When Super Mario World first released back in 1990 (or '91 or '92 depending on your region), it felt like a huge moment for Nintendo's iconic platforming franchise. Here was Mario as we already knew him, bounding energetically through 2D environments on the way to his usual goal but, at the same time, everything felt as though it had changed.
Super Mario World was a thorough modernisation of all of the important pieces that made the series tick. The world and its characters were brought to life like never before with a broader range of animations and abilities, and mechanically things had taken a huge step up in terms of responsiveness and polish. This was the best a Mario game had ever looked or felt, it was full of fun and magic, it brought the somewhat ageing formula up to speed and remains one of the very best adventures the Italian plumber has ever taken.
All of the above applies to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. At the tail end of 2023, one of the strongest years for video games we've seen in a long time, Nintendo has just gone and served us up its best 2D Super Mario adventure in 33 years. This feels like Nintendo returning to the very same font from which World sprung, with Nintendo EPD firing on all creative cylinders to give us a game that barrels along on a seemingly endless stream of great platforming ideas.
Where the style of New Super Mario Bros. U may have left some feeling a little cold overall, Wonder brings with it the warmth and familiar glow of a lovingly crafted Mario adventure that's set on doing its own thing rather than reheating old ideas. Right from the get-go this feels like a return to the creative glory days of 2D Mario, with a quick cutscene to get us underway — Bowser has attacked Flower Kingdom, help us Mario! — before you're delivered to a gorgeous in-game map and pummeled through several worlds full of Nintendo-grade ingenuity.
Yes, things kick off strongly here with the headline new power-up, Elephant Mario, making its appearance almost straight away. Much like how Yoshi's early arrival in Super Mario World felt like that game announcing its intentions to be a whole new thing, this moment feels like Wonder letting us know that it's got plenty of tricks up its sleeves. And what tricks they are. This is easily the best-looking and most creative 2D Mario to date, an adventure that's bursting with colour and detail and levels full of one-time mechanics and silliness to discover.
This feels like 2D Mario refreshed and revamped, then. Not only has the wee man got a brand new voice in the form of Kevin Afghani, but his moveset has also been pimped out via lots of lovely little touches and tons of new animations. Watch as he clambers in and out of pipes rather than simply teleporting through them, gasp at how he wobbles at the edge of a platform, teeters on the brink of a chasm, or how his facial expressions change to suit whatever tight spot he's got himself in next. Even the traditional 2D world map has had a nice revamp, no longer confining you to a set track through stages, you can wander, discover little secret areas, and choose which levels to take on next with a certain degree of freedom.
Mechanically, this is still 100% the Mario you know and love, it's just never looked or felt quite this slick before. The way characters transition between moves, transform into various guises, bound across enemy heads, and swing over gaps — it's deliciously slick stuff. There's a level of polish here that ensures you never need to second guess the controls or level design (they're flawless); where every failure belongs to you; and where repeating and re-running areas never feels like a chore.
The biggest new gameplay additions in Super Mario Wonder are its Wonder Flowers and its Badges. As you run through the various levels on offer you'll need to gather up Wonder Seeds in order to keep unlocking new areas of the Flower Kingdom and pushing forward. In each and every main stage in the game you'll find a Wonder Flower. The Wonder Flower is often hidden a little out of the way and interacting with it warps the world into its Wonder form, meaning an area that was quite straightforward has now transformed into something else entirely.
Maybe all of the platforms have switched places or disappeared, the ceiling has become an enormous enemy that you need to avoid, the inhabitants begin reacting in surprising ways, the camera angle and controls have shifted, you're flying or falling...
Each new Wonder Flower brings with it an alternate route through a stage and it's where the game derives so much of its creativity and playfulness. No matter how vanilla a level starts out here, you never know where it's gonna end up, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder makes sure to keep a wealth of strong gameplay ideas flowing across the entirety of its running time. Between normal stages you've got trials, and challenges to undertake, too, and it's here that you'll get your hands on most of the game's badges.
Badges give you various boons, boosts, and aids to help you discover every secret and hidden area scattered throughout the Flower Kingdom. You'll get lots of new moves, such as a powered-up crouching jump, a wall jump, a cap glide, and more, as well as plenty of neat accessibility options to help players who need a little more help. Maybe you want to add extra platforms to a stage, make it so falling in lava or down a pit doesn't result in death, or give yourself a Super Mushroom to kick-start every stage. With badges, you can do that.
As the game progresses you'll need to switch between all of your collected boost badges if you want to 100% every course, maybe give yourself more hang time or activate wall jumping so that you can find all the Flower coins and Wonder Seeds spread throughout a level. With nonstop new ideas, the smoothest controls we've felt in a 2D Mario game, gorgeous visuals, Wonder flowers, and badges all in the mix, we're already having a great time. But then Wonder just keeps on adding wins to the formula.
You've got a whole bunch of characters to choose from as you run through the campaign (Yoshis and Nabbit act as easy modes), it's simple and quick to jump into four-player local co-op (get a couple of Elephant Marios on the screen and you're guaranteed a very silly time), and, more excitingly, clever new online aspects have been very carefully massaged into the experience.
Taking cues from, of all places, the Dark Souls series, Super Mario Wonder gives us an online aspect that sees other players appear as shadowy ghosts on your screen. You can use Standees, little collectible character boards that can be bought in Poplin shops, to interact with and help each other — die and you've got a few seconds to interact with another player or their Standee to be respawned, for example — and the whole thing has been introduced in such a way that it never feels intrusive.
If you prefer your Mario as a solo experience, you've got that, but if you like engaging with pals, helping other players through areas, or racking up fast scores on time trials, that's here too and it works really well without ever feeling like it gets in the way or muddies the water. In fact, the online shenanigans work so well here that they almost feel like they've always been part of the series.
Does Super Mario Wonder stumble at all? Well, if we're being super picky, we would have loved to see a more challenging mix of platforming elements. Things never get really difficult at any point outside of a few specific challenges, and there's nothing here that's gonna blow the doors off the platforming genre as a whole — nothing truly earth-shattering or defining beyond being one of the most refined 2D platformers ever crafted.
Instead, you're just gonna have to make do with a very, very good 2D Mario. This adventure serves up as much inventiveness as its 3D brethren, is the best-looking two-dimensional Mario to date, and another very fine addition to 2023's ever-growing pile of Incredibly Good Games That You Absolutely Need To Play™.
The best 2D Mario game release since the Super Nintendo? We'll have that.
Conclusion
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is, quite simply, the best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World. This is the slickest, sharpest, and smartest that two-dimensional Mario has felt since 1991 and in its Wonder Flowers, badges, and online aspects, it serves up an endlessly inventive and impressive platforming adventure that we've been utterly hooked on. With local co-op and online fun adding to the replayability factor and nigh-on perfect performance in both docked and handheld modes, this feels like 2D Mario with its mojo back, and one of the very best platformers we've played in quite some time.
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Comments 306
WONDERful!
94 currently on Metacritic based on 33 reviews. That's very impressive
Can’t wait!! Going to be a fun weekend!
Can't wait to get my grubby little hands on it especially since it's living up to the hype.
Wow that's a very bold claim! Very excited to pick this up along with that other little game releasing Friday!
I admit I thought it would be a 10/10 here but massively looking forward to the game either way. If the main complaint is difficulty, I wonder if there is difficulty in the post-game as is kind of tradition for Mario; I notice the review doesn't mention that at all (maybe because it's still pre-release?)
"Nothing truly earth-shattering or genre defining"
That didn't stop you lot from giving Tears of the Kingdom a 10/10, even though it basically did pretty much the same things BotW did, with a few minor additions like the fusion mechanic..
But this score is great! Friday can't come soon enough! WOWIE ZOWIE!
Dang, there goes a Game Voucher.
way to really throw cold water on everything at the end, there. ☹️
Expected. Can't wait for Friday.
I've been kind of burnt out on 2d platformers probably due to the new super mario series. I need to understand what makes this one really stand out from that series for me to look into it further.
Glad to see it's being received well though.
Won’t be playing until my kid gets home for Thanksgiving weekend but very much looking forward to it. After my family gets to the credits in 4 player I’ll play it solo to mess around with the badges.
Honestly? I didn't expect anything else from Nintendo and their flagship franchise. I'll play it one day!
Glad this game is looking good!
Removed - inappropriate
I thought it was a safe 10. I can't wait to play this game.
Can you tell how long is the campaing? How many levels??
I predicted this score before clicking the link. Not surprising given how quality Mario games are on consistent basis.
@Mauzuri 10/10s are rare here although they did give it to Metroid Prime Remastered which by definition is nothing new. 😝
Everything about this game from the development ethos to the new power-ups...it's just bliss.
So much care and attention has been put into this title it's wonderful!
As I’m reading this review, I got my email from Currys to say my copy has been dispatched! So excited, cannot wait!
This game is going to be a ton of fun, really looking forwards to getting my copy on Friday. It really gets me that Sonic Superstars has the audacity to be more expensive than Mario Wonder while also being so meh. Mario is being sold for a far fairer price.
@Mauzuri Honestly I just think they gave it a 9 because 9 is "wonderful"
Already a 95 on Metacritic with 45 reviews. I really was not expecting this level of acclaim. Guess I'll make it a priority.
Keeps things relatively gentle in terms of challenge
As someone who's rubbish at timing jumps and 2D platformers in general, this "con" is actual and "pro" for me and probably just convinced me to get it this Friday.
At last, 2D Mario can finally shine again. 3 and World might still be the best but if Wonder can match or even just touch them, it should get a ten. If a ten is meant for perfection then almost no game could get a ten because every game has some flaw no matter how small. A ten should be for NEAR perfect games, which this one sounds like.
I should be way more hyped, and I still am, but whether it’s life or how big the year has been for games already, it feels like Mario Wonder is just going to drop this Friday and turn things upside down in the best way.
Thrilled to see affirmation of the sense that this is basically Super Mario World for the modern era. My inner ten year old is as excited now as I was then. What a great (potential) swan song Mario game for Switch. Here we goooooo!
I haven’t played it yet (outside the demo), but honestly I’m surprised by all the “best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World” stuff. Man that’s nostalgia talking, and I say that as somebody who grew up with Super Mario World. Name one aspect in which World beats Wonder. Creativity? Graphics/Sound? Level design? Seems to me like Wonder blows World out of the water by every metric.
Totally expected game to be a 10. Most of the review reads like it too. But yeah, 9/10 is still wonderful, can't wait for tomorrows delivery.
@FishyS Scores can vary wildly depending on context. For me a 9/10 game is typically a top 50 personal all-timer, and after a year or so if it really digs its way into the ol' memory banks I'll consider labeling it a 10/10 (Resident Evil 4 [2005] territory).
I love Mario, but now I worry where is the fun of the game never challenges the player. I play games to overcome challenges and succeed. If it’s made relatively simple, it’s great that even kids can play but it’s a sucker punch to old time fans. I think it’s unfair even when last world is somehow challenging, but having 90% of a game that can be played on autopilot? I wonder if the designers got lazier and lazier because naturally it’s much harder to program and design a tight and escalating difficulty that evolves with the players skills. Now graphics and wonders might take attention of players away from tight gameplay, but let’s not forget that Mario is foremost about gameplay! Might wait on discount then. Doesn’t feel like day 1 purchase now:(
Review reads like a 10/10. Let'sa goooo!
I bought this as a birthday present to myself, to play with the family, but it's still a few weeks off - can I really be expected to hold out that long?
Enjoy everybody.
I’m using Daisy as my main here. Can’t wait.
This is the most excited I've been for a 2D Mario since, well, 1991!
The thing is... Super Mario World felt to me like a role playing fantasy world the way no other Mario game ever did, and that is including Super Mario RPG.
Mario 1 was understandably somewhat bare bones. Mario 2 felt similarly adventurous to SMW, but at the same time always felt somewhat odd. The ending didn't help. Mario 3 didn't give me a particularly adventurous vibe.
Super Mario World felt like a grand, fantastic adventure, and in many ways still does. Some of those huge cavern areas, I mean... It felt like a Lord of the Rings adventure, but cuter...
Yoshi's Island felt like a drug induced trip. Mario 64 felt barren. New SMB felt like a graphically upgraded version of Mario 1.
That feeling of grand adventure while still feeling cozy has simply never been replicated for me, and it doesn't seem like this game will do it for me either.
Maybe it was the timing. Maybe it's just the associated memories, I don't know, but SMW just feels like it's in a league of its own.
They gave New Super Mario Bros U an 8/10, so a 9/10 is an improvement.
This is gonna be my first mainline Mario game as I've only played the spinoffs. Looking forward to it!
@FishyS me too. While I was reading the gushing review I was most certain it would be a 10/10 when I got to the end.
The best 2D Mario in 33 years compared to Super Mario World, and just a 9? Especially given the fact that New SMB DS was given a 9/10 and New SMB Wii a 10/10 by NL. 🤷♂️
Should be a 10/10
On Friday I wonder…
It's 2D Mario, what else would you expect there to be? Honestly it looks great, sounds great and plays great. No real need for something "earth-shattering".
Which makes it playable for a lot more people. So a pro, not a con.
@sanderev No, they gave the original New Super Mario Bros. U a 9/10 and U Deluxe an 8/10. Honestly Wonder should have gotten a 10/10, especially after calling it "the best 2D Mario since the Super NES".
Also keeping things "relatively gentle in terms of challenge" shouldn't be a con. Low difficulty should only be a con if it's laughably easy.
@sanderev I don't see those criticisms as being harsh or mean.
Nintendo games for the most part, are super easy. Nothing wrong with wanting a bit of challenge every now and then. Also nothing wrong with wanting a little extra wow factor instead of the same ol'.
Kirby is my favorite character, but I can't get into the games anymore because of the lack of challenge. I can see the reviewers point of view.
I am really disappointed by the low difficulty. Mario Odyssey was already way too easy, sad to hear they did it again. Why can't we have multiple difficulties like in Super Mario Land?? I guess I will stick with Mario Maker 2.
@matt_e And New Super Mario Bros. Wii was given a 10/10 by NL.
@nintendolife @PJOReilly
"Cons:
Is something truly earth-shattering or genre defining a requirement for a 10/10 on nintendolife.com?
Can Nintendo Life give examples of sequels that they define as truly earth-shattering or genre defining? Other than games making the leap from 2D to 3D or from 3D to open world 3D.
"Cons: (...)
In completing the main story or even completing the game 100%?
With the use of badges or even without the use of badges?
@chipia If you compare to super mario maker 2, literally everything is easy. 😝
Yeesh. Very high standards here. That crack about Nintendo fans from a youtuber I used to watch was right.
9/10 and still not good enough.
@BTB20
It's all very subjective though. 'My con is not your con' and all that. Personally I don't look for to a Mario game to be particularly challenging, but others here obviously want more challenge than this seems to present.
Likewise, for some people 'no online' may be a con for any given game but it's completely irrelevant to me.
And as to 'laughably easy' as a con, if I'm shopping for something for my 5-year old son to play, then it's not a con but almost a prerequisite.
I take the list of pros and cons with a pinch of salt in the same way as I do the overall score. Everyone should add their own weighting to them based on what they like/want/need.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/super-mario-bros-wonder/
Says there are incredibly tough sections...
PJ O'Reilly is probably just very good at platforming.
@Mauzuri There is a difference when this is like the 100th installment of the series that does pretty much the same, and there are a billion other game series doing pretty much the same.
Neato! Sounds more like Super Mario FANtastic 😉
@Mauzuri Well, I can't lie, ultrahand is a one-of-a-kind and technically advanced ability that's for sure... And recall is a feat of software engineering on such a weak system like the switch
On topic, I can't WAIT for this game! I (personally) love the NSMB series, so this will definitely knock my socks off 2D mario is a super fun series and I'm excited to hear that the revival is exactly what it should be!
@BTB20 Deleted my other comment because I apparently can't read. Yeah it just seems inconsistent.
@Mortenb You will probably not have expected this, but Wonder is only the 10th mainline 2D Mario platformer if you include The Lost Levels.
Big time gap here.
Big time gap here again.
This is anything but a franchise with an oversaturation problem.
I read 3 reviews, all of them complain the game is kinda easy.. :/
I hoped so much after beating the game a big challenge like the las 3D games..
but sure I'll get it anyway and it seems tons of fun..
Funny review, bigs it right up to not earth shattering lol. But then what is nowadays, let's face it everything has been done. Most games are just copy & paste of what was before. But Nintendo always manage to deliver.
AWESOME!!! Good to hear this!!!
@BTB20 I'd probably include the two Game Boy titles here also - at the very least SML2
I appreciate the comment about the lack of challenge and lack
of platforming innovaton. I wasn't expecting Celeste C-Sides here, but I do want some challenge. It's quite clear that I'm not the target demographic for this game and I'm not going to be buying it.
Can't wait to put my hands on it!
So, it's as good as Super Mario World? That means it's not as good as Super Mario 3. lol Can't wait to play it!
@BTB20 I'm pretty sure they were being hyperbolic. It's a relativity safe game that doesn't really do anything new or exciting enough from it's predecessors, nor enough to differentiate itself from the tons of platformers that have adopted the same formula to varying degrees of success.
I have this preordered which is something I haven't been doing for a few years now. Pretty dang excited and hoping if here are any snow levels it times up nicely with snow in the real world. You all know that feeling haha
I am also getting MGS collection and the new Sonic. ....and RPG next month. Hooooboy I don't know where ill get the time or money but here we goooooooooo
"Best 2D Mario in 33 years"...the lowest of low bars to clear
I was dissapointed after looking at the score honestly. We know that NintendoLife tends to score main Nintendo games higher than other critics (contrary to what sister site PushSquare usually does, ranking their PS games lower than average critics, weird).
But immediately after going to metacritic I was glad to find that average scores as of now are at 93 which is even better than expected.
I think this will be my first day one since TOTK, all platforms included.
So much for "playtesters are getting destroyed" and "difficulty will be on par with SMB3."
Zelda TOTK, Pikmin 4 and now this…it’s been a great year for the ageing Switch!
Doesn't it have post-game levels that ramp up the difficulty?
Congratulations Nintendo you’ve done it again and also had a an amazingly great consistent year
Truly showing all others how it’s really done.
@LastFootnote Because of the age I was when I played super mario world there will be no way for me to objectively compare World with Wonder.
I think the bigger issue here is that when SMW came out 2D mario was video games for the most part. It was in the center of video game culture the way alternative bands like Pearl Jam or Nirvana were the center of music culture at that time.
Now a 2D mario game is part of a genre, and very popular but not at the center of video game culture the way TotK or Starfield is. If Pearl Jam put an album out that was objectively better than Ten and Vs, big fans would be excited and tell you all about it, but it wouldn't make a big ripple in the culture. That impact certainly affects how people rate and rank these products against each other
So it's basically nsmb but better
Surely it deserves a ten if SMM2 got one, right? Maybe no. I can’t wait to try it for myself😍
@Lofoten 'Genre-defining' is in the rubric on our Scoring Policy. It's all subjective, of course, but generally, that's what pushes something into 10 territory.
@Diowine Disappointed with a 9? It's an excellent score! And "We know that NintendoLife tends to score main Nintendo games higher than other critics..." <<< Do we really know this?
@sanderev yes, the lack of challenge is a con. Kirby and Pokemon games have become unplayable due to their lack of challenge and hope Mario does not go that way too.
You don't want challenge? Good, they offered Yoshi and Nabbit as their easy difficulty option. Leave the challenge for the rest.
In the end this is subjective, you don't want a challenge and the other people here do. Personally, the lack of it is a letdown.
Looks like Mario Wonder has beaten Spider-Man 2 critically. Quite the surprise this morning.
Well, I’m really excited for Wonder this Friday and through the weekend!
I must say, a 9 score is insulting. This should be a 12 out of 10. Mind you, I haven’t played the game and have only read the Joy/Con section of this review, but I can’t help but feel O’Reilly is a terrible reviewer because his review doesn’t align with what I believe this game deserves in terms of a number. I’m glad others before me have already attacked the Cons which are obviously Joys.
Otherwise, great review! I will probably buy this, but I have never enjoyed the 2D Mario games as much as I have the 3D ones. Each 3D Mario has seemingly redefined what the series can do, and it’s hard for me to imagine how Nintendo can revolutionize the 2D format when the move to 3D was the genre-defining change back in the 90s. Still, I’m interested in the Wonder seeds, so I’ll hope I have a blast when I eventually do try Wonder out.
This sounds awesome, thanks for the review!! Is there any online coop in the game? My first system was the Super Nintendo that me and my brother got at the Christmas of 1992. Awesome memories playing that and i can't wait to play with my son now. Cool to hear that it's the best Mario since that one!!😀
New Super Mario Bros. with a fresher look and a little bit extra stuff, is what I expected. Glad to hear it is a great, even wonderful, game. Of course I will play this day one.
Super Mario World is really something very special, even to this day.
Oh yeah, Mario time!
In my opinion, those two cons are not cons, but a review is subjective and it is a reflection of the reviewer. Therefore, I'm not saying you are wrong. I'm just saying that if I reviewed it, those would not be cons in my review. To each their own.
@Lofoten
I am not Nintendo Life, but I can see what they are talking about, particularly with all this Mario World comparisons. Mario World was a 2D platformer, just like Mario 3 and dozens others in the NES. And yet, it was a genre defining experience, just like SMB1 and SMB3 were before it. Being able to replay levels to find extra exits, getting all the dragon coins for the sheer pleasure of doing so, having not one but two whole secret worlds to explore aside of the main adventure, having many different routes to reach Bowser at the end, being able to mount a creature that gave you new abilities but also removed others...and a lot other things, those were genre defining features, that then many other games carried and improved. With all that it is hard particularly when you are talking about "the greatest since SMW" to not admit that wonder is just not as revolutionary, and probably no game could ever be, after more than 3 decades of evolution.
Say for example that the NSMB series never existed, then they could be saying that the simultaneous four player game was a genre defining revolution...but since NSMBW was a thing more than a decade ago, it is just old news by now, and four player 2D platformers are common in the eShop.
I find the slightly lower difficulty and major PLUS.... Mario Maker broke me -even NSMBwiiU was frustrating and I have been back to playing SM3 and SMWorld instead of the new games. Looking forward to this one.
@BTB20 It's actually the 12th, here's a better list:
@dartmonkey in the past, for games that I've been interested in at least, NL scores usually scores at least 1 point above the average, specially on Nintendo AAA games. If that happens in a Zelda game I will buy it anyways as I am a big fan.
But if that happens in a Mario game, which I like too but no as much, it makes me wonder, specially considering that it is very very rare for NL to give less than a 10 to a Mario game. Search for any 'Super Mario' reviews on this site and most are 10/10 reviews.
So yes, it is very personal for me to be worried about a 9 here, but not for big fans
Oh boy am I in for a treat! As a child of the 80's, I can't wait to play!!
@DripDropCop146
I never said it was harsh or mean. I simply don't agree with them. That's my point.
@Diowine
Nintendo games should be easy, for everyone to enjoy. I generally don't like super hard games. So I will never play games like Dark Souls. I tried and couldn't get into them AT ALL.
Games should be easy enough for someone to finish. And it could offer a hard mode after completing the game. For example look at New Super Luigi U. A lot harder than the original game, but clearly marked as such.
Also Pokémon and Kirby have NEVER been hard. Even the early games were easy as heck. Pokémon Red/Blue are even the easiest games in the entire series. Just pick Bulbasaur as your starter and you destroy Brock and Misty, by then you have enough Pokémon and exp to beat the rest of the game. The hardest Pokémon games were Gen 3. But other than that, they've always been easy.
“Keeps things relatively gentle in terms of challenge“
That’s disappointing. I miss 2D Mario that has some decent challenge. I get that Nintendo wants to keep their games accessible, especially with Mario, but why are they so scared to challenge the player? We don’t need something as punishingly challenging as SMB2 Japanese (Lost Levels) but even Mario 3 and World had some decent challenge tucked away, and heck they could give us some real challenge like they did with World by making hidden nonessential levels that have the challenge ramped up. I just don’t know when or why it was decided that Mario games can’t have high levels of challenge anymore. I’m still going to play it and I’m sure I’ll love it. It seems incredibly charming, but I’m sure in the back of my mind I’ll be thinking back to those classics and wishing this brought Mario back to his former glory
I thought this was going to be ‘hard as nails’?
Now I know it’s definitely not for me. Seems to fit right into the strategy of dumbing down Mario for the Minion generation.
Crazy that they still manage to find a new gimmick for 2d Mario's.
Unfortunately I don't find them interesting whatever they do. 3d Mario's are what I want.
That box art though
"Ok, place these graphics here..."
"How's it looking? We have to show it to the boss in five minutes!"
"Umm, there's still lots of transparent space... maybe if I place some boxes here an there... no I don't want the fill to be white-"
"We have to turn it in now!"
"Ok, let's go!"
In all seriousness, my hype levels are EXTREME!
Exactly the impression I got ever since the first announcement and even more so after the dedicated Direct but still, good to have further confirmation thanks to this overall wonderful review!
@sanderev well you got me there. I am a big SoulsBorne fan and Gen 3 is my favorite Pokemon generation by far (Started in Gen2 Crystal). But look at all the comments here, even if it scored a 9 most seem disappointed about the lack of challenge.
I don't buy the kids need accessible games argument. Kids are much better at gaming than adults sometimes. I get destroyed by some in online FPS / Battle Royales more than I would like to confess. Keep a modest challenge and it will keep selling great without compromising the experience for the majority.
Buying it now. Playing it Christmas!
@TheWhoMentality the feeling of accomplishment for example. That adrenaline of finally beating a SoulsBorne boss after many attempts. People like that. Not everyone as you, but many.
On the other hand, the lack of challenge can be totally boring for some, not for you. I just left Pokemon Scarlet halfway through my gameplay, not because of the graphics or frame drops, but because it was just so boring, battles were a joke.
Not saying that I am right and you are wrong. You just wanted to understand why other people are so disappointed with the lack of challenge here.
It's a wonder they didn't just call this Super Mario Bros. 5
@Diowine Also the issue with Pokémon gen 3 was that you couldn't trade with the Gen 1 and 2 games. I finally beat Sapphire when I got FireRed (which was really easy) and traded some Pokémon with myself.
Also I never mentioned kids as a reason. I never liked hard games, not when I was a kid. My brother always beat me in those games as well. My first game was Super Mario Land (which I finished hundreds of times) and Tetris on the GameBoy. My first Pokémon was Yellow. (Brock being annoying there, but really easy after him)
I also don't want to use the "easy mode characters", because that takes away any form of challenge that there was left.
@TheWhoMentality I can understand everyones point of view on this. I don't think people asking for a bit a challenge is asking for dark souls levels of hard.
Rather, challenging enough so your mind stays engaged. The brain likes engagement. It's quite easy for your brain to shutdown and become disinterested. To the point where you're thinking about everything else except whats in front of you.
I've read some of these comments here and think people are misunderstanding those asking for a bit of difficulty. They aren't saying make this game so hard only a niche audience can get through it. Just don't make the game so easy that you aren't even trying.
I mean its a good score, but goes to show that the brand name Mario means more than the game being actually good. Looks very samey as every other 2D game to be honest and adding to that, no real challenge is a big let down for me. The 70$ price tag isn't helping either. Its gonna be a pass for me.
I think Nintendo went too linear with these newer 2D Super Mario Bros. games, would be nice if they could create another 2D Super Mario Bros. game where there's multipath exits and secret areas again like Super Mario World. I know the New Super Mario Bros. games do had multipath but those are only access using coins and stuff, if Nintendo could make one where there's multipath where only some certain characters could access it that would be nice. Heck they could include bosses unique to each protagonist too like if Mario had his own path he could face Bowser, Luigi's own path he could face Waluigi, Peach's own path would face Cackletta, Daisy's own path would face Tatanga, Yoshi's own path would face Kamek, Birdo's own path would face Wart, Toad's own path would face Wario (like in Wario's Woods), Geno's own path would face Smithy, and Nabbit's own path would face Bowser Jr. This would be a good excuse to add other Mario characters to the main game too which Nintendo would never had established if not go this route. Hopefully they take this into consideration, they could call it Super Mario Bros. Superstars.
2D platformer games reception for me it's usually around 50 - 60 from 100 as I have very low hype with 2D platformer games, so even for Super Mario Wonder, I still thought the score I can give is around 60 from 100.
Why 60 ?
Because I quickly pretty bored for playing 2D platformer games for long time.
And given by time limit and limited multiple lives in the game, it gave me bad impression as I don't want to torture myself to play difficult games.
Moreover, with price tag pretty high + very low hype = play the game very very late.
@Norwegianguy Which currency would make it $70?
On the e-shop, Wonder has the (for my region) regular price of EUR 59,99.
Hahahaha!! You can truly feel Alex's enthusiasm pouring out throughout the whole review
@BTB20 Heresy! Mention Super Mario World 2! MENTION Super Mario World 2!
@rex_rex I mean.. isn't Mario always kind of known to be easy? If you want a brutal 2D challenge, there's plenty of that to be had on the Switch as well haha.
Super Meat Boy, Celeste.. even Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze to some extent!
And if you REALLY crave difficult Mario levels, then Super Mario Maker 2 has some... if you look hard enough.
Between Spidey 2 and this i'm eating well this week.
Hoped for some info regarding the play time to uncover every major secret.
@mariomaster96 93 now.
but still a high score.
@Qwiff
I meant 60$, my bad. But, wasn't Zelda TOTK the same price? If so, then that just isn't right. This game, along with every other 2D game in their first party line-up should be 40$ or less..
@TheWhoMentality Personally I find challenge the key draw of gaming. Without it I may as well just read a book. It's the core quality which makes a game a game. Doesn't have to be Sekiro, but has to have some bite to be enjoyable.
@Norwegianguy If you think this is outrageous.. you should check out their Zelda Tears of the Kingdom review. It got a 10/10 just because it's Zelda haha. But I totally understand where you're coming from; having no challenge could be off putting to some. Lots of other super difficult platformers though, see my previous comment!
Somebody needs to photoshop a Mario standee into a Dark Souls level.
Doesn't look like wallmart is shipping my pre order. Changed my payment me method and seems to have borked it. Was looking forward to my sweet pre order cards.
So awesome! Can’t wait to play it. Kinda a bummer Nlife is lowering the metacritic potential compared to other reviews! Somewhat surprised there, but 9 is still… wonderful:)
@Norwegianguy No problem.
TOTK is the game that is $10/EUR10 above their regular price.
@Mauzuri tks for the reply buddy!! I mean, I understand the main campaing should be very easy and accessible. but they were doing once you finish, you open the real challenge, you see?
just like 3D world, odyssey..
and I have beaten and loved some of the games you mentioned, tropical freeze, celeste and I played A LOT of mario maker 2 (one of the best on switch.. sadly they didn't continue the updates) :/
but again, I'm eager to play wonder!!
Preloaded on my Switch thanks to the voucher program and ready to go. Can't wait to play what's shaping up to be the most refreshing 2D Mario in years!
@Daniel36 I don’t think Nintendo has ever topped super Mario world. But I’m looking forward to playing this
So we finally got a proper sequel to Super Mario World.
Too bad it doesn't seem to have the same kind of challenge though.
@rex_rex Yeah, that would've been nice to see. Or a New Game+ where all enemies were stronger or something. Entirely optional of course. Love the username by the way, I finished XC2 not too long ago. Phenomenal game - although the combat took some time getting used too..
Well written review, looks like a fun experience in spite of not being my favourite genre i'm looking forward to playing it. After all Pikmin 3 gave me some of the most pleasant hours of gaming of the entire yeah even though i wasn't sold at the beginning.
I have to say however that some of these comments feel straight up deranged... how does "keeps things relatively gentle" equate to no challenge? How does this mean that the game being dumbed down ? Haven't nintendo games always been approachable? And how are people upset about the game getting a 9?
I can't wait to play this w my kids, and see them freak out at all the strange new things in it. I love that it's in an entire new kingdom. I hope someday we get a Zelda with completely new races and biomes. This just looks so refreshing. I love my Goombas and Koopa Troopas, but I'll take my Mario trippy af, thank you.
@Nico85 you cannot reinvent the wheel with 2d mario games.. same formula since the old days.. we need a new 3d mario game..
I'm surprised this review omits any mention of the Expert Badge type and how those are designed to provide more unique, challenging riffs on the core gameplay.
It's....IT'S....IT'S:
thought I was gonna say something else, did ya? XD
I don't think I've had a game fill me with quite as much unbridled childlike joy as Wonder has from everything I've seen of it. I won't be grabbing it for a while myself (got a couple of other future releases that are currently on the priority list and I may do a 2D Mario marathon at some point to prep myself for Wonder) but man: it feels so good to finally have a NEW 2D Mario and not a New™ 2D Mario, you know?
@BTB20 exactly to many games of the same formula..
@Daniel36 It's probably the connect world map with all the secret exits that gives that vibe.
@KingdomTears @Serpenterror You're right, I forgot about the Gameboy games, I always do. People still exagerate massively how many 2D Mario platformers there are. Especially with the "New" games.
@Sequel I agree with you. In fact all of you. There is a feeling of victory by your own skill. Which is a good feeling vs no effort needed.
When I was kid, me and my cousin would play games on easy mode to breeze through it, but as I got older, I switched to hard mode because I enjoy the feeling of knowing I beat them game with my skills alone.
Nintendo games are in a strange spot. I get Nintendo wants their games to be accessible to everyone, but at the same time, I think they sacrificed any form of difficulty for the sake of accessibility.
People are saying Nintendo was always like this and I respectfully disagree. In the past, Nintendo did at times crank out games that required some learning curve to master.
I think over time however they lowered things to point were effort is no longer needed 99% of the time.
Alongside the DKC games, the absolute S Tier supergame series when it comes to 2D platformers. This sounds elite. Thanks for the review. Good read. Actually reads like a 10 content wise but fair enough!
@Mauzuri Yeah, great ideas man!! I think I'm the only one who prefered XC2 over 3 and even the first one! but XC2 was my first game in the series! but sure, they are all great! I never played banjo (I know, shame) but I managed to put him on the elite of smash bros (I might have almost 2500 hours on this game, haha)
@Fangleman32 yes and no, not trying to argue here just to have some fun discussion about gaming. I think that perhaps the games were harder back in the day but at that time we were kids. How much experience do you have with kids breezing through Nintendo games nowadays and would you say it's comparable? Also games were hared back then because the the internet wasn't as prevalent and you had to figure out stuff for yourself, if you were stuck you were stuck but that doesn't necessarily mean the game was harder...
@Frailbay30 Is it safe? Wonder is full of new and great ideas previously not done in Mario games. You going forward and jumping doesn't automatically make it safe.
Remember guys, difficulty is subjective. I personally find all mainline Mario games to be easy, even Mario 3. You have no idea how good the reviewer is at platformers so it could be more challenging for you. Also, what revolutionary things are possible with a 2d platformer at this point? With a genre that's existed for 40 years, there isn't much left that's not already been done lol.
@Fangleman32 I thought they already added Yoshi and Nabbit as an easy mode, so why didn't they make the regular characters actually challenging?
@Darthmoogle Most newer 3d Mario games have really challenging levels tucked away in the postgame. Even NSMBWii, 2 and U had levels akin to the Star Road from SMW. There's a good chance this game will have something like that as well.
I wonder if Nintendo would ever add some DLC with advanced challenges for platforming vets.
Nintendo should release lost level type difficulties via dlc. I love tight platforming and you only need to watch twitch to see most people playing or watching 2d Mario games are playing rom hacks for the challenge. Nintendo really should lean into that market.
@HammerKirby Play some indie games. There's plenty of revolutionary things to still be found in platformers.
I wasn't sure about this one, but this review has me sold!
Sounds like a 10. I want it to be a 10
If the one major complaint is it doesn't change anything, I can live with that. Not every game needs to be this whole new experience to be enjoyable.
I can tell that it just has that Nintendo magic. If you know, you know. Going to hold off until Christmas for this one, as I'm still plugging away at Starfield and Pikmin 4. Super Mario World is my favorite 2D Mario, so the comparisons make me really happy.
For me, there is a direct relationship between fun and challenge. I'm not talking about Dark Souls. I'm talking about enough of a challenge that I'm happy to overcome it and continue playing.
Being too easy makes all the game's content useless, unnecessary, boring...graphic games without purpose.
If I'm supposed to do random nonsense in the game, just to watch, without any purpose or challenge, I'd rather not play games. I'd rather do something else. There are many leisure options in life.
The perfect 2D Mario challenge should have a New Game+ similar to that of SLAY THE SPIRE (ascencions).
Each time you finish SLAY THE SPIRE, you gain +1 ascencion (and can reach up to 20).
You can choose to play without ascencion or on any ascencion you have unlocked.
Ascencion 1 = stronger enemies appear more frequently
Ascencion 2 = ascencion 1 + stronger common enemies
Ascencion 3 = ascencion 2 with fewer help items
Ascencion 4 = ascencion 3 + much stronger bosses
And so on.....until 20.
Imagine a 2d Mario with difficulty scaled as you finish the game, and being able to choose whether you want to play with new challenges or simply play the same super easy game as always.
You, the player choose.
Many will feel inexplicably sorry for Nintendo, saying "but this would take a lot of work for Nintendo to do this".
But you are buying a $60 product in an extremely simple game!
Rayman Legends has more content and is cheap. Super productions with 9-figure budgets sell for $60.
Slay the Spire, in my country, is sold for $4 and the producers took the trouble to do this.
Nintendo is very lazy.
It wraps its products in beautiful packaging, sets a high price and you buy it, but when you open the package, the content is not enough in 90% of its products. (in relation to competitors' products, which have not so good packaging). Obviously an analogy.
Fortunately, I'm immune to all of this.
Nintendo is extremely conservative. MANY Nintendo branded games are already uninteresting to me. I hardly play any of them anymore.
From Nintendo myself, I still like Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Warioware.........I think these are the only ones that still really interest me.......the others...I observe, I try play somewhere, and I usually don't buy it.
But I'm older, I've played everything, so little surprises me.
Perfect Comment:
"I can understand everyones point of view on this. I don't think people asking for a bit a challenge is asking for dark souls levels of hard.
Rather, challenging enough so your mind stays engaged. The brain likes engagement. It's quite easy for your brain to shutdown and become disinterested. To the point where you're thinking about everything else except whats in front of you.
I've read some of these comments here and think people are misunderstanding those asking for a bit of difficulty. They aren't saying make this game so hard only a niche audience can get through it. Just don't make the game so easy that you aren't even trying." - By Vexx234
Wonderful.
I know I’m late
@rykdrew A platformer's difficulty comes from the plarforming. You can't just have some AI algorithm to scale that up. This isn't Diablo here.
Lets gooooo 9/10!
Probably gonna be a 10/10 for me
@Quarbit You can put objects in other positions, faster enemies in places to difficult jumps, spikes, bombs...elements well placed for this purpose...
Wow, I can't believe it's not better than the last Super Mario Bros. on the SNES. You can easily beat that game with no warps in just a few hours, hope this is longer than that. And it looked great, I'm surprised to see it's no better than a SNES game, looks way better in my opinion, not even close. And I'm curious how SMB 4 is better than 5 when there's no replay value on 4 aside from unlocking secret levels, you beat it and that's it. There's dragon coins but the game doesn't keep track of them. It's also offline, and the multiplayer is boring, and Yoshi doesn't have his flutter jump and there's no ground pound and only 1 character to play as unless you play 2 player and even then you can't choose your character.
I think it was a great game for 1990, but it seems strange to hear someone say it's a better game still. Like seriously what could a Mario game possibly do that would get the phrase the best 2d Mario game yet, rather than not as good as the SNES one?
@PinderSchloss care to explain that? Yes, Illumination did a middling and pandering film, but Mario has never been cerebral, bro. Calm down
@Rykdrew I'll never play Slay the Spire because it is horrendous looking.
@PJOReilly What's about the multi language audio support? I mean Talking Flowers. In leaked screenshots, there was an option to change it's language. For example, is that possible to play the game with English subtitles and Japanese voice-overs?
@Vyacheslav333 yep, you can change the audio language for the flowers!
@Nintendo_Thumb What I loved most about Super Mario World was being able to find items, well hidden in a scenario, and use them, without knowing what effect it had. To later discover that that item activated a platform on another stage of the map, which allows me to access another secret part. And when you reach this secret part, there will be another item, which, when jumped on, would activate a passage in another stage, to be discovered.
It's as if the secrets were setting up the scenarios, completing them, making them 100% explorable, and without you knowing it! So you never knew if there was "something else to be discovered", which would complete another scenario....and this made you play more and more...looking for something you didn't even know what it was...and many I often found it!
The sense of discovery, and the desire to explore each stage to the fullest, to discover that, yes, there were RELEVANT secrets. Secrets that would lead you to a key that would ultimately open other stages.
It was incredible to look for something unknown, something that surprised you, and that wasn't obvious.
That was genius. Very fun and challenging.
Nowadays, all you have to do is collect coins and "buy the secret". This is boring, dull, obvious, no surprises, no challenge, no effort.
I finished New Super Mario, at the time, getting all 3 gold medals, on my first try, in practically every scenario.
There were 4 or 5 scenarios where I didn't get them on the first try. I remember how easy it was and how boring that game was for me, on NDS.
What happens is that you grow up playing the same game, and you become good, much more skilled. So you wait for new challenges, but these challenges don't come. And the next game always seems boring, with irrelevant challenges, and it feels like you're wasting time playing that game rather than having fun.
Then, worse, you pretend and force yourself to find it fun, because you paid a dear price for the low amount of content and fun you found in it. So instead of "trying" to like the game, I come to the conclusion that... if I need to try hard to like it, it's just that it's not good enough for me.
Nowadays, I dismiss it very easily LOL. I am not loyal to any brand or franchise.
I'll even confess here. I participate in tournaments, sometimes international, of Guilty Gear. Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus + R is the supreme 10/10.......so, not long ago, they made the "crowd's favorite", Guilty Gear Strive.
I can't say how bad this game is, and for the same reasons that I think all the 2d Marios that came after Super Mario World are.
Guilty Gear Streive is VERY SIMPLE. Everything is simple. Too simple! And this may be good for some, but for those who have played all the versions that came before it, and have had thousands of hours of training to play well, and have adapted to hundreds of details in a complete game like the Accent Core version, playing Guilty Gear Strive makes you sleepy! Even though it is graphically beautiful.
It's a subjective feeling, a personal experience. And I completely understand the opinions of those who see the current 2d Marios as inferior to those on the SNES. Because I don't think it's a romance about childhood memories. I think those games really have a more elaborate structure, and many people got used to that. Today everything seems too simple and boring.
"Taking cues from Dark Souls..."
So, you can invade and kill other players?
I'm delighted. I'm so excited to play SMB Wonder on Friday.
@PJOReilly Wow! Thank you very much for the reply!
@JohnnyMind It's possible to play the game with different language subtitles and voice-overs! Yay!
Day 1 pick-up. More hyped for this than Xmas of my birthday.
Hell effin yes. I haven't been this amped for a release since totk
@Rykdrew are you seriously comparing mario bros wonder to guilty gear?
@Pyoro No, I´m not.
I'm comparing the feeling of playing an elaborate game, in its respective category, having a complete and challenging experience that allows you to be a more skilled player, and its respective sequels being much simpler and easier games.
The Best 2D Mario Since The Super NES
Really? I hope this review is right because as big of a Mario fan I am, the two major things that I'm not a fan of (so far) are the lack of player collision in multiplayer and the badge system.
The former may have been a problem in previous games due to the overall chaotic nature of it and the fact that players can kill each other in-game, but when used in a more proper cooperative manner, it can be very fun to have players "help" each other and create tons upon tons of strategies when tackling levels, in my opinion.
The latter is seemingly a neat idea, but I really don't like how you're unable to equip more than one badge and even then, I do wish you're given the option to change badges at checkpoints during levels instead of having to die. Adding to that, some of the badges feel like they've been pulled from other games without much inspiration involved (Wall-Climb Jump is basically a one-jump version of the wall climb ability from the Mega Man X series, and Grappling Vine is basically the Rope Dart from The Messenger). Even the Play Tonics system from Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair lets you equip up to four effects and that game was released in 2019.
All-in-all, I'm going to reserve my full judgment until I play through the entire game (starting) tomorrow night and I do hope Super Mario Bros Wonder becomes another enjoyable Mario title to add to my Switch pedestal (alongside Super Mario Odyssey and Bowser's Fury).
@HammerKirby You've pretty much summarised well why I thought the review read like a 10 content wise, lol. Not that that matters o' course.
@TheExile285
Dude (or dudette) download the NES NSO app and play SMB3. Mainline Mario is fantastic. I chose this game over Spider-Man 2, that’s how much I love a 2D Mario game.
@rex_rex XC2 is also my favorite. It has the most heart, all of the characters are likeable and useful, and the Blades system is (imo) leagues better than classes of 3 and the basics of 1. XC2 feels smaller than the 1 and 3, in terms of its scope and scale of the world, but sometimes less is more, as it gave a very intimate window into the game's various ensemble of protagonists and surprisingly multi-dimensional antagonists, villains, and anti-villains. In fact, the quality and depth of its antagonists is one of the things that set the game apart from its predecessor and successor. That the antagonists are so 1 dimensional and literally cookie cutter is one of my chief disappointments with 3 (which, btw, I still loved quite a bit!). Rex gets so s**t on all the time, but I love his idealism and authenticity - in an era where most main protagonists are jaded, morally gray anti-heroes, I found Rex to be a breath of fresh air - and still do!
Anyway, regarding SMWonder - the review reads like a 10, so the 9 feels very odd, especially when the chief complaints are pretty subjective and could apply to other game's that this site had awarded 10s for in the past. It almost feels like NL is trying to shake the perception that they overrate first party Nintendo games and thought that if anyone criticizes them for that, they can point to the Wonder review to refute it haha.
@AllieKitsune That's why I play Mario games. There's nothing like Mario saying 'Wahoo!" while he bathes on the enemy's blood.
@Quarbit I have played indie platformers. Like Celeste, Meat Boy, etc. They just polish up most of the platformer foundations in the 8 and 16 bit era for the most part.
Not at all surprised by the glowing review, can't wait for Friday!
@Znake I’m totally with you, apart from one thing: “easy so kids a can play it” isn’t right. Kids could beat difficult games during 8 / 16 noir era, so games go not have to be made artificially easier for them.
Apart from that, agreed that sounds like Wonder has little or no challenge, so I will also pass.
@Nintendo_Thumb None of that stuff is inherently better. It's just stuff that's been added to differentiate Wonder (and other newer Mario games) from World. World is a fantastically designed game with a huge connected map with tons of secret exits, and unique level mechanics. It's honestly strange to see Nintendo fans disrespect an old game just for being old. I thought we were better than that.
I’ve avoided all the Wonder news for months now, trying to experience the game fresh. Someday I’ll go back and read the review and people’s comments. For now, I’m glad it scored so highly!
Removed - inappropriate
@Mauzuri
"That didn't stop you lot from giving Tears of the Kingdom a 10/10"
Different reviewers, friend.
"even though it basically did pretty much the same things BotW did,"
It did more than your statement would suggest. A lot more.
"with a few minor additions like the fusion mechanic."
So... Fuse, Ascend, Recall, and Ultrahand — abilities that greatly changed up the gameplay, exploration, traversal, and puzzle-solving in TotK over what was seen in BotW — you consider to be minor additions/mechanics. Heh. Okay.
I think perhaps it's safe to say that yours is simply a bad take. But what's even sillier to me is that your comment has 20 likes. Oh well.
Am I reading this right? A new 2D Mario just dropped and Nintendolife didn't give it an automatic 10/10?
Either there's a glitch in the system or Nintendolife hired some new staff 😅
@HammerKirby it's because I don't have nostalgia goggles, I just played through the game within the last year or so, and it only took a few hours to 100%. They were fun few hours, but, there's no replay value. You compare that to any of the New series or Yoshi's Island even, and it's a huge difference. Having those extra things to collect, in this case purple coins and wonder flowers, makes the game way bigger and better, more interesting.
I want a reason to go back to Super Mario World. I loved those levels but unless we get into the hacking scene, glitch hunting or speedrunning, there's only so much game time you can squeeze from that, and me personally would rather play more Mario than less; Therefore the newer games are better because I find the physics and level design to be just as great as always, it's just more Mario.
Can't get Del Shannon out of my head
"Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah-Wonn-Derr"
Anyone else?
..... crickets ......
No, not Buddy Holly and the Crickets, I'm talkin about Del Shannon!
crickets intensify
So it’s a 9/10, but “excellent” just wasn’t a wonderful enough word, eh?
Anyway, I was going to get it anyway but I’m happy to know it lives up to the hype.
@Solomon_Rambling You had the best comment. Congrats! 💮
Really disappointed to hear that it isn't challenging. I'll pass on this one.
@Vyacheslav333 Good to know, I definitely will go for the Japanese voice-over then!
@JohnnyMind Well, me too! 🙂
Count the number of times the author had to temper their praise with the qualifier "2D".
Mario 64 changed the playing field; it's been 3D or bust for over 25 years now.
@gcunit One of my earliest memories was opening a NES at Christmas. I shared this with my dad recently, and he came clean to me that he had been frequently taking it out of the box and playing it before I managed to get my hands on it!
You know what needs to be done.. no one will ever know.. 😁
@Primarina - Correct, and Sonic will have a much higher discount at a much lower price than Wonder ever will.
@Gracetrack so many likes means that people agree with me. And no, I don't think these abilities shake up the game enough: It's still the EXACT same Hyrule from BotW, just with the Underground now added.. and some smaller islands in the sky, but that's really not significant enough. I had to even edit my comment because I forgot about them haha. Majora's Mask is how a sequel should be: Reusing some assets from the previous game, but set in an ENTIRE new world, with actual new game changing mechanics (the 3 day time limit for exemple or the masks!) and an engaging and interesting story. Sorry to hear you don't agree with me.. and you don't have too.. but i'm sick and tired of pretending that Tears of the Kingdom is a perfect sequel, because it's anything BUT. It might be good, it might be great.. but it's most certaintly not deserving of a 10/10. (Still a better sequel than Phantom Hourglass tho, I'll admit that much)
@HammerKirby Well, Super Meat Boy is 13 years old now, so I wouldn't go looking to that for revolutionary ideas.
Celeste certainly counts though. The gameplay mechanics are way more interesting than the basic hop 'n bop of Mario. Also, a platformer with no — okay, almost no — enemies was a nice change of pace.
Looks great! Happy to see all the positive reviews. But that music towards the end of the review sure is irritating.
@HammerKirby Not everything has to be revolutionary this is true, but I think it's kinda weird. Nintendo at one point in time was in the top of introducing revolutionary ideas to different genres.
But at this stage, I think others learned from Nintendo, and did things better by contrast (not all of them). In a way, Nintendo was the teacher and many students have surpassed them.
This is just a consequence of being a game changer. You will introduce something new, never done before, and others will learn from it. Learn while also making it better, and adding their own twist to the mix.
Lack of challenge is somewhat disappointing, but I’ll live. Hopefully there’s some extra layers of difficulty in the challenge stuff. And there’s always Bloodborne… 💔
@Primarina Sonic is £54.99 on the eShop here in the UK, while Mario is £49.99. Sonic is around £49.95 on the sites I've seen it on, Mario Wonder is around £42.95. Maybe it's different elsewhere but these are the UK prices.
You mention it's not much of a challenge yet I've seen video proof there are many secret super challenging hidden levels did you not play those should definitely update review.
Great review. Time to hit the preload button.
“pimped out” is maybe sexist language for a piece like this..
Agree on the cons based on the videos ive seen. Already pre ordered it, will be an awsome experience. Hopefully switch 2 will open the possibility of pushing these series Even further so the cons on mario Wonder will be dealt with 😊
Haha nice! It gets its own "9/10" of WONDERful (I think you guys should use game specific adjectives once in a while!). Amazing review-- I remember that "all new" feeling from World back in the day and I do admit, I got those same "special feels" when I first saw this unveiled. Can't wait to play it.
Gives a 10/10
YOU CAN’T DO THAT PERFECTION DOESN’T EXIST NOTHING IS FLAWLESS EVERYTHING HAS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Gives a 9/10
THIS IS A DISGUSTINGLY, INSULTINGLY, PATHETICALLY LOW SCORE FOR AN OBJECTIVE MASTERPIECE SHAME ON YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
I would expect nothing less from a Nintendo site, but it's really pretty boring...forced myself to finish it. More of a 5ish I'd say for non hopeless fanboys.
Hold right and tap jump a couple times does not deserve a 9 because it has Mario in the name. Baby tier difficulty is not something to reward, skill doesn't need to match the general populations falling IQ.
I think it’s important Remember there’s different people reviewing these games, so you get different opinion. However, if it is the same reviewer that did botw 2’s review and other games mentioned then I understand and I think the point is vary vailed.
I don’t mind it being easy personally as I don’t usually play Mario games for that but I agree it would be nice. Anyway there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this game would be fantastic! Can’t wait to play it whenever that will be.
@Nintendo_Thumb If a game is great, it will inherently be more replayable. I love the NSMB games, but in general they are pretty generic and samey without the massive amount of secret exits of World (not to mention small nitpicks like Yoshi not being able to go from level to level or not being able to throw shells up.).The secret exits gave World way more replayability in my opinion since there's so many ways of getting to Bowser's Castle. Also I would say if you want the game to keep track of your dragon coins, play Advance 2 on GBA (Its the same game but it keeps track of your dragon coins). Also, World's relatively short length also makes it easier to pick up and play at any time. You don't need nostalgia googles to see that World is a fantastically designed game. I grew up with every 2d Mario game, (NSMBDS was my first) and yet World is still my favorite.
"Keeps things relatively gentle in terms of challenge" concerns me as well, especially with the borderline sacriligious comments from the devs in the other thread basically saying they looked to the challenge old games as something to avoid and looked more to Odyssey. Um.
I've been assuming this would be an obvious 10/10 for me, but perhaps it won't. Still, I'm excited to play when it arrives, I'm sure it will be at least an 8/10 for me, probably a 9, if I enjoy it at least as much as I'm enjoying Sonic (which again is great but not quite perfect) then I'll be more than happy.
@Mauzuri
"It's still the EXACT same Hyrule from BotW..."
No, it is not. The general surface land mass is essentially the same, but there were a ton of changes made to the topography to give old locations a fresh look. Moreover, there was a megaton of caves and cave systems added that are completely new (and also wells).
"... just with the Underground now added.. and some smaller islands in the sky, but that's really not significant enough. I had to even edit my comment because I forgot about them haha."
Is it possible you forgot because you haven't played the game? I'm just saying... those are some big additions to Hyrule that would be pretty hard to forget for anyone who has played it beyond a few hours. The Depths area alone is literally the size of the surface, with plenty of stuff going on down there. There are dozens of Sky Islands, of different shapes and sizes, with various activities. Not to mention the 152 shrines that are necessarily very different from the 120 shrines in Breath of the Wild because the vast majority of them make use of the new physics and mechanics that simply are not found in BotW.
"with actual new game changing mechanics"
Can you Ascend through surfaces in BotW? No. Can you Recall time in BotW, and do it on specific objects for various effects? No. Can you Ultrahand objects together in BotW, creating all manner of vehicles and tools for traversal, combat, and puzzle-solving? No and no. Can you Fuse objects to your weapons and shields in BotW, increasing their power and durability and granting them various special effects, which hugely changes and improves the entire item economy because it makes everything you find useful beyond just selling it or cooking it? No to all of that. Can you skydive AT ALL in BotW? No. Can you take a handful of companions with you to fight by your side in BotW? No. Can you fight inside a giant combat mech in BotW? No. Can you build homing attack drones that fight for you in BotW? No.
Literally game-changing mechanics all.
@DennisReynolds Wouldn't you be eating cheap though, since you're laying down some serious cash on games?
@chipia
I miss the days when you had to start back from lets say world 3-1 after losing all of your lives on world 3-5 with lets say SMB 3. There's no 'real' penalty or punishment anymore. That sense of reward and satisfaction is long gone. with SMB 1-3 we cherrished 1-Ups like diamonds and made every single one count but in the NSMB series they're handed out like trick r treats on Halloween...You'll have about 99 of them by the time you make it world 3. And even if you lose all of them, nothing really happens. Do they even serve a purpose?
I want to feel like I'm on the edge of my seat, while mastering past stages that i've been forced to replay, again, for losing every single one of my lives by not being good enough. This is how it should be. At least include an option Nintendo for those that want to be punished old school. I usually can't stand easy games, i always figure, what's the point?
Also, I'm worried about the soundtrack if it's anything like the NSMB Games.
"Bah-dah, bah bah bahhhhh, bah dah BAHHH! Bahda bap-bap baDAH, badahp bah bah bahhhh"
Give us something completely original like 1, 2, 3 & Worlds. Super Paper Mario had the next best soundtrack after those imo.
I don't want another silly riff off the NSMB Series. They need to get as far away as possible from the regurgitation-station, recycled sterile lifeless IKEA wallpaper Mario that is the NSMB series.
Anyways, back to Wonder. It's weak difficulty, soundtrack that most likely won't even come remotely close to living up to what Kondo did with SMWorld and it's obvious pinch of 'New' SMB DNA have turned me off just a little. I'm still excited though. I mean, this was my second most anticipated game for this year, trailing behind the upcoming Resident Evil 4: VR mode for PlayStation VR2. But it's tough to get THAT excited for Wonder when the platforming genre strictly in terms of 'pancake' gaming has little room left for innovation or growth. Things aren't like they were back in 1991 when World debuted. Back when new genres and franchises were born, and innovative ideas were tossed left and right.
When we were getting smacked by huge momentous generational leaps in power, gaming was fresh back in the early 90's and now a lot of it just feels stale in 2023. it's been around 32 years since then with thousands of platformers having been released. And it doesn't help being 39 either. I was 7 when World came out, back when that level of excitability, imagination and ability to suspend major disbelief etc was in full force. World was absolutely stunning all those years ago and an absolute power house in innovation, epic-ness, incredibly fun and was just straight up magical. I don't think Nintendo will be able to unleash the same magic again until they toss everybodies favorite plummer into VR.
@NeonPizza You said absolutely everything. I agree 100%. Nintendo destroyed what motivated me to play Mario in the past. There is no longer that fun as before for reasons like this. For me, it became unplayable. Fortunately, Donkey Kong still sticks to its origins!
Great review mate! I will get this game for Christmas, looks extremely good!
@Rykdrew For what it's worth, other reviews and people online have mentioned that there are in fact some levels in the game that they found quite challenging.
Challenge is subjective to a degree though. What some find to be extremely easy others find challenging.
@Rykdrew @NeonPizza Its very interesting to me to read the constant stream of polar opposite feelings on things like lives systems, having to restart entire levels, and permadeaths in games. Also of course, difficulty levels in general being made easier.
I can see both sides. I'm certainly a little put off by the comments about Mario Wonder being purposefully made easier than the classics, which I still hold in extremely high regard. Im my opinion, no Mario game since has managed to top Mario 3 or Mario World. The NSMB games felt easy, formulaic and uninteresting by comparison to me. High quality products, but none of them made me feel like I was being rewarded for practice or skill. I walked through all of them and felt little reason to go back... whereas I still regularly replay the older titles.
Playing Sonic Superstars the other day for the first time, which has infinite lives, and just kicks you back to the last respawn point upon dying. I really enjoyed it, died a TONNE but kept plowing through til I'd completed the game in one sitting. It took embarassingly more hours than a flawless playthrough would, but I enjoyed it a lot and left with a great impression, and knowing that I'd want to return to try and improve my run.
I've been reflecting since then about certain moments in the game that if I'd have been thrown back to the begining of the first act after losing at a boss, I might have rage quit or called it a night, and came back later... but maybe I wouldn't have ad the patience to feel compelled to return. I don't have as much free time as when I was a kid, and there are far more options for games and other media to take my attention. I think I would have enjoyed the first experience less and had a worse opinion of it. So a difficult game with infinite lives and respawns isn't necessarily a bad thing imo - Meatboy, Celeste, etc spring to mind.
These exact thoughts and considerations are things that myself and my partner have been hugely mindful of with our Hazel game - we want it to literally be accessible for kids or people that have never played a retro style platformer before, to hopefully get more people into the genre. But its important to us for it to also be really challenging and rewarding for long term fans of the genre, not "just a kids game".
In the end, we reached the conclusion that the only real way to do this and 100% satisfy all caps was to have several difficulty settings with different levels of safety and things that help you. The most difficult setting just gives you 3 lives, permadeath, and no way to earn more. The easiest has instant respawns, infinite lives, plus hints, tutorials for even the most basic of actions, extra platforms to make the harder jumps more forgiving... and of course, theres a range of more reasonable difficulty settings in the middle which do have lives, continues etc and you can earn more through good play or buying them with ingame currency (earnable not microtransations!), or give the option to earn continues where you can keep going from the begining of the most recent area but your score is reset to 0. Highscore tables for all difficulty modes, and both completion time and pointts scored are saved, as well as noting how many lives were used etc, all to hopefully give a reson to come back and play again, challenging yourself to beat past performance, rather than just walking through story mode on easy and never coming back.
Balancing all of this, and planning the level designs to encompass it all has been a big challenge. I think it will help it appeal to a braoder range of people though, and maybe some of the first timers who start with the easiest mode will feel motivated to play again with a harder difficulty once they are comfortable - and of course there are unlockable rewards for doing so. 😀
@Snatcher I don't think that there's a valid point either way. Tears of the Kingdom introduced building and more and it's usually heavily criticized by people that didn't like Botw to begin with or that accuse them of being bought or whatever instead of being, you know, Nintendo fans like the name's site suggests. I also saw that they mentioned Metroid Prime Remastered which is a stupid point to make because the name tells you what to expect of the product which is an enhanced version of the original game. Not to mention that 9/10 is a high score that's literally 1 point from being perfect. If someone disagrees with that point it's as easy as adding that "1" so that they can... validate their purchase more I guess? I understand when games are given unfair scores but this doesn't affect them in the slightest because it's not that situation at all.
We knew that people were gonna whine either way. If they give a 10 they are Nintendo Fanboys and if they give a 9 or lower they are being harsh or taking points away It's impossible to satisfy everyone and they shouldn't try either way. Some persons simply don't realize that.
@Rykdrew You mean because Mario vs Donkey Kong is coming out? Cause Tropical Freeze is not like OG Donkey Kong at all. And if you are referring to TF, that was 10 years ago, so "still?"
@Anti-Matter There are no time limits and you can buy lives with copious currency.
@roy130390 The building mechanic is there true, on top of the new locations! I haven’t seen much of the game apart form the building mechanic and people seem to be having a lot of fun with that!
I didn’t really understand the prime comparison either honestly.
Right? Like I’m not really sure why it’s a argument in the first place, it’s literally one point, and sure they can argue if one point was taken away unfairly or not some are acting like the one point less means the game sucks which is why? Does a Mario game need to be a perfect 10/10 to play? I’m almost have convinced the review did that just so they can have the wonderful score honestly.
@Norwegianguy what a ridiculous notion.
@LikelySatan Whether the game is old or not doesn't matter, since it is being sold for the current video game and is a gaming option competing for the player's available hours.
Everyone in here can argue with each other over what is great and horrible about the game. But when it comes down to it, it's whether or not YOU like the game. So turn of the noise around you. Stop looking at reviews and comments before you play the game. And from there draw your own conclusion about it.
@NeonPizza some people just can't appreciate how great things are until it's too late. Hi.
@Rykdrew oh in that case I'd say 2D Mario wins, since I can play the old games on current hardware, and feel like they vastly outclassed DKC (which is what I think you meant by classic DK...).
@LikelySatan Yes you can. And you can play the excelent and more challenge, complete game, Rayman Legends! Or the perfect challenge game...Donkey Kong Tropical Breeze. For me, both better than 2d Marios.
There are people playing (again and again) the old Super Mario World (SNES) than New Mario Bros U Deluxe..and, probably, Wonder.
So...they can play Rayman Legends if they never....I recommend!
@LikelySatan In fact, what matters is that you have fun with what you like, and share the reasons why you like or don't like games you play. With your glasses for your experiences.
Just like me and everyone else.
No one is defining reality, because everyone's reality is always valid.
And the debate is good.
I understand many people's frustration in wanting a 2D Mario, however, as soon as it is released, the game comes with the same problems that made you have zero fun in previous versions.
@Rykdrew like I always say, Legends is a great game. And most of it could be played on a phone.
@Rykdrew I don't know what some ogmf that means but I think you were getting at subjectivity? I agree that it's all subjective, of course.
@LikelySatan Yes, you can play Rayman Legends on a smartphone via Game Pass.
However, this game does not exist natively for smartphones.
Rayman for smartphones is very different from Rayman Legends.
But even so, let's suppose it can be emulated on a smartphone. Wow, interesting, so more people can play!
Still, Rayman Legends runs much better on the Nintendo Switch. Being able to be played on a smartphone doesn't affect how good it is to play this game on the Nintendo Switch.
Mario Wonder can be emulated on a Steam deck, in the same way, in 4K. But anyway...
Changing the subject, you like Darkstalkers, I assume. Want to play Darkstalkers online? I promise to give you a good challenge. I've been participating in Darkstalkers championships since the 90s....and I play with Jon Talbain
@Rykdrew maybe after I finish the 30000 games that I need to from this year.
How were the bosses before the final boss? As a fan of NSMB DS's boss line-up, this is an aspect I've been concerned about for 2D Mario since. I've read that the end of world bosses are all the same character, but wondering if each encounter is original and distinct.
@TheWhoMentality Well luckily we're both well catered for, spoilt even when it comes to both games with a challenge and chill games
@Gracetrack Welp, you can believe what you wanna believe. If you enjoyed the game that’s cool. I highly doubt it’ll win Game of the Year though. Lots of other games that deserve it (far) more.
@LikelySatan People keep saying how Mario was never cerebral. I agree, but there’s a difference between ‘not cerebral’ and ‘catering to the stupid masses’. Everything about that film was conceived for people with a 30 second attention span.
@PinderSchloss dude, pleeeeeeease. The Mario Super Show and live action Mario movie were a thing when I grew up. Cry all you want about the Illumination movie (if you've even watched it), but it's better than 99.9% of the stuff my generation went through.
@Mauzuri oh, so you didn't enjoy your time with it?
@LikelySatan Do you take any criticism of Mario personally or something?
I watched the film and had to recover for 3 days. I literally couldn’t sleep because of the overdose of impressions that film gave me. It was loud and super dumb. People keep saying “It’s only Mario” and it was never supposed to be an intellectually stimulating story, but there are certain limits to how mind numbing something can be before it becomes irritating and offensive. That film was an assault on the senses and brain.
@LikelySatan Somewhat.. but I still felt I was playing Breath of the Wild 2.0. It really did not feel as a new game, even with the ultra hand feature or the underground. I wasn’t a big fan of BotW either, so I had hoped ToTk would address some of the issues that one had.. but it only made things worse for me unfortunately. Will stick to Skyward Sword HD and Link’s Awakening from now on
@PinderSchloss dude, you just asked me if I took any criticism of Mario "personally," and then said you had to recover for three days after watching the Mario Movie.
@Mauzuri I meant w Mario Bros Wonder.
@LikelySatan Ehm… I don’t see the link. I had to recover from how loud and busy that film was. What do you even mean?
@PinderSchloss For what it's worth I agree with you. I never did buy the excuse that Mario games have no story, therefore the film needs to not have any.
Lego's are just bricks, yet the Lego movie took said bricks and transformed them into cinema.
If a movie about bricks can do that, then there's no excuse for Mario being so lackluster by comparison.
@PinderSchloss lol. That pans out.
You know it's a new, big Nintendo 1st party release when you have folks who haven't even played the game try to argue with the reviewer's subjective opinion. I'll never understand getting this upset every time a Nintendo game comes out and it gets great reviews and most people(non critics) enjoy it too.
@GooseLoose1 Exactly! The lego movie is a perfect example of how something can be true to the spirit of the franchise, be entertaining, and not make you feel like your brain is disintegrating from watching it. If you have so much money to make a film, the least you can do is hire some clever writers.
Mario is ‘just a game’, but it’s also a huge franchise that’s had a tremendous cultural impact. That alone makes it more meaningful than the film made it out to be with that “visit every location and shout ‘yippee’” plot.
@LikelySatan
Taking something personally = getting angry when people criticise anything featuring your favourite character
Not sleeping because of a noisy movie = your brain failing to process the sensory overload.
There is no connection here. You’d be right if I told you I didn’t sleep for three days because I was so disappointed in my favourite character. Except that’s nowhere close to what I said.
Also, your “Did you enjoy your time with it” comments make me crack up every time. You do know early access is a thing, right? I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sea of Stars before you smugly asked me that question on release day, thanks
@KryptoniteKrunch I don't know about you, but anything below 100/10 is a failure, and disgrace in my pov.
9/10? Take every copy of Wonder, and burn it till Nintendo gets it right!
@Mauzuri You liked Skyward Sword more than BotW and TotK? I thought Skyward Sword was a watered down experience.
Oh, and don't even get me started on the padding and pacing, especially towards the mid and end game ("get these musical notes to proceed"). Having to do the Imprisoned battles like three times was annoying.
@PinderSchloss It took you three days? Really? That seems pretty dramatic.
By the way, there have been plenty of easier Mario games that came before the movie. Lol
Fine, under the Christmas tree it goes.
@Lanmanna I’m HSP and everything is louder for me than it is for the majority of people. Guess that makes me pretty dramatic, yes. I was literally seeing mushrooms jumping around every time I closed my eyes.
As for the games, the mainline Super Mario Bros ones have always been pretty challenging if you wanted to get everything.
@Lanmanna I actually enjoyed Skyward Sword. Last year, I made it a goal to play through every Zelda game for the first time.
I would have finished SS, but for whatever reason my game bugged out and couldn't. Bummer. I was having a blast though.
@KryptoniteKrunch I get a feeling a few people in here need to take a break from games. It’s supposed to be entertainment but reading these comments just puts you on a downer. Ho hum, such is the comment section! 😃
DAY 17 PURCHASE FOR ME!!!!
...Because I want to get an extra 3% points at the electronics store. Also I'd might as well wait until my next paycheck. Also also It'll probably go to my kid for Christmas or his birfday. But oh boy I can't wait to eventually play it!
So, the purple coins are currency, not a 100 percent thing where you are meant to find them all? I know this is silly, but games with too many squirrelled away gubbins that have a completion rate stress me out. It is an OCD/Autism thing. I would feel I HAD to get them all, and I would rather not even start if that was the case. 3 big wonder coins to find is a nice amount, but it is just that part that has me worried. Does anyone know? Thank you!
Oh no. That's the one thing I really didn't want it to be. Not challenging enough.
I hope relatively gentle doesn't mean ridiculously easy at least...
Come on Nintendo acknowledge your older fans out there, we've been waiting for ages for this new 2d mario. Make it all it can really be. Give us a hard mode.
Hmm, no 10? But a 9 is still very good. I wonder (hah!) how this will click with me. I mean, it does look nice. But nowadays I am into Metroidvania's...maybe this is to simple for me? And does it have enough meat on its bones outside of the online-modes? Also, I might get annoyed by the talking flower. But I'll know soon enough when I have the game in my grasp. It soon gets on my backlog though since I very recently started Pikmin 4.
@Henmii I think the talking flower can be turned off.
@Andy_Witmyer you nailed bro! in this case def less is more! I would also add, I prefer the soundtrack 10 times.. the first has 2 iconics songs, but overall I stick with the second game..
And I dunno why.. XC2 I was sad of leaving the game playing countless hours after beating it.. the first and thrid game I was like, fine, but as soon as I finish I'll change the game.. :/
I haven't even played the expansion future connected..
Like I siad before, I'm a smash player, I was so freking happy when they announced pyra and mythra..
The caption could have read Super Mario Wonderful. Missed opportunity
Just had my copy from Shopto.net delivered.... Very excited.
Nice posting times from them...
@Nintendo_Thumb I recommend playing the GBA version of World over the original because it has many quality of life features, including tracking if you've collected all Dragon Coins in levels.
Can you change characters between Levels?
@spacely_sprockets sorry I didn’t mean to insult any age groups. Games used to be harder though when I was a kid but games were more niche. Todays kids play ridiculous games on phones and I would say that todays gamers are lazier overall, that’s why I am mad that games in general reduce difficulty to make sure as many people can beat those games just to boost sales. Btw, what is the most fun and also the most difficult platformers for you?
As much as I liked most of the NSMB games, they really shouldn't have been that hard for Wonder to top so saying it's the best 2D Mario since the SNES days isn't the biggest plus. But, I've played the demo and this review pretty much confirms what I thought, the game is awesome.
Personally I think the best 2D Super Mario Game since the SNES came out 11 years ago
cant wait to pick it up on friday along with other 2 games ive preordered this month.
@chewytapeworm Your Dad has my eternal respect. Testing a life-changing gift before you give it is an essential aspect of the parental role - imagine the utter devastation if it hadn't worked properly. His sacrifice is rightly remembered.
@Daniel36 Thanks — that's exactly the description of SMW that has always been its appeal to me, and one that that all 2D Mario games since have failed to replicate. Every game feels very linear and "level"-y — whereas SMW felt like, well, a whole world with tonnes of hidden secrets.
@Andee You are welcome! Your added explanation helps me too, it is exactly that. And at the same time the 3D Marios never really did it for me, even if they had more of that exploration going on.
@HammerKirby Ah yes, exactly that, the secrets and imterconnection. The intro theme with Mario and Yoshi running around helps too, that is one rock solid core memory for me.
@Baler Very much same.
@Mauzuri
"Welp, you can believe what you wanna believe.."
I will continue to believe the truth based on the evidence. Thanks.
"I highly doubt it’ll win Game of the Year though. Lots of other games that deserve it (far) more."
Okey doke. Your opinion.
@Daniel36 yeah, and while I've since grown to appreciate Mario 64 since nabbing 3D All-stars, back when I first played it it felt very sparse and tech demo-ey.
Can't wait to play this game. It looks so dope. WOWIE ZOWIES.
Delighted at the great reviews, but best 2D Mario since the SNES ain't a high bar to reach! 😆
@JohnnyMind The SNES version does this too doesn't it? Could swear it has icons at the top of the screen showing how many you've got.
@Mauzuri people liked that you said Mario should be 10/10 not that you hate totk,I find it unlikely you actually played totk
Lol nobody get excited because from what ive played its just new super mario bros again with new graphics......im very disappointed in u nintendo.
@-wc- Right, I was confused how we go from "This is the best Mario game in 33 years" to "nothing to see here" 😂
@FawfulsFury I did not say Mario deserves a 10/10 either. Clearly it has some issues (preventing it from being perfect), so.. But yes, I did play TotK. Not much, mind you, I only did like two regions and two temples before I got bored of it.. but I can still with full confidence say it doesn’t deserve a perfect score. The game has PLENTY of issues. 7.5 or 8 would be an appropiate score, but of course they didn’t give that. A zelda game with a score under a 9? Outrageous!! 😵😂
@samuelvictor Giving you this feedback since you are working on a game yourself.
I was playing New Super Mario Bros U on Wii U with my 7 year old son. I got it originally because he had seen my old N64 with Mario 64 in it, a fond memory of my youth, and he was asking to play, so I eventually let him have a go. Eventually, because I didn't want to introduce him to video games too early on, he still has a lot of imagination. Video games can be a bit too good for a young mind; interactive worlds that come to life (compared to inanimate objects) and so it can happen they start losing interest in other things. But I limit play time and keep him engaged with other activities, so it works.
Anyways, I noticed movement in 3D was kinda hard for him, so I got him a 2D Mario game. Movement on a 2D plane is much simpler. Our play time is usually together so we can play and work together to get through the levels. One player can also use the Wii U tablet to put blocks in to jump on and help the other guy, instead of controlling a 2nd character, which is a nice feature.
What happened was over time I got a bit disappointed and grumbly with the difficulty level of the game. We died quite often, there was little opportunity to gain extra lives and we had to start over a lot and replay levels. The system is that you have to beat the castle and clear the world in order to register a save point. If you both run out of lives you get a game over and have to start at the beginning of the litte 'world'or section and replay a few levels to get to the castle again. Levels got too difficult for my son. It basically came down to me to pull us through and my son putting his hope in me to clear the level, so we could progress in the game. Which to me was like, I bought this for him in the first place, but now I'm the one sitting here playing through it.
We did learn our lessons, like not getting too frustrated and bent on results, keep having fun, and also took a break and put the game aside for a while. I also concluded Kirby's Epic Yarn may have been a better pick, as it's an easy game geared more towards smaller children, a gentler introduction. However, if like you say, you want to a broaden your demographic, you need scaleabilty in difficulty. I can imagine a lot of work and thought goes into level design, which mechanisms to combine with (like for example a Meatboy, Celeste-lo ike high difficulty platformer, but with instant, infinite restarts) and the specific methods to scale in difficulty (change in level design or add more helpful features, like more lives, taking less damage and so on). But know that this is what seperates a painstakingly crafted creative work from the run-of-the-mills and makes it stand out.
Wish you success on your project. Enjoy the process. I agree that Mario Wonder is the first 2D Mario game in a long time that truly feels inspired. Best
@Alex79uk Inside levels yes and Dragon Coins even disappear if you've collected them all, but on the world map there's no way to tell in which levels you've collected them all while in the GBA version there's a new menu with the list of levels that shows that (along with if you've completed them with Mario and/or Luigi and once all levels are cleared you can even warp to any of them from it).
@Mana_Knight Since you go back to the world map whenever you finish a level yes, you can then select a new character (even at random) from the menu.
@JohnnyMind Ah, that makes sense, thanks.
@JohnnyMind Ah, thank you. Cool.
@F-ZeroX Wow thank you so much for taking the time to type that and for sharing such personal experiences. You sound like a fantastic father! I used to love sharing videogames with my kids when they were growing up too. That was a helpful post and gave me food for thought, thank you again!
I agree that in some ways 2d platforming is easier to pick up than 3d, certainly for difficult passages and intricate jumps. But many modern kids games jump straight to analogue stick movement, and just elliminate or automate jumps, as pushing a stick in the exact direction in realtive space to them is actually more intuitive, at first at least. Also, many of the most popular games with young kids are either touch screen experiences on phones/tablets, or 3d mouse and keyboard games like Minecraft and Roblocks. So its quite possible many kids grow up playing games but have never tried a 2d platform game, especially if they don't own a Nintendo platform. A good friend of mine is actually a successful and highly accomplished professional gamer and streamer (in her mid 20s) and had never played a platform game before. Blew my mind how hard she found it to adjust, though was gratifying to watch her progress and master it.
2d platformers have always been my favourite genre, especially cartoonish colourful mascot ones. Our mascot Hazel is actually going to star in many games, hopefully... as I said, we're designing her first game to be as beginer friendly as possible for all ages and experience, but also to be satisfying and challenging for experienced fans of the genre. As you intuited, that is not an easy thing to do at all. Of course, accessibility is also very important. We're trying to have as many options for differently abled people as well, where possible.
We have folders and folders of paperwork planning and documenting every tiny aspect so we can keep track of it all as development, balancing and refining through playtesting etc progresses. Its a challenge, for sure, but will be very rewarding if we get it right and both kids and their gamer parents, and gamers of all abilities and skill levels can get equal amounts of fun from it! 🥰
I get the same feeling from this, as when I first played SMB World on SNES for the first time 👍😃👍
If I didn't know that they got a new voice actor for Mario, I doubt I would notice. He sound so close to Charles. No complaints from me 👍👍
@Mauzuri
Absolutely.
It has some of best moments in the entire Zelda series, but as a whole is flawed.
8 out of 10 would be fair to me, I cannot fathom how reviewers can justify the perfect scores they gave it.
Though that one outlier that gave it a 6 was equally as daft.
That the game is clearly trying so hard to be whacky and inventive, it makes the leading Con pretty damning indeed.
I'm delighted that this game is landing so well with critics and consumers alike - great to see Mario go 'back to basics', and open itself to a new audience potentially (perhaps the film might have incited new interest throughout a wider net?)
I personally won't be grabbing this one... I've many fond memories of Mario, but I really need some element of difficulty curve to grab my attention these days. Just beat Blasphemous 2, which was horrendously hard in places, but I am addicted to that feeling of accomplishment!
I wonder if this will factor into GOTY discussions? Currently seems a 2-horse race between TOTK/BG3, with Resi4 as an outside bet I guess
@NeonPizza "I usually can't stand easy games, I always figure, what's the point?" If you want to try something where taking one death leads to you doing everything over, try Celeste Farewell Golden Berry. That's a wallop!
In all seriousness, I see what you're getting at. I will say it is a bit nostalgia fueled, but the point still stands: modern Marios are easier. However, there is a good reason to remove the "send back to the beginning of the world after a game over" feature: it doesn't lead to anything new. You're just playing the same level over again. Yes, you get more practice, but after a while you go from mastering a level to just playing it over and over as you fail to beat one boss (cough cough, Mega Man). Also, there are collectibles, and being forced to collect them every single time would be a nightmare.
This game is just a joy to play but one minor nitpick I have is that I was disappointed to learn that when playing as Yoshi he's invincible which if you're like me and like to play a Mario game normally he's pretty pointless really. Yoshi is one of my favourite characters.
@Exerion76 I couldn't believe how similar he sounded. Only for it being announced online I wouldn't have noticed either.
@PinderSchloss I don't remember asking you that. So...you are saying you DID enjoy your time with it? You'd be the first to get back to me on that. Most people I ask that of are obviously lying or haven't played a game they are railing against. I really don't care if you think that is smug.
Did anyone get a card slipcase sleeve for their copy?
Got to play a bit today and this is without a doubt the freshest Mario game I’ve played in awhile. It still feels like Mario but with new ideas that are a blast. This is everything I want from a Mario game and then some.
Side note, People really need to stop getting so hung up on score. 9/10 is great. That being said, overall score depends on the reviewer as well. I haven’t combed through every review by this reviewer, but his page says his average score is a 6.9. I’m guessing a 10/10 for him is a pretty much perfect game, so the one gripe about difficulty is enough to ding a point. No big deal because, like I said, a 9 is great and, honestly, I wouldn’t really trust a reviewer that just tosses perfect scores out all the time, Yknow?
When Nintendo first announced Super Mario Bros. Wonder in their Direct, I was so disappointed. The “New” Super Mario Bros. series never pulled me in and I was done with 2D Mario. Reading all the hype that followed that Direct was so puzzling to me as I couldn’t figure out what everyone was getting so excited about. Once people begin to talk about the return to the original NES/SNES platformers formula, I began to see what people were hyped about.
Fast forward to today, and I feel like a kid all over again. I smile ear to ear while playing and I can’t put this game down. It reminds me of getting Super Mario Bros. 3 for my birthday, seeing the Super Mario World demo in Toys R Us, staying up late with my cousins to explore all the secrets, and so much more. Is it a hard platformer? No, Hollow Knight takes that crown, (and a personal score of 10/10), but Wonder is truly a masterpiece that is a absolute joy to play.
I don't own a Switch yet, but I may have to save up for one, just to play this game. Mario has long been among my fave series, and this looks like an improvement on the classic formula in every way.
@bananajoe came here to say this.
Okay, so I expected teh game to be good, but maybe it was being overhyped. After a couple of hours with it, WOWIE ZOWIE! It really is spectacular. It's like SMB3 and SMW had a baby. It's got everything and then some. Those battle arena levels where it sets each stage with the musical queue from Mario Bros. - They thought of everything!
I’m a big fan of brutal die-athon style platformers like Celeste, Super Meat Boy, N++, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, the Ori games, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Ghouls and Ghosts, you name it…but Super Mario Wonder is so imaginative and bursting with joy that I genuinely feel sad for anyone passing on it because it lacks the challenge of those titles. Pretty sure this is as close as you’re ever gonna get to being a kid again and playing Super Mario World for the first time and I think you gotta be half crazy to deny yourself that 😛
@samuelvictor Thanks so much for the compliment 🙏
Good point, it's all about what you're used to. I can pick up an N64 controller and play GoldenEye like it was yesterday, but that game's (default) controller has the look around and moving/strafing crossed up compared to the modern dual stick standard.
The most challenging thing for my son in Mario 64 was flying and swimming, where you have the added movement on a vertical axis. We had to collect red coins and nailing those little objects was hard for him. On land is different: you move in all wind directions, but you're walking on a surface. Up and down is just jumping. I noticed also that the camera behind Mario is too 'direct' for lack of a better word. I think it would be better that when you change the direction you're running in and the camera pivots, that pivot would come with a slight delay and a bit smoother. Other than that, the game holds up amazingly well. We'll definitely return to it in the future. To think Nintendo got this on their first try, wow. (ps. My son was scared of the chain chomp in the first level, which is like a big dog hehe.)
Do you know which platform(s) Hazel is planned to release on? So I can keep an eye out 😉
@FlyingPoliceBox I felt mostly the same! Would you say it has the magic and mystery of the perfect SMB3 and Super Mario World? Are the controls and physics kind of plain and boring like in the "New" games? Is Super Mario Wonder too easy or too childish? One thing I disliked about the trailer was the silly music, much like the music of the "New" titles.
The controls feel much better than the New Super Mario Bros. series. They are very tight and feel somewhere between SMB3 and Super Mario World. Regarding the music, it’s great! I get what you’re saying about the trailer, but the full music in the game is near perfect. The music is dynamic and changes to what is going on the game and how you play. One example is how the music changes when you perform a ground stomp, every time, and it sounds perfect. The only sound that I don’t love is the new jump sound. It doesn’t sound bad, just not my favorite. Every other sound and song are great.
@FlyingPoliceBox Thanks! I will get this and Sonic Superstars soon, the latter on Xbox. I just need to find some time to play them peacefully.
I was going to write a 666 page review on how massively horrible and disappointing SMB Wonder is, but I decided to play Sonic Superstars instead.
Back here to say there are in fact challenging levels, but they are part of the special world. =)
Having nearly done the A to B completion I'd say 10/10 is spot on and on the money. Feels kaleidoscopic in ideas at times with those findamental 2D Super Mario platform mechanics and characteristics. There isn't Galaxy or Odyssey levels of new ideas that shake up the genre - but that is incredibly hard to do in 2D than 3D platform games, so.....Now back to re-playing some levels to boost up the ol' "completion percentage"
I was late back from work friday and did not have time to start the game.
I started playing it Saturday morning, and it i was genuinely suprised at how refreshing this game is. I did not watch all of the trailers as i didn't want things being ruined.
I haven't smiled so much while playing anything in a long time.
The graphics are brilliant, i love the slightly isometric standings of the characters to see more of their expressions. Loads of new enemies keep it refreshing.
This has quickly become one of my favourite games and a worthy sequel to Super Mario World.
@OorWullie
You are right. But I tried them and like them now. I especially search them out (when they are in a corner) just to hear what they have to say.
That being said the game doesn't blow me away just yet (very early in the game), since its very easy. The New super Mario bros games where harder and had more secrets too.
Super Mario world is an overrated mess of look how much we can fit on a cartridge now on this new console. From the 8-16 bit era it consistently rates very low for me on what platform games from that era I will play. Konami tiny toons games are better, ristar is better. All four mega drive/ genesis sonic games are better. Super Mario 3 is a complete masterpiece, world is just three with a ton of useless ***** added, “hey look we can add 10 Yoshi’s, but you gotta feed them first”. Pshhhhhh. Nintendo knew 3 was better that’s why the all star remake it trash compared to original.
9/10, wonderful!
@Chunkboi79
One difference is instead of Bowser kidnapping Peach he becomes a castle. Also, strangely the game feels a lot less linear and you can chart you're own course (sorta speak) after clearing a few stages. There's more random stuff thrown into the mix. Wonder flower effects spice things up nicely. Badges add a nice layer of strategy (and replayability).
I felt the home console New Super Mario Bros games were good but felt NSMB Wii was like a co-op SMB3 and NSMBU was a co-op World. Which again isn't a bad comparison, just felt like co op was the only thing that moved the formula forward.
However, Wonder actually feels like a true sequel to World with new ideas, art, aesthetic and mechanics! Simply wonderful like Paul Orndorff
Been playing it on my laptop lately. Overall, it's pretty meh? I'm probably deep into 2D Mario fatigue, as modders have been doing better on the Wii.
"Nothing truly earth-shattering or genre defining"
It's a 2D Mario game, it doesn't NEED anything like that.
"Keeps things relatively gentle in terms of challenge"
Seriously? Did you play the same special levels that I did?!
I really hope they include a ‘shut the hell up’ flower option in an update, very cool very awesome game.
I still need more Mario tho, gimme a Mario Galaxy 2 remaster and a new Odyssey for starters
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