This review contains spoilers
Nintendo has succeeded in creating a promising first step to what could be a fantsatic series of 2d mario games that is already miles more interesting and ambitious than anything present in the new super mario bros franchise. However, while I'm happy to see nintendo taking mario in a more creative and expirimental route this game still comes to a very safe and mechanical design philosophy that platformers in recent years have endlessly expirimented with and come to some incredible outcomes while nintendo are fine with resting on their laurels and sadly don't do much to play with what mario level design can be in 2023.
Mario Wonder is a fantastic looking game with so much charm and personality bursting at the seams with fantastic new models and gorgeous animations to accompany those new models. They have a almost clay like quality to them which really makes them pop and mario seems to have inherhited some of that confiedent snark that his spikey blue friend making for a mario with more personality than featured before. Enemy designs are also fantastic perfectly communicating their function through the use of soft and sharp shapes while also being full personality and charm. While I think the presentation of this game is far beyond anything the 2d series has ever seen and feels like a natural progression from the snes games rather than the stagnation of the new series, I still have problems here namely with the music which the most bland boring and generic slop they could've possible come up with especially considering how creative the game is. The OST is just more of the same stuff from the new series failing to expand the musical world of mario in any exciting or interesting way, there are maybe two songs I thought were pretty good those being the special world overworld theme, which is fantastic, and the music promiant in the fungal world. The soundtrack also just has a lack of songs, several songs are reused throughout the game and they become stale fast making for maybe the worst soundtrack I've heard all year due to its lack of interesting ideas. There are so many directions you could take the music of mario be it big band jazz, funk, rock, electronic, orechestral, advant gard, all of these would be interesting directions for the sound of the franchise and have been used in the 3d games namely games such as mario galaxy and 3d world but it seems koji Kondo and his fellow composers want to keep the 2d series music stale and forgettable which is a shame, even sonic superstars had some absolute bangers in there such as speed jungle, pinball carnival, lagoon city, even that game with as mixed bag a soundtrack had a different song each act and had some variety this just feels bland especially when compared to some of the better soundtracks this year such as pizza towers and tears of the kingdome both having fantastic music that fit each of their games respectivly. Also, this is a minor point and doesnt really affect my opinions on the game but the voice acting for mario and co is actually pretty good for the most part but their are times when mario sounds off especially his mama mia which is actually bad and the talking flowers fucking suck, they're not funny or charming just annoying with dialog just going 'woah that just happened, wow man that was crazy' which sucks, Im fine with voice acting in a mario game but the flower is just annoying and barely helpful. Also, I think the level themes are super uninspired and boring, I'm sick of seeing grass world, sand world, lava world, forest world. Why can't we see some truley weried shit like a level in a crystalised mosolium, or a level in a mario rendition of rome or paris, why can't we have level that takes place on a circuite board and the world map could be little city with each part of the circuite borad acting as a city in and of itself. Why can't we have something visually distinct and cool instead of the same themes regudated over and over again. The only one I can think of that was different was the dounut level that is something that has been done better in other games like sonic colours where it took the whole desert gimick and made it appart of the level instead of deligating it to the background.
In terms of gameplay I have some thoughts. Controls are fantastic and tight, super responsive and fun to use, I think its a testiment to how good this game controls that when using the invisibilty badge that despite not seeing mario on the screen I still have a very good idea as to where he is on the screen. Now in terms of level design, this is just bogstandard mario level design with very little done to evolve what a mario level can be in 2023 outside of the wonder flower abilities. Each level follows basic standars of level design that being showing a level mechanic in a safe enviroment, showing how the mechanic interacts with the enviroment and continuously evolving it until the level ends. This is not the problem, the problem is that mario wonder does a poor job of actually evolving the mechanics in each level making each level feel underwhelming and unsatfisfying to play through. I love that the game doesnt throw away the mechanic after one level like mario galaxy does and instead evolves the mechanics throughout the game but I still don't think it does a good enough job of doing that for example the game has these pulley ropes that are initally used for coins but later are used to show plaforms in the level and are used for two enemies, this is fine but it never goes beyond that, never showing anything I havent seen in different platformers and done more creatively. What about using the rope pulleys to unpeal different parts of the level and hiding secrets in those, this could be used in conjuction with the background and foregrounds, peeling away different parts of the level to go into the background or foreground and bouncing between them to complete the level, maybe using the pulleys to shift the level around playing with perspective. Maybe there could be a level that is tied to the pace of the music and the pulleys could be used to determine the pace of the song and therefore changing the level. These are just some ideas I came up with that, I think, really could've achieved the sense of wonder that I was really expecting from this title and had while playing mario growing up in both 3d and 2d games but sadly I don't think this game ever achieve this. I've seen a lot of people saying this feels like a 3d mario game but in 2d and while I can see they're coming from I don't because if this was a 3d mario game then the mechanics would be used in much more creative ways and would be used to their fullest but wonder is fine with not trying this and instead using its selling gimick to fill that void. The wonder flower is the part that is supposed to make the game feel as if it full of wonders and it does this... Ocassionally since the many times the wonder flower is used it almost feels like a slight detour or its something thats completly seperate from the level making the game feel somewhat unfocused and divorced from the main part of the game, the level design. There are few times where I was pleased with the implementation such as the second to last level in the special world and the level with the ship in it, I also like the marching parade and the ninja hideout but even the music oriented ones get old as they are repeated constantly throughout the game, the first time was really cool and charming but after that it got kinda stale like it was treading old ground constantly which is a shame because there are really awesome ideas here such as the one where mario is walking on the background of the stage but even that is only a surface level of enjoyment because it only lasts a couple of seconds and before it really starts to feel like something really cool and awesome it ends which is unfortunate. I'm not saying the game is lacking ideas that are interesting becasue it definelty does not, this is probably the most creative mario game yet but I just wanted it to go further in its creativity. Reading an interview with the developers, it says they came up with over 2,000 ideas, that is staggering but it seems the ones that were the most wacky or funny were cut out such as the idea of having a sports commenting track while playing the level and having a Tsundere option or the idea for there to be a live action mario in the background whistling to the song playing. These are amazing ideas and I would've loved to have seen these and others like them in the game because they would've actually made me feel something which the game just didn't do much. When I finished wonder I felt kinda hollow, I didn't really feel much while playing if anything I was getting annoyed at how much better this game could've been and I'm so confused by the response to this game making me wonder if this is enough for most people, a standard mario game with a new visuals and the minute long detour, is this it, is this good enough when compared to incredibly creative and engaging plaformers out there such as pizza tower, sonic mania, celeste, donkey kong torpical freeze, rayman legends, shovel knight and many many more. Shouldn't we be expecting more from the face of gaming, the pinicle of the medium showing off how amazingly creative our medium is and can be. I don't know if I think this is good enough for mario when compared to the sea of more interesting platformers out there that push their gimicks and are branching and expirimenting with the form instead of settling for the stausque of game design. I was hoping mario was going to reinvent and shake up the platformer but instead it still feels like its trying to play catchup. Like I said there are cool ideas here but they kinda just come and go kinda like the new badge system, they're cool, offering a way for different playstyles in the levels but your probably only gonna stick with one or two because the levels don't offer enough expirimentation for you to want to play around with them and levels that are built with them in mind are some of the best in the game since they do push what they can do and it shows that they can be cool but why would I not use the one that gives you a double jump or why not use the one that makes water levels actually fun. Also, mario continues to have the most uninspired and boring bosses in gaming history with bowser junior bosses feeling increibly samey and lacking in difficulty and the final boss and general ending being incredibly underwhelming and honestly unintersting.
I feel like I could write about this game forever and why it dissapointed me but with all this said I still recommend mario wonder. It's an above average game that I did enjoy playing but I never loved playing outside of a few examples. A game I wanted to love but ultimatly came up short. Who knew that my two favourite frachises would come out with games that ended up dissapointing me within the span of a week. I'm glad people are loving this game but I just couldn't. This may be the best 2D mario since super mario world but thats because nintendo tried to put the franchise in a state of perpertual staggnaiton until poeple started to complain. I'm happy nintendo is being more loose with mario but I don't expect them to let mario go crazy ever which is a shame. I'll say that if this game was filled with the type of stuff it gives you when 100%ing the game then I think it would've been better.
Mario Wonder is a fantastic looking game with so much charm and personality bursting at the seams with fantastic new models and gorgeous animations to accompany those new models. They have a almost clay like quality to them which really makes them pop and mario seems to have inherhited some of that confiedent snark that his spikey blue friend making for a mario with more personality than featured before. Enemy designs are also fantastic perfectly communicating their function through the use of soft and sharp shapes while also being full personality and charm. While I think the presentation of this game is far beyond anything the 2d series has ever seen and feels like a natural progression from the snes games rather than the stagnation of the new series, I still have problems here namely with the music which the most bland boring and generic slop they could've possible come up with especially considering how creative the game is. The OST is just more of the same stuff from the new series failing to expand the musical world of mario in any exciting or interesting way, there are maybe two songs I thought were pretty good those being the special world overworld theme, which is fantastic, and the music promiant in the fungal world. The soundtrack also just has a lack of songs, several songs are reused throughout the game and they become stale fast making for maybe the worst soundtrack I've heard all year due to its lack of interesting ideas. There are so many directions you could take the music of mario be it big band jazz, funk, rock, electronic, orechestral, advant gard, all of these would be interesting directions for the sound of the franchise and have been used in the 3d games namely games such as mario galaxy and 3d world but it seems koji Kondo and his fellow composers want to keep the 2d series music stale and forgettable which is a shame, even sonic superstars had some absolute bangers in there such as speed jungle, pinball carnival, lagoon city, even that game with as mixed bag a soundtrack had a different song each act and had some variety this just feels bland especially when compared to some of the better soundtracks this year such as pizza towers and tears of the kingdome both having fantastic music that fit each of their games respectivly. Also, this is a minor point and doesnt really affect my opinions on the game but the voice acting for mario and co is actually pretty good for the most part but their are times when mario sounds off especially his mama mia which is actually bad and the talking flowers fucking suck, they're not funny or charming just annoying with dialog just going 'woah that just happened, wow man that was crazy' which sucks, Im fine with voice acting in a mario game but the flower is just annoying and barely helpful. Also, I think the level themes are super uninspired and boring, I'm sick of seeing grass world, sand world, lava world, forest world. Why can't we see some truley weried shit like a level in a crystalised mosolium, or a level in a mario rendition of rome or paris, why can't we have level that takes place on a circuite board and the world map could be little city with each part of the circuite borad acting as a city in and of itself. Why can't we have something visually distinct and cool instead of the same themes regudated over and over again. The only one I can think of that was different was the dounut level that is something that has been done better in other games like sonic colours where it took the whole desert gimick and made it appart of the level instead of deligating it to the background.
In terms of gameplay I have some thoughts. Controls are fantastic and tight, super responsive and fun to use, I think its a testiment to how good this game controls that when using the invisibilty badge that despite not seeing mario on the screen I still have a very good idea as to where he is on the screen. Now in terms of level design, this is just bogstandard mario level design with very little done to evolve what a mario level can be in 2023 outside of the wonder flower abilities. Each level follows basic standars of level design that being showing a level mechanic in a safe enviroment, showing how the mechanic interacts with the enviroment and continuously evolving it until the level ends. This is not the problem, the problem is that mario wonder does a poor job of actually evolving the mechanics in each level making each level feel underwhelming and unsatfisfying to play through. I love that the game doesnt throw away the mechanic after one level like mario galaxy does and instead evolves the mechanics throughout the game but I still don't think it does a good enough job of doing that for example the game has these pulley ropes that are initally used for coins but later are used to show plaforms in the level and are used for two enemies, this is fine but it never goes beyond that, never showing anything I havent seen in different platformers and done more creatively. What about using the rope pulleys to unpeal different parts of the level and hiding secrets in those, this could be used in conjuction with the background and foregrounds, peeling away different parts of the level to go into the background or foreground and bouncing between them to complete the level, maybe using the pulleys to shift the level around playing with perspective. Maybe there could be a level that is tied to the pace of the music and the pulleys could be used to determine the pace of the song and therefore changing the level. These are just some ideas I came up with that, I think, really could've achieved the sense of wonder that I was really expecting from this title and had while playing mario growing up in both 3d and 2d games but sadly I don't think this game ever achieve this. I've seen a lot of people saying this feels like a 3d mario game but in 2d and while I can see they're coming from I don't because if this was a 3d mario game then the mechanics would be used in much more creative ways and would be used to their fullest but wonder is fine with not trying this and instead using its selling gimick to fill that void. The wonder flower is the part that is supposed to make the game feel as if it full of wonders and it does this... Ocassionally since the many times the wonder flower is used it almost feels like a slight detour or its something thats completly seperate from the level making the game feel somewhat unfocused and divorced from the main part of the game, the level design. There are few times where I was pleased with the implementation such as the second to last level in the special world and the level with the ship in it, I also like the marching parade and the ninja hideout but even the music oriented ones get old as they are repeated constantly throughout the game, the first time was really cool and charming but after that it got kinda stale like it was treading old ground constantly which is a shame because there are really awesome ideas here such as the one where mario is walking on the background of the stage but even that is only a surface level of enjoyment because it only lasts a couple of seconds and before it really starts to feel like something really cool and awesome it ends which is unfortunate. I'm not saying the game is lacking ideas that are interesting becasue it definelty does not, this is probably the most creative mario game yet but I just wanted it to go further in its creativity. Reading an interview with the developers, it says they came up with over 2,000 ideas, that is staggering but it seems the ones that were the most wacky or funny were cut out such as the idea of having a sports commenting track while playing the level and having a Tsundere option or the idea for there to be a live action mario in the background whistling to the song playing. These are amazing ideas and I would've loved to have seen these and others like them in the game because they would've actually made me feel something which the game just didn't do much. When I finished wonder I felt kinda hollow, I didn't really feel much while playing if anything I was getting annoyed at how much better this game could've been and I'm so confused by the response to this game making me wonder if this is enough for most people, a standard mario game with a new visuals and the minute long detour, is this it, is this good enough when compared to incredibly creative and engaging plaformers out there such as pizza tower, sonic mania, celeste, donkey kong torpical freeze, rayman legends, shovel knight and many many more. Shouldn't we be expecting more from the face of gaming, the pinicle of the medium showing off how amazingly creative our medium is and can be. I don't know if I think this is good enough for mario when compared to the sea of more interesting platformers out there that push their gimicks and are branching and expirimenting with the form instead of settling for the stausque of game design. I was hoping mario was going to reinvent and shake up the platformer but instead it still feels like its trying to play catchup. Like I said there are cool ideas here but they kinda just come and go kinda like the new badge system, they're cool, offering a way for different playstyles in the levels but your probably only gonna stick with one or two because the levels don't offer enough expirimentation for you to want to play around with them and levels that are built with them in mind are some of the best in the game since they do push what they can do and it shows that they can be cool but why would I not use the one that gives you a double jump or why not use the one that makes water levels actually fun. Also, mario continues to have the most uninspired and boring bosses in gaming history with bowser junior bosses feeling increibly samey and lacking in difficulty and the final boss and general ending being incredibly underwhelming and honestly unintersting.
I feel like I could write about this game forever and why it dissapointed me but with all this said I still recommend mario wonder. It's an above average game that I did enjoy playing but I never loved playing outside of a few examples. A game I wanted to love but ultimatly came up short. Who knew that my two favourite frachises would come out with games that ended up dissapointing me within the span of a week. I'm glad people are loving this game but I just couldn't. This may be the best 2D mario since super mario world but thats because nintendo tried to put the franchise in a state of perpertual staggnaiton until poeple started to complain. I'm happy nintendo is being more loose with mario but I don't expect them to let mario go crazy ever which is a shame. I'll say that if this game was filled with the type of stuff it gives you when 100%ing the game then I think it would've been better.