If you like 2D Mario, you'll love Mario Wonder. If you don't, this game won't change your mind.
I think my expectations for the game were a bit too high going in, but it's a fun game even still. 2D platformers generally aren't my favorite genre, but I still like them, so I gave Wonder a shot thinking it looked distinct from the other Mario games before this. There's a lot of great new ideas in Wonder, but it also falls flat in some areas.
To start with the good stuff, the main gimmick of the game is great. Each level has a Wonder Flower to be found, and when you touch it, anything could happen. It makes each level feel distinct from each other and keeps the game fresh, so these Wonder sections are the best parts of the game by far. I wish these Wonder Flowers weren't missable, though. They're not hard to find at all, but in each level I was slightly stressed about missing the Wonder Flower, and since these sections are the most fun parts, missing it would've really impacted my enjoyment.
The world map is amazing. It's fun to walk around and explore for secrets, and I like how open it is as well. There are some linear sections, but most of the time you can do levels in any order you please, or at least pick the order you want from a set of levels presented to you before you can move on.
The badge system is cool and gives a purpose to coins. I like how distinct they are, but at the same time the system is very limited. You can only equip 1 badge at a time, and there are a lot of badges, so I felt like I didn't get to experience most of them in my playthrough. I wish you could unlock more badge slots or at least be able to equip 1 badge of each category.
An underrated great addition in Wonder is "Break Time" levels. They're short levels, no more than a minute each, and they're all very easy. There's no real challenge to them, so they're focused on being short bursts of fun. I liked them a lot, and I felt they did a good job at helping the game's pacing.
The playable character roster is great, although I really wish the Yoshis and Nabbit had a toggle to disable their invincibility to damage. I would've loved to play as one of them, and I tried it out, but I found the game more boring that way due to a lack of challenge.
There's a pattern of Wonder having really great ideas, but they're just not taken all the way, or there's one key detail holding them back. There are things I'm just completely negative on, though.
The powerups suck. There are only 4 of them, and the Fire/Bubble Flowers feel like sidegrades to each other rather than being distinct. The Elephant and Drill powerups are cool because they really change your moveset, and I would've liked to see at least 2 more powerups like them.
The bosses are also really bad outside of the final boss. I say "bosses" but it's only Bowser Jr. over and over again with little variation between each fight.
Finally, I felt like the game started to lose its steam toward the end. Maybe the Wonder gimmick lost its novelty, or maybe I was burnt out by the really bad powerups, but the game did lose me a little bit by the end. I still had an enjoyable time, but I think if the game were any longer than it already is, I would like it less.
At the end of the day, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D Mario game, and that already communicates a certain standard of quality. It's polished and fun at a base level. It's Mario. Everyone knows Mario. This is him, it's Mario. I didn't find Wonder to be anything revolutionary, but it's a good game.
8/10
I think my expectations for the game were a bit too high going in, but it's a fun game even still. 2D platformers generally aren't my favorite genre, but I still like them, so I gave Wonder a shot thinking it looked distinct from the other Mario games before this. There's a lot of great new ideas in Wonder, but it also falls flat in some areas.
To start with the good stuff, the main gimmick of the game is great. Each level has a Wonder Flower to be found, and when you touch it, anything could happen. It makes each level feel distinct from each other and keeps the game fresh, so these Wonder sections are the best parts of the game by far. I wish these Wonder Flowers weren't missable, though. They're not hard to find at all, but in each level I was slightly stressed about missing the Wonder Flower, and since these sections are the most fun parts, missing it would've really impacted my enjoyment.
The world map is amazing. It's fun to walk around and explore for secrets, and I like how open it is as well. There are some linear sections, but most of the time you can do levels in any order you please, or at least pick the order you want from a set of levels presented to you before you can move on.
The badge system is cool and gives a purpose to coins. I like how distinct they are, but at the same time the system is very limited. You can only equip 1 badge at a time, and there are a lot of badges, so I felt like I didn't get to experience most of them in my playthrough. I wish you could unlock more badge slots or at least be able to equip 1 badge of each category.
An underrated great addition in Wonder is "Break Time" levels. They're short levels, no more than a minute each, and they're all very easy. There's no real challenge to them, so they're focused on being short bursts of fun. I liked them a lot, and I felt they did a good job at helping the game's pacing.
The playable character roster is great, although I really wish the Yoshis and Nabbit had a toggle to disable their invincibility to damage. I would've loved to play as one of them, and I tried it out, but I found the game more boring that way due to a lack of challenge.
There's a pattern of Wonder having really great ideas, but they're just not taken all the way, or there's one key detail holding them back. There are things I'm just completely negative on, though.
The powerups suck. There are only 4 of them, and the Fire/Bubble Flowers feel like sidegrades to each other rather than being distinct. The Elephant and Drill powerups are cool because they really change your moveset, and I would've liked to see at least 2 more powerups like them.
The bosses are also really bad outside of the final boss. I say "bosses" but it's only Bowser Jr. over and over again with little variation between each fight.
Finally, I felt like the game started to lose its steam toward the end. Maybe the Wonder gimmick lost its novelty, or maybe I was burnt out by the really bad powerups, but the game did lose me a little bit by the end. I still had an enjoyable time, but I think if the game were any longer than it already is, I would like it less.
At the end of the day, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D Mario game, and that already communicates a certain standard of quality. It's polished and fun at a base level. It's Mario. Everyone knows Mario. This is him, it's Mario. I didn't find Wonder to be anything revolutionary, but it's a good game.
8/10