Super Mario World - Yoshi Island 2 Analysis

Super Mario World is a side-scroller platform released on the SNES in 1990. It takes what was successful in prior Mario games and builds upon it. The game begins with the option to take two different paths; both which teach you different aspects of the game. I felt like the Yoshi Island 2 stage best helped to establish the game. In this level, Mario is placed at a start with no threats allowing the player to figure out how to move. As the player makes his/her way towards the right, they encounter a red empty shell placed on the ground. This is placed in a way to allow the player to experiment with the shell without any harm. The player could either kick the shell or hold the run button which allows the player to pick up the shell. A platform on top shows a line of Koopa Turtles walking in unison and if the player throws the red shell in their trajectory, they receive a 1-UP as a positive feedback. The player will later have to use the shell in order to get through obstacles. As the player moves on, there are blocks that can be jumped on. The player will run into blocks that can be jumped on for coins only to stumble upon one holding the game's newest mechanic: Yoshi. This could be a surprise for players who had expected a mushroom. Yoshi is able to give the player an extra hit without damage and also use his tongue to swallow enemies. The level gives the player plenty of space to test out these new mechanics and even has a block that explains some of Mario's moveset through a text box. Coins are also used at this level to give a path on how the player should move.  Towards the second half of the level the game introduces harder enemies to test the player's ability but also gives them a checkpoint (as well as a mushroom powerup) if they happen to run into trouble. The second half of the level also gives the player alternate paths to take such as going down a pipe or climbing a vine leading to the clouds which helps give depth to the level. The final part of the level introduces a button mechanic that turns coins into blocks. If correctly utilized it allows Mario to get the highest bonus at the end of the level.