Super Mario Bros. Wonder

A much needed reimagining of a genre of Mario games that was beyond stale at this point. The wonder flowers were always a blast to find with most of them being an incredibly charming and inventive way to finish a level. I guess charming is the right word to describe this game as the wonder effects do a good job of capturing the childlike wonderment I'm sure a lot of people had when they first played a Mario game.

I do wish the gameplay was pushed a little further. The new elephant and bubble power ups, while cute, are not as interesting as initially shown off. The wonder flowers also can't really save just how utterly short a lot of the levels are or how they can often be so similar to old New Super Mario Games. The gameplay is a step in the right direction but I feel more could have been done to make it more wholly unique.

If you enjoy Mario you will have fun with this game especially if you play it with a friend.

Thoughts after finishing the main story:

A pleasant surprise - I was hesitant to pick this up because the trailers did a bad job of selling it. I didn't/don't like how verbose this game is, and they showed so much cute/gimmick stuff in the trailers that I was suspicious that it would be more style than substance. Fortunately for Nintendo, I bought it anyway because it seemed similar to the NSMB games, which I love - gold standard 2D platformers in my opinion, all with great controls and a very intuitive sense of momentum, and a great collectable/completion aspect too. This game also felt great to play - I'm glad that they didn't change the controls or physics for the sake of novelty. They did change the graphical style, which looked scary in the trailers but was a quick grower - though the over-the-top silly-cute character can be a quick turn off, like during the rhythm/singing levels (this obsession with endearing is all over media today, even in journalism. I'm sick of it; even older Nintendo games aren't so gratuitous). I liked most of the gimmicks and new level elements enough that I don't want to write about them for spoiler reasons. The way they implemented accessibility/little sibling mode elements was impressively creative and definitely the best innovation they made in this game: my little sister, who is completely incompetent at platforming could hop on Yoshi's (my) back and shoot bubbles and genuinely be a bit of help and have fun and not cry in frustration. Speaking of Yoshi, they changed him back into smug asshole face Yoshi kind of like in SMW and it's one of the best decisions they made. Some of the predictable nostalgia/fanservice elsewhere too. Soundtrack was forgettable and a bit crap, so were the friendly NPCs or whatever. A good game, particularly for NSMB fans, but not $60 good - wait for it to go on sale.

I cannot put my finger on what I don't love about this game, but it's not really doing it for me. It's been reviewed as this massive reinvention of 2D Mario, but I don't see it doing all that much to differentiate itself from the previous games. I'm not really talking about the basic gameplay, which I love, but it really doesn't feel too different outside of the too-short wonder segments.

The wonder segments are the best part, though they are somewhat hit-or-miss. The ones that radically change the gameplay are my favorite: the levels where you transform into a Goomba/Slime or switch the perspective to top-down are the ones that work best for me. On the other hand, the ones where the gimmick seems to be "go faster now," like with Bowser shooting lasers at you, are less interesting.

I think part of the reason the game isn't blowing me away is that it's not the game I wanted in my head. That game is something like Nier: Automata, which constantly shifts the gameplay and makes the player adapt to changes, no matter how bonkers those changes seem. I think I wanted this game to shift in a more radical way every time I picked up a flower, instead of triggering a small gimmick that sometimes never returns. I should have probably come at it from a different angle.

One thing that a lot of others have mentioned is the lack of difficulty. Aside from a few of the special levels, it was a really easy game. Even the purple coins, this game's triplicate collectible, were pretty straightforward to find. I entered the final level having found all the wonder seeds already. I don't expect Nintendo games to be a tough-as-nails platforming experience, but it would be nice to have just a hair more challenge.

Something that someone else mentioned in the comments here was the fact that the new mechanics, which were overall quite fun, were not pushed to their limits. I agreed with this as I was playing the game: why was I never forced to use the bubble powerup to reach a wonder seed? Why was the elephant's pushing power really just a gimmick? The drill was basically the only one that seemed like it was necessary for reaching certain areas, but even then, the reward was a few coins. The badges were fun, but I never felt like I had to switch to anything other than the dolphin kick badge for the few water levels. It often felt like a prototype, with new ideas being thrown at the wall without really ever seeing what makes them stick. I liked these ideas, but they rarely came together in a way that felt fresh or exciting rather than in a way that made me think, "Yep, this is a Mario game."

I should note that I didn't use the multiplayer. If I understand correctly, it was mostly a Dark Souls-style "signboard" approach, so I don't think I was missing much given the difficulty.

Overall, a minor disappointment, though it did entertain me for a while. Part of me almost hopes that the next game takes these mechanics and expands them, bringing everything together in a more satisfying way, while the other part of me hopes the next game brings some actual innovation to the 2D half of the Mario series.

Nintendo finally takes a step away from the formulaic New Super Mario Bros. series and borrows some aspects from other modern platformers like Rayman: Legends, Sonic Advance. and DKC: Tropical Freeze. The controls are snappier, the style gives everyone more character, and the new Wonder mechanic gives every stage a Tetris Effect-style twist. There are a few optional challenges in the game but it mostly sticks to the difficulty defined in NSMB. The new powerups are creative and fun, and the Worlds, while not straying too far from Mario mainstays, all bring new variations on themes that have been rehashed to death. The online features are optional and cute, giving you the ability to help struggling players around the world or stunt on them by placing cardboard cutouts of your character in dangerous places.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a breath of fresh air in a series' that has become dreadfully stale, but ultimately doesn't stray too far from the series roots. If you are looking for the kind of innovation seen in the 3D titles like Galaxy and Odyssey, you are not going to find that here, but it is a well crafted 2D platformer that shows Nintendo has the capability to pull the 2D Mario games out of the rut they have been in for the past decade.

Before we get started, let me get this straight: This game is whack as FUCK. If you want to play this game, just know that you will see some of the weirdest shit you've ever seen out of a Mario game. Between the elephant power-up, the Wonder Seeds, and whatever the hell Yoshi's face is when he eats something, this game is like as if New Super Mario Bros. dropped acid.

I bought this game day one at like 9pm at Target. The guy working there said I was the sixth person there that day to get a copy, and it made me feel kinda sad for the below minimum wage employee at the goddamn Target get me this stupid ass Mario game for children. Anyways, besides that, this game was fun as hell. I haven't had this much fun with a Mario game since the Galaxy games. Feels truly innovative for the series, especially considering the fact that they're finally using a different location other than the Mushroom Kingdom. Of course, I read some comments here claiming this game was too easy, but since was a Mario game being too easy been a problem? They're literally meant for children for Christ's sake! I liked a lot of the level themes and the gimmicks they throw in really make it feel like the devs actually felt like they cared about this game. My main problem with the game was the voice acting, but I just switched it to Spanish and it was fine. I really wished they gave the characters individual abilities like in Super Mario 3D World. The badges are a cool addition, and I'm pretty sure I unlocked most of them but I don't know how or which ones I missed. Maybe I have to replay the game? The badge challenges were a fun addition for fun little bursts that were shorter and felt like actually fun challenges, as oppose to the challenges in New Super Mario Bros. U which were really fucking boring. The multiplayer is good too, I played with a few friends and we had a fun time since the levels have so many different paths that my friends didn't get lost or anything. The new power-ups were a fun addition, even though I did mention the elephant one was really weird, it was still fun to use. Also the bubbles were cool too. I feel like the spinning top hat returning from Galaxy 2 was pretty under-utilized imo. That's all I've got on this game! Very fun! 9/10.