I tracked my SNES Classic and found that it won't arrive until October 10th. While that would still give me a few days to finish the challenge in time with everyone else, I thought I'd fire up Retro Achievement's emulator in hardcore mode (technically making things more difficult than even the SNES Classic as it disables save states and memory hacks).
Please excuse my ghetto camera, but I figured this would be better than simply taking a screenshot
#morton
I finished about 45 exits before cheaping out and finishing up on Star Road. Even though I've played this game on RA before, I did actually unlock a few achievements (many of which I think were added after I last played so). I do plan on going back and unlocking the rest of the exits maybe later on this weekend. It's been a while since I've played through the special zone.
Now for the trip down memory lane - when the SNES first released I was too poor to buy one, but occasionally (for special occasions such birthdays / Christmas) I would get a small amount of money from my uncle and grandparents that I would fervently save up to put towards buying one. My mom taught me basic accounting practices and I had her hold on to my money while she would show me how to properly keep a ledger. Very rarely I would withdraw money (either to buy a book or maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure!) and she would also show me how to properly write in the date the money was taken out and how much and to keep a running balance in the ledger. I was 9 years old at the time, and she was earning her degree in accounting - so this is a very powerful and special memory for me. She eventually went on to get her master's degree in taxation and currently works for a really large international company that flies her around the globe to do cool and unique accounting things and I'm so very proud of her.
While I was saving up for my SNES, my parents would occasionally rent one from the video store along with a game or two. My favorites were Actraiser, Sim City and Turtles in Time but I had also played other games like Pilotwings and F-Zero which 9-year-old me thought were a bit boring. My grandfather got me and my brother a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine back then, so I got to read about all the new games coming out.
Finally in 1993 I had saved up enough money to get my own SNES console and two games. This was right after the $99 price drop for the console that didn't include the pack-in SMW. Strangely, I was extremely hyped for Mario Paint - the idea that I could buy a $60 game that also came with a mouse / mousepad was apparently too much of a value proposition for now 11 year old me to pass up.
Think of all the cool things I could make with that! I bought the system with Mario Paint and The Legend of Zelda. I was not disappointed, although obviously in retrospect Zelda was the much better title. I probably spent 1000 hours with Mario Paint though, specifically the music section.
All this to say that shortly after I got the SNES, my relatives all heard the news and that Christmas I had scored Mario Kart, Final Fantasy IV, and Super Mario World. I played the ever loving shit out of all of these games - considering back then the only way to play something new was either wait for your birthday / Christmas or rent from the video store.
For Super Mario World specifically, I remember playing through this game with my older brother a lot and taking turns as Mario / Luigi - stealing lives from each other when they weren't looking, and leaving the console on all day when we went to school so we wouldn't lose our place or all of the extra lives we had unlocked. I think the first time through, it had taken us about a month or two to beat the game the first time - we explored all of the special exits and genuinely took our time with the game. I had read about the Star Road secrets in Nintendo Power and how it would lead straight to Bowser's Castle, but back then it almost seemed like an urban myth and besides those Yoshi levels were damn near impossible.
One final memory - when I was much older and my brother had kids, one year for Christmas I bought his two sons (at the time aged 6 and 8) their own SNES console and about 30 of my favorite games - Super Mario World being chief among them (also Actraiser, Super Mario RPG, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Kirby, Mario Kart, etc). The kids absolutely loved them and I think made some memories of their own of playing this game when they were young.
All this to say that Super Mario World is not only an absolute joy to play even to this day but was also a big part of my life when I was younger.
