10 Video Games That Only Get Better With Age

6. Super Mario World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naD6mNeHIsE Gamers LOVE to argue about Mario games. It's a testament to the geniuses at Nintendo that nearly every Mario game that has ever been made, from 1985's Super Mario Bros. right up through 2010's Super Mario Galaxy 2, can be in contention for the crown. Yet whenever I get that urge to revisit the classics from my childhood, more often than not, I almost always reach for Super Mario World. Nintendo was onto something when they created Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Famicom/NES. Giving the player the ability to navigate the overworld, discover secrets, and at times choose their own path forward, gave the game a sense of scope and freedom that the first two games lacked. SMB 3 became an instant classic and a favorite to many, many gamers of that era. However, when Super Mario World came packed in with the 16 bit powerhouse that was the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo, that is when the floodgates really opened. Super Mario World was like a fantasy come to life. It resembled SMB 3 in it's structure, but the world was so much bigger, brighter, and more colorful. The music was rich and layered in a way that no other game on any platform, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, could match. The graphics were stunning, showing off the console's breathtaking scaling and rotation abilities that basically said, "Welcome to the Future". The game itself was as much of a step forward as the technology it showed off. The level design was superior than that of its predecessors. Mario's main power-up, the cape, never achieved the iconic status of SMB 3's raccoon tail, yet it was the most versatile and useful tool that had ever appeared in Mario's arsenal. Allowing for both more strategy in overcoming levels, as well as for more secrets to be hidden and discovered, the cape remains to this day among the best power-ups in Mario history. And then, there was your new companion, Yoshi, who ate turtle shells and spit them out in the form of his own unique power-ups. What more needs to be said? After Super Mario World, Mario moved on to become a pioneer of the 3D gaming revolution with Mario 64, and from that point on, Nintendo always seemed to throw their prime talent behind the 3D outings on subsequent consoles as well. Nintendo did attempt to recapture the Super Mario World magic with the New Super Mario Bros. series that has now spanned 4 platforms, but despite being very enjoyable games in their own right, the nostalgia feels fleeting. Super Mario World's beautiful colors still shine as brightly as they did in the early 1990's, and the soundtrack remains one of the best of the series. But ultimately, it is the game's eternal playability, and the enormous fun factor that accompanies it, that has not aged one bit, and retains Super Mario World's status as the ultimate Mario game for the ages.