Alright so I have over 2000 hours in this from Middle and High school. For about those first 100 hours it can be pretty fun with friends. Like most of these online multiplayer games, there is a demand from the publishers to make it into a sport and a casino. Your competitive friends becomes annoying and your gambling addict friends sink themselves into a hole of sunk cost. I know guys that spent literally every dime they made working fast food on CS:GO lootboxes. Genuinely depressing to see.

I never personally got into the ranked mode of any of these big multiplayer games. I'm not that competitive and I had enough fun in the normal mode with friends. The game is fun with friends because doing anything with friends is fun.
The gameplay isn't that incredible. There's a lot of interlocking systems that are rewarding at the absolute highest levels of play, but for casuals is rarely satisfying and often frustrating. I do think the basic movement and camera operation becomes satisfying once you get used to it.

I'm not going to claim the game has "gotten worse" over time because frankly the game has always sucked pretty hard. When I revisited the game (once in 2021 and for about a month in 2023) I found that a lot of it had lost its charm. There were a lot of QoL and visual updates that looked quite nice, but overall the artstyle had taken a plunge. My favorite characters to play were the monsters, yordles, and the undead. I played a lot of Cho'Gath, Veigar, Karthus, rework Sion, pre-rework Shen. These all have pretty vibrant designs. I think the design team was especially bringing heat around 2014-2016 with champions like Bard, Tahm Kench, Rel'Sai, Ekko. I'm being unironic here saying these are some of the best character designs of all time. Recently the designs have taken a depressing turn. I think at some point Riot realized that the most popular characters were the "hot" ones, so nearly every character since around 2017 have been anime/pixar stylized husbandos and waifus. The kits have also become absurd with overtinkered abilities and overcomplicated passives. There was something special about the simple champions of yore. Champions like Cho'Gath who have abilities that do 1 thing instead of 20 make the game far more enjoyable to play IMO.

Even at (what I consider to be) its best, it's just a waste of time. There's so many better options for co-op and multiplayer games. If you want to scratch that competitive itch join a sports club or something. If you can't do that play Tekken. Need a way to spend your free time in High School/College? Learn an instrument. Pick up a craft, an art. Play one of those huge Yakuza or Persona games and ignore your studies like a normal human being. Don't play this game.

I like it, but it ain't perfect.

First up the music just isn't in the same league as the games it is emulating. Now, those are two of the best soundtracks of all time, but it was surprising how much better the game got after I modded those tracks in instead.

The overall visual style is good, but the graffiti ranges from pretty good to appalling. Sourcing designs from the community was a good idea for a small team like this. I just hope next time they will be more discerning when it comes to the selection.

The gameplay is solid. The general loop is fun and the mission structure is minimal. Any more structure and it wouldn't have the free roam.

The tricks system is lacking. There's only a couple moves you can do and they wear themselves out halfway through combos. High score challenges just depend on you spamming moves.

What surprised me the most was the story. It's a mystery/thriller with solid characters. I thought I had the plot twists locked from the beginning, but I was far off. It's a good story.

I saw some debating about character choice in a Mario game. "Why choose Mario when Luigi, Toad, Peach, and others are available?" When I booted up Wonder, I had to ask myself a similar question. "Why do I always pick Mario?"

For some, Mario is the default pick. Default is Ryu. Guy Spelunky. Minecraft Steve. By the virtue of them being the most prominent character on the box, they are the default character of the game.

In other Mario's, when other characters are playable, Mario is the character with the default stats. The jump height, jump distance, and speed that the developers designed the game around. In Wonder, the main cast share the same stats and abilities. The choice is now cosmetic.

Wonder is the first Mario game to feature seamless online "multiplayer". When you boot up a level, you and three other players will be entered into a lobby. Players in the same lobby can see eachother, but can only interact in a few ways. The system has brilliant design. It allows for wholesome and funny moments to emerge from the game's design.

In some ways, whichever character you pick in Wonder becomes your online avatar. Now, even when you're playing alone, your character choice is now a social decision. Picking Mario, for some, is a show of defeat. This mindset poisoned me sometimes while playing. "Are the other players judging me?", I asked myself. "Is Mario just the character you pick because you have no personality?"

In an ensemble like the one in Wonder, picking Mario is like your favorite Ocean's 11 character being Danny Ocean. Sure, Danny Ocean has the benefit of being the protagonist and being played by George Clooney, but he doesn't do anything special in the movie. Why not pick the goofy Malloy Brothers or the flexible Yen? But Danny IS special. His romantic subplot with his ex-wife is the crux of the movie. Without him the movie wouldn't work at all.

I think Mario is special in his own games too. He's the man. Red shirt. Blue overalls. Yellow buttons. Such a classic color combo. And who could forget those stylish brown shoes. In contrast with his cowardly brother, Luigi, Mario is confident and brave. He's determined to take on a challenge, but he allows himself to have fun doing it. To say Mario lacks a personality is an absurd oversimplification. He has one and his personality is why I like to pick him. In some ways, Mario is the man I want to be. Mario is friendly and he applies himself. Mario is a highly skilled man and he can work any job he wants.

I'm currently unemployed and on the job hunt. Super Mario Bros. Wonder has brought me a lot of joy in this stressful time. It has helped me gain a sense of completion and achievement. Most games can do that. Completion helps the time not drift by. Mario is my favorite game franchise in the world. This review is heavily biased. Of course I'm giving it a perfect score.

The best fumblecore game to date. As well it is a fantastic essay game (a poorly populated genre) about art, games, and modern culture. The type of person that Bennett Foddy hates? Well, I think he communicates it well in the game.

I told a friend I was replaying Getting Over It. He was confused. I told him it gets fun on subsequent playthroughs. Still confused. I told him the weaving of the essay element and masterful design makes it a profound piece of art for me. He says, "That game is dumb and poorly designed." My friend is not a bad person, but I have a feeling Bennett Foddy hates him.