playing through it now, and i can confidently say: this is one of the best 2d mario games to date. it has creative items, yoshi, beautiful sprites, and tons of new content. of course, what's a game without the gameplay. it is intuitive enough for a new player like myself to play it, but challenging enough for skilled players to have fun trying to beat it as fast as possible. it let's you take it slow, or find shortcuts and secrets throughout to progress faster. perfect for completionists, speedrunners, casual players, etc. 5/5