This game is the barely perfect 2d Platformer Experience.
The only thing that hurts this game a little bit is the Old School Mario Bullshit, that hurt a lot Mario 2 and 3. In this game, altough not completely gone, is definitely way less prevalent.
You still have troll design, but just a little bit
You still have the uncecessary waiting sections created by design, but only in a few levels
You still have trial and error design, but only in a couple of levels (the major problem is that in World 5 and 6 the castle is blocked by secret exits, what is a pretty nonsense Choice. Im fine with Special Levels hidden behind guessing bullshit, but not for levels you are required to acess to beat the game)
You still have the slow auto-scrollers, but not nearly as much as you had in "Super Mario Bros. 3"
The bosses are still gimmicks, with waiting sections and exploitable, but are definitenly improvement in variety and challenge, while being less exploitable and requiring less waiting (the exception is Bowser, which is a pretty bad boss in every game of the series so far)
Everything else is perfect
Is gorgeous
Is charming
The controls feel good, responsive and precise, while also being smooth and fast paced
The level designs are top tier most of the time, and you don't have much of a share of bad levels designs like in SMB3
The differentiation between normal jump and spin jump give the game an pretty substantial mechanical depth while also being quite simple to learn the basics
The concepts of the levels are mezmerizing.
Yoshi is a cool add
There is a lot of variety, on enemies and challenges
The Soundtrack slaps hard
Really, i think very few 2d plattformers can have the same amount of quality of this game. And although with a few drawbacks, this may be the best 2d plattformer i've ever played.
Nintendo in the 4th gen really stepped up their game and take games that were good to a even greater level, and this is in every sense a step up from the formula they stablished in SMB3 (just as A Link to the Past a Step Up from the Original TLoZ, Super Metroid a Step Up from Metroid, Mother 2 a Step Up from Mother, All the SNES Fire Emblem a Step Up from the NES Fire Emblem)
To call this a classic is an understatement.
The only thing that hurts this game a little bit is the Old School Mario Bullshit, that hurt a lot Mario 2 and 3. In this game, altough not completely gone, is definitely way less prevalent.
You still have troll design, but just a little bit
You still have the uncecessary waiting sections created by design, but only in a few levels
You still have trial and error design, but only in a couple of levels (the major problem is that in World 5 and 6 the castle is blocked by secret exits, what is a pretty nonsense Choice. Im fine with Special Levels hidden behind guessing bullshit, but not for levels you are required to acess to beat the game)
You still have the slow auto-scrollers, but not nearly as much as you had in "Super Mario Bros. 3"
The bosses are still gimmicks, with waiting sections and exploitable, but are definitenly improvement in variety and challenge, while being less exploitable and requiring less waiting (the exception is Bowser, which is a pretty bad boss in every game of the series so far)
Everything else is perfect
Is gorgeous
Is charming
The controls feel good, responsive and precise, while also being smooth and fast paced
The level designs are top tier most of the time, and you don't have much of a share of bad levels designs like in SMB3
The differentiation between normal jump and spin jump give the game an pretty substantial mechanical depth while also being quite simple to learn the basics
The concepts of the levels are mezmerizing.
Yoshi is a cool add
There is a lot of variety, on enemies and challenges
The Soundtrack slaps hard
Really, i think very few 2d plattformers can have the same amount of quality of this game. And although with a few drawbacks, this may be the best 2d plattformer i've ever played.
Nintendo in the 4th gen really stepped up their game and take games that were good to a even greater level, and this is in every sense a step up from the formula they stablished in SMB3 (just as A Link to the Past a Step Up from the Original TLoZ, Super Metroid a Step Up from Metroid, Mother 2 a Step Up from Mother, All the SNES Fire Emblem a Step Up from the NES Fire Emblem)
To call this a classic is an understatement.