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5: Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a delightful but ultimately unsatisfying experience

 


So... I guess I do game reviews now?


As a long-time enjoyer of video games, there are certain genres that just click with me. Turn-based RPGs are definitely not one of those things. Fighting games are alright, but technical. Battle royales fail to keep me engaged. I tend not to care much about story, and would prefer it to not be a disturbance. But I looooove 2D platformers, and I love replayability.

Currently, I have 1,515 hours in Super Mario Maker 2 and over 600 in Terraria, the two games I would consider to have had the biggest impact on me as a person throughout my gaming career. 2D Mario games have always just clicked with me. Something about the fundamental aspects of the level design and the way Mario moves through his environment is endlessly fun. I grew up on New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS, which is a game many would consider to be the most bland and uninspired 2D Mario platformer ever released. But I don't care!

When Mario Maker 2 was announced, I was elated. That game was everything I could have ever wanted. It, along with Animal Crossing New Horizons, got me through Covid (though in June 2019 when the game released, I had no idea). I have 100 levels uploaded to the server and I still make new ones from time to time. None of my friends care about this game even 1% the amount that I do, so it's kinda like my own little thing. 

Which is why when Super Mario Bros Wonder was announced, I was over the moon. For once, it was a new, fresh take on the 2D Mario formula that us Mario fans had been waiting for at least a decade. It looked creative, it looked ambitious, and it looked like it was made with passion, which is basically all we could ask for. I was psyched, to say the least. And fast forward 5 or so months, I can say with confidence that this game is truly great. But... I'm not 100% satisfied.

My review

Super Mario Bros Wonder is plain fun, and there's really no doubt about it. I struggle to see how anyone could actively find this game unfun, in fact. It has everything you would want from a 2D platformer: brilliant visuals, smart and fluid game design, fun characters, a delightful soundtrack, and secrets to find. The story of this game is nothing to write home about, but it never needed to be, as the only motivator the player needs to keep going is the excitement of another new level to play around in. This impressive level of quality is present in the first five minutes of gameplay and is maintained until the credits roll. I expected nothing less from Nintendo, and they surely delivered.

The powerups are amazing, too. The Bubble Flower is an instantly iconic suit that I hope gets used again in the future. The mobility options provided by being able to spawn bubbles as jumpable platforms are just mind-blowing. The Drill Mushroom is a fun mobility suit as well, and the Elephant Apple, while not a game-changer at all, is still a good time. The melee attack of the elephant trunk is a cool and satisfying mechanic.





Let's talk about this thing: the Wonder Flower. As the game's namesake, the Wonder Flower holds within its DNA this platformer's main new gimmick: Wonder Events. When one of these flowers is touched within a level, unexpected things will happen. Maybe the entire stage tilts, or Mario transforms into a blob, or piranha plants begin to sing, or the enemies start to give a choreographed dance number. It's wild! There's so much creativity on display here, and the best way to experience it is to just go in blind and let it all happen. 

This one even has the player complete a quiz about the current stage. What a power move.


I can't stress this enough: everything on display here is undoubtedly of extremely high quality. It's the Nintendo staple. The game is perfect for people of all ages to play and just have a good time with. It's appealing to basically everyone. I could go on about what I love about it, but I'm kinda running out of adjectives for "cool".

Ok, buddy. So what's the problem, then?

Sheesh, would you calm down? I'm getting to it.

I already said I loved the game, so what's not to love? Well it's everything NOT in the game. Specifically, the lack of any desire to actually play it again.

The New Super Mario Bros games get a bad rap. To most people, they’re bland and unimaginative. They lack personality and creativity. I can’t say that they’re wrong, but I can say that many of these people are searching for creativity in the wrong places.


  1. Limitation breeds creativity. It's just true! If I asked you to paint a beautiful picture, it might be a fun exercise. But if I limited you to only 4 colors? Well, this got interesting! Now you have to think more about each color, what they can do, and how you can use them together efficiently. This applies to every artistic medium.


The New Super Mario Bros games have a limited amount of new game mechanics in them, which would be a bad thing if they weren’t 2D platformers. Good platformer design comes from limitation; it comes from doing a lot with a little. If I have an enemy who shoots laser beams, what happens if I touch the laser beam? What angles can it shoot at? Can it be bigger or smaller? How can it be dodged? How does it interact with the environment? 

Mario Wonder's problem is that the game's central mechanic goes against this principle. The Wonder Effects, for the most part, are one-and-done. They're pure spectacle, and they rely on surprise. Once you've seen them all for the first time, they've already served their purpose. I only Super Mario Bros "Wonder" what's gonna happen next if I don't already know from experience. The element of surprise packs a radioactive punch, but it has a pathetic half-life.

But what's even worse is the fact that the rest of the game besides these Wonder Flowers does nothing to carry its own weight!

Style without substance




Super Mario Bros Wonder is painfully easy. A seasoned Mario veteran can easy clear it with minimal lives lost, barring the occasional challenge course. Now of course, easy games are accessible to those who lack much gaming skill, like young children. For them, this game is a satisfying challenge. And that's great! But for people like me, it's easy to feel like there's not much meat on the bones.

For those at home, this is a DIFFERENT game.

Super Mario 3D World is an example of accessibility done right. The main campaign isn't a cakewalk, but it's also not super challenging. It's fun and accessible throughout. Hardcore Mario fans love this game though, because of everything it does to pander to the completionist. It has:

  1. MULTIPLE worlds of post-game content that really ramp up the difficulty
  2. Collectibles! 3 Green Stars per level, as well as a stamp
  3. Five unique characters with their own attributes, and a tracker that encourages you to beat every level in the game with every character
  4. AND a level timer, encouraging you to try beating levels quickly and beating your own record
Mario Wonder has:

  1. 3 Flower Coins per level
  2. 2 Wonder Seeds per level (one of which you get by beating it, and the other by clearing the Wonder Event, so most people will get both on their first go)
  3. A few levels of post-game content
  4. ...???

It's not even a fair comparison. 3D World beats Wonder in every aspect.

Super Mario Bros Wonder has an identity crisis. Is the main point the Wonder Effects? Well, those stop being new and exciting after your first playthrough. What about the platforming? It's basic and not challenging for the average player. Well then there must be lots of collectibles and reasons to play the stages again, right? Nope, not really. It's like a Shakespearean love triangle, only instead of lovers, they're awkward kids on the schoolyard. No part of this game is strong enough to hold its own weight. And what hurts the most is that they were so, so, SO close. 

If they had just added level timers, we could have replayed levels in order to get a better time, adding replayability. If they had added incentives to play with other characters, it would add replayability. More collectibles scattered in the levels, more challenging levels, NPC side quests. Anything at all! Mario 3D World did amazingly in this department, and because of that, I have over 100 hours in it. Yet, I only have around 20 in Mario Wonder. There's a reason for this, and it's not because one of them is drastically more fun than the other. It's because Mario Wonder's dev team didn't care to make simple changes that would give the game wider appeal.

Verdict

None of this makes Super Mario Bros Wonder a bad game. It obviously isn't. It's fun, creative, bursting with personality, and made with so much love. But it just has zero staying power. I'm the kind of guy who likes to wring games dry. I like to complete them, get everything, speedrun, replay them, and watch video essays about them. For me, the end of the game is just the beginning of my journey with it. Cuphead took me a week to beat, but 3 months to get every achievement in. That was one of the most fun and rewarding gaming experiences of my life. And for Mario Wonder, a game I was so excited about, it's sad to see what could have been. The joy of playing it for the first time didn't have to end so soon. But unfortunately, I think it was designed to be played only once and then put back on the shelf forever.

We live in a busy world. Plenty of people just want to play a game, get the gist, have their fun, and move on. I can't blame them for that. But there are many people like me who want to spend more time on a game and really get to know it. Super Mario Bros Wonder just wasn't built with these people in mind. But don't let that dissuade you. If you have a Switch, I truly can't recommend this game enough! I guarantee you'll have a wonderful time. 

In the meantime, I'll be sticking with Super Mario Maker 2 for my 2D platformer itch. I also just got a game called Pepper Grinder, a new platformer game. It's super fun so far, so if you're interested in more reviews of other games, let me know in the comments. If you played Mario Wonder, feel free to say your thoughts on the game and if my ideas resonated. I recognize my opinion is unpopular, and that's why I wanted to share it.


Thanks for reading!
Jabe

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