Super Mario World is revered as one of the best Super Nintendo games of all time for its constantly evolving and challenging gameplay, but most players seem to forget that it can all be easily skipped via Mario's cape. Although Super Mario World is mostly known for introducing gamers to Yoshi, the cape was the other new power-up added to Mario's kit which helped to shake-up how players interacted with the world. It allowed players to hit enemies with a close-range melee attack and greatly reduce their falling speed, but its ability to fly broke how some levels functioned.
Because the cape allows Mario to soar through the skies at great speed and heights, most players will attempt to glide over an entire stage in the name of experimentation, and they will quickly discover that it is possible to essentially skip many of the game's stages. There is no limit to how long Mario can remain airborne so long as players know how to float properly, so any level with a clear sky is extremely easy to beat as long as Mario has a cape on stand by. There are plenty of castles, ghost houses, and auto-scrolling stages where this trick won't work at all, but a sizable portion of the game is skippable by virtue of the cape's infinite flight.
Fans of Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES will recognize all of the cape's aforementioned abilities from the Super Leaf. In that game, players could use the leaf to fly, attack enemies with their tails, and slow their falling speeds just like the cape in Super Mario World. The main difference between the Super Leaf and the cape is that the leaf's flight time is limited. There is a power meter in Super Mario Bros. 3 that is charged by running at full speed, and flight can only be achieved with a fully charged meter which drains rather quickly.
Super Mario World's Balance Is Way Off
However, there is an incredibly rare item called the Magic Wing which grants Mario infinite flight time but only for a single level. Since they are so difficult to get, players can only use these to skip a very small handful of levels, making them a tactical choice for skipping particularly challenging parts of the game. It may seem like a small difference, but because Super Mario Bros. 3 limited how often players could abuse infinite flight, players are more encouraged to play the game in its entirety, unlike its sequel. Even the legendary Super Mario 64 has limits on its flying mechanics that prevent the player from skipping mandatory content entirely.
Super Mario Bros. 3 does a better job of balancing the effectiveness of flight than Super Mario World, but flying in the Super Nintendo installment is an absolute blast. While flying, hitting right will make Mario rocket straight down which can be used to swerve around obstacles and enemies. Flight can also be canceled into a mid-air attack which can be used to skillfully take down aerial enemies that may be difficult to defeat in other ways, and those same aerial attacks can be used to hit blocks as well. These cape mechanics add a lot of fun and engaging movement options for those who are looking to master them, despite their cheat-like skipping abilities, and this a big part of what makes Super Mario World so fun to play.