This is getting too repetitive...

[HeroLinik]

OK, this is not a rant, but countless projects I have seen seem to have similar themes to world order. In 85% of all the projects I have seen so far, the second world is desert-themed, and the third world is water-themed, just like in the original SMB3. True, it is like the original SMB3, but I'm seeing it all the time and it seems to get repetitive and boring, particularly if you play more and more episodes.

Why do you guys think the world themes are always the same sequentially (second world is always desert, and third world is always water)?

[Chris900J]

Well, not only SMB3 uses that world order; a lot of Mario games use grassland, then desert and then water worlds in that order. Maybe people use that order because they like that flow? I dunno, but I can guarantee that when I start my project I'll try really hard to change almost all the world themes to original ones.

[RudeGuy]

In my project, the desert is the world 6 and the water theme is a part of the world 4.
Yes, it is annoying, but there aren't many themes. Maybe people use desert theme as world 2 and the water theme as world 3 because those themes are the most easier after the grassland theme.

[silent_]

My project has eleven levels, so I really can't have technical themes but mine are in the following order of individuality:
Grassland
Desert
Ship/Water/Dock
Cavern
Ice
Forest
Cloudy
Mountain/Cliff
Lava
Castle
Shadow

As you can see, I went pretty classic with the first three worlds. However, I then started to mix things up; it goes to a cavern which typically is the second level in a grass-themed world, and then a forest, and now clouds already, mountains which frequently comes before clouds, the lava world which is practically always the concluded world, a castle, and then a pure shadow level since my project's name is Shadow Star: Secret of the Realm. I attempted to frankly mix my worlds around a bit, and I did particularly an epic job with it with the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh levels. It doesn't necessarily matter how the world themes are in order as long as they keep splendid quality. It's not like anyone moans, "Aww man, the first world is GRASS" when a good designer like Chad comes into play. What I'm trying to say is that you should set aside the worlds and just pay attention to the levels. They'll have the good parts, not the worlds or world maps.

[Chill Pingu]

grass always will be world 1 of every episode, with very rare exceptions.
as for desert and water levels, i guess people use that order just to follow smb3 (as well as other mario games like nsmb) traditions.

[hacheipe399]

NO! Always Bowser kidnapped Peach! Only on some episodes have original stories...

[Magician]

There's not much point to copying Mario games trope for trope, but there isn't always value in subverting those tropes just for the sake of subverting them. I think SMBX Mario episodes do well with some form of balance between those two sides.

There is one thing, however. You don't REALLY need to use SMBX to make a Mario game. You could make a game that comes very close to Mario-like in how it feels, but it could still be a different game in many respects. To be fair, resisting Mario tropes goes against how the game and the NPCs are designed, so it's more difficult than otherwise. It's still achieveable.

[Dragonmaster146]

NO! Always Bowser kidnapped Peach! Only on some episodes have original stories...

Well that's lame.
But anyways,I don't mind the world being repetitive in a lot of mario games. The thing I do mind is the creatively and potential of the levels themselves.

[Magician]

Yeah. I'm liking Mario Classic a LOT despite that areas of it feel thematically familiar. It's done in a very good way. I'm just saying that people don't HAVE to follow Mario guidelines. Someone in the ROMHACKING scene made candy-themed graphics for FAWKES' sake. New ideas are still out there.

I would, of course, argue that design is more important than theming. I'm just saying, it can help a lot. Funnily enough, when I was newer to the community, I had no idea who Chad was, but it was his pink level in the screenshots of his episode thread that stood out to me. It was such a small change, but the colour drew my attention. Having things here and there that actually stand out are what help your episode get more attention.