It is true that rumors about a new 2D Mario had been happening for a long while up until the point this game was revealed, but I can say for myself that the New Super Mario Bros. series wore off the charm of 2D Mario so much I wasn’t even sure if I wanted another 2D Mario ever. However, the reveal trailer for Mario Wonder eased my mind and showed something completely different from the blandness of the NSMB games - a brand new 2D Mario game with a beautifully charming artstyle, brimming with creativity and new ideas. It felt like it had the potential to be the best 2D Mario ever created, and that’s exactly what it ended up being.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is basically a 2D Mario with the inventiveness of 3D Mario, in which every individual level feels unique and introduces new fun gimmicks, be it in the level design itself (which finally offers much more variety than the usual grass-desert-ice-volcano themes), its wide array of brand new enemies or with the star of the show, the Wonder Flower. Picking up a Wonder Flower the first time was always a magical experience, because you never knew what you were getting into. I always had a big smile on my face with the wackiness these flowers provided and the clever ways they altered the gameplay.
The game isn’t without its faults, though. The main one would be how not all worlds are created equal. We have some phenomenal worlds, like worlds 1 and 4, the first one with a wide variety of hidden exits and the latter with an expansive open area in the world map that you can freely explore and find a bunch of secrets. At the same time, we have worlds like 3 and 5, that have less levels than all other worlds, are more linear and don’t even feature a boss fight at the end.
Speaking of which, the boss fights are really lackluster. They’re either a clash with Bowser Jr. for the castle levels or with a Bowser machine in the case of airship levels. All of these encounters are mind-bogglingly easy and don’t have any interesting mechanics. You’d imagine they’d do something wacky and over-the-top considering the wonder theme, but no, even the boss fights from the NSMB games are more involved than these. The final boss is fantastic though, no doubt one of the best final bosses of a Mario game.
The multiplayer works differently than in the NSMB games, with there being no collision between the players now and the camera always being centered on a single player, so the others have to keep up or else they’re screwed. It took a bit to get used to this, but the rush for the flagpole in the end was made much more exciting, because getting the top of the flag first means the camera will be centered on you. However, it’s clear how some levels were clearly not made with multiplayer in mind, especially the badge challenges. That’s not a critique though: some games focus too much on making everything multiplayer-accessible that they end up ruining the single-player experience, so I’m glad this game isn’t guilty of that.
The game is also fairly short, clocking at about 10 hours to finish the main campaign, which I’m totally fine with. Nowadays many games feel the need to pad out the game with a bunch of filler content just to make it lengthier to make it seem like more bang for your buck, but that usually backfires, so I’m glad Mario Wonder doesn’t go out of its way to extended its runtime with unnecessary repetitive content. That also makes it much more replayable, too.
This is the game we needed to revitalize the image of 2D Mario. There’s so much potential in it that I’m sure we’ll see DLC or even a sequel soon, and I sure hope they keep on being creative like this and don’t return to the blandness that plagued the series for over a decade. I never put Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World on a pedestal like many gamers do, I was always more of a 3D Mario kid growing up, so I can safely say Super Mario Bros. Wonder has become my favorite 2D Mario.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is basically a 2D Mario with the inventiveness of 3D Mario, in which every individual level feels unique and introduces new fun gimmicks, be it in the level design itself (which finally offers much more variety than the usual grass-desert-ice-volcano themes), its wide array of brand new enemies or with the star of the show, the Wonder Flower. Picking up a Wonder Flower the first time was always a magical experience, because you never knew what you were getting into. I always had a big smile on my face with the wackiness these flowers provided and the clever ways they altered the gameplay.
The game isn’t without its faults, though. The main one would be how not all worlds are created equal. We have some phenomenal worlds, like worlds 1 and 4, the first one with a wide variety of hidden exits and the latter with an expansive open area in the world map that you can freely explore and find a bunch of secrets. At the same time, we have worlds like 3 and 5, that have less levels than all other worlds, are more linear and don’t even feature a boss fight at the end.
Speaking of which, the boss fights are really lackluster. They’re either a clash with Bowser Jr. for the castle levels or with a Bowser machine in the case of airship levels. All of these encounters are mind-bogglingly easy and don’t have any interesting mechanics. You’d imagine they’d do something wacky and over-the-top considering the wonder theme, but no, even the boss fights from the NSMB games are more involved than these. The final boss is fantastic though, no doubt one of the best final bosses of a Mario game.
The multiplayer works differently than in the NSMB games, with there being no collision between the players now and the camera always being centered on a single player, so the others have to keep up or else they’re screwed. It took a bit to get used to this, but the rush for the flagpole in the end was made much more exciting, because getting the top of the flag first means the camera will be centered on you. However, it’s clear how some levels were clearly not made with multiplayer in mind, especially the badge challenges. That’s not a critique though: some games focus too much on making everything multiplayer-accessible that they end up ruining the single-player experience, so I’m glad this game isn’t guilty of that.
The game is also fairly short, clocking at about 10 hours to finish the main campaign, which I’m totally fine with. Nowadays many games feel the need to pad out the game with a bunch of filler content just to make it lengthier to make it seem like more bang for your buck, but that usually backfires, so I’m glad Mario Wonder doesn’t go out of its way to extended its runtime with unnecessary repetitive content. That also makes it much more replayable, too.
This is the game we needed to revitalize the image of 2D Mario. There’s so much potential in it that I’m sure we’ll see DLC or even a sequel soon, and I sure hope they keep on being creative like this and don’t return to the blandness that plagued the series for over a decade. I never put Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World on a pedestal like many gamers do, I was always more of a 3D Mario kid growing up, so I can safely say Super Mario Bros. Wonder has become my favorite 2D Mario.