I needed desperately to play something different, so I went through the All-Stars version of SMB. I played in a much more relaxed manner than the previous times. No concerns about getting through the game without losing lives, or playing the levels carefully. And in some ways, going fast and taking risks can make the game easier. Overthinking in any game like this can make things tougher, at least for me. I was doing rather well for most of the game.

I once said that the game starts getting hard around the start of World 8, but even that's not bad. Stage 8-2 is somewhat challenging, and stage 8-3 can be very tough if you go about it the wrong way. That's one stage where my somewhat careless playing style caused me difficulty.

But I was somewhat happy that I was able to get through 8-4 in one attempt with only small Mario.

I didn't really have time to play the harder second quest, though.

Later on, I decided to go back to Super Castlevania 4 and compare it to the original. I was stunned to find that the play control was actually very good.

The improvement in that area from Castlevania 1 to 4 is far greater than any control improvements made from SMB to Mario World. Or so it seems to me right now.