Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Reviewed on Switch -
Super Mario Bros. Wonder released on October 20th, 2023.
With a lot of players worldwide growing tired of the same 2D Mario, platformer formula, Super Mario Bros. Wonder brought in a ton of gameplay enhancements and also added new gameplay features never before seen in the streamline Mario (2D) series.
From the very beginning, you can tell how much love, time, and effort was put into Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and it resulted in such a joyful time filled with amazement, shock, challenges, and more!
This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...
Right from the get-go, you can see the massive improvements in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
The polish in the game is outstanding (as it usually is with Nintendo's first party IPs) and the animations for every single character is beautiful!
The simple addition of better animations for these characters (who have felt stale with their stationary former self's) makes the game feel livelier and more interesting to play all together.
For example, in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, whenever Mario and / or Luigi entered a pipe, their hats would float for a split second, and then a hand will pop back out and grab it, in one swift motion.
Another example is when entering doors with the Elephant Power Up (more on that later), the player squeezes through the door in the animation.
Such simple things as that made me feel joy when playing the game.
The plot of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is, however, rinse and repeat from previous games. And who's to blame them for sticking to the original format of storytelling.
Bowser (SPOILER) in Super Mario Bros. Wonder steals a Wonder Flower and turns himself into the Flower Kingdoms Castle (with a really cool green color scheme that I loved and heavy metal / rock music too).
The player's goal is to venture through this brand-new Kingdom in the series and collect all Royal Seeds (after beating each worlds' final castle level).
These Royal Seeds will then, one by one, destroy the Piranha Plant guardians of the final world and allow the player to beat the game when all six worlds' Royal Seeds are used.
Simple story overall, but honestly, something different would've been nice too (in my opinion).
There is a plethora of characters to choose from as well. The full list of characters include...
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Daisy
- Yellow Toad
- Blue Toad
- Toadette
- Yoshi
- Red Yoshi
- Yellow Yoshi
- Light-Blue Yoshi
- Nabbit
The multiplayer is similar to previous Mario 2D games, but with this big list of characters, the combinations are incredible.
As stated earlier, there are six worlds in the Flower Kingdom. They include...
- Pipe-Rock Plateau
- Fluff-Puff Peaks
- Shining Falls
- Sunbaked Desert
- Fungi Mines
- Deep Magma Bog
There is also the hub world (which includes their own levels to play) which is called the Petal Isles.
In the hub world (and other worlds) you can freely roam. This is how you get to each level in a world, and even find secrets like coins, Captain Toad, or other whole levels themselves!
As you play levels in each world, some might spawn in their own Umbrella Landmark that can be used to fly up and play a Special World Level.
You got to find these entry ways to the Special World in each of the six main worlds to gather enough Royal Seeds and play the true final levels!
In all the worlds, they all contain unique types of levels too. They're not all the traditional Mario platformer levels we are used too.
Some of these unique levels are Break Time! Levels that are like small mini games.
Others include Badge Challenges for unlocking Badges (which are unlimited powers to allow for different ways of level progression).
And most importantly, there are Poplin Shops everywhere! These shops can be used to buy 1-Ups, Badges, or even Standees.
Standees are mainly used for Online Play and are like emotes for players to drop in levels. There are 144 standees to buy / collect, and they are all different poses for every playable character in the game. It's a fun collectible to try and complete, but something I never really used in action.
Poplin Shops use the Purple Coins too, so keep that in mind when you see the vast amounts of Purple in every level.
Previous Mario 2D games used Star Coins for their level collectibles, Super Mario Bros. Wonder uses Royal Seeds and three 10 Purple Coins instead.
The 10 Purple Coin collectibles are fun and easy enough, but you have to find the Wonder Flowers in each level to collect the other Royal Seeds.
These Wonder Flowers are the main selling point of Super Mario Bros. Wonder (to me at least).
When you find these Wonder Flowers, the whole level (or portions of it) change into something completely different (somewhat of a mini game perhaps).
These changes can be when your character turns into a Goomba for example, or even Slime! Or why not a Piranha Plant musical perhaps?!
The full list of Powerups in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, include...
- Super Stars
- Super Mushrooms
- Elephant Fruit
- Drill Mushrooms
- Fire Flowers
- Bubble Flowers
Lastly, after finishing a level, you will be given a random screenshot the game took of you when playing.
You can view these (one level at a time though) in the pause menu and screen capture them if you wish.
These automatic screenshots have the game logo, date of completing it, and the level name!
Just another little addition to this game that makes it such a standout to the previous titles!
Pros:
- Outstanding, New Animations for Everything
- Great Music
- Fun and Enjoyable Gameplay, Levels, Powerups, etc.
- Tons of Different Collectibles
- Multiplayer
- Longevity
- Quality of Life Enhancements / Additions to the Mario 2D Formula
Cons:
- Same, Kind of Boring, Story with Bowser
My Rating for Super Mario Bros. Wonder (on Switch):
5 / 5
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Disclaimer
All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.
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