Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a good time. It feels like a sequel to the Mario Maker series more than it feels like a sequel to Mario World or the "New" subseries. If Mario Maker and its kaizo and troll levels are a postmodern lens to view the mario formula, then Mario Wonder feels like the logical next step of being an earnest metamodern attempt of Nintendo's professionals to try to show the audience something familiar but new. Finally Nintendo gave a little bit of creative liberty to the people who have the full set of development tools and it’s good to let them go a little off the rails even if it comes at the expense of making a fully cohesive game.
There are a few misses when it comes to trying to subvert the audience expectations (such as just giving you the royal seed as a freebie in world 3 instead of having you do a castle). But overall it's hard to nitpick when you do get plenty of secrets and just about every level brings something interesting to the table. It's funny how much Mario fans want worlds to be incorporated in games like Mario Maker 2, and then this game finally included them… as a major afterthought. It doesn’t bother to have much consistent theming, and aside from light minimap exploration there’s not much of a point in this game separating things into 'worlds'.
I was a little worried it would feel like flash over substance but the core of the levels is platforming that’s as good as its ever been. The powerups have more restraint than I expected and but still a ton of utility in adding game variety. Though it does feel a little like Bubble Mario is the Mario Odyssey powerup and Drill Mario is the Splatoon powerup. I’m less keen on the badges, but I can appreciate that it’s fairly optional and some make the game harder. I think the mario team did a good job of balancing each level within the itself… but I do wish at some point I was in danger of having a ‘game over’. I also appreciate the little challenges with unique clear conditions all over the map, and while it’s good for short portable play sessions it feels like the same kind of bloat that makes Mario Odyssey not as replayable as its predecessors. Mario 3 + World are easy to pick up and see how far you can get in 2 hours, but I don’t think this game works that way.
There are a few misses when it comes to trying to subvert the audience expectations (such as just giving you the royal seed as a freebie in world 3 instead of having you do a castle). But overall it's hard to nitpick when you do get plenty of secrets and just about every level brings something interesting to the table. It's funny how much Mario fans want worlds to be incorporated in games like Mario Maker 2, and then this game finally included them… as a major afterthought. It doesn’t bother to have much consistent theming, and aside from light minimap exploration there’s not much of a point in this game separating things into 'worlds'.
I was a little worried it would feel like flash over substance but the core of the levels is platforming that’s as good as its ever been. The powerups have more restraint than I expected and but still a ton of utility in adding game variety. Though it does feel a little like Bubble Mario is the Mario Odyssey powerup and Drill Mario is the Splatoon powerup. I’m less keen on the badges, but I can appreciate that it’s fairly optional and some make the game harder. I think the mario team did a good job of balancing each level within the itself… but I do wish at some point I was in danger of having a ‘game over’. I also appreciate the little challenges with unique clear conditions all over the map, and while it’s good for short portable play sessions it feels like the same kind of bloat that makes Mario Odyssey not as replayable as its predecessors. Mario 3 + World are easy to pick up and see how far you can get in 2 hours, but I don’t think this game works that way.