I'm about halfway through, and I just want to say how impressed I am with this game. I think this is the best-looking Mario game I've ever played. The colors, character models, animations—everything just has so much style and flair. I love it, and it all looks fantastic. I especially love the little animation Mario does whenever he grow big with the super mushroom. This game has so much swag.
I would consider myself a fan of Mario games but usually I only play the big releases, like the 3D and 2D platformers, Mario Kart, etc. I was really excited to see that Nintendo was finally putting out a new 2D Super Mario Bros. game because the last one I played was New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and that came out checks notes 14 years ago??? And God knows they really milked that sucker for all it was worth.
Nevertheless, I was excited for Wonder, and boy, it has not disappointed so far. On top of the gorgeous visuals, the game added tons of new enemies and new equipable badges that add a good amount of replayability to these levels. But the biggest thing here is probably the introduction of Wonder Flowers. Every single level has an incredibly creative and interesting shift that happens once you collect that level's flower. Not only that, but each level's wonder flower does something different. I don't think I've seen a single level with a repeated wonder flower gimmick. It's just such a breath of fresh air from what 2D Mario typically is. There's a bunch of other great stuff that I haven't mentioned, but I mainly wanted to talk about the things that stick out to me the most about Wonder.
My critiques would be that I think the local coop isn't as fun because you don't collide with each other, can't pick each other up, can't throw them, you can't use your friends heads as a platform for a little boost, and the bosses are still pretty underwhelming and uninspired. I'm sure there's a reason for all of that not being here, but I thought it was a big reason that New Super Mario Bros. Wii was so great and was a bit disappointed that it didn't work similarly here. As far as the bosses go, it's a shame that with how creative and fun the other 98% of the game is, the bosses are still just "jump on head three times" with usually nothing interesting going on. I still have some bosses left, obviously, and maybe they'll surprise me. But so far, they have been the most boring parts of the game.
EDIT: The final boss is the only good one.
I would consider myself a fan of Mario games but usually I only play the big releases, like the 3D and 2D platformers, Mario Kart, etc. I was really excited to see that Nintendo was finally putting out a new 2D Super Mario Bros. game because the last one I played was New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and that came out checks notes 14 years ago??? And God knows they really milked that sucker for all it was worth.
Nevertheless, I was excited for Wonder, and boy, it has not disappointed so far. On top of the gorgeous visuals, the game added tons of new enemies and new equipable badges that add a good amount of replayability to these levels. But the biggest thing here is probably the introduction of Wonder Flowers. Every single level has an incredibly creative and interesting shift that happens once you collect that level's flower. Not only that, but each level's wonder flower does something different. I don't think I've seen a single level with a repeated wonder flower gimmick. It's just such a breath of fresh air from what 2D Mario typically is. There's a bunch of other great stuff that I haven't mentioned, but I mainly wanted to talk about the things that stick out to me the most about Wonder.
My critiques would be that I think the local coop isn't as fun because you don't collide with each other, can't pick each other up, can't throw them, you can't use your friends heads as a platform for a little boost, and the bosses are still pretty underwhelming and uninspired. I'm sure there's a reason for all of that not being here, but I thought it was a big reason that New Super Mario Bros. Wii was so great and was a bit disappointed that it didn't work similarly here. As far as the bosses go, it's a shame that with how creative and fun the other 98% of the game is, the bosses are still just "jump on head three times" with usually nothing interesting going on. I still have some bosses left, obviously, and maybe they'll surprise me. But so far, they have been the most boring parts of the game.
EDIT: The final boss is the only good one.