Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review

By nintendo - https://www.ign.com/games/super-mario-bros-wonder, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75108015

Some of my earliest and fondest gaming memories was playing Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES and Super Mario World for the SNES when I was a child. Playing these platforming games and trying to get to the end of the level was captivating to me, and it helped to stoke a love affair for video gaming that I still continue to have. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World were hugely influential games and along with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, were the pinnacle of 2D platforming games.

Now, we have the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which is the latest 2D Mario platformer adventure. After playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder, my overall thought about this game is that Wonder is a game that just as magical as SMB3 and SMW, but for the modern age. I want to talk about how great SMBW is through the lens of what makes a great platformer.

I think the number one thing a platformer needs in order to be a great platforming game is having great controls. Mario platformers have long perfected great controls (with the occasional hiccup in the New Super Mario Bros. games for the Wii/Wii U/DS), and Super Mario Bros. Wonder is no different here. Controlling your character feels weighty. When you move your character, your character moves appropriately. When you stop your character from moving, your character stops right there. Having great controls also greatly reduces the risk of having "cheap" deaths. I died many times in the harder levels of Wonder and I was absolutely frustrated, but I recognize that these were due to my mistakes and not due to the game mechanics.

The next thing that makes a great platformer great is having great level design. Mario games always had outstanding level design, and Wonder is no different here. In addition to new power-ups (and a familiar favorite), you have badges that you can wear for a level that gives you an additional effect. These things complement extremely well with the construction of the level, and leads to secret areas, for which there are many in Wonder.

The next thing you need for a great platformer is great visuals. The color scheme for Super Mario Bros. Wonder is vibrant, and the colors and objects really pop when you play a level. To make an additional point about the level design and visuals: even though there are many levels in a world, each level feels like its own world in itself, with its own distinct visuals and obstacles you have to face. Getting the wonder flower in each level feels like its own trippy experience that you have to see to believe.

The last thing for a good platformer is a great soundtrack. Super Mario Bros. Wonder has some great original songs with remixes of old favorites as well. It was also cool to notice the older Mario games where Wonder borrowed some things from. Navigating the overworld felt like moving around in SMB3 and SMW. When you run at top speed and your character sticks its hands out is also reminiscent of SMB3 and SMW. There are shadow segments of levels which felt like a callback to Super Mario Bros. 2.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is undoubtedly an excellent 2D platformer and an excellent game. I think the accessibility of this game can bring in a number of young children to be fans of video games in the same way SMB3 and SMW helped to make me be a video game fan. SMBW not only meets, but excels on the pillars that make a great platforming game. If it was not for Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder would be the Nintendo Switch game of the year, but even then, it is still comfortably one of the best games you can play on the Nintendo Switch.