Easily the best 2D Mario since the NSMB era.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a dramatic increase in quality over the mediocre NSMB games. I feel kind of weird starting this off with such a blunt comparison but I think it's important. Wonder really goes back to basics and rejects everything that the NSMB games stood for and because of that it feels like a new fresh starting point for modern 2D Mario games.
Visually, the game is incredible. The animations are very expressive and so are the characters. Mario feels really alive here and that's great. No complaints. It's awesome.
There's something about the level design here that, while often good, never reaches anything more than that. Take the main gimmicks for example. The first one is Elephant Mario. Visually rad but basically just a Mega Mushroom. The other gimmick is the wonder effects that happen in levels. Some levels will have creative musical moments and other levels, the wonder effect will be the most mundane thing you've ever seen. Another thing that Super Mario Bros Wonder does is add a badge system that lets you alter the gameplay in a bunch of different ways. Most of the badges just end up being a way to get extra air time. It's not exactly a creative renaissance.
I was expecting Super Mario Bros Wonder to do to 2D Mario what Odyssey did to 3D Mario. Which is to reinvent the series for the modern day. It does do that to some extent, but it's just so much tamer than I would have liked it to be. Not everything needs to reinvent the wheel, I get that. Maybe the next one will be more than "just" a good 2D Mario game.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a dramatic increase in quality over the mediocre NSMB games. I feel kind of weird starting this off with such a blunt comparison but I think it's important. Wonder really goes back to basics and rejects everything that the NSMB games stood for and because of that it feels like a new fresh starting point for modern 2D Mario games.
Visually, the game is incredible. The animations are very expressive and so are the characters. Mario feels really alive here and that's great. No complaints. It's awesome.
There's something about the level design here that, while often good, never reaches anything more than that. Take the main gimmicks for example. The first one is Elephant Mario. Visually rad but basically just a Mega Mushroom. The other gimmick is the wonder effects that happen in levels. Some levels will have creative musical moments and other levels, the wonder effect will be the most mundane thing you've ever seen. Another thing that Super Mario Bros Wonder does is add a badge system that lets you alter the gameplay in a bunch of different ways. Most of the badges just end up being a way to get extra air time. It's not exactly a creative renaissance.
I was expecting Super Mario Bros Wonder to do to 2D Mario what Odyssey did to 3D Mario. Which is to reinvent the series for the modern day. It does do that to some extent, but it's just so much tamer than I would have liked it to be. Not everything needs to reinvent the wheel, I get that. Maybe the next one will be more than "just" a good 2D Mario game.