This review contains spoilers
I'm kinda shocked by how good this game is. Granted, I don't think its the best 2D platformer (my personal bias will probably never let a game surpass the Donkey Kong Country classic trilogy for me), but MAN this was such a fun time and I loved every minute of it. Great breath of fresh air after everyone got tired of the NSMB games. Those were still fine mechanically, but this game just blows it out of the water in terms of creativity and fun factor in my personal opinion. I was one of those people that thought new 2D Mario games couldn't beat the really smart player creations in Super Mario Maker 2 and this game made me feel stupid for even thinking that with the sheer amount of variety stuffed into the vast majority of levels here. I truly believe the dev interviews where they talk about how they really thought outside the box for this one; while there's nothing groundbreaking or genre-redefining (tbh with how long platformers have been around I dunno if there can be any), there's a lot of amazing and pretty creative ideas all put into this game.
The gameplay just feels really nice. I'm hearing some people say this has the same physics as the NSMB games, but, if it does, I must have been fooled into thinking it was entirely unique because I thought this felt much smoother than NSMBU Deluxe. That might be because of the Badge system, which I think played a good part in freshening up this game mechanically. At the end of the day, you're still doing the same things you've been doing in 2D Mario since forever, but the various changes to your repertoire of moves that the Badges offer is really neat. Apparently a lot of folks just stick to Parachute, which is the first one you get, and say the others aren't worth messing with, but I found myself swapping through a few different Badges and still found 'em pretty useful in their own ways. I used Floating High Jump the most since getting extra jump height inherently is just great to have, plus the little float you do is like a weak version of Yoshi's flutter jump. Grappling Vine was also pretty good for challenges where you need to get dangerously close to poison or lava to get a collectible. Dolphin Kick is basically a necessity for water levels. Other Badges are much more niche or just enhance you sorta like a powerup, having different effects like magnetically attracting coins to you or letting you get one free jump to save yourself after falling into lava/acid. I also really love the sheer amount of playable characters in Super Mario Bros Wonder: you get to play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, the Toads (blue and yellow), Toadette, as well as four different Yoshis and Nabbit. Yoshi and Nabbit are this game's easy mode where you don't take any damage from enemies but you can still die from falling off pits or touching certain hazards, although honestly there's no reason to play Nabbit over the Yoshis unless you REALLY like Nabbit...which, admittedly, I do, so sometimes I played him over the Yoshis. The reason is because the Yoshis and Nabbit are both immune to enemies, but Yoshis can also flutter jump and eat enemies whereas Nabbit can't, making them straight up better than him. I already praised the hell out of this but the level design in this game is just so cool. The vast majority of levels always have at least one thing fun and unique to throw at you, helped by the Wonder Flower gimmicks being so wacky and varied. Also, I really liked all the powerups in the game, although admittedly I didn't really have much fun using the Bubble Flower as I did the other two. Drill Mushroom was pretty gimmicky but also really useful at times and the Elephant is just so goofy that I adore it. I looked forward to trying every character just to see how goofy they look as an elephant. Helps that its a pretty useful powerup, too.
This paragraph is gonna serve as a section dedicated to sharing a few nitpicks I have about the game. I have no huge complaints about the game, though; these are all just little issues I can easily overlook. Biggest one for me is the lack of use for any extra Wonder Seeds, which are the collectibles you get at least two of - one hidden and one guaranteed at the end - in each level. Most worlds have WAY more levels than you'll ever need to bust open Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s castles, and, as far as I could tell, there's no incentive for going the extra mile there. As soon as I noticed this, I felt much less motivation to get every seed in each level, especially after hearing 100% completion nets you basically nothing (though to be fair this is just hearsay and I haven't seen it myself). Part of this is on me, though, since I have an irrational hatred for continually getting stuff I have no use for, like in my Sonic Frontiers review when I complained about the fact Skill Points keep building up even though you complete the skill tree pretty early in the game. Another pretty big complaint from me is the bosses. The final boss is amazing imo, easily the best Bowser fight yet...but every other boss is just Bowser Jr. Now, to give credit where credit is due, they did find unique ways to have the Wonder Flower turn each fight around enough to be entertaining, but its still just Bowser Jr. and he does the same attacks every time so the only thing changing is the area around him. I also think the difficulty curve in this game is pretty strange, mainly regarding any level that isn't ranked five stars in difficulty. The five star levels are hard as hell but I rarely struggled with most levels that were four stars in difficulty, though there were a few exceptions like some of the levels in the final area leading up to the Bowser fight. I think my last nitpick of note is that there are zero consequences to using the invincible easy mode characters, so, if you really wanted to, you could beat the whole game with them alone. I know they can't cheese platforming challenges so you still have to beat those fair and square, but being completely immune to enemy damage is a little much to just be letting you do imo, especially in a game that's already pretty easy (but will still give you a decent amount of deaths if you're like me especially if you're looking for secret Wonder Seeds). Still, though, most of this game's challenge comes from platforming stuff imo, so I can ultimately understand why they wouldn't penalize you from playing Yoshis or Nabbit.
Gonna dedicate this semi-final paragraph to the fluff stuff here I really enjoyed, mainly visuals and voice acting. After the blandness that was NSMB's art style...well, I don't mean to keep hating on those games, but its very relevant here. Super Mario Bros Wonder was a MUCH needed visual overhaul in my opinion. So much personality and charm is put into nearly every animation in this game and its just so wonderful (pun fully intended) to see. Even the little details like Goombas preparing to bite as soon as you get too close or the characters putting on a determined face if you hold the Y button by standing still are here and accounted for. This game is so damn colorful and cute and I can't get over it. Unfortunately, this game does mark the beginning of character recasts for Mario games since...I think the GameCube era if I'm remembering that correctly. I will always miss the iconic voices of Charles Martinet (Mario and Luigi) and Deanna Mustard (Daisy), but the new voice actors are still doing good work. The new actor for Mario and Luigi - Kevin Afghani - was a portrayal I actually really liked since the voice he put on for them both remind me a lot of Martinet's more youthful Mario and Luigi voices from back in the day. Before the recast, Martinet's performances for his Mario characters were very noticeably getting deeper, especially Luigi and Wario. That wasn't a bad thing, but I find it interesting that Kevin's acting is sort of hearkening back to the days before that change. Also, this game has a flower that has something to say at least once in every level and it somehow never managed to get annoying. Big achievement if you ask me, big props to his voice actor Mick Wingert.
Overall I think this game is excellent. Top contender for the best 2D Mario imo, next to Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2, and Super Mario All-Stars (though that's cheating a little since that's a combo of all three classic NES Mario games remade for SNES). Gains a great 4.5 stars from me, SO close to a 5 star but my nitpicks do knock it down a tiny peg. If I could rank this one it'd be like the closest to a 5 star that could be possible from a 4.5 star.
The gameplay just feels really nice. I'm hearing some people say this has the same physics as the NSMB games, but, if it does, I must have been fooled into thinking it was entirely unique because I thought this felt much smoother than NSMBU Deluxe. That might be because of the Badge system, which I think played a good part in freshening up this game mechanically. At the end of the day, you're still doing the same things you've been doing in 2D Mario since forever, but the various changes to your repertoire of moves that the Badges offer is really neat. Apparently a lot of folks just stick to Parachute, which is the first one you get, and say the others aren't worth messing with, but I found myself swapping through a few different Badges and still found 'em pretty useful in their own ways. I used Floating High Jump the most since getting extra jump height inherently is just great to have, plus the little float you do is like a weak version of Yoshi's flutter jump. Grappling Vine was also pretty good for challenges where you need to get dangerously close to poison or lava to get a collectible. Dolphin Kick is basically a necessity for water levels. Other Badges are much more niche or just enhance you sorta like a powerup, having different effects like magnetically attracting coins to you or letting you get one free jump to save yourself after falling into lava/acid. I also really love the sheer amount of playable characters in Super Mario Bros Wonder: you get to play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, the Toads (blue and yellow), Toadette, as well as four different Yoshis and Nabbit. Yoshi and Nabbit are this game's easy mode where you don't take any damage from enemies but you can still die from falling off pits or touching certain hazards, although honestly there's no reason to play Nabbit over the Yoshis unless you REALLY like Nabbit...which, admittedly, I do, so sometimes I played him over the Yoshis. The reason is because the Yoshis and Nabbit are both immune to enemies, but Yoshis can also flutter jump and eat enemies whereas Nabbit can't, making them straight up better than him. I already praised the hell out of this but the level design in this game is just so cool. The vast majority of levels always have at least one thing fun and unique to throw at you, helped by the Wonder Flower gimmicks being so wacky and varied. Also, I really liked all the powerups in the game, although admittedly I didn't really have much fun using the Bubble Flower as I did the other two. Drill Mushroom was pretty gimmicky but also really useful at times and the Elephant is just so goofy that I adore it. I looked forward to trying every character just to see how goofy they look as an elephant. Helps that its a pretty useful powerup, too.
This paragraph is gonna serve as a section dedicated to sharing a few nitpicks I have about the game. I have no huge complaints about the game, though; these are all just little issues I can easily overlook. Biggest one for me is the lack of use for any extra Wonder Seeds, which are the collectibles you get at least two of - one hidden and one guaranteed at the end - in each level. Most worlds have WAY more levels than you'll ever need to bust open Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s castles, and, as far as I could tell, there's no incentive for going the extra mile there. As soon as I noticed this, I felt much less motivation to get every seed in each level, especially after hearing 100% completion nets you basically nothing (though to be fair this is just hearsay and I haven't seen it myself). Part of this is on me, though, since I have an irrational hatred for continually getting stuff I have no use for, like in my Sonic Frontiers review when I complained about the fact Skill Points keep building up even though you complete the skill tree pretty early in the game. Another pretty big complaint from me is the bosses. The final boss is amazing imo, easily the best Bowser fight yet...but every other boss is just Bowser Jr. Now, to give credit where credit is due, they did find unique ways to have the Wonder Flower turn each fight around enough to be entertaining, but its still just Bowser Jr. and he does the same attacks every time so the only thing changing is the area around him. I also think the difficulty curve in this game is pretty strange, mainly regarding any level that isn't ranked five stars in difficulty. The five star levels are hard as hell but I rarely struggled with most levels that were four stars in difficulty, though there were a few exceptions like some of the levels in the final area leading up to the Bowser fight. I think my last nitpick of note is that there are zero consequences to using the invincible easy mode characters, so, if you really wanted to, you could beat the whole game with them alone. I know they can't cheese platforming challenges so you still have to beat those fair and square, but being completely immune to enemy damage is a little much to just be letting you do imo, especially in a game that's already pretty easy (but will still give you a decent amount of deaths if you're like me especially if you're looking for secret Wonder Seeds). Still, though, most of this game's challenge comes from platforming stuff imo, so I can ultimately understand why they wouldn't penalize you from playing Yoshis or Nabbit.
Gonna dedicate this semi-final paragraph to the fluff stuff here I really enjoyed, mainly visuals and voice acting. After the blandness that was NSMB's art style...well, I don't mean to keep hating on those games, but its very relevant here. Super Mario Bros Wonder was a MUCH needed visual overhaul in my opinion. So much personality and charm is put into nearly every animation in this game and its just so wonderful (pun fully intended) to see. Even the little details like Goombas preparing to bite as soon as you get too close or the characters putting on a determined face if you hold the Y button by standing still are here and accounted for. This game is so damn colorful and cute and I can't get over it. Unfortunately, this game does mark the beginning of character recasts for Mario games since...I think the GameCube era if I'm remembering that correctly. I will always miss the iconic voices of Charles Martinet (Mario and Luigi) and Deanna Mustard (Daisy), but the new voice actors are still doing good work. The new actor for Mario and Luigi - Kevin Afghani - was a portrayal I actually really liked since the voice he put on for them both remind me a lot of Martinet's more youthful Mario and Luigi voices from back in the day. Before the recast, Martinet's performances for his Mario characters were very noticeably getting deeper, especially Luigi and Wario. That wasn't a bad thing, but I find it interesting that Kevin's acting is sort of hearkening back to the days before that change. Also, this game has a flower that has something to say at least once in every level and it somehow never managed to get annoying. Big achievement if you ask me, big props to his voice actor Mick Wingert.
Overall I think this game is excellent. Top contender for the best 2D Mario imo, next to Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2, and Super Mario All-Stars (though that's cheating a little since that's a combo of all three classic NES Mario games remade for SNES). Gains a great 4.5 stars from me, SO close to a 5 star but my nitpicks do knock it down a tiny peg. If I could rank this one it'd be like the closest to a 5 star that could be possible from a 4.5 star.