miners were able to extract audio samples from the game's data and present how the music in the game would sound in its uncompressed form.
- #018
This is the first game in which Mario, Luigi and Peach are shown wearing gloves in-game, as they are in promotional artwork. In their earlier appearances, in-game sprites depicted them with bare hands because of the palette color restrictions of the NES games running on the hardware in question in the 1980s and early '90s.
- #019
Almost all of the music in the game is the same melody used in the first level, but rearranged only in certain places.
- #020
After the player clears Donut Ghost House for the first time, a river forms flowing from the lake that houses Donut Secret 1 to the ocean, and a bridge crossing the gap appears.
- #021
This is the first time Princess Peach is shown with blonde hair in-game to match her promotional artwork. Because of the color palette restrictions in her earlier appearances on the NES, she had red-orange hair in Super Mario Bros. (1985) and the Japan-only Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1986), and sandy-brown hair in Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) and Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988). However, in the later NES game NES Open Tournament Golf (1991) she had blonde hair but had to wear her minidress in green instead of pink, also because of the hardware's limitations in displaying color palettes for sprites and/or objects.
- #022
On the Wii's Virtual Console port, playing with GameCube controllers was the most difficult because of the mapping of the A, B, X and Y buttons and because players used their right index fingers to hold the X or Y Buttons to run and/or attack enemies and their right thumbs only for the B Button jump and the A Button spin jump. This is because the Wii Classic Controller's A, B, X and Y buttons are positioned similarly to those of SNES controllers.
- #023
In the SNES version, when ridden in 5. Roy's Castle and 7. Larry's Castle, the Snake Block emits a mechanical noise similar to Grinders and Chainsaws. In the Game Boy Advance remake, it makes a bubbly sound when stepped on.
- #024
The Sunken Ghost Ship level, which opens the passage to Bowser Valley, is actually the Airship from Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) (or at least a generic airship level). It is the only level in the game that contains Bullet Bills (from SMB3) and the '?' orb obtained after defeating Boom Boom. It is also the only Ghost House or Castle level that can be played while riding Yoshi. Taking the orb to open the passage to Bowser Valley is a direct reference to opening routes or paths on the level maps in SMB3.
- #025
An unofficial NES port made by the notorious unlicensed game company Hummer Team was released in 1995, toward the end of the Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer's lifespan.
Production Story (6)
- #026
Composer Koji Kondo chose to reuse the same themes he had created for Super Mario Bros. 3 in Super Mario World, presenting them in a rearranged form so players would recognise the melodies while hearing new variations as they progressed.
- #027
Koji Kondo felt "overjoyed" at composing music with eight sounds at once, as Super Mario World was the first game developed for the SNES.
- #028
To express the technological novelty of the new console, Koji Kondo used several different instruments in Super Mario World, implementing them all one after the other in the title song.
- #029
Koji Kondo grew concerned about how people would react to his unusual combinations of instruments in Super Mario World, noting that the use of more traditional square waves and triangle waves had "gained acceptance" with consumers; for the sound effects, he used a variety of musical instruments rather than square waves to emphasise that the game used traditional technology with a hybrid of new materials. It took Kondo around a year and a half to write all the music.
- #030
Nintendo delayed Super Mario World's release to late 1990 because the team struggled with the new console and its still-developing software tools, needed to refine concepts for more player-friendly controls, and faced a global chip shortage that slowed Super Famicom production.
- #031
At its first Shoshinkai showing, Super Mario World's technological advancements were considered impressive, but the game was still seen as too similar to earlier Super Mario installments in gameplay and graphics.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #032
In a retrospective interview, the core team of Super Mario World said that Shigeru Miyamoto held the most authority during development.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #033
Much like Bowser's Koopalings, the Reznors in this game reference a music artist: in this case, their name alludes to singer-songwriter Trent Reznor.
Deeper Meaning (1)
- #034
In the Special Zone, the symbol at the top of the map screen is the emblem of the Japanese Super Famicom, which was also used as the symbolic logo of the SNES in PAL regions.
Career & Awards (1)
- #035
The Koopalings were all named after celebrities: Larry Koopa after Larry King, a famous news anchor; Morton Koopa Jr. after Morton Downey Jr., an actor; Wendy O. Koopa after Wendy O. Williams, a musician and female performer from the eighties; Iggy Koopa after Iggy Pop, founder of the classic rock band The Stooges; Roy Koopa after Roy Orbison, one of the pioneers of pop-rock music; Lemmy Koopa after Lemmy Kilmister, singer and bassist of the metal band Motörhead; and Ludwig Von Koopa after Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous classical music composer of the 19th century.
Related pages
- Super Mario 64 — Super Mario World comes up in the facts on that page
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — Super Mario World comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Super Mario World — Wikipedia
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