Super Mario Bros. Wonder is among the most premium-feeling games that I've ever played. The level of polish and production value per-square-inch is peerless. But perhaps the key to Wonder's success, and why it stands as perhaps the quintessential (in all reality unimpeachable) model for ideal AAA game development: the development team had no time pressure.
We've learned that thousands of level concepts were iterated on, but only the absolute best made the final, 10-12 hour adventure. A lean 10-12 hours. Everything here is essential. And ceaselessly replayable. This game was developed in the context of creative luxury that no seldom few across the industry are afforded. And it shows.
You can't go two minutes in Super Mario Bros. Wonder without being delighted by a new idea, a one-off gimmick polished so well that you'd expect a full game to be built around it. With time on its side, Nintendo crafted the platformer of dreams.
And there is doubtlessly a dreamlike quality to the landscapes of Wonder that defy traditional logic but instead define their own. Few games better illustrate Nintendo's trailblazing, perennial creativity than this.
While it seemed impossible to do, my previous favorite Mario platformer, Super Mario Galaxy, has been unseated. Wonder now commands that coveted first-place slot. It commands the same in my ranking of the Switch's library too - it's by far and away my number one title on the system.
A triumph and monument to Nintendo creativity, I can think of few games in the history of the medium which have prompted such joy within me. I'm floored by Super Mario Bros. Wonder and have no plans to stop reveling in it anytime soon. I might have completed every level, found every Wonder Seed, snagged every Purple Coin... but I just want more. I never want to leave this zany world. For my taste, games really do not get better than this.
We've learned that thousands of level concepts were iterated on, but only the absolute best made the final, 10-12 hour adventure. A lean 10-12 hours. Everything here is essential. And ceaselessly replayable. This game was developed in the context of creative luxury that no seldom few across the industry are afforded. And it shows.
You can't go two minutes in Super Mario Bros. Wonder without being delighted by a new idea, a one-off gimmick polished so well that you'd expect a full game to be built around it. With time on its side, Nintendo crafted the platformer of dreams.
And there is doubtlessly a dreamlike quality to the landscapes of Wonder that defy traditional logic but instead define their own. Few games better illustrate Nintendo's trailblazing, perennial creativity than this.
While it seemed impossible to do, my previous favorite Mario platformer, Super Mario Galaxy, has been unseated. Wonder now commands that coveted first-place slot. It commands the same in my ranking of the Switch's library too - it's by far and away my number one title on the system.
A triumph and monument to Nintendo creativity, I can think of few games in the history of the medium which have prompted such joy within me. I'm floored by Super Mario Bros. Wonder and have no plans to stop reveling in it anytime soon. I might have completed every level, found every Wonder Seed, snagged every Purple Coin... but I just want more. I never want to leave this zany world. For my taste, games really do not get better than this.