Originally posted by QuizlerSince I end up flying over most of the levels, I just see the overall design of SMW's levels as pretty bland
I don't think giving the player the choice to skip the level makes the level bad per se. That's just part of SMW's proposal to be as accessible as possible for all ages and skill levels by giving the player a lot of choice and tools to beat a level in their own way. It's worth noting though that beating a level through soaring with the cape doesn't come for free. People who barely played or rarely play the game as much as us hackers haven't mastered how to soar with the cape properly (I can't state how many people I've met that hadn't), so I'd argue that there's still some skill acquiring needed to properly skip levels. And, hey, don't forget that some levels are designed to not be broken by the cape, like castles, fortresses, caves and water levels, and that if you die, you have to go all the way back to a level with an easy cape to try to beat it again with that method.
Also, regarding difficulty, as a kid even the most simple levels like Star World 3 and Vanilla Secret 3 felt a bit challenging in one way or another, because at the time I had no experience in dealing with Lakitus in clouds, Dolphins and Porcu Puffers, nor had the logic skills to immediately find the secret exit in the former. As someone who introduced SMW to my, at the time, young neighbor and played it through with him, it's clear to me that SMW isn't easy or bland in more absolute terms.
Originally posted by The Yak SmokerDunno... I think that SMB3 has better controls. SMW feels a little bit more slippery to me.
I very much think the opposite, because it feels much easier to kill Mario's momentum and change directions in SMW. Other things that favor SMW's controls are a second jump option (spin jump) that is shorter than the normal jump, duck jumping that actually gives you slightly more precision and better item holding and tossing mechanics. Also, yeah not to mention the cape moves much smoother than the racoon/tanooki.
imo SMW is a game that's unfairly judged by its cover, because the deeper I look into it, the more respect I have for it. To this day, I appreciate how it handles physics, level progression, choice, paths, secrets, and if I take its time of release and context into consideration, it's just even better.