Game Review: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
It’s fair to say the Super Mario Bros franchise has had a
long run of releases across the decades.
All the way from the early days of the Nintendo Entertainment System right
up to modern day with the Nintendo Switch.
Despite its longevity however, I and many people would argue the 2-D platformer
has grown stale and disappeared behind the shadow of Super Mario’s more creative
3-D endeavors within the recent years. Even with my new found re-introduction
back into the platforming genre, I had no real desire to go back and play any
of the more recent Super Mario Bros titles just because I knew there wasn’t all
that much behind them. It was clear as
anything that what the Super Mario Bros franchise needed was some kind of
reinvention if it was going to bring anything credible to the table of modern-day
platformers. It’s fortunate in this case
that Nintendo recognized that core need and released their own reinvention of
the Mario Bros series in 2023; titled Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
The development of Super Mario Bros. Wonder has some
interesting notes behind it. Soon after New
Super Mario Bros Deluxe released in 2019, both Shiro Mouri and Takashi Tezuka
returned as Director and Producer on Wonder respectively. They noted that there was no deadline the
project needed to hit so it gave the development team a lot of time to
experiment and brainstorm a way to reinvent the series. One of the biggest inspirations for Shiro
Mouri was to bring back the sense of ‘secrets and mystery’ to the levels that
many audiences sought out during the original Super Mario Bros. That’s where the idea behind the Wonder
Flower came into fruition and the rest of the game was designed around the levels
ability to drastically alter in fun and interesting ways. Released on October 20th 2022 the
title drew a lot of interest from general audiences, leading the game to sell
over 4.3 million units in the first two weeks of release; making it the fastest
selling Mario game of all time.
Critically the game received no end of accolades from critics and
general audiences, earning 98% total score on OpenCritic and receiving many
Game of the Year nominations.
The story follows Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy
and a collection of Toads and Yoshis on a diplomatic visit to the neighboring
Flower Kingdom at the behest of Prince Florian.
The Flower Kingdom’s greatest asset is known to be their Wonder Flowers.
Rare and magical flowers with the ability to warp reality in strange and mysterious
ways. Before the official ceremony is
underway, another visitor from the Mushroom Kingdom makes his presence known.
King Bowser and his son Bowser Jr crash the proceedings and Bowser consumes a
wonder flower which transforms him into a giant gloating castle. Once transformed
Bowser wreaks havoc across the kingdom by imprisoning its citizens and flooding
it with his minions. With Prince Florian
accompanying the party, Mario and co, band together to go rescue the citizens
of the Flower Kingdom, collect the mighty Wonder Seeds and put an end to Bowser’s
nefarious schemes before it’s too late.
The narrative in this game is purely set up, which is often
the expectation with not just Super Mario Bros but many a platformer these
days. While the narrative scope is purely
for the purposes of setup, it’s hard not to appreciate the amount of creativity
put into the setting and objective of the game this time around. Flower Kingdom is distinctly different to the
Mushroom Kingdom we’re all used to, with the setting and its inhabitants all
taking on a unique flair. The idea of
Bowser coming in to ruin proceedings is nothing new, but the fact he turns into
a giant talking castle and you have to stop him by proceeding through the world
and warping reality against him is a novel concept that you can’t say has been
done in a prior Mario game. There’s no long-term
payoff to the narrative but I don’t think that’s a negative because its only
intent was to serve as a set up for the gameplay to take a more center stage
Now Super Mario Bros. Wonder does an admirable job in
getting all the basics of the Mario platforming controls down. Each level is presented to you in a 2-D
side-scrolling perspective. You move left and right using directional input,
you can jump and dash using the B and Y buttons respectively. There’s a nice and tight approach to the
basic controls that helps them feel responsive.
What’s more noteworthy about the gameplay through is what new aspects
are introduced. Badges are a new feature
to the game which add an incredible amount of value and replayability. You can
only equip one badge at one time during your time in the game’s levels, but
each badge offers the player a wide array of variations on how the gameplay can
shift. It can be something as basic as
giving more speed to your dashes or more momentum to your jumps. Others are bit more extensive though like the
grappling vine which allows you to grapple onto any surface within reach or the
parachute cap which allows you to give yourself more airtime and float down
using a giant cap. These badges serve as
one of the games key features that differentiates it from prior entries in the
series. Each badge has a nice benefit
you can utilize, some even add challenges to handle as you progress through the
level. That ability to tailor the game
to your playstyle is something the badges get down so well.
One of the other new key features that deserves all the
praise is the Wonder Flowers. Each level
in this game has a Wonder Flower for you to pick up and whenever you pick one
of these magical flowers up the entire level shifts course dramatically. The nature in which these levels shift when
you collect the Wonder Flower varies considerably from level to level. For example, in one level upon picking the
flower up the scenery of the level will come to life and you will need to
navigate moving trees and pipes as you aim to collect the levels Wonder
Seed. Another example is in a later level
you will end up turning into one of the levels enemies in order to navigate the
level in a different way. The creative scope of these Wonder Flowers has literally
no limits and it gives each level a very unique flair that makes it fun to keep
progressing through the game and seeing what new ideas you’ll get thrown into
next.
From a visual end, the game utilizes the Switch’s
specifications to the best of its ability. Of course, with it being a 2-D
platformer it was never going to push the engine visually, but the creative
scope of each level and the number of animations that inhabit a screen at one
time is really impressive. There are
several worlds in the Flower Kingdom, all presenting their own creative themes
that not only play into the game visually but add a practical challenge to
overcome too. It’s a smart and layered
approach to level design and it’s worth recognizing the entire games art style utilizes
a water color hue to it. Accompanying
each section of the game is a wonderfully quirky soundtrack by composers Koji
Kondo, Shiho Fujii, Sayako Doi and Chisaki Shimazu.
On a whole Super Mario Bros. Wonder does a wonderous job in
reinvigorating a franchise that was at risk of becoming stale. It delivers the core concept of a Mario
platformer but does it in a way that feels creatively refreshing at every
avenue. Its world is rich with bright
and colorful visuals and its gameplay is tight and robust with a load of variety
in its approach. It’s a game which spares no expense in experimenting with
every creative opportunity to give the player a truly memorable journey from
start to finish. If there was any doubt
Mario Bros was running out of creative steam, then I am happy Super Mario Bros
Wonder has come along and reassured me and many others than there’s always room
to come back swinging.
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