After finishing the mainline recently, I might go back to get all the coins and such but I've never been invested enough to do that previously - aside from Super Mario 64. I enjoyed it - so many moments where I had a grin on my face or said WTF out loud. It also took me the best part of 12 hours to appreciate the bubble ability, I can see that having lots of speed run potential. I probably can't say much too much more that hasn't already been mentioned here.

However, my one spicy take is that I think this is a good Mario game, disguised as a great Mario game. I know some people say that Rogue One is a decent movie, with an S-Tier Vader scene towards the end that leaves a lasting impression that it's better than it is (I love it for what it's worth). I kind of feel like this is the inverse of that analogy.

I felt the majority of the strongest moments were in the initial third of the game, and several wonder seed ideas were rehashed later on. It gives the impression that it's going to be a 9/10 game throughout and I think it starts to dip after the candy floss cloud zone. I also felt like the variety, whilst surprising and ingenious at times, left it feeling like a hodgepodge of ideas rather than having a cohesive throughline.

Mario Galaxy, 3D I know, was more than equal to this in terms of variety but managed to subvert the expectations of planets, gravity, and the unknown in a manner that tied things back to the core concept of space. The Wonder Seed was an excuse for them to add anything into the game that they thought was cool, but promoted divergence, rather than it being tied back into something that emphasised convergence.

Don't get me wrong; I think it's a solid 8/10, is much better than the previous 2D entries (which I quite liked on Wii), and am happy that it made my GOTY list. It's certainly a substantial foundation for if/when they revisit it too. In the end though, I feel like Rayman, Ori, and possibly Guacamalee were/are more enjoyable games all around.