I feel like they kept releasing the sequels to new super mario bros all these years to buy them time while they put every possible ounce of creativity and polish into this one. It could have just been the regular old formula plus the wonder flowers and that would be enough to make it a stellar game. Not only do they add that though they also have the very versatile and rewarding badge system along with the darksouls-esque online multiplayer. Which rockets it into the stratosphere for me. It was also a frustrating joy to 100% which is expected with a mainline mario game. Some of the best online interactions i've had in a game is when I was really struggling with a challenge level for a good 10 minutes then someone else would come along and struggle. We then made an unspoken pact to help each other out and be the fallback in case we died. Very glad to have played this