The game that was designed to stamp the snes's authority is a legend. Even now if you have a few girls over in the house, you're still likely to hear "aw you've got a Nintendo, have you got the game with Mario and the wee donkey?" the game is a pretty standard platformer but it's just made so well. The graphics are beautiful and the control over your character is easy to master as is very fast but still remembers that momentum should be a factor. the cartoony feel and the quest to reach those 96 levels (thats right - there are only 96 - I got them - those rumours of there being more were false). the game is pretty easy to finish but finding all those 96 levels takes a hell of a lot of time and work and is by far no mean feat.

There is an option of 1 or two player but sadly, the much loved battle game we saw in Super Mario Bros 3 has dissolved and you just take turns. This is the only real disappointment in the game. Now Mario can carry a cape which takes a lot of practice to perfect but makes it a little too easy sometimes to just fly over the entire level. The main improvement with this over Mario Bros 3 is that you can simply hold the button in now - you dont have to keep bashing away at it to fly.

Different colours of dinosaurs also have made the game a little more deep and the inclusion of "switches" (which arent all easy to find) which throw in extra boxes along the way to help you and give you items is another added feature. The different colours of dinosaurs react to different colours of shells in different ways when they eat them. the main dinosaur, yoshi, for instance, spits out fireballs when he eats a red shell and flies when he eats a blue one.