This February, Nintendo opened the Hollywood location of their Super Nintendo World park at Universal. This has been read by some as a cynical money grab but for me it reads more as an act of idolatry. To install their divine architect of Miyamoto to its station, this was no simple investment. Instead, the area is a three hundred million dollar monument to the Man of Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom.
It's gorgeous, and a well-made park, but the experience is so artificial and self-referential that it can only really succeed at being a facade. Why would it do anything else? It doesn't have to create Mario. It simply has to evoke Mario. Represent Mario. It doesn't have to be Mario.
Mario Wonder takes after the park. The craftsmanship in its construction is phenomenal- there are countless points where a player will notice effort that didn't have to be expended. It's fun to see the set pieces, and they are fun set pieces. Nintendo's talent shines through. But it's difficult to ignore that the game speeds you from place to place, never letting you catch your breath in one spot for too long. Wonder shuffles you from attraction to attraction, constantly terrified that it might lose your attention should you ever try and dawdle too long. The timer might be literally gone, but make no mistake: you will be shuttled forward.
At the end I was left with a profound feeling of emptiness. What did I really do in those levels? I don't feel like I went through a course, like I was tested. Instead, Wonder just did its thing, and I happened to be around. Sometimes, the game will ask you to perform Mario Wonder, to recreate a set of actions like you're playing an Osu course.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a theme park. The Flower Kingdom is not a place for you to inhabit in any meaningful capacity. It is a series of places that you arrive at, witness, and then move on from.
Sincerely, it's a good game, but I eagerly await a period where Nintendo might not be so content sitting on its laurels. The Switch era has been by far Nintendo's most self-congratulatory, and while Wonder is a good time, it is left somewhat hollow because Nintendo seems more interested in basking in its legends rather than creating new ones.
It's gorgeous, and a well-made park, but the experience is so artificial and self-referential that it can only really succeed at being a facade. Why would it do anything else? It doesn't have to create Mario. It simply has to evoke Mario. Represent Mario. It doesn't have to be Mario.
Mario Wonder takes after the park. The craftsmanship in its construction is phenomenal- there are countless points where a player will notice effort that didn't have to be expended. It's fun to see the set pieces, and they are fun set pieces. Nintendo's talent shines through. But it's difficult to ignore that the game speeds you from place to place, never letting you catch your breath in one spot for too long. Wonder shuffles you from attraction to attraction, constantly terrified that it might lose your attention should you ever try and dawdle too long. The timer might be literally gone, but make no mistake: you will be shuttled forward.
At the end I was left with a profound feeling of emptiness. What did I really do in those levels? I don't feel like I went through a course, like I was tested. Instead, Wonder just did its thing, and I happened to be around. Sometimes, the game will ask you to perform Mario Wonder, to recreate a set of actions like you're playing an Osu course.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a theme park. The Flower Kingdom is not a place for you to inhabit in any meaningful capacity. It is a series of places that you arrive at, witness, and then move on from.
Sincerely, it's a good game, but I eagerly await a period where Nintendo might not be so content sitting on its laurels. The Switch era has been by far Nintendo's most self-congratulatory, and while Wonder is a good time, it is left somewhat hollow because Nintendo seems more interested in basking in its legends rather than creating new ones.
4 Comments
I believe it was Kant who said "they got this game for people who smoke or people who drink. like if you drink beer and you get drunk or you smoke weed and you get high." Mario exhibits smoking by hitting that fat wonder flower pack all day, but he exhibits drinking by snorkeling water up his elephant trunk. Keep it up, baby!
What?
Super Mario 64: Falling Scream (Original pitch version)
bacontrarian
6 months ago