I've never taken a very close look at these windows, but that looks like a pretty clear reference to Skyloft. Intriguing.

How thick of a skin would you need to punch a spiked ball away and laugh it off?

Now I'm finally fully done; final saved screenshot. Peach actually looks normal here, but Luigi! Where were you this whole time? As I thought, the game freezes on this screen, reset required.

Alright! Fun final boss, catchy, charming, and familiar credits, and a Mario game that I somehow managed to miss all these years. 130 posts later, I'm finally done.

Oh my goodness, Peach, you're terrifying. You don't look like yourself. I'm not sure I really want to bother with saving you anymore...

A neat attempt at a 3D effect. I can't believe the SNES was nearly capable of pulling it off.

Well, I'm happy. This isn't stomp three times or knock the ax onto the rope. Once again, why has throwing vertically been reimplemented in the series?

Dang, who knew that someone could both look ugly and awesome simultaneously? And the Koopa Clown Car started in this game? Heheh, I like that little vehicle a lot. Let's do this!

While I did like the eight branching paths of this castle that made it a very unique course, I'm glad of the Back Door. It seems that only IT provides a checkpoint. Almost reached the end!

Ninjis! Back from Mario 2! Yay! This light mechanic is a little unnecessary. I can see just fine without it.

What the heck, the statues are alive. Mario Logic, don't question it. But I do question the vomit colored walls...

Whoa! I thought these guys only showed up in New Super Mario Bros. Wii!

That cost several lives. A close room! I like it though. Good spike and Thwomp combinations. Just missing some Thwimps.

第七人の子クッパ、ラリーを倒した！ Koopaling No. 7, Larry defeated!

A leap of faith down a pit into a little alcove with a great reward here... very clever.

This is very irritating. But at least it's challenging, unlike most modern Mario games.

THIS? THIS is the reward for beating the Special Zone? I don't like the palette swap. At all. And what is with the Koopas being creepy Mario heads now? Ugh.

This name just makes me think of Funky Kong from DK64. Fun game. I really should finish it.

Oh boy... that's a disconcerting name if I've ever seen one.

Okay, now I'm really certain this is no longer the English language. Seriously, I've never heard of "mondo" before.

I realized after multiple playthroughs through this course that this is the title screen course. It isn't nearly as difficult as the the other Special World courses. It makes for a good tutorial.

I can't stop thinking of Scooby-Doo. Groovy is just ingrained in my mind.