Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)

Spanish: Hay varias cosas que me gustaron y otras no tanto. Me gustó el acabado visual y algunos potenciadores. Que Mario se convierta en un elefante o que sea un taladro y se entierre en la tierra es una novedad. Las insignias que te dan atributos también es interesante, aunque en el juego terminé usando un par de ellas nada más. Lo que no me gustó fue que la trama no fue la clásica historia donde hay que rescatar a Peach, que puede ser repetitiva pero siempre gusta, y más ahora que en la película Bowser buscaba conquistar a la princesa. La dificultad del juego también fue otra de las cosas que no men convencieron y coincido con mi esposa en que New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe es más desafiante. El único nivel que fue realmente difícil es el último, donde te ponen a jugar con todas las insignias.

English: There were several things I liked and others not so much. I liked the visual finish and some power-ups. The fact that Mario turns into an elephant or becomes a drill that burrows into the ground is a novelty. The badges that give you attributes are also interesting, although in the game, I ended up using just a couple of them. What I didn't like was that the plot wasn't the classic story where you have to rescue Peach. It might be repetitive but it's always enjoyable, especially now that in the movie, Bowser was trying to conquer the princess. The difficulty of the game was another aspect that didn't convince me, and I agree with my wife that New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is more challenging. The only really difficult level is the last one, where you have to play with all the badges."

I've been really wanting to put my feelings into words about this game and honestly with a big chunk of Nintendo, without coming across too negative or making anyone feel like I'm trying to invalidate them, to see if anyone can relate to my experience.

In a nutshell:
I had high hopes going into this game, and disappointment coming out after 100%ing it, followed up by confusion from its unanimous praise (and even some of its criticisms) -- it's a similar twilight zone feeling I got from the unanimous praise of Mario Odyssey and BotW.

For Mario Wonder, it's simply too short and mindless for my liking, especially for all the potential it brings. It seems to opt to always keep me stimulated with immediate gratification baby sensory appeal, music, and wacky events happening (not unlike every level on the front page of Mario Maker) and it assumes that I'll be satisfied with the variety of gameplay options it throws at me with its badges -- rather than committing to a substantial dive into its mechanics that I can lose myself in. It feels like Mario's epitome of spectacle over substance. I get that was a strong focus after the blandness of the NSMB era, but I'm sensing an over-correction here, as I wish there was a better balance between that and actual content. As it is now, I 100%'d this game in 12 hours and have moved on forgetting most of its elements except the persistent ones of which many were personally grating to me (talking flowers, the badge challenge music, the jump sound effect, elephant mario, the onslaught of character yelps and woohoos) so I have no reason or desire to return to it. This game feels like a collection of corporate decisions to cheaply pander to children all in a similar vein as how Illumination makes their movies... go figure.

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In NOT a nutshell:
It's complicated. I grew up with a SNES and NES, playing SMB1–3 and SMW probably most often (along with the DKC trilogy), and I'm sure if I had this game at the time it would've been an absolute favorite. So there you go, you could chalk it up to me just being helplessly nostalgic for older graphics, crustier music and sounds, older design philosophies. and a limited choice of entertainment leaving me to replay the games I liked -- and now unable to appreciate any new installment of a franchise I grew up with. I think that's a valid generalization, but I also think it's a valid glimpse into what kinds of specific aspects I value in games nowadays, and I can't help but want to try articulating them.

I think I have a low tolerance for games designed with "constant player freedom" as a focus to finding your own fun or depth, especially when designers prioritize this as a game's big appeal. I see this design philosophy in Mario Odyssey, BotW 1+2, and Mario Wonder. As I said before, Mario Wonder seems to prefer to keep you stimulated, leaving much of its unique content (enemies, level mechanics, badge challenges) short-lived, and as such the whole game is a fast-paced barrage of the easiest forms of every unique mechanic in the game. The game's answer to this appears to be replaying a level with a challenge badge.

Having the freedom to make a game hard or fun for myself at any time does not scratch the same itch as playing through a hand-crafted experience designed with a specific journey in mind of gradual increasing complexity. Think Celeste, Super Meat Boy, Portal 2, Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, Ori and the Blind Forest -- to me, these games aren't fun for their freedom. They're fun because they each give you a unique set of sequences to work through and engage yourself in under constraints, developing your senses of the game along with that specific journey.

When a game relies strongly on freedom in place of what could've been a largely hand-crafted experience, I usually grow bored quickly and move on to something else. What I appreciate about overcoming challenging experiences is actually working my brain around how to get past it with everything at my disposal and the game acknowledging me for doing exactly that. Self-imposed difficulty is only that, self-imposed; and I can simply overcome it by just not applying it. In summary, I have fun being efficient within the constraints of a game; so I appreciate games that focus strongly on player-skill development under constraints throughout a journey of increasing complexity. This is what I feel Mario and Zelda have been before, but have since taken inspiration from a looser sandbox design with a basic spectacle and shallow focus on its legacy, which I feel heavily misrepresents (and frankly misunderstands) what made them so engaging before.

I don't enjoy running around a map to collect moons scattered across with no rhyme or reason. I enjoy going through a handcrafted journey requiring me to figure out the nuances of a world and challenge my senses and intuition to be rewarded a single Star by the end of it all. I don't enjoy running around a map to find Koroks and materials with no clear rhyme or reason, and an under-baked sense of purpose. I enjoy going through a handcrafted journey that immerses me in a story development of characters and lore; and an array of dungeons each meticulously designed for me to find, figure out, and work through in the span of a few hours or so -- all to culminate towards its narrative and mechanical peak, with each dungeon being generally more difficult than the last.

And so, when a game suggests I find my own fun by replaying a level I already completed but with a different badge equipped, then they're telling me that they didn't want to create a host of new levels or worlds specifically designed around certain badges, to offer a journey of testing player skill and to really show off the potential of otherwise optional badges or level mechanics that were initially introduced and thrown away quickly. I know this desire for depth can be answered with more of my money a sequel, DLC, or a relatively scattered and less intrinsically meaningful experience in the form of Mario Maker 3 community levels (unless they really rework the system).

It confuses me. Even for what this game has to offer in its short run, I feel like people must want more from it. Yes for more bosses, but also for secret exits to mean something more than just a spectacle. For other characters to be treated with higher intention (like SMB2, SM3DW, or like how Yoshi was originally a power-up that could be taken across different levels with color-dependent abilities in SMW). For secrets to not be telegraphed so obviously. For worlds to be skipped through super unapparent secrets. Or again, for there to simply be more content to lose ourselves in what Nintendo made here. But if what we got is what 99% of the player-base want from a $60 purchase, then I suppose I should really move on. :p

Last week I was singing praises for this game, but now that I'm in the lava world... Eh. Don't get me wrong, it's still an excellent platformer with a lot of great ideas, but I'm starting to see the cracks.

Half the world's don't have bosses, for one. And the bosses that have been there have been kinda lame, especially compared to the excellent bosses of 3D World. The game has secret exits and stuff, but only a couple, and certainly not on the scale of World. The elephant power-up was featured heavily in the marketing, but it's kinda useless. Same with the bubbles.

The big gripe for me right now is that I'm having to farm purple coins to proceed. And that is fucking annoying. The lava world is full of progress gates requiring purple coins to proceed. If, like me, you spent them on the expensive badge at the store in the same level, you now have to go back and farm. In a Mario game.

The vibe I'm getting over all is that this game goes hard on style, but is kinda lacking in substance. I have seen people complain the difficulty is too easy, and while I do agree to some extent, I don't think the problem is difficulty, more that you kinda start to see the parlour tricks for what they are.

Where Mario World pretty well requires learning the mechanics and mastering them, Mario Wonder kinda throws a million little things at you and hopes they stick. With all the movement tech gated behind badges, that level of depth is essentially cut into a bunch of little pieces instead of being perfected.

Wonder is much better than the NSMB games, for sure, but it's not impressing me anymore.

Game #33 finished for the year, Super Mario Wonder

I think I like it best of the 2D Mario titles (though I prefer 3D Mario; my favorite is Galaxy on the Wii), and there were some really creative new things in this that really reimagined what Mario gameplay could be (while still being decidedly 2D Mario).

I think the theme for Nintendo’s titles this year was “Creativity”. Zelda Tears of the Kingdom was also defined by its constant disbursement of creative new gameplay elements to the very end.

Been slooooowly chipping away at this one all week, and you know what? This might be the best Mario game, full stop.

I know the series has always been a critical darling, but for me, the only real standouts had been World and 3D World. Wonder does enough with its level gimmicks, polish, and clear love from the developers to, if not challenge them, at least stand in the same echelon.

I was worried this one was just gonna be New Super Mario Bros on LSD, but thankfully that's not the case. It feels more like if someone took all the best Mario Maker levels, added new assets to make them better, and polished them to a mirror sheen.

Really pleased with this one, the first Nintendo first party game in years I've been able to say that about. If Monolith counts, it's the first since Xenoblade 2.

This has to be the most screenshotable game I've played all year. Every still is a goddamn artwork. Also I'm done being cautiously cynical, Wonder is terrific. This is absolutely up there with the classics, but it's also carving a unique space of its own in the franchise. My hat's off to Nintendo, maybe from now I'll look forward to new 2D Mario games instead of dreading them.

I have to say, I think this is spot on:

Mario’s latest has a ton of ideas as a result of that long period of experimentation, but it doesn’t cohere into much more than a collection of fun levels. Wonder is ambitious, but the result is a few good ideas spread way too thin.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Might Have Had Too Many Ideas

Started a new playthrough with my niece, it's a big hit so far! 2d platforming hasn't really been her jam, traditionally, but Yoshi's damage immunity and hover jump have kept things from getting too frustrating, and the classic Yoshi+rider double jump adds a fun element of teamwork to the exploration.

Wish there was an option to permanently lock the camera to a particular player, though. I keep accidentally grabbing the camera's focus and making the action harder to follow for my niece.