My first thoughts when I finished wonder were, "wow, that was a pretty solid platformer."
I feel like it goes without saying at this point, but wonder feels like a breath of fresh air compared to the more recent 2D mario games and honestly feels like the next logical step forward for the 2D mario franchise. The level design finally feels creative and unique again and the occasional nonlinear approach to level selection was appreciated. I really loved all the music levels in particular and this might be my favorite bowser fight in the 2D mario series.
Wonder feels like it took a lot of the best aspects of previous 2D mario games and combined them all together while also bringing it's own unique mechanics and gimmicks to the table. Movement feels really good. If I had to describe it, it feels like a mix of the new super mario bros series and mario world and the two styles mesh surprisingly well.
The new powerups were all really fun and I liked the added utility and variety they provided to movement. It was really satisfying using them to traverse the levels in creative and unintended ways (I got way more use of the drill power up than I thought I would in this regard) or to creative new shortcuts to collectibles.
I was also a really big fan of most of the "break" and mini badge challenge levels. I think these brought a nice palate cleanser from the usual levels while providing engaging and unique platforming challenges that at their best, really made the most of the new movement system.
The only mini challenges I was not a fan of were the enemy gauntlets and a few of the find the hidden object challenges. The find worst find the hidden object challenges felt like a terrible mario maker level where you had to find the exact right spot to jump to find the invisible block which felt more tedious than engaging. I've also never really been a fan of time trials in games, mostly cause it brings out my inner perfectionist and I end up resetting way more often than I need to and the time trial enemy gauntlets were no exception to this for me.
My only other nitpick has to do with the games difficulty. I've always valued challenge in platformers (which is a big reason why I love the DKC series). If the platformer isn't particularly challenging, then I need to have a fun moveset to mess around with to get really engaged with it. Wonder isn't braindead easy or anything like that (I'd say difficulty wise, it's maybe a notch higher than new super mario bros ds), but it is definitely easier than the classic 2D mario games. Fortunately, the movement is super fun and polished so I wasn't ever bored playing the game, but I wish some of the levels (particularly the special world and later world levels) provided more of a challenge. However, I will say that I really like the new trend of making the 100% reward in these modern mario games a really tough challenge level and wonder is no exception to this.
Overall, I had a really good time with wonder. I feel like my thoughts on nintendo's modern 2D platformers tend to go up on replays since they tend to be super comfy games for me, so I'm interested to see how my thoughts on the game change on future playthroughs. As for now though, I'm happy a played it and I felt satisfied with my overall experience with the game, even if it is a bit on the easy side.
I feel like it goes without saying at this point, but wonder feels like a breath of fresh air compared to the more recent 2D mario games and honestly feels like the next logical step forward for the 2D mario franchise. The level design finally feels creative and unique again and the occasional nonlinear approach to level selection was appreciated. I really loved all the music levels in particular and this might be my favorite bowser fight in the 2D mario series.
Wonder feels like it took a lot of the best aspects of previous 2D mario games and combined them all together while also bringing it's own unique mechanics and gimmicks to the table. Movement feels really good. If I had to describe it, it feels like a mix of the new super mario bros series and mario world and the two styles mesh surprisingly well.
The new powerups were all really fun and I liked the added utility and variety they provided to movement. It was really satisfying using them to traverse the levels in creative and unintended ways (I got way more use of the drill power up than I thought I would in this regard) or to creative new shortcuts to collectibles.
I was also a really big fan of most of the "break" and mini badge challenge levels. I think these brought a nice palate cleanser from the usual levels while providing engaging and unique platforming challenges that at their best, really made the most of the new movement system.
The only mini challenges I was not a fan of were the enemy gauntlets and a few of the find the hidden object challenges. The find worst find the hidden object challenges felt like a terrible mario maker level where you had to find the exact right spot to jump to find the invisible block which felt more tedious than engaging. I've also never really been a fan of time trials in games, mostly cause it brings out my inner perfectionist and I end up resetting way more often than I need to and the time trial enemy gauntlets were no exception to this for me.
My only other nitpick has to do with the games difficulty. I've always valued challenge in platformers (which is a big reason why I love the DKC series). If the platformer isn't particularly challenging, then I need to have a fun moveset to mess around with to get really engaged with it. Wonder isn't braindead easy or anything like that (I'd say difficulty wise, it's maybe a notch higher than new super mario bros ds), but it is definitely easier than the classic 2D mario games. Fortunately, the movement is super fun and polished so I wasn't ever bored playing the game, but I wish some of the levels (particularly the special world and later world levels) provided more of a challenge. However, I will say that I really like the new trend of making the 100% reward in these modern mario games a really tough challenge level and wonder is no exception to this.
Overall, I had a really good time with wonder. I feel like my thoughts on nintendo's modern 2D platformers tend to go up on replays since they tend to be super comfy games for me, so I'm interested to see how my thoughts on the game change on future playthroughs. As for now though, I'm happy a played it and I felt satisfied with my overall experience with the game, even if it is a bit on the easy side.