Finally, a NEW 2D Mario game! Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the latest mainline 2D entry after the last few entries resulted in 2D Mario stagnation. There's nothing inherently awful about the New Super Mario Bros series, but at the time New Super Mario Bros. 2 and U were released, it started to feel samey and stale. The early 2010s was more of a bland era for Mario when it comes to the quality of games. The mainline entries around that time frame, NSMB2, U, 3D Land, and 3D World were serviceable, and in some cases enjoyable, but they sort of feel generic and uninspired as opposed to the past entries that strived to innovate and revolutionize gaming as we come to expect from the Italian plumber. While they served their purpose as being solid Mario games, it's clear that 2D Mario needed to change, and change it did. Watching the June Nintendo Direct trailer took me by a bit of a surprise. It looked different visually, and it looked like they were trying to innovate with a fresh new gimmick, and watching the Mario Wonder Direct solidified my decision to pick up the game at launch. Now that the game has been released, it's about time I give my overall thoughts on Mario's wondrous adventure.
Right off the bat, the one thing I can immediately praise the game for is the art direction. It's exquisite and charming, filled with cute little animations and character expressions that I heavily adore. Stuff like how the characters sprint, the Goombas having snot bubbles while they sleep, the Koopas panicking as they're closing their impending doom, or the way how the characters look in their smaller form just makes me feel giddy inside. It is brimming with personality and takes inspiration from past entries that impacted this game. It'll certainly age like fine wine as opposed to the dull New Super Mario Bros art style that we've grown sick and tired of four games in. For the characters, we have the usual NSMB gang plus Toadette, while bringing along Peach and Daisy on the adventure. Seeing Daisy again in a mainline Mario entry after her last appearance was in Super Mario Land in 1989 to be eventually relegated to spin-offs, but as a playable character this time is huge, and I'm happy that fans were able to play their favorite princess. Nabbit from New Super Mario Bros. U returns as a playable character and Yoshis are full characters now, which is really nice. It's nice that people can play the four-colored Yoshis as individuals, though they fall under the easy mode section. I do get Nabbit since he was already one for New Super Luigi U, but having Yoshi as one would sting some people as they would avoid playing their favorite dinosaur if it meant playing in baby mode; so yeah, kind of disappointing. I do wish the character selection could use a little more variety, but it's a solid selection nonetheless.
The game is split into seven worlds with the Petal Isles being the center of the Flower Kingdom, and each world has a linear and non-linear progression. Let me explain what I mean by this. It has your typical linear progression with new paths being unlocked under the form of a straight line when clearing a course, that part hasn't changed. For the non-linear side, each world has open areas where players can roam freely and play any stage in that particular area in any order they want. Later on, when you clear the first three worlds, the game opens up a little more and lets you play the next three worlds in no particular order. It's minor, but I like how we're given the choice to play the levels and worlds however we want. The levels themselves are solid overall and are decent in length, that is until we reach the Wonder Flower, the game's main gimmick. Touching the flower transforms the stages in a variety of ways, and this is where the creativity shines in Mario Wonder. When Nintendo said "Always expect the unexpected," they meant it, as you'll see Wonder effects like a stampede of Bulrushes coming your way, the perspective changing, music numbers, floating through space, transforming into a spike ball, etc. Did I mention this game has music numbers? There are also many references from past games that make the Mario nerd inside of me happy. Not only does the game take inspiration from past Mario games, but it also takes some inspiration from other 2D platformers, like Retro Studios' Donkey Kong Country games like taking advantage of the foreground and background sections and silhouette levels, and any 2D platformer that has levels like these is a winner in my books. It felt like Nintendo was catching up to other 2D games that dominated the genre and what made them special in the first place, and that pleases me coming from a longtime Mario fan. Even if you don't remember the names of the levels themselves, you'll remember the Wonder effects like the one where you transform into a Goomba and it turns into a stealth mission or a silhouette level where the characters are stretched out or the music levels. When I cleared the second level, I knew this game was going to be special. Outside of the regular levels, we have bite-sized Break Time stages that range in variety, from KO Arenas, to music levels that take seconds to complete, Wiggler Races, and the puzzling Search Party challenges. These stages offer something different and are nice little breaks from the standard levels if you want something short and sweet or grab the collectibles.
Speaking of collectibles, the primary one this time around is the Wonder Seeds, and these can be collected when triggering the level's Wonder Effect. There are at least two Wonder Seeds in each level and will receive one when reaching the goal pole. Some will contain three if they have secrets and Break Time levels. The 10-Flower Coins are the replacement for NSMB's Star Coins; collecting one equals 10 unless it was already collected before, and these coins in particular can be used in the Poplin Shops that contain Wonder Seeds, Standees, and Badges. The Standees are used for connecting with people online as Live-Player Shadows and act as an excuse for the absence of online co-op. It essentially revives players who've died and transformed into a ghost, jumping them right back into action depending on where you placed your Standee. I don't have much to say about the online mode, but from my experience, it was solid. Honestly, this was the right utilization for online, or else we would've gotten another Mario Maker 2 catastrophe given Nintendo's history with online services. Outside of the Wonder Flowers, the other standout feature is the Badge system. They can be discovered in Badge Challenges, giving players a taste of what they can do and how they can assist them in levels; this is the only time where Prince Florian is useful. I love the concept of the system as it gives players some experimentation and encourages replayability as there are 24 badges to collect splitting into three categories, Action, Boost, and Expert. My favorites are the action ones, specifically the Parachute Cap and Grappling Vine as I love how it's utilized and take full advantage of it in near-death situations. Then we have the new items. The Bubble Flower lets Mario and friends blow bubbles that can suck enemies up from a distance and can be used for jumping to hard-to-reach places. It's a nice addition to Mario's catalog of power-ups but is the one I used the least because the other two were so much fun to use. The Drill Mushroom allows us to ground pound through crystals, burrow, and move through the ground and ceilings, and can be used to take down spiky and hard-headed enemies in a breeze. Finally, we have the Elephant Fruit, the most outlandish and wackiest power-up in the series bar none, and I love it. You can break through small blocks easily, knock out enemies with your trunk, store and spray water with it, and dash through large gaps. Seeing the main cast transform into an elephant is the most blursed thing to come out of this game and is easily the best item. I also like to give a quick shout-out to the audio design. From the trombone-like sound when transforming into an elephant to the silence of the main percussion when standing idly to the Marimba Blocks, there's a ton of adaptive music poured into this game, and Mario is no stranger when it comes to this type of background music.
You know, for a game titled "Wonder", the bosses are so disappointing. Most of your encounters are going to be with Bowser Jr. and while I like the battle environment is affected by the Wonder Effects, the variety just takes a hit. It's even lamer because, in New Super Mario Bros, they had a mixture of new and old when it came to the boss department, and hell, in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Koopalings, even if they were overused, had a bit of variety to them. They could've come up with new bosses that were exclusive to the Flower Kingdom or implemented past bosses to take advantage of the Wonder Effects, but they didn't. Kamek shows up in the game, but you don't fight him; all he does is summon airships and that's it as opposed to the NSMB games where you did; what a pussy. The Bowser fight is arguably the best fight in 2D Mario that makes the most of the Wonder Effects, but still, the boss variety is completely lackluster. While I do love the concept behind the Badges, the execution is pretty shallow. I did say that the badges offer experimentation and encourage replayability, but for a casual playthrough, you're most likely going to play through the Badge Challenges and pick a few that you like, and a few of these are OP like the Parachute Cap for instance.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder surprised me. While it does have a few faults, I love the ingenuity that is poured into the game, and what was delivered was one of the best 2D Mario games in years. Given that the development team was comprised of younger developers who were allegedly given no deadlines and had thousands of ideas that were eventually cut, it's clear that there was a lot of passion behind this game. Mario Wonder not only made me hopeful for future 2D Mario games, but it made me more hyped for mainline Mario in general, and I can't wait to see where Mario goes next.
Right off the bat, the one thing I can immediately praise the game for is the art direction. It's exquisite and charming, filled with cute little animations and character expressions that I heavily adore. Stuff like how the characters sprint, the Goombas having snot bubbles while they sleep, the Koopas panicking as they're closing their impending doom, or the way how the characters look in their smaller form just makes me feel giddy inside. It is brimming with personality and takes inspiration from past entries that impacted this game. It'll certainly age like fine wine as opposed to the dull New Super Mario Bros art style that we've grown sick and tired of four games in. For the characters, we have the usual NSMB gang plus Toadette, while bringing along Peach and Daisy on the adventure. Seeing Daisy again in a mainline Mario entry after her last appearance was in Super Mario Land in 1989 to be eventually relegated to spin-offs, but as a playable character this time is huge, and I'm happy that fans were able to play their favorite princess. Nabbit from New Super Mario Bros. U returns as a playable character and Yoshis are full characters now, which is really nice. It's nice that people can play the four-colored Yoshis as individuals, though they fall under the easy mode section. I do get Nabbit since he was already one for New Super Luigi U, but having Yoshi as one would sting some people as they would avoid playing their favorite dinosaur if it meant playing in baby mode; so yeah, kind of disappointing. I do wish the character selection could use a little more variety, but it's a solid selection nonetheless.
The game is split into seven worlds with the Petal Isles being the center of the Flower Kingdom, and each world has a linear and non-linear progression. Let me explain what I mean by this. It has your typical linear progression with new paths being unlocked under the form of a straight line when clearing a course, that part hasn't changed. For the non-linear side, each world has open areas where players can roam freely and play any stage in that particular area in any order they want. Later on, when you clear the first three worlds, the game opens up a little more and lets you play the next three worlds in no particular order. It's minor, but I like how we're given the choice to play the levels and worlds however we want. The levels themselves are solid overall and are decent in length, that is until we reach the Wonder Flower, the game's main gimmick. Touching the flower transforms the stages in a variety of ways, and this is where the creativity shines in Mario Wonder. When Nintendo said "Always expect the unexpected," they meant it, as you'll see Wonder effects like a stampede of Bulrushes coming your way, the perspective changing, music numbers, floating through space, transforming into a spike ball, etc. Did I mention this game has music numbers? There are also many references from past games that make the Mario nerd inside of me happy. Not only does the game take inspiration from past Mario games, but it also takes some inspiration from other 2D platformers, like Retro Studios' Donkey Kong Country games like taking advantage of the foreground and background sections and silhouette levels, and any 2D platformer that has levels like these is a winner in my books. It felt like Nintendo was catching up to other 2D games that dominated the genre and what made them special in the first place, and that pleases me coming from a longtime Mario fan. Even if you don't remember the names of the levels themselves, you'll remember the Wonder effects like the one where you transform into a Goomba and it turns into a stealth mission or a silhouette level where the characters are stretched out or the music levels. When I cleared the second level, I knew this game was going to be special. Outside of the regular levels, we have bite-sized Break Time stages that range in variety, from KO Arenas, to music levels that take seconds to complete, Wiggler Races, and the puzzling Search Party challenges. These stages offer something different and are nice little breaks from the standard levels if you want something short and sweet or grab the collectibles.
Speaking of collectibles, the primary one this time around is the Wonder Seeds, and these can be collected when triggering the level's Wonder Effect. There are at least two Wonder Seeds in each level and will receive one when reaching the goal pole. Some will contain three if they have secrets and Break Time levels. The 10-Flower Coins are the replacement for NSMB's Star Coins; collecting one equals 10 unless it was already collected before, and these coins in particular can be used in the Poplin Shops that contain Wonder Seeds, Standees, and Badges. The Standees are used for connecting with people online as Live-Player Shadows and act as an excuse for the absence of online co-op. It essentially revives players who've died and transformed into a ghost, jumping them right back into action depending on where you placed your Standee. I don't have much to say about the online mode, but from my experience, it was solid. Honestly, this was the right utilization for online, or else we would've gotten another Mario Maker 2 catastrophe given Nintendo's history with online services. Outside of the Wonder Flowers, the other standout feature is the Badge system. They can be discovered in Badge Challenges, giving players a taste of what they can do and how they can assist them in levels; this is the only time where Prince Florian is useful. I love the concept of the system as it gives players some experimentation and encourages replayability as there are 24 badges to collect splitting into three categories, Action, Boost, and Expert. My favorites are the action ones, specifically the Parachute Cap and Grappling Vine as I love how it's utilized and take full advantage of it in near-death situations. Then we have the new items. The Bubble Flower lets Mario and friends blow bubbles that can suck enemies up from a distance and can be used for jumping to hard-to-reach places. It's a nice addition to Mario's catalog of power-ups but is the one I used the least because the other two were so much fun to use. The Drill Mushroom allows us to ground pound through crystals, burrow, and move through the ground and ceilings, and can be used to take down spiky and hard-headed enemies in a breeze. Finally, we have the Elephant Fruit, the most outlandish and wackiest power-up in the series bar none, and I love it. You can break through small blocks easily, knock out enemies with your trunk, store and spray water with it, and dash through large gaps. Seeing the main cast transform into an elephant is the most blursed thing to come out of this game and is easily the best item. I also like to give a quick shout-out to the audio design. From the trombone-like sound when transforming into an elephant to the silence of the main percussion when standing idly to the Marimba Blocks, there's a ton of adaptive music poured into this game, and Mario is no stranger when it comes to this type of background music.
You know, for a game titled "Wonder", the bosses are so disappointing. Most of your encounters are going to be with Bowser Jr. and while I like the battle environment is affected by the Wonder Effects, the variety just takes a hit. It's even lamer because, in New Super Mario Bros, they had a mixture of new and old when it came to the boss department, and hell, in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Koopalings, even if they were overused, had a bit of variety to them. They could've come up with new bosses that were exclusive to the Flower Kingdom or implemented past bosses to take advantage of the Wonder Effects, but they didn't. Kamek shows up in the game, but you don't fight him; all he does is summon airships and that's it as opposed to the NSMB games where you did; what a pussy. The Bowser fight is arguably the best fight in 2D Mario that makes the most of the Wonder Effects, but still, the boss variety is completely lackluster. While I do love the concept behind the Badges, the execution is pretty shallow. I did say that the badges offer experimentation and encourage replayability, but for a casual playthrough, you're most likely going to play through the Badge Challenges and pick a few that you like, and a few of these are OP like the Parachute Cap for instance.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder surprised me. While it does have a few faults, I love the ingenuity that is poured into the game, and what was delivered was one of the best 2D Mario games in years. Given that the development team was comprised of younger developers who were allegedly given no deadlines and had thousands of ideas that were eventually cut, it's clear that there was a lot of passion behind this game. Mario Wonder not only made me hopeful for future 2D Mario games, but it made me more hyped for mainline Mario in general, and I can't wait to see where Mario goes next.