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I've had a bit of a snobby attitude toward vanilla Super Mario World romhacks. I tend to only play the ones that have fancy new graphics and music so I can pretend I'm playing a new retail release. But I decided to give this one a try as it has a pretty good reputation.

I will say up front I had a great time with this hack. It really does kind of feel like more Super Mario World, like if Super Mario World had an expansion pack or something. There's also some really clever ideas in this game, unlocking all the levels was very satisfying.

My one complaint is that a lot of the levels that aren't that clever are painfully basic, like they're very flat levels with a lot of enemies dropped in here and there and maybe some pipes to jump over. This is a problem the original Super Mario World had that kept it from being an improvement over Super Mario Bros. 3 in my book, so it's disappointing when a hack does the same thing.

That being said, it's not a huge offense and the more clever levels make up for it. So I would recommend this one to fans of Super Mario World who are looking for more content that doesn't dip into Kaizo territory. I was able to complete this on my real Super Nintendo without saves, which is a benchmark for a well made hack in my book.

Summary: Super Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land is a great hack that manages what few hacks can: it actually plays like a reasonable Mario game rather than someone's Kaizo fantasy.

Playing through this hack was an enjoyable casual experience. It was neither too easy nor filled with the kind of enraging nonsense that has driven me away from hacks. I was able to go through most of the game without using savestates. The level designs were excellent and the secrets were cleverly hidden without being too harsh. I was also impressed that some of the last levels were designed to prevent the player from flying over everything with the cape.

There were only a few small issues with the game. Mainly, it was too short. I'd love to have more! There was no Star Road in this hack. That would add plenty of extra levels and it would make moving around the overworld simpler. Branching paths in the overworld would also add more variety.

While most of the levels were reasonable, the frozen levels were a bit annoying because of the ice physics. Lemmy's Castle took this too far with the slippery jumping section. It would be better to have a Midway Gate either halfway through that section or immediately after.

Finally, several little things were missing, such as Fortresses, Reznor, Mega Moles, and Yoshi's Wings. Even the animation of a Switch Palace being flattened. It wasn't quite a complete Super Mario World.

Still, these were minor issues. I'd feel comfortable recommending this hack to a friend. That's a first among all the abusive hacks I've tried!

Super Mario World is easily the most hacked SNES game of all time, but Return to Dinosaur Land is probably my favorite SMW hack.

It's a "vanilla" hack, which means there are no new graphics, music, or gameplay elements (although it does incorporate a few features that were dummied out of SMW). However, it has great level design and is very polished. It's challenging without being frustrating and has some clever puzzles and secrets.

It runs just fine on a real SNES without any bugs.

The only flaw, if it has any, is that it's a bit on the short side, with only 59 exits compared to the original game's 96.

If you're looking for more SMW levels, I recommend starting here.

What a Super Mario World 1 ROM hack should be.

This is difficult, but balanced, challenging but not impossible. The level design is creative and original.

This ROM hack is so brilliantly done, it contains no major glitch (I could not find any glitch at all, actually, not that I looked hard).

There are so many SMW1 hacks it's impossible to have played them all, but I have played a whole lot of them, and this one is clearly the one I have enjoyed the most, maybe more than the original game.

My only complaint is that it is too short (about half as long as the original game). When a hack is so great, I want more!