Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)

Super Mario World was my first step into what would become a slue of mario games, it was also the second game I ever played. Despite it having a huge impact on my first years of gaming, I never really kept up with the newest instalments as it carried on paving the way for gaming well into the present day. In recent years I've gone back and played Mario Bros, and all the Super Mario Bros on NES, Super Mario World 2 on SNES, Super Mario Galaxy on Wii, and Mario Kart for the DS, Wii, and Switch.

After discussing Mario with a few people on Grouvee recently, I felt like jumping back into the plumbers overalls and seeing what the hell this little dude was up to nowadays. I was actually really excited to get Wonder as it's my first side-scrolling Mario platformer since SMW 2! Admittedly I was nervous about whether or not it would live up to my love and nostalgia for SMW. The music, overworld, and level design, combined with Yoshi made SMW so memorable for me. I was also worried that Wonder would be too... simplistic? as I've heard reviews calling it "peoples first mario game" which isn't a bad thing, just not personally what I would look for in a Super Mario game.

Thankfully Wonder has a really nice mix of beginner friendly levels, and harder levels which took me by surprise, the game is even nice enough to show you the difficulty of a level before you select it! The difficulty seems to jump around a lot too which helps give the game an interesting pace. If you want more of a challenge there's even an entire world for you to discover with tricky levels to wahoo through!

What stood out the most to me was the creativity in each level in the form of "Wonder" seeds. Each level has a seed (sometimes multiple) for you to find, with one of them being a level-changing seed that augments and manipulates the level in all kinds of weird and trippy ways. Think Mario on Acid, but then immediately scrub that thought because Mario would never do acid. Its whacky and bizarre which are all things I love! Shoutout to the cute overworld too, always appreciate a good overworld design!

The other nice feature in Wonder is how they've embraced online play. Instead of focusing on the online aspect, or using it exclusively to compete against each other, the online services compliment the existing gameplay. You can team up and play with friends or couch co-op, or you can play with random strangers who appear in your levels but slightly greyed out. It's all in real-time which is nice, strangers can revive you and guide you, it's an awesome feature!

Level design is somewhat memorable in Wonder, I reached the credits back in early December and still remember some levels from start to finish, especially the ghost levels! Koji Kondo returns as sound director along with Shiho Fujii, Sayako Doi and Chisaki Shimazu to do the score. There's a few iconic tracks and definitely brings a unique yet familiar sound to the game. I only discovered recently that Koji is the man behind so many iconic Nintendo games including most of the Mario titles, Zelda, and Star Fox. The soundtrack for Wonder doesn't hit it out the park for me personally, but I can't go without praising Kojis fantastic contributions to gaming history! I had a big smile when I played the bonus level where you walk along musical keys whilst an old SMW song plays in the background, it was a nice nod to their legacy!

Unfortunately no Yoshi riding in this game, but you can choose to play as a whole host of Mario characters like Yoshi or Peach! I really like that they've included characters who can't take damage, it gives those who struggle with the controls a bit of breathing room and lets them enjoy a game that they might not have picked up otherwise.

Wonder is a great ride that I'd recommend platformer fans to check out, especially if you want to try out platforming with friends. For Mario fans it's a no-brainer! There's tons of replay value here too. Definitely interested to see where the Super Mario series heads next!

Completed Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

SMB Wonder is probably my second favorite Mario game, only behind Super Mario Odyssey. The controls feel like Mario Bros. 3, but even more refined, the artstyle reminds me of Yoshi's Island, which also looked beautiful for a 90's game, and the new enemies and designs look amazing. The powerups are all unique (Even though the Bubble Flower is just a carbon copy of the Baby Blue Yoshi) and very fun to expirement with. The bosses are fun to fight, although a little easy, and the difficulty progression feels right. The special world levels actually had a bit of challenge, and took some time for me to beat. The references are also great, like the music, and the wonder effects, like literally getting the Metal Cap effect. I honestly like the talking flowers, and they bring more charm to this game. The level design is great, I even like Mario's new voice. Nearly every stage tries something new, and it's really one breath of fresh air after another. The final boss was a little anti-climatic, I wish there was a second phase or something like that, but overall a solid fight. This game is definitely worthy for the Game of the Year Nomination, and absolutely WONDERful. Pun totally intended :)

RATINGS:

GAMEPLAY : 5 STORY & THEME : 4 VALUE : 4

OVERALL RATING: 4.33

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Oversimplified opinion: Plot doesn't matter in Mario. Each level was a little creative nugget. It's a (fun) game for children.

Sub-genre: 2D Mario, drugs, baby games

Favorite part: Getting hit with a little surprise in each level

Rating: 3/5

Review: Think this is the first 2D Mario I've enjoyed since 16 bit era. Admittedly I find all the New Super Mario Bros series to look like an absolute dog dinner so I never really tried them. Whatever style they went with in Wonder is a charm. Strikes the balance of 2D / 3D perfectly.

At times brings me the highs of those new Rayman games that came out a few years ago.

The multiplayer aspect ended up being a total joy toy. I had a lot of fun running through levels with other players and offering a hand when possible.

That being said the game is far far too easy for me. There wasn't much of a challenge in it. I liked the level of difficulty that something like Celeste offered. As well the badges didn't really offer much, I used the big hat pretty much the entire time.

Perfect little snack of a game. It's like a cookie that got decorated by a 6 year old by using ever color of icing available.

Truly the first time in over 2 decades the 2d mario games have done something interesting. In a post-mario-maker world, it's amazing that Nintendo was still able to do something like this with the plumber. Mario wonder consistantly had me smiling cheek-to-cheek with it's joyous and artful decisions.

Not really much to overanalyze here for me. The game is simply a mood, and is one I would recommed to anyone. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and its scope is fairly limited, but it does pretty much exactly what it set out to do with the run time it does have.

Play mario wonder. If you have the same impression that I had before this game (i.e. 2d mario are all bad games and nintendo is washed up) give this one a try. It will change you rmind.

This has all the charm the New Super Mario Bros series should have had. There are lots of variety in level designs and styles of gameplay (there are enemy gauntlets, puzzle levels, badge challenges, and your standard Mario levels mixed with haunted mansions, airships, castles, etc). While it is certainly on the easy side, there's the Special World for those looking for something more intense. My only minor complaint is that the characters are mostly the same despite who you pick (admittedly, I used Yoshi for some levels to get the top of the flagpole).

This is my 3rd favorite 2D Mario game, and maybe my 4th or 5th favorite overall in the series. I don't usually play recent games, but I got this as a gift and just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this one! This will create new Mario fans while respecting those who grew up with the series previously. Also, thank you Nintendo for not requiring me to use the analog stick.

This game was just a complete blast to play- from the new wonder seeds to the new powers, just about every level made me smile in a new way. I was also really impressed with how they were able to make the game fun for both new players and more advanced players simultaneously- something the recent 3D world struggled with (it was just too chaotic with more players). The music integration was also really fun to discover!

I am curious to see how fun it will be to come back and play after seeing most of it's surprises through my first playthrough.

I love 2D Mario and hope they can continue innovating like this in the future!

It was simply a very long time since we've gotten a new and original 2d Mario platformer. It was the new super mario bros. u, but that was since 2012. And the game was also criticized for being too derivative of the other games in the NSMB series, where both users and critics agreed there needed to be innovation and change. That is why 11 years later, the release of the brand new "Super Mario Bros. Wonder" has become one of the most anticipated releases of not only 2023 or 2d Mario platform games, but even the modern mario franchise. It has already a significant place in the Mario series.

The game stops deriving itself from other entries and introduces all types of new ideas, gameplay and design. It is still a traditional 2d mario platformer, but one that has finally been pouring in experimental and new ideas into the formula.

First of all the level design is always varied and dynamic. It will give you a great diversity of levels that all feel like they're doing something unique. At no point will the game feel repetitive or stale. The game introduces a certain level feature called "wonder flower", when upon touching it will trigger a sort of mini-game or effect in the level, and the great part is that you'll never know what it is going to throw at you. You might see enemies singing, you might see a timer where you need to collect things, or maybe even turning into an enemy and play as them... You could never know! It's one of the best mechanics found in a Mario game ever, and that says a lot.

It of course has some flaws, but they're all minor. The boss battles can be repetitive and some of the gimmick levels can be lame, but there is everything else to compensate for that.

Overall this is one of the best games of Mario's modern era. This is a game that every Mario fan and even platforming fan should experience. I'm glad I beat it, and I can whole-heartedly recommend it to everyone!

An extremely strong 9/10

(that is to say, i enjoyed it as much as i did nsmbw back in the day which was the last nsmb i played)

before finishing the game i wrote down my thoughts of it while half asleep:

likes

• different wonder flower songs
• wonder flowers are an evolution of bonus rooms and a gameplay mechanic's logical extreme/twist
• wonder flowers give each level a "full"/complete feeling compared to the regular levels of previous games where (in comparison to this) any level can feel trivial/disposable, which tbh isn't necessarily a bad thing to me; but it really adds a bit of oomph to this experience
• like kirby and the forgotten land, this game is mostly devoid of lousy padding as all areas feel rich with uniquely crafted things -- something i greatly enjoy more than emergent uniqueness from a sandbox of options (i.e. botw design)
• i love the yoshi's island esque 1-up sound -- that's enough to make getting 1-ups rewarding, lol (i have accumulated a steady 90 lives up to this point, so i really don't see a need for them... yet)
• surprisingly happy with a lot of the trivial game feel. it's fun to just collect everything and do things, getting the natural responses from the game, like the coin sounds and hearing/feeling my controller vibrate, and listening to that music, etc. again i also just love the 1-up sound
• movement feels a lot of fun with thoughtful animation
• visuals are something i have to remind myself not to tune out every once in a while. sometimes i'll just take a step back and realize how much this feels like a game I'd dream of playing based on the background visuals, enemy designs, and overall level designs
• i love when u turn into goo!! :< and the sounds of the coins during that are way too satisfying
• collecting all flower coins has a very satisfying drum sound
• that *snap* when jumping off the flag pole is perfect for my fidgety mind that needs to have something to do upon waiting through a repeated cutscene (that is, i always attempt to snap my fingers at the exact same time, which leads well to me slapping my leg to the syncopated beat afterwards)
• starman theme is very crunchy and satisfying. reminds me of super mario kart's version
• underground theme is top tier mario music
• all level themes are pretty dang good... except the main one which was always suuuper nothing to me since i first heard it in the trailer
• drill mushroom and bubble flower are great. just kinda wish they were their own things and not just alterations of previous power-ups
• world map is so rich and satisfying to explore -- it doesn't reach mario 3's mechanical satisfaction, but it's still really nice

hmm's

• i do not like mario's jump sound or his new voice, so this is turning out to be a fully toadette game, which is actually kinda cool as it's adding to the feeling of this game's uniqueness
• secret exits are cool for the level, but that's about it. i wish they guaranteed a separate path in the world map -- it's really weird that they don't.
• elephant was weird at first but i got really used to it. all power-ups feel well-balanced
• i like that they brought back smw's flippy blocks, but sad that you can't break them from spin jumping onto them :/ what a waste
• also the spin jump is super nerfed in this game. is there any reason to even use it? last i checked you can't bounce on un-stompable enemies (like piranha plants, spike balls, etc.) so it just feels like they missed the point

meh's

• please get rid of captain toad. his presence in this game feels so mindless and just a waste of time. he takes the spot for what could've been a more thought-out secret/surprise. a bit of dialog from a generic toad with familiar repetitive music and disposable coins as your reward is so 2016. please Nintendo. move on.

• bosses are surprisingly so ... nothing. like this is actually the worst a 2d mario has been with bosses (if you don't count mario 1/lost levels). it's extremely weird and is leaving a gap in my experience playing this. about to start the bowser castle and i'm just realizing how surprisingly uneventful the whole experience has been so far, which is funny considering this whole game is littered with unique events in each level. that's what makes cool bosses' absence an even stranger thing, because it would so be in spirit to have a big twisty climax at the end of each world, but... no... just the same bowser jr fight, slightly altered each time (similar to boom boom in smb3)... and that's only some of the worlds too. other worlds just have a standard level be the boss i guess...

• talking flowers are cute and silly, but they ultimately detract from the cool feelings i could feel from immersing myself in my own flow of a blind 2d mario experience. it always just takes me right out of my autonomy when a flower is like "wow! wasn't that cool?!" like fucking shut up and let it be cool on its own. it's almost quite literally a forced laugh track of a video game, reminding us how to feel and think. and i hate laugh tracks all the same. i really don't get how anyone can genuinely say that any hate towards these guys can't be justified. if anything, Nintendo needs to have a HARD toggle to turn them off completely (no voice, no speech bubble, no flower -- just gone, lol) that'd be a funny final reward

now that i have completed the game, i can say that i basically feel the same way all around, just extended to the rest of the game. the ending was basically all that i expected. the final stretch was a good time, and ended without too much surprise. final mechanic was super cute as it was putting a twist on the basic mechanic of mario. last level difficulty was manageable but not insane. i do like how the lives i accumulated essentially were all just for that lol. all in typical mario fashion.

and actually i was shocked for a moment to think that the last badge actually was just a simple sound-off toggle, thinking that it technically was possible to mute talking flowers without compromise... until i learned what it actually was... which was a little charming in its own right. it felt like the tiniest glimpse of the sillier self-aware nintendo of the iwata days, and also took me back to how i did the same thing as a teenager with the sound effects of of my big game project at the time, sharing it only with my friends. overall, that last badge, while feeling a little forced in charm, was overall cute and silly -- a nicely simple way to wrap up the game

game's like a solid 7 out of 10. get rid of the talking flowers and it's a 7.5. add unique bosses to each world, dampen the sound of characters' jumps, bring charles martinet back, remove a bunch of dialog and all of captain toad and it's an 8. let smooth mcgroove be the singer of the main ground theme and it might be a 9 for me.

(future trayson popping in. this game has aged poorly in my mind, so i'd say it's more like a 6/10)

overall though, the more i sit and look back on this game, the less i care for it. i've tried to describe this before, but this game just feels too... sugary. like it's honestly a little grating to my brain after an hour of exposure. i think it's a lot of the music, because, while it's still good, it's good in a numbing sorta way where it's manufactured to loop in my brain making me go a little insane. the visuals, while polished, are just a little too "perfect"/plastic/manufactured to my liking. it's like this whole game was polished in a direction that i just don't care about in the long run -- clean and marketable for Target. i can humor it for sure and be in the right mood for it, but again it can often leave me with feelings similar to a headache, so it just can't be a 10 for me. the best way i can describe it and the way i described it from the very start -- this game is like a tasty sugary cereal.

edit: i have more thoughts. to clarify why i don't really like this game looking back to it is because a lot of it is still incredibly generic and seems to be going for the bare minimum in style. the racing wiggler is literally just a wiggler with no unique design. the popplins all look the same including the annoying sensei one. the end goal is still a fucking flagpole again with no new gimmick to it (remember when it was different every mario game to add to the unique taste of that game?), and similarly the dying theme is still a twist on super mario bros 1's overworld theme. -_- like i really don't understand why nintendo holds themselves back from being like full-blown creative with everything. you may think it'd be a lot of hard work, but all i see is a lot of fun opportunities to make this game gushing with a variety of personality and not just some pointlessly plastic figurine at target. the more i think about it, the more i'm realizing the direction of mario feels like it's largely being overall governed by old out-of-touch people trying to make something for children, whereas before it felt like it was being made solely for the younger less-business-experienced developers' sense of fun. i guess this is why i end up appreciating indie games way more nowadays anyway, because they are at least in spirit what nintendo used to be :p

also, i feel like the game includes a lot of fun options but doesn't nearly reach a satisfying amount of content for it, so despite all my gripes, im hoping for some extra content later down the line. also make it actually hard because this game was way too easy (even without baby characters or badges)

(im realizing there's a lot for me to unpack with how i feel about this game, so i may be coming back to this review to add something here and there)

1 world in, and to my surprise I am really underwhelmed so far. Having played games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisps in recent years, I experience the game feel here to be really clunky and unsatisfying in comparison. Moreover, I absolutely detest the cacophony of a soundtrack and general chaos of the level design.

But I'm hopeful that the game will pick up in the following worlds. I'm glad that Nintendo has decided to experiment with concepts more than the staleness present in recent New Super Mario Bros-games. And I can play as Daisy, so there's that

Got the last badge finally, love that it's a goofy joke item.

All in all I had a great time with Wonder, but it's so breezy and setpiece focused that I can't see myself returning to it very often. It's a fantastic and sorely-needed visual step up from the New series, and is working way harder to bring in new and lapsed players than those games ever did, but ultimately it feels a little slight.

this game in a lot of ways feels like a fusion between the new series, yoshi's island, and i guess the mario movie?

• the wonder flowers are fun
• i like a lot of the music especially the underground (it's a shame you can't turn down just the sound effects volume)
• i like the new star theme arrangement which reminds me of super mario kart's
• i like that they brought back smw's flippy blocks, but sad that you can't break them from spin jumping onto them
• im sad that not every secret exit leads to a separate path
• the jump noises somehow sound too loud / horribly mixed — mario's regular jump sound is so grating that i opt to just play as toadette (which isn't as grating imo)
• there's a lot of secrets which is fun, though a lot of them are rather pointless to find which is disappointing
• not a fan of the elephant visually so I'll go out of my way to take damage when possible, lol
• i hate the talking flowers and that there's no way to turn them off completely (audibly and visually) — i got used to them but they're still just too much needless mindless noise to the whole experience
• mario's new voice is weird and distracting for me

they really packed this game, but i didn't expect that to be one of its downsides for me, treating me like a little adhd child a lot of the time

the game does have a lot of "one-time mechanics" -- which is basically the opposite of padding/recycling. they do something where i'll be thinking "they had to fcking code this entire section for just THIS ONE PART. that's cool" which is also very opposite to how mario odyssey is. and even when mario wonder recycles stuff/ideas (from what i've seen so far) it's because they have an entirely new script/context to show off for it, lol. it's really neat, but the speed at which it throws new things at you also means i can only play the game in short bursts lol (especially with all the noise this game throws at you...)

for the flowers, it's a dilemma of "do i want to be distracted visually or audibly?"
answer, strangely enough, is i don't want to be visually distracted, cuz when i see their speech bubble i can't help but feel the need to see what they're saying, so it's easier to catch that passively through audio. still dumb that you can't just turn them off completely :p

also i see more ppl loving the talking flowers and complaining about ppl not liking them. so if ur of the majority then good for you. game is just a bit too much of a sugary sensory overload for me to feel much substantial value from it unfortunately. after nearly completing 2 worlds so far, this is like a 7/10 for me