When I played through the classic 2D Mario games, I could see a clear line of progression as the titles progressed. The jump from 1 to 3 was impressive, and even from 3 to World, which thoroughly surprised me. The problem lies with what came after, as after I played Super Mario World, I played New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, which put a screeching halt on the progress. Sure the graphics were improved, but I expect that coming from a game that releases 20 years after World. And in several instances, I found the artstyle of Super Mario World to have more charm than its newer counterpart. I left U Deluxe feeling thoroughly whelmed. It was a fine enough game, but very little stuck out to me.
Super Mario Bros Wonder takes U Deluxe and slams it into the ground, holy shit what a good game this is. This feels and looks like everything I wanted from a modern 2D Mario game. The artstyle is much more lively, especially in the animations. The new enemies, which were plentiful, were a much needed change. The controls felt better and more consolidated from previous entries as well. But the crown jewel of this game has to be the level design. The developers made a whole regular Mario game that you would expect, but also made a way to turn the whole level on its head with the Wonder Flowers. I can't overstate how great of a mechanic it was, especially with very little of it being reused from level to level. So many things this game lets you do just brought a childlike joy from me, I truly love what the framework of the Wonder Flowers let them do with the level design. I really was not a fan of the Search Party levels, but beyond that, everything else was a banger. The 2nd level being the Piranha Plant Musical set the stage very well that this wasn't a copy paste 2D Mario.
The badge system was neat as well. Some of it was rather familiar, like the spin jump, the crouch jump from Mario 2, the hover that Peach has in previous games, etc., but I also greatly appreciated the new things this game adds. The excitement when I got to the Grapple Hook level was more than I expected. Not all were bangers of course. If Invisibility has 1 hater, I am that hater. If Invisibility has no haters then that means I am dead. That being said, as painful as the Final Final test was with Invisibility, it led to a very satisfying conclusion. I'm a fan of the badge mechanic.
I played and 100% this whole game in co-op with a friend of mine, and the way they implemented the co-op felt really nice this time. Instead of bouncing on and around each other, it was much more seamless. The standee system was also very fun, and provided some fun moments where we were trying to get a coin or something, and we kept abusing i-frames. I'm a big fan of this co-op system.
I really hope this style of 2D games sticks around a bit, because Super Mario Bros Wonder surpassed all of my expectations. My biggest complaint is honestly that there isn't more yet. I can easily recommend this to anyone.
Super Mario Bros Wonder takes U Deluxe and slams it into the ground, holy shit what a good game this is. This feels and looks like everything I wanted from a modern 2D Mario game. The artstyle is much more lively, especially in the animations. The new enemies, which were plentiful, were a much needed change. The controls felt better and more consolidated from previous entries as well. But the crown jewel of this game has to be the level design. The developers made a whole regular Mario game that you would expect, but also made a way to turn the whole level on its head with the Wonder Flowers. I can't overstate how great of a mechanic it was, especially with very little of it being reused from level to level. So many things this game lets you do just brought a childlike joy from me, I truly love what the framework of the Wonder Flowers let them do with the level design. I really was not a fan of the Search Party levels, but beyond that, everything else was a banger. The 2nd level being the Piranha Plant Musical set the stage very well that this wasn't a copy paste 2D Mario.
The badge system was neat as well. Some of it was rather familiar, like the spin jump, the crouch jump from Mario 2, the hover that Peach has in previous games, etc., but I also greatly appreciated the new things this game adds. The excitement when I got to the Grapple Hook level was more than I expected. Not all were bangers of course. If Invisibility has 1 hater, I am that hater. If Invisibility has no haters then that means I am dead. That being said, as painful as the Final Final test was with Invisibility, it led to a very satisfying conclusion. I'm a fan of the badge mechanic.
I played and 100% this whole game in co-op with a friend of mine, and the way they implemented the co-op felt really nice this time. Instead of bouncing on and around each other, it was much more seamless. The standee system was also very fun, and provided some fun moments where we were trying to get a coin or something, and we kept abusing i-frames. I'm a big fan of this co-op system.
I really hope this style of 2D games sticks around a bit, because Super Mario Bros Wonder surpassed all of my expectations. My biggest complaint is honestly that there isn't more yet. I can easily recommend this to anyone.