It’s been a long time since I brought a 2D Mario game, mostly due to not liking the visuals of the New Super Mario Bros. series, but Wonder really caught my eye during its announcement trailer due to its much clearer and nicer visuals and its bizarre new “Wonder Flowers” which cause the levels to become very … weird, sometimes in a really fun way. I’ve really enjoyed my time with Wonder, but the strange lack of difficulty in the main game then a sudden spike in the option Special World wasn’t the best game design from the company that normally is so great at it… Let’s take a look, anyway!
Background:
This is perfectly normal.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder was released exclusively (obviously…) on the Switch on October 20th 2023 and was the first new Mario 2D platformer in 11 years, unless you count the Super Mario Maker games anyway. A lot of game was created by a much younger team than prior titles, which is where the new and weird ideas that are all over the place come from, I guess!
Gameplay:
Send this to a Mario fan even at the start of the year and they’d be so confused…
While it may have a lot of weird and, well, wonderful ideas at its core SMB Wonder is still very much a traditional 2D platformer, having you run left-to-right across the screen, defeating enemies by jumping on them and doing some (sadly very occasionally) tricky platforming, with hidden secret areas and full on hidden level exits as well. You can play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toadette, Yoshi or Nabbit, with the latter two being essentially the Very Easy difficulty level as they can’t die from falling down pits, and uniquely all of them can collect any of the power-ups in the game (Fire Flower Daisy, everyone’s dream now a reality?) Alongside the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower (getting you a bigger character that can take an extra hit and giving you the ability to fire fireballs, respectively) you have three new power ups: an Elephant one that not only transforms you into an elephant form that gives you more weight but you can smack things with your trunk and even fire water out of it; a Bubble one where you can blow bubbles that not only act as an extra thing to jump off of but can also capture enemies bubble bobble style; and a Drill Hat that allows you to drill into the ground and ceiling of levels and travel underneath obstacles and the like.
All of these are fun but what really makes the levels stand out are the Wonder Flowers, with one hidden on every level. Collecting it makes something very weird happen: the level could become alive with snake-like green pipes, King Boo might appear and begin singing an opera with the smaller Boos chiming in, you might suddenly be doing a top-down level instead of a side-scrolling one, you might turn into an enemy and have to navigate a level as a goomba… the amount of different things they came up with is staggering and the true highlight of the game was when you found that level’s Wonder Flower as you just had no idea what was going to happen when you collected it. I should say that this game has the classic world map with different numbered worlds set up, with side activities like “find the hidden coins” or “do this simple one-screen level” being hidden around alongside regular levels and boss fortresses, though for the record some worlds don’t have a boss and the ones that do just have Bowser Jr. doing very similar things and being defeated easily, so… Boss-wise the game is a let-down, definitely.
Mario in the background in a non-Wonder Flower fun idea!
The other big difference here are the “Badges”. They’re unlocked throughout the game and can give Mario (or whoever you’re playing as) an extra move like a flutter jump, a hovering fall, the ability to jump vertically when clinging onto the side of something, that kind of thing, or they make the game easier by giving you more coins per enemy kill or have you start with a super mushroom but can also make it more challenging like making Mario completely invisible. The trick is though you can only wear one at a time, so you have to pick wisely! It certainly adds a lot of replay value, that’s for sure. Another big addition… well, okay, it’s not a big addition but its one I ended up weirdly really enjoying are the talking flowers that are dotted about the levels. The fact they actually speak English all the time is weird for a Mario game to start with but sometimes they put a smile on my face, other times they made me actually laugh as they’d give advice, make a snarky comment or shout a really weird terrified scream when something bad happens around them.
The last thing is that just like the New SMB games before them there is offline and online co-op, though this time there isn’t any physical contact so your family or friends won’t be intentionally knocking you down a hole to get there hands on a power up. Up to four people on screen at once, so a good laugh for both the youngest and the oldest of a family, though the lack of competitiveness might lessen the likelihood of older friends playing it together.
Graphics and Sound:
Beautiful…. and deadly!
Once again Nintendo shows that even though the Switch’s hardware is quite severely out of date by modern 9th Generation console standards they can still get some really lovely visuals out of it. Fun character models, vibrant and multi-layered levels and clean menus and on-screen HUD make for a fun experience.
Sound wise is good but not great, catchy but not really memorable music and a good voice cast, for what little speaking they do, including a new voice for Mario who does a good enough job that only once or twice did I even realise the switch. Once again special mention to the talking flowers, don’t know why they went with such a regular sounding American voice but for whatever reason it really worked alongside all the OTT fantasy comic voices all around them!
Story:
Airships made a return, but they were all generic metal and green looking so they just blended into each other. Bring back the wooden ships!
Funnily enough the story isn’t particularly deep! Mario and friends visit the neighbouring Flower Kingdom and as they’re being welcomed by Prince Florian (the leader, so not sure why he’s a Prince and not a King, but whatever…) Bowser appears and uses a large Wonder Flower to transform himself into a living, floating version of Florian’s castle, then proceeds to spread large piranha plants all over the Kingdom before settling down in the middle to prepare a “massive Wonder” for everyone. Naturally it’s up to Mario and pals to travel across the land, destroy the piranha plants with “Wonder Seeds” they collect and eventually use the large Royal Seeds to weaken Bowser’s defences enough to enter, um, him I geuss and defeat him.
I won’t bother with a spoiler here because I think we all know Bowser gets defeated in the end (via a really simple rhythm-based boss fight) and that’s your lot! Well, apart from travelling around the Special World if you want (though you can technically do that before the final boss anyway, but if you do then wow the finale will be one hell of a step down!)
Thoughts Now:
Mario celebrates getting a Wonder Seed alongside the talking flower, the new best Mario character (also pictured: Wiggler).
Super Mario Bros. Wonder was a fun few hours of platforming insanity, well, visual insanity, very sane difficulty, apart from the Special World. For a few days it was something I was genuinely looking forward to getting back to after work but sadly it didn’t take long for it to become something that felt complete and with little to draw me back in. While I can see myself giving it another run once I’ve forgotten some of the crazier moments it’s not quite the big standout GOTY contender I was hoping for going in (though in this year that’s a crowded category, to be fair!)
Hogan Reviews 