Super Mario Bros. Wonderful
I've played a lot of games this year, Backloggd says sixty five to be exact, ranging in terms of emotional scale from the ever-so-jubilant We Love Katamari all the way to the anxious and heart wrenching Final Fantasy XVI. Throughout all that I'd played, I felt like I had hit every nook and cranny of gaming that I'd set out to touch since I started the year with Crisis Core all the way back in January. There are a few titles I was looking forward to wrap up the year, but I was satiated with my enjoyment of the year thus far. On a whimsy before the release of Like a Dragon: Gaiden, I ordered a copy of Super Mario Bros Wonder. This was a game I had told at least five people who asked me if I would play it that I hadn't planned on it because the 2D Mario's weren't necessarily my cup of tea.
Like seemingly everyone in the gaming world I grew up around Mario. I sat on the ground watching my brother play through SM64 and Sunshine on our CRTV, constantly laughing and smiling in joy at the fun little Italian man doing his fun little thing with all his triple bing bing wahoos and all. We had all the Smash Bros., all the Mario Karts, the Mario Parties... we weren't unique in that aspect but the point is that Mario effectively was present throughout my entire childhood. When the 3D Allstar collection released during the COVID times, I sat alone in my apartment in North Dakota and smiled from ear to ear reliving my childhood in the first two 3D titles and then playing Galaxy for the first time. To add, Odyssey is one of my all time favorite titles. This all written to drive the point home, Mario to me is like a warm glass of happiness. Each time I load up anything Mario related, be it a party game, a 3D title, or a 2D sidescroller, I find myself simply happy to be alive.
With my new copy of Wonder and some time to kill, I booted it up and reconfigured my Switch audio to work through my PC, jumping into the 2D world not really sure what to expect. I saw the Direct where Mario turned into an elephant, I guess that was all I knew... and I can't say that was the most exciting aspect to me. Immediately though, I felt the Mario Magic. What I got in Wonder's short runtime was a game that set what it needed to do perfectly. To start, I've had a bone to pick with the processing power on the Switch in several games I've played recently, most critically was Master Detectives Archives: Rain Code in which the frame dropping and aliasing nearly drove me to a fervent rage. In Wonder there is none of that, rather an engrossing colour palette rich in every single detail you could want out of a Mario game. The bright hues of the greens and yellows speak volumes of jubilee and warmth into a game that is intended to exude such a feeling. The darker levels bloom with intriguing blacks, nefarious greens, and harrowing fires that dimly guide you along your journey. This game is beautiful full stop, and it runs perfectly. I don't like that this is something I have to worry about with a console in the current year, but it is, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder passes with flying colours. The six worlds you pass through are all resoundingly different in their thematic presentation, a showcase at the environmental design expertise that Nintendo retains in house.
Another element of Wonder's full suite that I fell in love with was the audio design. Though Martinet has sung his swan song as the red capped runner, the new talent feels just the same. Outside of our main protagonist, the sounds of each level across the varied worlds was appropriately done to make them feel unique from one another, and also fun within the moment. There lies a level early on in which you run along musical blocks as a cacophony of flowers sing you a song, I cracked a smile and trotted through like I was the king of the castle. This is just a short example of what is in store in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, there's a plethora of moments that remind you why we all cherish the franchise so much. This game and Mario in general is simply life-affirming in the its presentation, especially in the aural landscape. Whether in the Desert, in the Petal Isles, or stopping by the Fungi Mines, you are accompanied by a musical counterpart perfect for your journey.
All this being said, the real success of a 2D Mario title is how it handles simple 2D platforming, a genre it helped pioneer and innovate way back in the eighties when the famed plumber first hit the (small) big screen. It's safe to say that Mario still does the running, jumping, crouching, and scurrying he has always done, but in Wonder you have a few different avenues to take to complete your journey. Enter badges, a unique ability system that gives the player some agency into completing levels and obtaining the Wonder Seeds necessary to advance and beat the game. These badges range in relevancy/necessity from things like having a vine that attaches to walls when you hit the trigger button, to being able to jump hire with an additional float at the top to having a magnet that snatches normal and flower coins alike. I used the aforementioned jumping coin for most of the runtime, outside of levels where a specific badge was required, because it augmented the 2D scape in the way I felt most driving. I appreciated this quite a bit, as I feel like 2D games often can fall into a realm of monotony or awkwardness in the way that they force the player to navigate. This is Nintendo and Mario though, so I should have known better, as they manage to innovate both in 2D and 3D realms with every new Mario titles in ways that reinvent the genre.
Level variety and design both were clearly handled with legitimate thought and care throughout the entirety of Wonder. Though levels often felt familiar, no two truly felt the same. Of course you're utilizing the same platforming mechanics to survive hazards, but there was a significant degree of brainstorming put into making things feel different. Many types of levels exist: Racing Challenges, Enemy Elimination Challenges, Jumping to the Beat, Boss fights, Simple Platforming, and they're all spaced out with effective perfection. At no point did I hit a rut of levels within a world that felt too much like another. Whether I was tasked to run, swim, or fly, I was fighting a new enemy or using a new power to succeed. Mario as a franchise has always been about creating the new out of the familiar, and making sure that no two moments are specifically the same, and that nail is hit with tremendous precision once more in Wonder.
I absolutely recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder to anyone with a Nintendo Switch, an affinity for Mario, or a liking for 2D Platformers. This was a title that managed to make me smile through every moment I spent, and to me that gives a title an invaluable level of credential.
I've played a lot of games this year, Backloggd says sixty five to be exact, ranging in terms of emotional scale from the ever-so-jubilant We Love Katamari all the way to the anxious and heart wrenching Final Fantasy XVI. Throughout all that I'd played, I felt like I had hit every nook and cranny of gaming that I'd set out to touch since I started the year with Crisis Core all the way back in January. There are a few titles I was looking forward to wrap up the year, but I was satiated with my enjoyment of the year thus far. On a whimsy before the release of Like a Dragon: Gaiden, I ordered a copy of Super Mario Bros Wonder. This was a game I had told at least five people who asked me if I would play it that I hadn't planned on it because the 2D Mario's weren't necessarily my cup of tea.
Like seemingly everyone in the gaming world I grew up around Mario. I sat on the ground watching my brother play through SM64 and Sunshine on our CRTV, constantly laughing and smiling in joy at the fun little Italian man doing his fun little thing with all his triple bing bing wahoos and all. We had all the Smash Bros., all the Mario Karts, the Mario Parties... we weren't unique in that aspect but the point is that Mario effectively was present throughout my entire childhood. When the 3D Allstar collection released during the COVID times, I sat alone in my apartment in North Dakota and smiled from ear to ear reliving my childhood in the first two 3D titles and then playing Galaxy for the first time. To add, Odyssey is one of my all time favorite titles. This all written to drive the point home, Mario to me is like a warm glass of happiness. Each time I load up anything Mario related, be it a party game, a 3D title, or a 2D sidescroller, I find myself simply happy to be alive.
With my new copy of Wonder and some time to kill, I booted it up and reconfigured my Switch audio to work through my PC, jumping into the 2D world not really sure what to expect. I saw the Direct where Mario turned into an elephant, I guess that was all I knew... and I can't say that was the most exciting aspect to me. Immediately though, I felt the Mario Magic. What I got in Wonder's short runtime was a game that set what it needed to do perfectly. To start, I've had a bone to pick with the processing power on the Switch in several games I've played recently, most critically was Master Detectives Archives: Rain Code in which the frame dropping and aliasing nearly drove me to a fervent rage. In Wonder there is none of that, rather an engrossing colour palette rich in every single detail you could want out of a Mario game. The bright hues of the greens and yellows speak volumes of jubilee and warmth into a game that is intended to exude such a feeling. The darker levels bloom with intriguing blacks, nefarious greens, and harrowing fires that dimly guide you along your journey. This game is beautiful full stop, and it runs perfectly. I don't like that this is something I have to worry about with a console in the current year, but it is, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder passes with flying colours. The six worlds you pass through are all resoundingly different in their thematic presentation, a showcase at the environmental design expertise that Nintendo retains in house.
Another element of Wonder's full suite that I fell in love with was the audio design. Though Martinet has sung his swan song as the red capped runner, the new talent feels just the same. Outside of our main protagonist, the sounds of each level across the varied worlds was appropriately done to make them feel unique from one another, and also fun within the moment. There lies a level early on in which you run along musical blocks as a cacophony of flowers sing you a song, I cracked a smile and trotted through like I was the king of the castle. This is just a short example of what is in store in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, there's a plethora of moments that remind you why we all cherish the franchise so much. This game and Mario in general is simply life-affirming in the its presentation, especially in the aural landscape. Whether in the Desert, in the Petal Isles, or stopping by the Fungi Mines, you are accompanied by a musical counterpart perfect for your journey.
All this being said, the real success of a 2D Mario title is how it handles simple 2D platforming, a genre it helped pioneer and innovate way back in the eighties when the famed plumber first hit the (small) big screen. It's safe to say that Mario still does the running, jumping, crouching, and scurrying he has always done, but in Wonder you have a few different avenues to take to complete your journey. Enter badges, a unique ability system that gives the player some agency into completing levels and obtaining the Wonder Seeds necessary to advance and beat the game. These badges range in relevancy/necessity from things like having a vine that attaches to walls when you hit the trigger button, to being able to jump hire with an additional float at the top to having a magnet that snatches normal and flower coins alike. I used the aforementioned jumping coin for most of the runtime, outside of levels where a specific badge was required, because it augmented the 2D scape in the way I felt most driving. I appreciated this quite a bit, as I feel like 2D games often can fall into a realm of monotony or awkwardness in the way that they force the player to navigate. This is Nintendo and Mario though, so I should have known better, as they manage to innovate both in 2D and 3D realms with every new Mario titles in ways that reinvent the genre.
Level variety and design both were clearly handled with legitimate thought and care throughout the entirety of Wonder. Though levels often felt familiar, no two truly felt the same. Of course you're utilizing the same platforming mechanics to survive hazards, but there was a significant degree of brainstorming put into making things feel different. Many types of levels exist: Racing Challenges, Enemy Elimination Challenges, Jumping to the Beat, Boss fights, Simple Platforming, and they're all spaced out with effective perfection. At no point did I hit a rut of levels within a world that felt too much like another. Whether I was tasked to run, swim, or fly, I was fighting a new enemy or using a new power to succeed. Mario as a franchise has always been about creating the new out of the familiar, and making sure that no two moments are specifically the same, and that nail is hit with tremendous precision once more in Wonder.
I absolutely recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder to anyone with a Nintendo Switch, an affinity for Mario, or a liking for 2D Platformers. This was a title that managed to make me smile through every moment I spent, and to me that gives a title an invaluable level of credential.