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See this thread, starting from page 19, for detailed level-by-level commentary:

http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=42649


So...this took hundreds of tries :p

If you want to speedrun this stage, you have to pay attention to your speed. Without tools, your maximum speed and how fast it decreases will be somewhat inconsistent, and you'll have to account for the small margin of variability by slightly modifying your jumps. It also helps to know how to bounce off of a shell you throw into a wall- I think this is the first time I've tried incorporating that technique into a run. Not bad!

Anyway, I think the first level walks a fine line between nostalgia/homage and repetition/shoddiness. Once again, we start off with an introductory grassland stage, replete with cheery music, small bonus areas, and basic sprites. This is quite redolent of Mario games in general, but I feel like an introductory stage can be done in any environment, so it didn't give me a great first impression.

Still, this level excels in that the terrain layout is much more varied and exciting in comparison to the original game, whose levels tend to have simple, flat architecture. There's a bridge over water, Mario shoots out of two pipes, some of the berries are blue (pretty sure that wasn't in the original)...Firephoenix even uses ground tiles as decoration alongside bushes, a nice touch.

Also, despite only having "standard" sprites, there is quite a bit of variety here, such that every section of the level feels just a little different. I particularly like the koopa just before the Banzai Bill. I do wish, though, that more Rexes were used on slopes, because they can't be defeated by sliding...but maybe that's inappropriate for a first level in this case. I'm not sure.

I guess anyone who knows that it's a Banzai Bill can approximate the hitbox, but...the shape is kind of strange, for me. I never liked how the goomba hitboxes were deceptive in Luigi's Adventure, so I'm a little biased about this, but I would've preferred something with roughly the same shape as a Banzai Bill.

I like the arrangements of SMW tracks so far, but because they're more high-pitched and upbeat, they can be a little grating at times (e.g. when repeating a level for speedrunning :p).