Mario World does have a 2D physics engine with tile-based collision detection that works on 255 objects iirc. The physics it implements is cartoony in that max

Mario World does have a 2D physics engine with tile-based collision detection that works on 255 objects iirc. The physics it implements is cartoony in that max velocity is capped such that acceleration is limited, but it's an implementation of verlet integration, more or less. You can see the devs playing with it in a few levels. For example there's that long vertical fall with multiple objects falling along with you that leads into the 8th world. Or a few levels where an enemy causes chaos with a turtle shell.