Let's go back to my place, we'll put on some Koji Kondo and drop Wonder Seeds.

I'm not sure which is a greater triumph: the fact that Nintendo put out a good 2D Mario game for the first time since World released in 1990, or that they've finally started to release worthwhile hardware in the Switch's twilight years. Pikmin 4 and Mario Wonder have both swooped in during the 11th hour to justify buying this thing back in 2017. Better late than never, I suppose.

I ran through Mario World not more than a month before picking up Wonder, and while I wouldn't say Wonder topples it as my favorite 2D entry in the series, it does come awfully close. Platforming feels incredibly tight, every character has the right amount of weight and momentum, and levels are thoughtfully designed around unique gimmicks to keep the game feeling fresh every step of the way. I was also not expecting the Wonder Seeds to come with as much variety as they do. Not only do they heavily alter a significant portion of each course, but Wonder is pretty good about making them unique to the courses they appear in, even in the rare instances where certain ideas and mechanics are reused. My personal favorite comes pretty early with the Piranha Plant Parade.

There are a number of smaller courses that lack Wonder sequences, like badge challenges and Wiggler Races, but they never feel lacking for it. I could do without the "search party" levels, though. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to design stages where you have to habitually jump around looking for hidden blocks like you're playing The Lost Levels, but I wound up pulling a guide open for these just to expedite the process. If Nintendo removed these and retooled a couple of the secret world stages (the one where you have to bounce on bubbles to navigate your way over a pit as a Goomba is heinous), then this might be a perfect 5/5 for me.

Wonder almost earns that half star back with its roster of playable characters. Of course, you've got Mario, Luigi, Peach, and (THREE!!) Toad(s), but they finally put Daisy in one of these games and I'm ecstatic about that. She's my favorite Mario character, which I know might be a weird thing to say considering most characters in these games have little personality past saying "wowie zowie" (big Zappa-heads, these guys) and their own name like a Pokemon. I just get this weird energy from Daisy. Peach will spend all afternoon baking you a cake, but Daisy will just drive to Kroger in her Ford Taurus that hasn't had an oil change in six months and buy you a sheet cake, start eating it in the car, then mash the two ends of the cake back together and crudely smooth over the icing to hide what she's done. I "fuck with that," or whatever the hell it is you kids say.

Unfortunately, the Yoshis (and Nabbit) are lackluster as they can't make use of power-ups. In the past, I've lamented the fact that I like Yoshi but he's never the star of good games, so it's disappointing that he and his multi-colored brethren have these arbitrarily imposed gameplay limitations in Wonder. Don't really care about Nabbit, far as I'm concerned there should be a wonder sequence where he's placed in a hydraulic press.

Mario Wonder is pretty much a must-have for the Switch and one of the best games released all year, and I think it's safe to say it breaks into my top five entries in the series. High praise from someone who ordinarily needs very little reason to dunk on Nintendo and drag them through the mud, but even I've got to admit they've put out something wonderful here.