I like SMB3 best. Not only is the greatest Mario game; it has its own... uh... I can't define it. I think it's mythologies. Some games or books have mythologies, Mortal Kombat (of course), Harry Potter, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit and the Silmarillion, of course). Fightclub has sort of a mythology also. I mean, mythology is that thing from you can take models for posters, dolls, more books, fanfics, etc. You know what I mean.
Well, SMB3 has that: Lots of enemies, defined lands (sky, snow, plains, etc.), a good story... Cartoons :)... Lots of items also.
That's why I think Mario 3 is the best. Mario World sucks: The graphics arn't good, there's no good story... It has WAY TOO MANY enemies, it makes me confuse (Koopa Troopas arn't suposted to HIDE on the shells when stomped!?), it completely brokes the laws of the Mario universe (Goombas who don't die when stomped? Who doesn't have...uh... that white thing? Man, what is that? It's WRONG. And about Koopa Troopas I'm probably wrong, but they looked a lot like just animals in SMB1. And now they're human-like! Come on! -well that wasn't THAT bad actually-), and I don't know, it's sort of a rip-off of SMB3. And I'm very angry because they took the Leaf away and put that sucking cape instead. But well, that isn't for this topic, actually.
If Super Mario World were just like SMB3 but SNES powered, it would certainly be one of the best Mario games.
I think that what Mario needs is a 'SMB3 64: Return to the Mushroom World' title. That would be AWSOME.
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;)!