[Toups]

I always thought gnarly was really great because it requires unexpected use of some of the game's more esoteric mechanics to get all of its secrets.

Super Mario World is a weird, weird game. I think your criticisms of it are spot on, but at the same time I think there are a lot of things to be appreciated about it in a different paradigm. It is not a twitchy platformer like the first three NES Mario games. At times it is almost a sandbox game with the amount of flexibility to its mechanics, and at times it's more like a puzzle game. The excessive and disorganized depth of the game's systems give it a mysterious and enchanting air that endures, for me, to this day. But it is really sloppy and there are quite a few levels which just aren't that fun or interesting.

At times though I prefer its laid back pace to the more frantic and steady difficulty of its predecessors. It's kind of a "chill" game and I enjoy it for that.
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[Toups]

It kind of seems like it was more fun to make than it ended up being to play, but that joy is still kind of infectious. I believe it is considerably more accessible than any other Mario game of that era as well, which is in some ways a good thing.
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[Toups]

well, I qualified that with "almost at times" for a reason, because it never really becomes one. it's really just because it has so many different types of boxes and objects with different physics and behaviors. you can do all kinds of weird things with shells and those purple moveable boxes and the flippable yellow boxes, etc... and there are many parts in the game where the design kind of encourages that.

I don't think this is always good game design (and it often isn't in smw) but it makes it interesting and fun in an original way.
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