Super Mario Bros. Wonder: the best 2D Mario of all time?

Scepticism. That was the emotion I felt when Nintendo announced Super Mario Bros. Wonder as the newest 2D main-series game. This is mainly due to the New Super Mario Bros. series, which disappointed me more with each successive release. Sure, they were all solid 2D platformers. But apart from the excellent first game on the Nintendo DS, I missed the Mario magic.

I’ve fully finished Super Mario Bros. Wonder by now. It took me about 15 hours. And thankfully, my scepticism was for naught. This zany game has nothing to do with the well behaved and sometimes boring gameplay formula of its predecessors.

So familiar, yet completely different

The story in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, like any other Mario game, is quickly told. Mario and his friends are invited to the neighbouring Flower Kingdom. They’re met by King Florian, who wants to show them the power of so-called Wonder Flowers. Naturally, Bowser ruins the festivities and steals a flower for himself. When he touches it, he turns into a flying castle. Yep, you read that right. Bowser is now a castle.

The lovingly staged intro cinematic establishes a pattern early on that continues throughout the game. At first glance, Super Mario Bros. Wonder seems familiar – until the game completely surprises me with an unforeseen twist.

Similarly, the level design also trumps with some surprises and repeatedly breaks sacred Mario laws. As a long-time Mario fan, I almost fall out of my chair when I see a Piranha Plant get out of its tube and start running around. Or when I notice, I can move some pipes to get to secret level sections. The numerous new enemy types with unconventional designs and unexpected behaviour patterns were also impressive .

Graphically, the game surprises me again and again. The levels and worlds are visually reminiscent of New Super Mario Bros. at first glance. However, they feel much more dynamic overall. There’s always something moving. The game world feels lively and lovingly implemented, with a few sloppy exceptions later in the game. The characters also leave a vivid impression with their expressive faces. They also shine with new animations and effects – if I fall into water, Mario is visibly wet for a short time.

The game’s sound is also convincing. Many actions from game characters and enemies are accompanied by appropriate sound effects, complementing the excellent feel-good soundtrack. In an especially fun addition, I find numerous Talking Flowers throughout levels, accompanying my actions with snarky comments. They’re even voice acted! The talkative plants bring a new level of meta-humour to the game, something rarely seen in Mario games.

The only downer: Charles Martinet, the original voice actor for Mario and company, isn’t in the game. Newcomer Kevin Afghani takes over in his place. Hardcore Mario fans will recognise the difference in some of Mario and Luigi’s voice lines. Especially the latter doesn’t sound as charismatic as he used to. Shame. But maybe I’ll get used to the new voice.

Variety in its purest form

Another pattern that runs through all gameplay is the crazy number of wacky ideas. They make the game extremely varied. This is mainly down to the Wonder Flowers mentioned at the start. You’ll find them hidden in levels. If Mario touches a Wonder Flower, anarchy and chaos break out for a short time. I never know what to expect. Really, never.

Flowers either affect the level or change my game character. In the former, for example, I suddenly started falling through the game environment, finding myself in a skydiving minigame. Another time, a wild herd of buffalo appears out of nowhere and I ride them through the level. Or one of my absolute highlights: the perspective of a level suddenly changes from side-on to top-down.

Changes in my game character are equally insane. I bowl my way through a level as an oversized, spiky Mario ball. I float as a balloon through the wild winds. And I’m turned into a Goomba that can’t jump and has to hide from other enemies. These are just a few examples from the almost endless repertoire of wild gameplay concepts.

The Wonder Flower effects motivate me to play through levels several times. After I finish a level with a Wonder Flower, I immediately want to know what changes without activating the flower. There are tonnes of hidden passages, items and new level exits to discover. Compared to old 2D Marios, there’s no time pressure in Wonder. I can spend as much or as little time in a level as I want. Glorious stuff.

Elephant and Drill powers

In addition to classics such as the Fire Flower, Super Mario Bros. Wonder also scores with new power-ups. Mario and his friends can transform into elephants, put on a powerful suit with a drill helmet or shoot soap bubbles with the soap power-up.

All three items give me new options in combat. As an elephant, I slam enemies away with my trunk – it looks pretty hilarious. With the drill helmet, I can attack pesky critters from below – a real game changer. Finally, I can trap enemies in bubbles and turn them into coins.

The drill and the bubble power-up also open up new possibilities for me in terms of movement. With the former, I can bury myself in the floor or ceiling and move freely back and forth. This way, I can ambush enemies and discover hidden passages. With the latter, I can use soap bubbles as temporary platforms and bounce around on them. Overall, all three items are a success. They bring new gameplay elements to the world, are visually exciting and fun to use.

The badges don’t live up to their potential

In addition to the classic power-ups, there are also new Badges. These are gameplay modifiers that can each be equipped before starting or after failing a level.

There are 24 badges in total. Some of them have an influence on the controls. For example, the Parachute Cap slows down falling and can increase my jump range. With Floating High Jump, I can leap a little higher than usual. And with the Grappling Vine, Mario transforms into Spider-Man, shooting green vines to shimmy along walls.

In addition to these gameplay modifiers, there are also passive badges. With these, I can collect more coins or get visual clues to hidden secrets. And then there’s the Expert Badges for all you masochists out there, sometimes completely absurd modifiers that make my life unnecessarily difficult. I can make myself invisible or run around with Jet Run at excessively high speeds.

A pity I can’t combine the badges. On the other hand, it’s very commendable that the gameplay modifiers work independently from power-ups. If I get hit by an enemy, I lose the power-up but keep the badge. This saves unnecessary frustration and motivates me to take more risks when exploring the levels.

But there’s a big catch: the game doesn’t motivate me to experiment with badges. Levels are designed so that it doesn’t matter which badge I have equipped. I can finish any level with any badge and find all collectibles.

Halfway through the game, I found a badge so powerful that I completely ignored all the others until the credits rolled. Shame. I’d have liked to be more motivated or even forced to test different strategies and badges. This would fully unlock the potential of this truly clever perk system. Badges here or there, I’d have liked to see a little more challenge from the game generally. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the easier games in the series.

Online mode is surprisingly solid

One of the biggest surprises in Super Mario Bros. Wonder for me is the sophisticated online mode. When activated, I see «ghosts» of players from all over the world running and jumping around levels. These ghosts are either playing at the same time as me or it’s prerecorded data. I can’t really interact with them, but sometimes they help me indirectly by showing me the way to hidden items or secret level exits.

The ghosts have another benefit. If I fail, I turn into a ghost too and float through the level. If I touch the spirit of an online player within five seconds, I don’t lose a life and can continue playing seamlessly.

Alternatively, I can touch a cardboard stand that another player has placed in the level in ghost form. I, too, can place these waypoints to help other online Marios on their adventure. When setting up, I choose different poses for my cardboard figure. This way, I can indirectly give other Mario fans hints about hidden secrets. It’s fun and reminds me a bit of Dark Souls.

I do have one reservation about the online mode. In the pre-release phase, only a few ghosts were out and about. I don’t yet know if the online features will become overwhelming or even annoying as the number of players increases. Fortunately, online mode can be turned off at any time.

Four-person multiplayer? No thank you

I didn’t test the four-player online mode. Luckily Michelle, Kevin, David and Flo agreed to play a few levels in local multiplayer mode for me. One change from New Super Mario Bros. is the lack of collision. I can no longer annoy my teammates by jumping on their heads or pushing them down.

But the whole thing is still chaotic, even without collision. Too chaotic for me. Again and again, we lose sight of our characters. More difficult levels later in the game are almost unplayable with four gamers. For me, multiplayer mode remains just a nice bonus that I might try out with my niece sometime. I recommend every Mario fan first play through Wonder on their own – or with virtual online ghosts.

Verdict: a wonderful game

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a grab bag full of crazy ideas and unforgettable moments. The Wonder Flowers provide countless surprises, the new power-ups are among the best in Mario history and online mode wins me over with clever features. Graphically, the game also makes a good impression with expressive characters and dynamic game environments.

Badges are a cool idea, but aren’t implemented consistently. I hope Nintendo continues to expand on this exciting concept in future Mario games. The game could be a bit more challenging overall. Apart from a few mind-numbingly hard levels, I got through the game (too) easily. But that’s just nit-picking. All in all, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an excellent game and seamlessly joins the ranks of the best 2D Mario games. For me, it’s the best 2D Mario of all time.

Header image: Nintendo