Whether or not this counts as a mainline Mario game is up for debate, but either way this is a great platformer. It takes a bit to adjust to after playing Mario 3 and World back-to-back which I find can be fairly short adventures, while this game feels much meatier with some levels that are longer or more puzzle-like in their structure compared to an average Mario level. It controls like a dream and it's fun seeing how certain gameplay mechanics and elements ended up carrying over to 2D Mario's return in the New Soup games. And of course the game is gorgeous and still really hold up today. The art direction is great of course, but the animation and all the sprite work is just really brilliant lovely to look at.

It's still not a perfect game, I think the Baby Mario mechanic can get really tiring especially in those moments of panic where you've already been hit and Mario is floating away and you keep getting hit and recoiling back, that's never fun. I also never really enjoyed the transformation sections, they were just always something to get through. Would've probably preferred more traditional power-up

But whatever, this game is still great I'm glad I finally gave it a shot!