👀👀👀👀👀

I do prefer the way later games like SML2 looked, and to be fair, at least those games are still designed around the smaller screen, but I do agree that more screen estate is always better.

And yeah, maybe the superball thing IS due to lack of hardware knowledge at the time. Just guessing, though.

Well part of it is because it's not a Fire Flower and you don't shoot fireballs; it's a Super Flower and you shoot superballs (yes, that's actually what they're called). I figure the superballs behave that way as a tribute to pinball and games like Breakout.

"hear me out" and it's a conventially attractive concept

I know, right? What a fuckin' loser.