Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local, Online), Online Content Sharing

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Review:

Super Mario Bros. Wonder, released on the Nintendo Switch in 2023, is the first completely original 2D Platformer that Nintendo’s family-friendly mascot has starred in since the first release of New Super Mario Bros. U in 2012. In the time since that game’s release, we’ve seen two Super Mario Maker games that allowed players to craft their own custom-made Mario levels, as well as a port of New Super Mario Bros. U to Nintendo Switch, but no truly new 2D Platformers have come down the pipe (ha) until now.

With this release, Nintendo has wisely dropped the “New” from the title and aimed for a change in artistic style to differentiate this new release from the New Super Mario Bros. games, which many (myself included) have come to find somewhat rote and predictable. To be clear, these games were never bad, but they were increasingly unambitious and cookie-cutter. With this new “Wonder”-ful release, Nintendo seems to be trying to distance Mario from the growing image that his 2D adventures were becoming stale, something that became especially stark when compared to games like the absolutely brilliant Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

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A Wonder to Behold?

Super Mario Bros. Wonder features some extremely nice animation for its 3D characters and bright, colorful world, with Mario and friends’ movements being delightfully snappy and having excellent little details such as Mario grabbing his hat when moving through a sideways pipe, and brief blur lines when a character first hits their top speed. These visuals give the game a fair amount of personality, though the overall look still retains much of the “polished” feel of the New Super Mario Bros. games… honestly a little too polished for my tastes. I kinda’ wish that this game’s visuals were a little messier to emphasize the wacky new personality a little more here. And I’m not talking about how the framerates drop when you enable the game’s online multiplayer.

The sound here is probably one of the things that seems least-changed from earlier games, even with the replacement of longtime Mario and Luigi voice actor Charles Martinet, replaced here by Kevin Afghani. You can hear the difference, but it’s not so jarring that it takes you out of the experience, and you’ll get used to the change soon enough. Given the Mario characters’ cartoonish voices, probably the most out-of-place thing here is the somewhat normal voices of flowers you pass on each stage, who comment on the action or hint at places to investigate for a secret. Thankfully, these voices can be turned off for those who dislike them.

These visuals and voices are backed by a cartoonish soundtrack that works well enough for the gameplay, but is one of the least-memorable Mario soundtracks… well, ever. You have songs like the cheerful acoustic guitar and a capella song Wonder Pipe Rock Plateau and the synthesized Wonder Effect theme and… well, at this time, it’s hard to find any others I can link to. Some of the music in the game’s snowy area was pretty nice, I suppose. And the game does reprise some classic Mario themes on occasion too. But overall, there was little here that I felt like I would be compelled to hum to myself when I wasn’t playing the game, which is pretty unusual for a Mario game.

Edit: Now that the game has been out for a few days, I can add a few of the songs I consider noteworthy, including one of my favorite musical moments this year, Wonder (Piranha Plants on Parade). Other good ones here include Petal Isles, Snow (Normal), Sunbaked Desert (Sand), Magma Bog (Lava), and Special World. To be clear, there’s definitely good stuff here, just nothing I feel rises to the level of Mario’s most memorable tunes.

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A Wonder-Worker?

Of course, the biggest new feature in Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn’t a name change and a shift in art style. The “wonder” in this game’s title refers to the “Wonder Flowers” that can be found in each of this game’s levels, each with their own transformative effect on the level, and with every level’s “wonder effect” being different. Well, almost every level – wonder effects are repeated on occasion, though infrequently enough that finding a wonder flower is almost always the highlight of each of this game’s levels, because you never quite know what you’ll find. Perhaps pipes will start crawling around like inchworms, or maybe the wonder flower will trigger a stampede of burly creatures that you can ride to a new exit. These are the two effects that have been most frequently highlighted in trailers, but suffice it to say that there’s all manner of creativity behind these effects. Without spoiling it, I will say that the second level’s wonder effect in a level filled with walking piranha plants brought a huge smile to my face.

Beyond these wonder effects, the core gameplay here is pretty standard Mario fare, and in fact it strikes me as being extremely similar to the New Super Mario Bros. games, even including the mid-air spin that was a signature of those games – you can even opt to trigger that spin by shaking your controller, much as those games did.

Wonder also brings with it some new power-ups – Mario can transform into an elephant with one ability and melee attack enemies or absorb and spray water with his trunk. With another ability, he can toss bubbles that can pass through walls, entrap enemies, and be jumped on. Yet another new ability allows him to drill into floors and ceilings. And you once again have the return of the fire flower.

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For Those Who Are Wondering…

You’ll note that I didn’t mention any flying abilities, and that is because they are not present in this game. No racoon tail or tanooki suit, no cape, not even a weaksauce gliding ability like the flying squirrel suit (though you get something akin to this last one with one of the badges, something I’ll touch on later). This may seem like a petty complaint, but it speaks to how limited the exploration elements of Super Mario Bros. Wonder are. You will occasionally find yourself discovering hidden enclaves, or taking a warp pipe that brings you into an area in the background, but for the most part these levels will be a pretty linear trip from left to right with only brief deviations.

There is another element that may irk some longtime Mario players. As Mario games go, this one is mostly pretty easy (though there are definitely some later levels that can be quite challenging), and even with this being the case the game is constantly falling over itself trying to offer ways to make things even easier. You’ll gradually unlock equippable badges that give you optional new abilities, add helpful blocks to levels, or offer free power-ups (though players can only use one badge at a time). The entire online multiplayer experience is built on the concept of players each working to make the game easier for each other. And players wanting an extra-easy mode can opt to play as Nabbit or Yoshi, who cannot take damage from enemies. As a side-note, all other playable characters have the exact same abilities and move set as Mario, so there’s no high-jumping Luigi or floating Peach this time.

Unlike the New Super Mario Bros. games, players in local multiplayer no longer interact directly, now passing through one another. Whether this is a good thing or bad thing will depend on whether you enjoyed the chaotic element this often brought to the New Super Mario Bros. games. Furthermore, in online multiplayer, not only can you not directly interact with others, but your interactions with the world around you don’t affect other players’ experience. Instead, you can opt to offer a power-up to these players from your stock, or touch their ghost after they die to bring them back so they don’t have to restart the level. You can also place flat standees that can bring back players, or perhaps indicate a conspicuous place to investigate.

Now, let me be clear – I do not hate that there are all sorts of options to make this game more friendly to younger and less-experienced players. I have applauded multiple other games that did much the same. And I love the variety that the wonder effects bring to this game, truly giving players something to look forward to in every level. However, despite all the variety, the fun extra features, and so on, I just don’t feel like this game has the same amount of depth as Mario’s greatest 2D adventures on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Instead, despite all the “wonder”-ful trappings of this game, it still feels to me a lot like… well, like one of the New Super Mario Bros. games.

I feel like that statement is going to earn me a lot of hate, but please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a low-effort game, I’m not saying that it’s stale, boring, cookie-cutter… all those things that people complain about the New Super Mario Bros. games increasingly becoming. The wonder effects alone ensure that this game has plenty of great new ideas to thrill players from start to finish. But as wond-… er, that is to say, as nice as all of these ideas are, they seem to be trying to distract from the fact that this game just doesn’t seem as deep as Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

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A Small Wonder

And you know… that’s okay. That’s an absurdly high bar for any game to try to live up to. And Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s failure to live up to those classic games is absolutely not something that should be taken as a condemnation of this game. Quite the contrary – that we’re even comparing this game to some of the greatest 2D Platformers ever made should be an indication of the extremely high quality this game presents players with. And if you’re a fan of Platformers, you should absolutely consider this game to be among the best that Nintendo Switch has to offer, with tons of variety and imagination bursting at the seams. And this game is absolutely better than the New Super Mario Bros. titles that preceded it. Just don’t go into this expecting the absolute best 2D Mario game, or you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

tl;dr – Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a family-friendly Platformer that brings Mario back to 2D with brand new “wonder effects” that transform every level in the game in creative, inventive ways that infuse this game with tons of variety and personality. What’s more, this game has plenty of new multiplayer features and accessibility options to make this game ideal for younger and less-experienced players. This game is far more inspired than the New Super Mario Bros. games that preceded it… just don’t expect something as incredible as the classic games of Mario’s 8-bit and 16-bit eras or you’ll be disappointed. However, while this game doesn’t reach the same heights as Mario’s classic adventures, it is nevertheless a truly excellent Platformer that any fan of the genre should absolutely play.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Platformer – Mario’s first completely new 2D game in over a decade (if we don’t count Super Mario Run and the Super Mario Maker games) still borrows a lot from the New Super Mario Bros. games, but shakes things up with new “Wonder” effects that instill the game with much-needed variety. I disagree with critics who claim this game is on par with Mario’s 8-bit and 16-bit adventures, but this is nevertheless a fantastic Platformer, and without question the best one I played in 2023.

Best Game for Kids and Casual Players – Fewer games are as easy to plop a younger or less-experienced gamer in front of as a 2D Mario game, and this year Nintendo took that highly-accessible experience and infused it with enough variety and creativity to ensure that the game kept things interesting throughout its length, and older players playing the game with their kid could even help out in multiplayer without getting in the way. This is a Wonder that pretty much anyone can enjoy.

Runner-Up: Best Sequel

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