Originals vs Remakes

Super Mario World: SNES on Wii U VC or GBA on Wii U VC?

  • Original

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Remake

    Votes: 7 70.0%
  • Total voters
    10
MiracleDinner

MiracleDinner

Power Star
Pronouns
She/her
MarioWiki
MiracleDinner
Hello, there are some games I want to play, but do not know whether to get the original or the remake.

For reference I own a Gamecube, a DS Lite, a Wii, a 3DS, and a Wii U. However my DS Lite is really only a last resort as it's in very poor condition (D-pad hardly responds when pressed down or right, L-button doesn't work often.) I'm also likely to buy a Switch in the future but that may be a while and I would rather not wait unless the Switch version really is a great deal better.

I don't mind someone recommending both the original and the remake if they feel that both have significant value that the other lacks.

I know for instance that SMA2 took away a lot of the difficulty but I'm not that into the challenge. I'm also not affected by cost very much. Also both would be on Wii U VC so portability doesn't matter either.

  • Super Mario Bros. : original (Wii U VC) or several remade versions.
  • Super Mario Bros. 2 : original vs SMA1
  • Super Mario Bros. 3: original vs SMA4
  • Super Mario World: original vs SMA2
  • Yoshi's Island: original vs SMA3
  • New Super Mario Bros U.: original vs Deluxe version.
  • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: original vs Deluxe version.

I'd be grateful for any advise on which version of any of the above to get.

I can only do one poll per thread so I used that for SMW but any suggestions in the replies would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
MiracleDinner
 
Last edited:
SMB1: Each version has its ups and downs. I'd personally recommend Deluxe, but if cropped camera bothers you (which is definitely understandable), go for the NES.

SMB2: Go for GBA. Only played the NES version but the physics are horrid on that and I've heard that the GBA makes various improvements all-around.

SMB3: GBA for certain. Replayable levels, and even levels exclusive to this version. Just make sure you get this one on VC, otherwise you're not getting those exclusive levels.

SMW: GBA. Tracks the Dragon Coins you collect in each course, providing some actual incentive to get them, and utilizes the unique abilities of Mario and Luigi.

Yoshi's Island: GBA, all the way. Effects may be better on the SNES version but GBA adds six extra levels so it automatically wins.

NSMBU: To be honest, portability is the only reason to choose Deluxe. If you want decent 5-player multiplayer and cooperative challenges, go for the original, but if you're primarily playing in single player, I suppose Deluxe couldn't hurt. (I'm pretty biased against Deluxe because it's easily the inferior version, but that's because I play in multiplayer a lot and multiplayer in Deluxe downright sucks).

Tropical Freeze: The Wii U version is literally only $20, compared to the Switch version which is $60. If you're willing to pay triple the price for Funky Mode and portability, be my guest, but my recommendation goes to Wii U.
 
Last edited:
Santa Claws said:
NSMBU: To be honest, portability is the only reason to choose Deluxe. If you want decent 5-player multiplayer and cooperative challenges, go for the original, but if you're primarily playing in single player, I suppose Deluxe couldn't hurt. (I'm pretty biased against Deluxe because it's easily the inferior version, but that's because I play in multiplayer a lot and multiplayer in Deluxe downright sucks).
Click to expand...

I'm unlikely to use multiplayer a lot, how much does that change your decision?

Thank you for your other suggestions.
 
Santa Claws said:
I mean if you're not using multiplayer then you should get Deluxe for portability. Single player doesn't really have drawbacks here.
Click to expand...
I just looked them both up on ebay and the Wii U one is much cheaper. Plus, as I say in the OP, I'd rather not wait, so is it really worth it?


Also I want to ask: I would like, for instance, to access the Minus World in SMB1, I know they took it out in SMBD but is it possible on Wii U VC? How much did they alter the VC version or is it literally the same taken over and emulated?
 
Last edited:
MiracleDinner said:
I just looked them both up on ebay and the Wii U one is much cheaper. Plus, as I say in the OP, I'd rather not wait, so is it really worth it?
Click to expand...
That's really up to you. Fundamentally, it's the same game. The Switch version has portability and a few extra characters (really just easy modes in disguise) and I guess there's the fact that you're not forced to play as Mario in Deluxe.

I would still probably go for the Wii U version if it's that much cheaper, but ultimately, it comes to which features you value and if you think it's worth it.

MiracleDinner said:
Also I want to ask: I would like, for instance, to access the Minus World in SMB1, I know they took it out in SMBD but is it possible on Wii U VC? How much did they alter the VC version or is it literally the same taken over and emulated?
Click to expand...
Fear not, Minus World still works. It's literally just an emulated unaltered ROM, no changes to worry about.
 
Why not just try them out on an emulator to see if you mind the differences?

I prefer the originals of thes NES/SNES games, but I've heard the GBA version of SMB3 is the best version. Wii U VC added all of the e-reader levels, which is a nice plus. Absolutely go SNES for SMW, as the GBA port made the colors bright and washed out (probably due to the lack of backlight in OG Advance) so it looks much worse. Same thing happened to the DKC ports. The two Wii U games are most likely inferior to the Switch remasters.
 
10000 Needles said:
Why not just try them out on an emulator to see if you mind the differences?
Click to expand...
Morals

10000 Needles said:
Absolutely go SNES for SMW, as the GBA port made the colors bright and washed out (probably due to the lack of backlight in OG Advance) so it looks much worse.
Click to expand...
It's getting a little late but I'll look at them on YT to see if I mind this.

10000 Needles said:
The two Wii U games are most likely inferior to the Switch remasters.
Click to expand...
I agree, but whether or not it's worth paying extra and waiting a couple of years is what I'm pondering.
 
What's immoral about it if you're buying the game anyways?

MiracleDinner said:
I agree, but whether or not it's worth paying extra and waiting a couple of years is what I'm pondering.
Click to expand...
Well I haven't played the ports of SMBU or Tropical Freeze, but I played them both on the Wii U and had a great time. So if it's a big price difference I'd go with Wii U. Tropical Freeze is the better game, if you weren't planning on getting everything all at once.
 
10000 Needles said:
What's immoral about it if you're buying the game anyways?
Click to expand...
Well it means I'm playing two games for free not only before I've payed for either of them but also when I'm most likely going to buy only one of them.

Also it is most definitely illegal, which I don't like, though I don't stick to copyright laws 100% as I don't feel that it perfectly aligns with my moral values and judgements, and if I believe I'm perfectly justified in something and not likely to face any kind of punishment, I may still do it.

All of these games are "on the market" in some form which means that by playing the game without paying, I would be cheating Nintendo of a legitimate sale.

There's obviously the argument of, for example, "what if Nintendo re-released Mario Party 3" which I personally don't follow as you could just swear an oath to buy it if it ever does return to the market, but not here, this is an actual attainable purchase which Nintendo would lose.

Anyway the ethics of emulation is a huge topic of its own but yeah I'm not really comfortable in DLing a game I don't have if I can get it otherwise.
 
10000 Needles said:
Absolutely go SNES for SMW, as the GBA port made the colors bright and washed out (probably due to the lack of backlight in OG Advance) so it looks much worse. Same thing happened to the DKC ports. The two Wii U games are most likely inferior to the Switch remasters.
Click to expand...
This is barely noticeable in the Advance games. The GBA version of Super Mario World is the best version of the game with many improvements, so I see no reason to be the original over a minute difference that doesn't affect the experience. With the DKC trilogy it's pretty bad, so I'd recommend buying the SNES versions of DKC and DKC2. DKC3 has an extra world and a better soundtrack on GBA, so I'd recommend buying that version instead.
 
MiracleDinner said:
Also it is most definitely illegal, which I don't like, though I don't stick to copyright laws 100% as I don't feel that it perfectly aligns with my moral values and judgements, and if I believe I'm perfectly justified in something and not likely to face any kind of punishment, I may still do it.
Click to expand...
If it still bothers you ethically, you still don't have to get an emulator, but just know game emulation is legal. (Downloading ROMs is not, though.)
 
Jack Black said:
This is barely noticeable in the Advance games. The GBA version of Super Mario World is the best version of the game with many improvements, so I see no reason to be the original over a minute difference that doesn't affect the experience.
Click to expand...
Presentation matters. The GBA version is also easier and the audio quality is worse.
 
JoeRunner said:
If it still bothers you ethically, you still don't have to get an emulator, but just know game emulation is legal. (Downloading ROMs is not, though.)
Click to expand...
@10000 Needles was suggesting I download an emulator and ROMs for these games to trial which version I prefer, which is illegal. That's not the same as being unethical though.

Idk when I was slightly younger I used to use emulators for my games so I could play them in HD and use codes really easily and have games like Super Mario Galaxy be portable. I was lazy and didn't want to hack my consoles as the idea of "bricking" them terrified me. I therefore got them all from online, but I never chose any games I didn't have already. I was comforted by the "fair use" argument in that what I was doing wasn't even strictly illegal. But my family weren't happy with me doing this and I later found out that (because I am British) I have PAL and those ROMs I had obtained were NTSC-U, so it was 100% illegal anyway.

I don't logically think what I was doing was wrong, but there was something about it which just felt wrong, so I stopped. Didn't come back to emulation for a while after that. The only thing I use emulators for nowadays is Book of Mario, since I can't buy a disc and put it in a console, or download it from the eShop, and again I don't want to hack my consoles.
 
10000 Needles said:
Absolutely go SNES for SMW, as the GBA port made the colors bright and washed out (probably due to the lack of backlight in OG Advance) so it looks much worse. Same thing happened to the DKC ports. The two Wii U games are most likely inferior to the Switch remasters.
Click to expand...
Colors might be washed out but the gameplay is a lot better. They made colored Yoshis more rewarding by letting you get them outside the Star World. More importantly, there's more Dragon Coins as they added those in Ghost Houses and Castles, and they actually record it if you collect all 5 Dragon Coins in a level. Finally there's character voices which may seem minor to some, but I find it adds character to the game like "gotcha!" And "just what I needed".

Meh I'm far more sympathetic to piracy and emulation than your average user, especially toward Nintendo. I know who tries to make piracy socially unacceptable, it's those that are selling you stuff to begin with and that, more importantly, don't care about exploiting people for money, don't care for game access and preservation that much, steals money from content creators by abusing YouTube's system (which they stopped but took too long to stop) or engages in legal thuggery to clamp on that control for money.
 
A lot of them don't have enough significant improvements that it doesn't really matter much to me which one you play - I would recommend the original for each of them, but again, it really doesn't matter that much because all of the "remakes" are just ports with occasionally upscaled graphics.
 
ChristmasDinner said:
Gamecube
DS Lite - bad condition
Wii
3DS
Wii U

Switch in future

  • Super Mario Bros. : original (Wii U VC) or several remade versions.
  • Super Mario Bros. 2 : original vs SMA1
  • Super Mario Bros. 3: original vs SMA4
  • Super Mario World: original vs SMA2
  • Yoshi's Island: original vs SMA3
  • New Super Mario Bros U.: original vs Deluxe version.
  • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: original vs Deluxe version.
Click to expand...

The versions I would stay away from
- SMB1, 2, 3 on the original NES - they don't have save files
- SMW on GBA - It has really ugly yellow colouring all over it

Anything else is fine.

You get more for your buck with compilations. Options:
- Super Mario All Stars (Wii) - Gets you SMB1, 2, 3 and Lost Levels. All with save files. Disk on its own is cheap. Can be pricy with the book it came with.
- NES Mini - Gets you SMB1, 2, 3, a bunch of other games. With save states.
- SNES Mini. Gets you SMW, YI, a bunch of other games.
- Switch Online (if/when you get Switch) - gets you all 5 with save states. Bunch of other games.

Regarding the Deluxes, depends on budget/what you want. I think NSMBUD is just compilation NSMBU with Luigi U. Which is much cheaper on Wii U. DKCTFD has Funky Kong if you care, otherwise again, way cheaper on Wii U.
 
Again, there are gameplay differences, but nothing really significant enough for me to recommend anything but the original. Honestly, it matters very little which version you play, I only recommend the original because you can experience it as it was originally intended.
 
Jack Black said:
This is barely noticeable in the Advance games. The GBA version of Super Mario World is the best version of the game with many improvements, so I see no reason to be the original over a minute difference that doesn't affect the experience.
Click to expand...
Might have looked ok on a GBA but on the TV it's a big screen of yellow and looks awful compared to the original
 
I just had a look at both versions of SMW on YT and I have to admit the remake is a little saturated, but it's nothing that would considerable dissuade me from buying the game.
 
fantanoice said:
The versions I would stay away from
- SMB1, 2, 3 on the original NES - they don't have save files
Click to expand...
I can understand that for SMB3 maybe. But come on now, How long does it take you to beat the first Super Mario Bros that you would need/want a save file? Not trying to be insulting or anything, it's just an incredibly short game.
 
Doesn't take me long but we're talking about Dinner who hasn't played the game before.

Not having saves is pretty archaic these days. SMB1 makes up for it with the Warp Zones. But saves are still more convenient. In SMB2 the warps are hidden away and you can't select what world to go to. So it's hard to get back to where you were. And SMB3 is huge so even when you do warp there's still a lot of work to do.
 
Fair enough. I feel like it's part of the fun to do SMB in one sitting, but that's just me. Still a great game no matter what way you play it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back