I've always found it strange how little Nintendo lets their developers innovate with 2D Mario experiences in comparison to their 3D brethren. I don't want this review to become a referendum on the New Super Mario Bros. games and what they did/did not do well, but I do think it's clear they were mandated to largely stick to the principles established in the classic Super Mario Bros. games. In contrast, the 3D Mario titles have been constantly reinventing themselves over the last 25 years. Super Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, 3D World, and Odyssey share a lot of same design ethos but how you interact with those worlds varies wildly.
Now, for the first time since Super Mario World, we have a Mario in the second-dimension that does the same. Super Mario Bros. Wonder loves to upend the tea table at every opportunity, constantly throwing new gimmicks, ideas, powerups, and surprises at you until you're blue in the face. It's not a drastically unfamiliar experience, but at no point does it ever leave you bored or content with the prior Mario knowledge you've built up over the years. The Wonder Flower mechanic, in particular, is the most obvious example and gives every single level multiple flavors to it. Even when it reuses particular gimmicks it always does so with a purpose, finding even more bizarre ways to twist and turn the world in ways you won't expect. In addition to transforming levels, Wonder Flowers can also transform you. This, in addition to the new base items like Elephant and Drill Mario, gives this game powerup variety rivaling that of Super Mario Bros. 3. That rocks.
But what makes Wonder also special among Mario games is some of the smaller design decisions it makes, like letting each world be slightly more open so you don't feel like you're hamstrung along one path the whole game. The sheer variety of level types in every location also does, well, wonders for keeping things fresh. There are your traditional platforming levels of course, but also ones where you race against Wigglers, battle hordes of enemies in arenas, use the game's new badge mechanic to accomplish set challenges, or hunt for hidden treasures in search levels that are specifically and smartly designed around Mario Wonder's online mode. Someone on the team seemingly fell in love with the concept of music-themed levels too, because you'll see a lot of those. You can't tell me the final boss of this game wasn't heavily inspired by the DJ Octavio fight in Splatoon.
If I had to level some minor criticism at this game, it'd mostly have to do with the game's difficulty curve - or lack thereof. Most Mario titles tend to have a very gentle one throughout most of the game until it rockets upward toward the end, whereas Wonder sees random fluctuations in challenge all over the place. It never feels like each world is getting steadily more difficult - instead, every one has courses that are largely on the easy side with a few difficult ones smattered about. Part of this is because the last three worlds can be done in any order, but still, it was a little lame to be playing stages in World 6 that felt like they belonged in World 1. Boss battles also never rise to anything resembling a challenge, although I guess that's pretty in line with past Mario games. Feels like they could have tried a bit more here, but I digress.
(On a personal note, I'm also disappointed with the lack of playable Rosalina in this game, especially with such a large cast already, but perhaps, given the elephant powerup, they wanted to spare her the indignity of that transformation. If that's the case, I can forgive her lack of inclusion this once.)
So hey, there you go - if you're the kind of person who's been clamoring forever for a truly unique and fresh take on the classic Mario formula, your wish has been granted. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is proof that no matter how far we stretch into the future, Nintendo still has a ridiculous amount of talent and creativity left to power their decades-old franchises into relevancy today and beyond. They sometimes just have to let those guys off the leash.
Now, for the first time since Super Mario World, we have a Mario in the second-dimension that does the same. Super Mario Bros. Wonder loves to upend the tea table at every opportunity, constantly throwing new gimmicks, ideas, powerups, and surprises at you until you're blue in the face. It's not a drastically unfamiliar experience, but at no point does it ever leave you bored or content with the prior Mario knowledge you've built up over the years. The Wonder Flower mechanic, in particular, is the most obvious example and gives every single level multiple flavors to it. Even when it reuses particular gimmicks it always does so with a purpose, finding even more bizarre ways to twist and turn the world in ways you won't expect. In addition to transforming levels, Wonder Flowers can also transform you. This, in addition to the new base items like Elephant and Drill Mario, gives this game powerup variety rivaling that of Super Mario Bros. 3. That rocks.
But what makes Wonder also special among Mario games is some of the smaller design decisions it makes, like letting each world be slightly more open so you don't feel like you're hamstrung along one path the whole game. The sheer variety of level types in every location also does, well, wonders for keeping things fresh. There are your traditional platforming levels of course, but also ones where you race against Wigglers, battle hordes of enemies in arenas, use the game's new badge mechanic to accomplish set challenges, or hunt for hidden treasures in search levels that are specifically and smartly designed around Mario Wonder's online mode. Someone on the team seemingly fell in love with the concept of music-themed levels too, because you'll see a lot of those. You can't tell me the final boss of this game wasn't heavily inspired by the DJ Octavio fight in Splatoon.
If I had to level some minor criticism at this game, it'd mostly have to do with the game's difficulty curve - or lack thereof. Most Mario titles tend to have a very gentle one throughout most of the game until it rockets upward toward the end, whereas Wonder sees random fluctuations in challenge all over the place. It never feels like each world is getting steadily more difficult - instead, every one has courses that are largely on the easy side with a few difficult ones smattered about. Part of this is because the last three worlds can be done in any order, but still, it was a little lame to be playing stages in World 6 that felt like they belonged in World 1. Boss battles also never rise to anything resembling a challenge, although I guess that's pretty in line with past Mario games. Feels like they could have tried a bit more here, but I digress.
(On a personal note, I'm also disappointed with the lack of playable Rosalina in this game, especially with such a large cast already, but perhaps, given the elephant powerup, they wanted to spare her the indignity of that transformation. If that's the case, I can forgive her lack of inclusion this once.)
So hey, there you go - if you're the kind of person who's been clamoring forever for a truly unique and fresh take on the classic Mario formula, your wish has been granted. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is proof that no matter how far we stretch into the future, Nintendo still has a ridiculous amount of talent and creativity left to power their decades-old franchises into relevancy today and beyond. They sometimes just have to let those guys off the leash.