Despite lacking in overall difficulty, Super Mario Bros. Wonder managed to stay engaging and fun through it’s unique, zany level concepts and massively upgraded presentation. The game is filled with small details that enhanced my experience. From animations of elephant Mario barely squeezing into doors and pipes, to the facial expressions within the DKC-esque silhouette aesthetic, to the feeling of discovering a new badge, the game always had surprises right around the corner to keep things from getting stale.
Speaking of the Badge system, I was a bit skeptical going in that the badges would just end up feeling like level-gimmicks, as opposed to being versatile and organically included throughout the game. I’m happy to say that that wasn’t the case and each of the main badges do a good job at feeling like a natural extension of Mario’s abilities. They also don’t overlap abilities with power-ups, leading to a bunch of unique badge/power-up combinations that can completely change how a level is tackled and add some good replay value. Especially so when using some of the Expert badges that can be incredibly powerful in the right situations despite their large trade-offs.
The game is not free of flaws however, as is typical of the Mario franchise, the game feels a bit too easy and most boss fights are pretty underwhelming. With the exception of the final boss, most fall easily to the standard 3-hit boom boom technique. Airships have the worst of it however, with “bosses” being reduced to a small corridor with a switch at the end and minimal obstacles that can be passed in seconds.
All in all though, these negatives aren’t nearly enough to outweigh the very largely positive experience that I had with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I see myself coming back to replay this game with friends and family often for years to come. While DKC: Tropical Freeze still remains as my favorite Nintendo platformer, only time will tell if Wonder takes the Crown for best 2D Mario game from SMB 3. Easily the best game in the franchise since Yoshi’s Island.
Speaking of the Badge system, I was a bit skeptical going in that the badges would just end up feeling like level-gimmicks, as opposed to being versatile and organically included throughout the game. I’m happy to say that that wasn’t the case and each of the main badges do a good job at feeling like a natural extension of Mario’s abilities. They also don’t overlap abilities with power-ups, leading to a bunch of unique badge/power-up combinations that can completely change how a level is tackled and add some good replay value. Especially so when using some of the Expert badges that can be incredibly powerful in the right situations despite their large trade-offs.
The game is not free of flaws however, as is typical of the Mario franchise, the game feels a bit too easy and most boss fights are pretty underwhelming. With the exception of the final boss, most fall easily to the standard 3-hit boom boom technique. Airships have the worst of it however, with “bosses” being reduced to a small corridor with a switch at the end and minimal obstacles that can be passed in seconds.
All in all though, these negatives aren’t nearly enough to outweigh the very largely positive experience that I had with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I see myself coming back to replay this game with friends and family often for years to come. While DKC: Tropical Freeze still remains as my favorite Nintendo platformer, only time will tell if Wonder takes the Crown for best 2D Mario game from SMB 3. Easily the best game in the franchise since Yoshi’s Island.