What a breath of fresh air for 2D Mario. After the NSMB games carried on 2 too many times, for years I'd been hoping for a refresh of the 2D Mario games. A new art style, a different feel, etc. I didn't know what they'd do but I wanted something new.

They pulled it off. Mario Wonder is chock full of new ideas, mostly stripping out a lot of established things and taking a whole new approach to everything. Even the art style, which is still not so far from the NSMB style, has the characters looking updated, a little more fun, and more expressive than the 2D games have ever had them.

I'd also like to call out the multiplayer/online features.
- The local multiplayer is very similar to NSMB, but removing collisions with other players, which goes a long way to making a smoother experience, but still it can sometimes feel a bit like one player is dragging the other(s) in one direction or the other, and the way they handle that isn't perfect. It's a tough problem to solve, but there's definitely room to improve there.
- The online multiplayer is great! With friends, it's great because you can be in the same game and play the same levels if you want, but you're still on your own save file, and so you can go do your own thing if you want instead, and meet up with your friends later.
- My favourite feature is enabling online even when I'm playing solo, so that random players can show up in your game. Because they're faded out, there's not confusing to have on screen, and the wholesome moments that come from a random player across the world jumping to help you revive, or lead you to a collectible you're looking for, are priceless. It's like the benefit that Miiverse integration offered on the Wii U, but enhanced and built in here with intention. Love it.

My 2 complaints:
- Lives system - Odyssey did away with these, and it worked perfectly. The only thing it does is offer the chance of Game Over, which just means you'd lose the stuff you collected and have to get it again. Repetition for what purpose? Which brings me to my next point...
- The final final gauntlet. The Mario games usually like to have a "final test", but for some reason it usually manifests in the form of a gauntlet of challenges (that's fine) with limited or no checkpoints (that's not fine). Any time a game has me repeating sections I've already completed, it feels like my time is being wasted. Look to Celeste for how to do that stuff right, I feel.

Overall though, this is one of the best 2D Mario games. There's so much fun to be had.