Super Mario Bros Wonder might just be the best 2D Mario ever
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is up there with the titular plumber's best 2D outings, but I only wish it lasted a little longer.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an excellent game. I could tell this much in my Super Mario Bros Wonder preview, and second preview, and after sitting at the opposite end of the credits, I feel the same way. 2D Super Mario has admittedly never been my favourite part of the Nintendo franchise, with the likes of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Odyssey being the absolute pinnacle of the series. But, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an excellent entry that matches and at times surpasses Super Mario World as the best 2D entry.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is full of surprises that throw the Super Mario formula for a loop. From the way you're able to tackle a number of levels – and even worlds – in whatever order you please, to the introduction of Yoshi as a playable character who can't use power-ups, but also has a flutter jump and can't be damaged. The two biggest changes are, of course, the Wonder Flowers and Badges: one which can drastically alter a given level, and another which alters your character's core move set – something that has remained almost static throughout 2D Mario history.
What a wonderful world
Visually, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of my favourite games of 2023. While not some technical showcase (which is to be expected on six-year-old hardware), it's incredibly vibrant. All of the characters and enemies are so expressive compared to their last appearance in New Super Mario Bros U, even the likes of Nabbit – who literally doesn't have a visible face – has so much more personality. And not to give anything away, but the second level of the game had me smiling from ear-to-ear unlike any other game this year. It's rivalled only by Pikmin 4 on the charm front. Even the Talking Flowers (something I was admittedly worried about becoming annoying before playing the game) ended up landing with me more often than not.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a game filled with so much attention to detail. Small touches such as the enemies looking up as you're about to jump on them, or Koopas looking uneasy as a bouncy platform shoots them into the air, give the game so much life. There are small elements happening in the backgrounds of stages that I never even noticed until replaying them post-game.
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This extends to almost everything about the game. Mario and Luigi's jump sound effects are different from dainty characters like Nabbit and Toad, which also extends to what size your character is. The same goes for the music, which calms down if you stand still for a while, or becomes a bassier version once you pick up the elephant suit. It's small details like this that enamoured me over Super Mario Bros. Wonder's Runtime.
Hooked on the plumbers
Super Mario Bros. Wonder releases on Friday, October 20 (Nintendo)Thankfully, the gameplay in Super Mario Bros. Wonder is just as good as the animation. As I said, the badges represent the biggest change to the 2D Mario gameplay in a long time, but that wouldn't really matter if the levels weren't able to back it up. Design-wise these levels are classic Mario, while the start of the game is a bit too easy at times, things ramp up over the course of the adventure, with the final level rivalling Super Mario 3D World's Champions Road in terms of raw difficulty.
But the real stars of the show in terms of level design are the Wonder Flowers. While you can play through most levels without touching them, these act as a way to remix levels. You can be walking around minding your own business and suddenly the pipes turn into inchworms, or you're turned into a spiked ball and start rolling around the world.
Wonder Flowers had the potential to get old or be nothing more than a gimmick, but Nintendo did enough with the feature to truly live up to the Wonder name. While some of the Wonder Effects can be quite similar, for the most part, each level has its own unique spin, making them far more memorable than a typical 2D Mario level. It's also interesting to see how the levels are laid out without the Wonder Flower, giving you a reason to actually go back and check out levels again.
Voice of reason
Super Mario Bros. Wonder marks the first game without Charles Martinet and newcomer Kevin Afghani has stepped straight into those brown shoes with no issue. Not that voice performances in Mario games are make or break, but Afghani does a great job of taking Martinet's iconic performance and putting his own spin on it.
My single biggest complaint with Super Mario Bros. Wonder was that it felt like there wasn't enough of it. By the end of my third day with the game, I had seen literally everything there is to see in it, with 100% completion. Now this could very much be down to me being unable to put the game down, but it felt shorter than a typical 2D Mario. There were some levels that felt like they were over in an instant (possibly due to the Wonder Flower effect lengthening the level with a new gimmick). This did mean that Super Mario Bros. Wonder was all killer and no filler, but it would've been nice if there was a bit more to it.
While Wonder Flowers are the stars of the show, Badges are the real MVP, and something I hope carries over to future entries as Nintendo experiments with what 2D Mario can be. While I think I'll always enjoy the plumber's 3D outings more, Super Mario Bros. Wonder finally brings the sense of wonder and discovery from those titles to the 2D realm.
Simply put, thanks to the inventive gameplay tweaks, and the absolutely gorgeous visuals and animation, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the best 2D Mario since the SNES era, and a strong contender for the best one yet.
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