SMW Mushroom Kingdom Meltdown 2 feels like someone took the best parts of Super Mario World and cranked them up to 11. The first thing you’ll notice is how crisp the sprites look—like they polished up the original SNES graphics just enough without losing that retro charm. And the music? Pure nostalgia, but with a few new tracks that somehow fit right in.

You start off with the usual running and jumping, but the level design gets sneaky fast. One minute you’re bouncing off koopas, the next you’re dodging fireballs in a remixed version of Donut Plains that throws in some brutal new twists. The power-ups are familiar (thank god for the cape feather), but there are a couple of surprises—let’s just say Yoshi gets some new tricks.

If you’ve played the original SMW to death, this romhack keeps that same tight controls and flow while making you actually sweat in some spots. It’s the kind of game where you’ll yell at the screen, then immediately hit retry. Perfect for when you want that classic Mario feel but need something fresh to test your skills.