But which is better?
In my opinion, SMB3 featured a diversity of power-ups and enviroments never before thought possible, and while SMW indeed enriched much, espicially the World Map(not only following SMB3's footsteps of creating diverse and exciting worlds, but also pioneering concepts like the Star Road), I feel it ultimately fell short in gameplay even as it pulled ahead in innovation. The Koopalings improved tacticly, and, while I must say I missed the incredably original airships from SMB3, I felt the new arenas, featuring tilting platforms over lava and what not, were certainly a plus. At the same time, not much else was there. New enemies were indeed present, and many old ones were revamped, but the Yoshi dyanmic was intended to steal the show. While I feel it accomplished this at first, in the end I think (with nothing but love for Yoshi) it was ultimately pointless. I prefered the varied suits from SMB3 over Mario's green friend because they offered more - eating enemies and what not was certainly novel and entertaining, but was not enough to equal the sheer diversity of everything Mario could become in SMB3, from the infamously rare Kuribo's Shoe to near-omnipotent Hammer Mario.
Furthermore, SMW's main suit innovation, Cape Mario, always seemed a bit over-powered. You could do just about anything with it, and that ended up making poor Yoshi seem even more useless on the average level. SMB3's suits always seemed perfectly balanced. Fire flowers were in ample supply, but were countered by a host of enemies fireballs were useless against. Hammer Mario could knock out just about anything, even thomps, but the arc of the hammers meant it was difficult to hit enemies in a small space and the power-up itself was very rare. SMB3's rough equalivalent of the Cape Feather, the P-Wing, expired after the level you used it on was finished. SMB3 maintained an enviroment were you always challenged yet had fun due to the variety of tools at your disposal, SMW maintains the difficulty curve and enjoyability, but once you master Cape Mario and Yoshi theres little left to explore as far as gameplay variety. SMW's Special World's unique challenges only manage to emulate what SMB3 did throughout.
Graphically SMW wins, but not hands down as you might expect for a newer game. The overworlds are a huge step forward, and SNES' greater bit rendering abilities entail greatly improved character sprites, but SMB3 nevertheless offers quite a bit of aesthetic buff. SMB3 really pushed the NES to the limit, so its not completely lost in the dust during direct visual comparison. In pure personal preference, its hard for me to call - SMB3 managed to keep Mario's casual style in harmony with artistic overtones far more serious that SMW's almost universally light-hearted enviroments. I'd have to say SMW pulls ahead for aesthetics, due to the increased detail.
Overall, I'd personally give it to SMB3. Since the game introduced me to Mario, I can't deny there's a nostalgic element involved, but the gameplay variety is what really stands out. SMW does just as well, if not better, at varied enemies (Bowser's Clown Car, anyone?), but that element just isn't exploited enough with the gameplay variation that SMB3's endless suits pulled off. I like the artistic styles of both well, and SMW's greater detail takes the cake in the area, but I don't find the graphics enough to outshine SMB3's gameplay.
Anyway, thats my humble opinion, these are two are my favorite games of all time and thus I wanted to try and see what would happen if they went head to head. Tell me what you guys think: Do you agree with me? Or is Yoshi just too irresistible? Tell us why or why not!
