It’s not really a big surprise (especially looking at other reviews) that there was something disappointing about the New Super Mario Bros. series.
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My thoughts on the “new” super Mario bros series:
When I finally replayed New Super Mario Bros. on the DS back in 2022, I was having a blast with the game but it really was not up to par with any prior 2D Mario. I walked away sort of feeling that the game was more of an interesting time capsule of pre-iPhone portable games rather than a new Mario that really changed anything. The collectible hidden coins felt more like a way to keep getting more out of the bite-sized experience and the mini-mushroom power-up that changes how you traverse stages being tied to said secret coins says enough really
New Super Mario Bros. Wii was more of the same but you can argue that being able to play Mario at the same time with 4 people is at least new enough to be special in the long term.
After finishing it, I immediately sold New Super Mario Bros. 2.
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So what makes this one different/better/good?:
There is a retooling of the design to prioritize fun over anything else. One of the major issues I ran into with New Super Mario Bros. on the DS was that it was just not fun to keep collecting the same coin over and over when I knew where it was but just had to finish the stage. Super Mario Bros. Wonder not only makes tiny changes like allowing you to keep going after collecting secrets, but also brings back-to-back variety. It’s not fun seeing the same thing over and over again and that’s what this game does correctly that makes it different from what I played of the “””””new”””””” super Mario bros series.
With that being said though, I don’t believe this game hits the levels of Super Mario 3 or Super Mario World frankly because of the very real and reasonable design of it being a game “for everyone” according to what modern games have to go for really. While there’s a lot of variety and many ways to challenge yourself (especially with a special world that very much aligns with what was in Super Mario World), I just didn’t personally feel enough push from this game whether it was the talking flowers or maybe being spread thin with how much there was.
I only say this cause it’s on my mind but I see this being more of a design decision occurring because of the context of its release rather than it being bad.
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In summary: game very good and the team that worked on this should do a new Warioland for real
-
My thoughts on the “new” super Mario bros series:
When I finally replayed New Super Mario Bros. on the DS back in 2022, I was having a blast with the game but it really was not up to par with any prior 2D Mario. I walked away sort of feeling that the game was more of an interesting time capsule of pre-iPhone portable games rather than a new Mario that really changed anything. The collectible hidden coins felt more like a way to keep getting more out of the bite-sized experience and the mini-mushroom power-up that changes how you traverse stages being tied to said secret coins says enough really
New Super Mario Bros. Wii was more of the same but you can argue that being able to play Mario at the same time with 4 people is at least new enough to be special in the long term.
After finishing it, I immediately sold New Super Mario Bros. 2.
-
So what makes this one different/better/good?:
There is a retooling of the design to prioritize fun over anything else. One of the major issues I ran into with New Super Mario Bros. on the DS was that it was just not fun to keep collecting the same coin over and over when I knew where it was but just had to finish the stage. Super Mario Bros. Wonder not only makes tiny changes like allowing you to keep going after collecting secrets, but also brings back-to-back variety. It’s not fun seeing the same thing over and over again and that’s what this game does correctly that makes it different from what I played of the “””””new”””””” super Mario bros series.
With that being said though, I don’t believe this game hits the levels of Super Mario 3 or Super Mario World frankly because of the very real and reasonable design of it being a game “for everyone” according to what modern games have to go for really. While there’s a lot of variety and many ways to challenge yourself (especially with a special world that very much aligns with what was in Super Mario World), I just didn’t personally feel enough push from this game whether it was the talking flowers or maybe being spread thin with how much there was.
I only say this cause it’s on my mind but I see this being more of a design decision occurring because of the context of its release rather than it being bad.
-
In summary: game very good and the team that worked on this should do a new Warioland for real