4.5/5 ★ – daneh's review of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

If you open up your web browser right now and look up “The best videogame ever made”, chances are that sooner or later you’re going to stumble across Super Mario World. Not that I agree with this sentiment if I’m being honest, not even closely, but it does prove something important: Nintendo created a formula for 2D Mario games back in the late 80s and eventually managed to evolve it and make something iconic, something important for videogames as a whole. Mid 2000s came by, and with Mario now living mostly in 3D, Nintendo finally decided it was time to go back to the series’ roots with New Super Mario Bros. Now, this was the first game I ever played so naturally I have a lot of nostalgia for it, and I consider it one of the best platformers I’ve experienced. Unfortunately, not the same can be said for the rest of the series, although it proved to be a successful formula, subsequent NSMB games felt far too bland and repetitive, they lacked identity, and it was clear that a change had to be made if Mario was to continue in this 2D world he had conquered back in the 90s. And… well, here it is. Super Mario Bros. Wonder! I don’t think you need me to tell you that indeed, this is quite the shake-up from previous 2D Mario games, and it’s a really well executed and creative shake-up at that. In fact, so much has changed that I’m kind of struggling to keep track of everything that has changed in the series because Mario Wonder is just something completely different from its predecessors. The visual style in here is much more alive, less generic, each level has distinct color palettes setting everything apart from each other, and the animations have a ton of personality, just simply looking at the game is so enjoyable because how much care is put into every single detail in every level. Notably, the sound design and music are also very sharp, they feel so whimsical and creative, with multiple callbacks to previous soundtracks from early Mario games but with interesting twists and uses for each track. As for the moment-to-moment gameplay, the level design is just too tight, pretty much every level is executed perfectly. First a new mechanic or enemy or something interesting is introduced at the start of the stage, and it keeps evolving throughout the stage. Of course, this is Game Design 101, but there’s genuinely so many enemies and mechanics that makes every level truly unique, and everything in each course builds up everything so well to set-up for the climax: the wonder seed. This is where the wackiness is turned to a hundred, and everything the level has been building up to explodes in this ridiculous, amazing sequence that is unique to each level. Anything can happen! Pipes can start moving like snakes, the perspective might be shifted to a top-down view of your character, or maybe a weird transformation will happen that you have to adapt to. Stampedes, skydiving, suddenly going into space, throwing cannonballs from your own warship, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of what this game pulls off, it’s honestly so refreshing to see something so creative in a game, the level design structure this game follows is genius. Not only that, but there’s also tons of secrets to uncover, including 3 purple coins in each level which serve as the optional collectible, and this will make you keep your eyes peeled and might offer interesting challenges and puzzles so it’s definitely worth collecting them. It’s worth noting that not every level is the same, sure there’s your standard 2D Mario type levels, but there’s also multiple challenges and bonus stages and a whole ton other things to keep everything fresh which is also something I really liked… except for the search party levels. Those are just dumb man I can’t even justify their existence I really don’t like them lol. On the gameplay side of things, it’s also worth mentioning the badge system, and as much potential as this had, it honestly is one of the most underwhelming parts of the game, and I feel like it could’ve been executed a bit better. Out of the gate you unlock the parachute cap, which is probably the only thing you’re going to be using for 90% of the game, because the rest of the badges are so situational, you’re rarely going to find yourself wanting to experiment and interact with this mechanic much at all, which is pretty unfortunate. I completed this game to its entirety, and I can definitely say it’s worth it. Super Mario Bros. Wonder came at the perfect time for 2D Marios, revolutionizing the series once again and reminding everyone why these games are iconic. Amazing level design, tons of creativity and freedom, visually amazing, and just overall a great game. It’s just Mario, what can I even say. It’s just good. Really good. Yeah. Worth playing. 9/10. Talking flowers are silly.