Kobayashi Mario World

Hey all, trying not to burn out too fast on anime this summer so I'm going to be interweaving this estival season of Game OVA with some Tuesday one-shots, starting with a frank exploration (that might also be a secret chance to brag) of the RetroAchievements set for what I believe the most popular game (going by most amount of players) on the entire site: Super Mario World, the SNES launch game that made sure Nintendo's first sequel system really hit the ground running (or flying over it, depending on your current power-up). Naturally, the higher the profile a game has on that site the more scrutinized and considered its core achievement set: anything too outlandish or tough, like anything involving glitch tech or taxing endurance challenges, gets punted over into a nightmare-inducing "bonus set" I'm not even going to look at let alone attempt. What remains isn't exactly a walk in the park—one that will challenge your knowledge of the game as much as your skill—but still eminently doable. Famous last words, as always.

I won't go into the full set here—it has 89 in total, most of which are basic milestones—but I will briefly go over some of the less typical approaches this achievement set will have you try (and my own travails with same). As always, I have my handy Exasperometer at hand to give you a more vivid sense of how much hair was pulled out. Figuratively, at least. Once again, going for a Mario game's RA set always leaves me with a deeper appreciation for both their clockwork precision and for the amount of secrets they typically squirrel away.

Color by Yoshi (x4)

Getting the only missables in the set out of the way with first. This simply involves hitting all four Switch Palaces—Yellow, Green, Red, Blue—with a Yoshi of that same color. Green's obviously the easiest of the bunch, as the rest requires completing some Star World levels first and holding onto the uniquely colored Yoshi until you have the relevant Switch Palace available. As someone who usually makes a beeline to the Switch Palaces first and leaves Star World for later, this subset had me reversing my usual route. Not exactly challenging, at least compared to some of the others, but a demonstration of how this set intends to have you jumping through some unconventional hoops.

Exasperometer: 3 (average)

Change of Scenery

All Exits

These represent completing the game in its entirety, not just defeating Bowser. Change of Scenery is what happens when you complete SPECIAL World and enter through the final Star Gate: everything takes on an autumnal theme where the Koopas have taken to wearing Mario Halloween costumes and the Piranha Plants are all jack o' lanterns. Since autumn's my favorite season I always appreciated this Easter egg. Or, well, I guess the calendar opposite of Easter.

All Exits has you hunting down every exit to every level, including all the secret ones. The game gives you a bit of a hint with the level icons: red means there's more than one finish line. Of course, the mysterious Boo Houses give nothing away: you just have to assume there's more than one way out with most of them. Since both these achievements are typical targets in a 100% run they're not too out of the way, but I don't imagine many casual SMW fans normally go to all the trouble.

Exasperometer: 2

The Investigator

This was something I never figured out how to do back in the day. In the Forest Fortress, located on a secret route out of the Forest of Illusion, there's the boss door that leads to Reznor but above that is a path into a long lava room that you can't really glide across since there's too many fireballs popping up to knock you out of the flight animation. What you're meant to do is spinfly: getting a run up with the cape but hitting the spinjump instead of the usual hop. It gives you just enough forward momentum to spinjump across the hazards and land on the other side, where many 1-Ups await in (seemingly) haphazardly placed blocks. It does feel like an area the devs never intended anyone to visit—it also doesn't contribute to 100% completion, as if to lend additional credence to that theory.

Exasperometer: 4

Entering the Castle Ruins

A neat little piece of tech that isn't the most intuitive thing to figure out, unless it's mentioned somewhere in the back of the manual. Just hit L + R while you're standing on a destroyed fortress on the world map to play through it again. It's very handy to know if you're going for a full achievement set in a single playthrough.

Exasperometer: -1

Bonus on the X (x4)

Throughout the game there are these green blocks with stars on them, usually found late in a level. There's apparently four of them in total, given there's four achievements attached to them, and in order for them to drop something more exciting than a coin—a 1-Up, in fact—you have to collect a certain number of coins in that level before you reach it. Seems the cutoff is at least 30. SMW likes its little riddles.

Exasperometer: 2 (average)

Secrets of the X (x15)

Similar to the Bonus Blocks, there's a set of very well hidden 1-Ups that trigger when you complete a four step sequence without missing or getting the order wrong. Sometimes it's as simple as running in a straight line across a piece of flat ground but a few of them have you doing loop-de-loops or jumping on a series of small platforms in a specific order. No clue how people found these unless they were in magazines or they datamined the game (or got lucky), but it's neat that they've been there this whole time. Reminds me of the more creatively concealed 1-Ups in Super Mario 64 (or really the invisible 1-Up blocks in the first SMB).

Exasperometer: 2 (average)

Dragon Coins (x8)

Bit more devious now, there's one achievement for each region of the game where the goal is to collect all five of those big Yoshi coins in every level that has them. You have to be both thorough and daring to get a full set, since some are only in secret routes or require a courageous leap into the unknown to reach. Exacerbating matters is that you have to do all this in a single session: no game overs or resetting the game. Like the green coins and other collectibles in the modern linear Marios, this subset really helps you appreciate how complex the level design can get.

Exasperometer: 5 (average)

Moons (x7)

I don't think I remember grabbing any of them playing SMW as a kid but there's at least seven of these moon collectibles out in the world to find, each worth the equivalent of three 1-Ups. Definitely a case where you'll want a guide handy; they sure didn't make these things easy to find.

Exasperometer: 3 (average)

A few stage-specific achievements next, with the RetroAchievements directions included. I've added my own thoughts after each.

A Mighty Quake

"At the start of Yoshi's Island 2 overturn all 8 Koopas at the same time with a cape pound"

Another one that feels more of a tutorial than anything, since I can't say I used a cape pound all too often when playing normally. These eight Koopas basically exist to teach you that you can earn 1-Ups if you defeat enough enemies in a sequence (either a shell or by jumping on them without touching the ground) so they're close together, you just need a good run up and not hit any on the way down. The cape really is a versatile power-up between the flight, swirl, and this.

Exasperometer: 3

Fence Offense

"Get 8 1-Ups at #1 Iggy's Castle with 230 or more on the time clock

So this was something I was glad to learn for the Mini Mario challenges whenever I needed to restock lives, as I was concerned that a game over would kick me back to the main menu and void the whole attempt. As long as you don't touch the ground at any point you can bop all the fence-crawling Koopas one after the other and rack up a tasty combo. The time limit makes this one a bit of a challenge but knowing you can jump in here at any point for 8-9 easy and quick 1-Ups is vital data.

Exasperometer: 2

Who Needs Vines?

"Get the Normal Exit in Donut Ghost House without a Feather or Climbing on a Vine"

The normal exit requires hitting a block that causes a vine to grow towards the ceiling. There's a few of these throughout the game. If you didn't feel like going through a bunch of doors to reach the block you could always fly up too. However, since neither is an option here, this trick involves the fact that Boos are one of several normally fatal enemies to jump on that you can instead safely spinjump off. It won't kill them but it will give you some extra height to reach higher ledges, for example. Anyone who's played a lot of Mario Maker levels probably knows this tech well enough.

Exasperometer: 3

Everything is Lava

"Get to the normal exit of Forest of Illusion 2 without touching any walls, enemies, blue blocks"

Ever play Irritating Stick? This is that for underwater SMW levels. FoI 2 is an entirely aquatic level with some narrow passageways guarded by those big urchin things patrolling around (I want to say DKC had a few levels like this too). You'll obviously want to avoid touching any enemies regardless but the walls and blue blocks require a bit more finesse to avoid. Very challenging, in part because it's easy to swim too "hard" and float into a wall—you really learn how to feather your underwater movement with this challenge.

Exasperometer: 7

Spooking Big Boo

"In the first room of Donut Secret House kill Big Boo"

This was one of those things I loved learning about. Big Boos are normally invulnerable outside the few times you fight them as a boss, but you can kill this one in a single hit just by sliding down some nearby stairs. The butt slide is extremely brutal in SMW (as it was in SMB3) and I always find myself relying on it in any level with a slope.

Exasperometer: 2

Didn't Take the Bait

"On Forest of Illusion 4, get past Lakitu without killing him or taking the 1-up. No cape, wings."

The devs devised a fun trap for this level where, if you take the 1-Up that the Lakitu is offering you, he'll immediately resume his normal behavior of dropping Spinies on your head. He will eventually go away after about the halfway point of the level but it's real hard to avoid the 1-Up given how erratic a Lakitu's movement can be. Fortunately, dying and starting over isn't a big deal when you're getting a 1-Up with every failure.

Exasperometer: 4

Bowser's Castle Explorer

"Complete all 8 numbered rooms in one game session"

Bowser's Castle starts with four options then another four options after that, followed by a small dark area and then the boss. None of the eight rooms are that tough so as long as you have enough lives for four trips it's very possible. I suspect this achievement is here to get people to test all the rooms to see which would be easiest to handle for, say, the Mini Mario challenge (it's 2 and 5, for the record).

Exasperometer: 2

I Starved Yoshi and All I Got Was...

"On Star World 4 bring Baby Yoshi to the end flag without feeding it to adulthood"

Just have to avoid everything. And not drop Baby Yoshi. Tempting, I know.

Exasperometer: 3

Who Needs Helium?

"Complete SPECIAL-Tubular without Blue Yoshi, or Balloon Mario"

The difficulty here is that almost the entire course is suspended above a pit and you need to keep inhaling new P-Balloons to stay afloat. If you have a cape and, ideally, a non-Blue Yoshi you can get a run up and clear a good chunk, using Yoshi's invulnerability to hop on the various flowers and Chargin' Chucks. It's still far from easy though and I spent quite a while doing this (and backtracking to the Top Secret Area for a fresh cape/Yoshi).

Exasperometer: 8

A Groovy Flight

"Complete SPECIAL-Groovy without landing past the first ? box. No Yoshi"

This is pure cape tech. There's a technique where you can tap left just as Mario starts to descend to gain a bit more altitude, and if the timing's perfect you can even climb a little. You'll need to do this to get past a bunch of those spitty flower things that are near the top of the screen, and then a row of Pokeys that are almost touching the zenith. One issue is that there's a "roof" about three blocks above where the screen ends and hitting that throws off your cape momentum. Took a while for this one too but it's probably a bit easier than the other two SPECIAL level challenges.

Exasperometer: 7

With More Than You Started

"Complete SPECIAL-Funky with 300 or more on the time clock"

Just have to eat all the green fruits with Yoshi, each of which adds 20 seconds to the initial 200 second timer. Maintaining a fast pace despite all the Sumo Brothers and Chargin' Chucks is key here, as is picking up the Starman halfway through the course. This is also the SPECIAL level with the long "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!!" message written in coins at the end, which for as cute as it is can be a little suspenseful with the clock ticking down as you manically try to run past it all.

Exasperometer: 8

Shortest Route

Starman Challenge

The two big single-playthrough challenges in this set, typically best done together. Shortest Route is, true to its name, reaching and defeating Bowser in the fewest steps. That's Yoshi's Island 2-5, Donut Plains 1, Donut Secret 1, Donut Secret House, Star Road 1-4, and that opens the way to the last Star which drops you off in front of Bowser's Castle. Almost all of those require taking the secret exit to a level: taking the normal one by accident will void that entire attempt and you'll need to start over with a fresh save file.

The Starman Challenge gets even rougher: you have to do all of the above without dying. Ever. Likewise, a single death voids the attempt and you have to start over. You could theoretically take any route to Bowser in the Starman Challenge, as it's not strictly limited to any specific order of levels, but for obvious reasons your best bet is to minimize the amount of places to visit.

Shortest Route is one of those things you probably picked up the first time playing through the game, if you paid attention to hints or could simply eyeball it from a 100% complete file. The Starman challenge is definitely an ordeal though, no thanks to those moderately tough Star Road levels and the annoying sleepy fish that chase you around in Donut Secret 1.

Exasperometer: 2 (Shortest Route), 8 (Starman Challenge)

Mini Mario vs. X (x8)

And here we have the toughest part of the whole set. There are eight of these Mini Mario challenges that correspond to the same eight regions of the game as the Dragon Coins. Here, the idea is to complete every level within that region (typically between 6-10 levels) without ever picking up a power-up, a Starman, or riding a Yoshi.

The difficulty here is fourfold:

1. As mini Mario you can only ever take a single hit before dying. That makes some of the more enemy/hazard intensive levels that much more painstaking.
2. Denying yourself power-ups also means losing out on their advantages, beyond being able to tank an additional hit. A course built for the cape or Yoshi gets that much more awkward without them, though every level has been designed to be possible as mini Mario (in case you lose all your power-ups).
3. You can't hit any of the mid-level checkpoints, because you'll automatically grow to normal-sized Mario as a bonus. The longer levels that use them have now become even more of an endurance battle. Also, actually trying to avoid some of those checkpoints can be a challenge in and of itself (Butter Bridge 2 for example). Best part? If you accidentally do hit a checkpoint you'll permanently start at that part of the level until you clear it and it resets your progress: you have to embark on something of a walk of shame to the finish line before you can take another swing at it.
4. You need to do all this in one session (per achievement), as with the Dragon Coins. Fortunately, accidentally getting a power-up or a checkpoint doesn't void the entire achievement (which I believe was the case before a recent revision): just the current attempt on that level.

Peppered throughout the game are some truly unpleasant levels to do entirely while small—Larry's and Wendy's Castles in particular—but nothing's as much of a roadblock as the final eight-level gauntlet across SPECIAL World. SPECIAL-Outrageous and SPECIAL-Awesome while stuck in mini form might even approach Kaizo Mario standards: the former is the one where you navigate a forest full of Bullet Bills, Wigglers, some jumping flame things, and several of those Hammer Bros. on the flying platforms; the latter involves running past a whole mess of Cheep-Cheeps, Banzai Bills, and Koopas kicking shells at you, all the while having to contend with ice physics and some very small platforms. Nothing like challenges such as these to make you grateful for the many power-ups the game throws your way.

Funny last note with this subset: Peach throwing mushrooms at you during the final boss fight might be one of its bigger dangers if you forget they're coming.

Exasperometer: 3 (Yoshi's Island, Donut Plains)

4 (Vanilla Dome, Twin Bridges)

5 (Forest of Illusion)

6 (Chocolate Island)

7 (Bowser Valley)

9 (SPECIAL World)

Totals

• Achievements: 89/89 (100%)
• Hardest Achievement: "Mini Mario vs. Special World"