My initial take on Super Mario Bros. Wonder is that it seems...wonderful

As someone who didn't really like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe I was a little bit worried about Super Mario Bros. Wonder but I picked it up for about $45* and I've played the first little bit. It seems outstanding. Not only does it not have the slippery controls that really hurt New Super Mario Bros. U but it is much more inventive and interesting with its level designs and mechanics. The new elephant power up is...fine (better than the dumb squirrel but about at the level of the cat) but the game has these flowers you touch that set off temporary changes to the level that are both graphically inventive and fun to play. They might do things like flood the level with a certain kind of enemy or make the pipes undulate up and down letting you reach new areas etc. It's quite varied. There's even some level specific dialog from Mario, which might explain part of the reason why they switched voice actors if they want him to talk more. Not sure how I feel about that yet but the new voice is...fine.

Also lives have been so de-emphasized that they shouldn't even exist anymore. I don't know what the point of a lives system is when you can buy huge amounts cheap at an in game shop. At least they've done away with only being able to permanently save at certain points. That was a horrible system from NSBU and here you can save whenever as long as you're not in a level (With autosave after every level.) Only one save file per profile, though. That sucks, but since you can just make a new profile for free to get a new save it's not really a problem.

There's also a new badge system that are essentially permanent ability upgrades like the ability to parachute or an extra wall jump. You can only equip one at a time but these are going to mix up approaches (especially for speedrunning) considerably. Definitely a cool addition that makes the game feel fresher.

Wonder has a lot of new enemies and seems to have great ideas. It's early yet, I haven't even beaten the first boss, but I thought I'd throw up a thread for impressions and say that as a skeptic so far I'm really really liking it.

*While people claim Nintendo games never go on sale they're actually much cheaper than most AAA games if you take advantage of the game vouchers and Eshop credit sales. You can get Eshop credit for 10% off pretty easily, and if you buy vouchers with it that reduces your price to about $45 per new Nintendo game. Only works digitally and if you have NSO, but considering that Spider-Man 2 is $70, it's a pretty big discount (and I got Tears of the Kingdom that way too.)

@bigsocrates: I've only played through the first world but I was sitting there with a big dumb smile plastered on my face the whole time. I agree with your assessments, I think this game is great and I'm looking forward to chipping away at it.

Good to hear. I just picked it up on the way home from work (yet to play). The badge system is the part I'm most interested by because I'm thinking / hoping they leveraged that to put some more interesting cherries on top of the usual (great) level designs

Played through the first two worlds with my partner today and I'm heading back in now to get the collectibles we've missed. I'm loving everything about it so far. The chaos that the wonder fruit creates is similar to the feel of playing WarioWare where you just never know what could happen and how you'll be asked to react.

I am disappointed that the Yoshis are invincible and can't gain the power ups. I understand why you'd want to offer invincible characters for those who would like it, but to negate the power up's abilities creates this weird instance where the player just isn't going to see what feels like 50% of the content of the game.

@mondayproblems: *Horrifically* overpriced is such extreme hyperbole, it's hard to take you seriously. A 4 year college degree is horrifically overpriced. This just seemes like you trying to bait people over Nintendo games.

completed two worlds- good fun! but it's crystalizing for me that i just don't have the affection for 2D Mario the way some folks do. the wonder flowers are rad- but if i'm being honest i think moment-to-moment Odyssey was more compelling to me.

3D Mario has a movement suite that its tremendous to jump around with. It's impossible for 2D Mario to replicate that.

Not played a 2d mario in a good while but something about this one just feels off to me, like the movement physics are just not right somehow. It's just not fun to move around the way I'd expect. I'd have to go back to some older ones to figure out why tho.

@shindig: I've never really enjoyed the movement as much in 3D Mario compared to the classics so I disagree.

Maybe thats just the insane amount of hours I played the 2Ds as a kid which were my only games vs the 3Ds I played a lot more casually.

@shindig: the 2d sections in Odyssey make me think that they could definitely make a full 2d game with those moves & physics, though. And I was expecting that this game would feel more like those sections than a traditional 2d Mario game. I'm not upset I was wrong, just surprised.

@bigsocrates:

"Elephant Luigi can push pipes! Now that's innovation!"

I don't know if this was from a site, but im pretty sure a pal of mine pushed pipes without the elephant power...

Yep, you don't need the elephant to do it.

I'm about halfway through now and I think this game has to be in the discussion for my favorite 2D Mario ever and possibly my favorite Mario overall, though it's pretty tough to measure it up against something like Mario Galaxy or Bowser's Fury (or SMB3 or Mario World for that matter because of context). The ranking is unimportant though, what is important is that it's a fantastic game.

I don't really understand why people have a problem with the talking flowers, who I think are kind of charming but also not a huge part of the game. I think the game takes at least some of what made Bowser's Fury so fantastic and brings it into 2D with the way it transforms the levels with the wonder flowers, but obviously with even more variety and surprise value than Fury Bowser and his blocks. I think the badge system is great. I think the less linear structure is cool, but the downside is that the game doesn't have a clear difficulty curve. That's okay for me because I don't play Mario for challenging platforming, but might be more annoying for others.

My one criticism would be that the new power ups are very meh. Elephant is basically cape/tanuki without the flying and a bigger hit box, with the trunk spray ability very limited and generally uninteresting. Bubble Mario is in theory cool but in practice not memorable and the flower is rare. The drill hat is kind of cool but rare and extremely situational, so it feels almost like another wonder flower transformation more than a common power up along the lines of elephant or fire flower. I would rather have had the freeze flower back, and a few more interesting power ups would have been welcome. Without the wonder flowers this game would feel flat.

But of course the wonder flowers are the game's main new mechanic so it's not really fair to discount them, and with them it is constantly inventive and surprising in the best way. It won't be my GOTY but it will be in my top 10.

One other thing I've noticed is that like Ol' Jeffy Gerstmann I don't really feel compelled to play this game for long stretches. This is not a game I'm piling hours into but one I pick away at a few courses at a time. I don't really know why because I don't get bored and I always have a good time, but after a few courses I'm just...satsified and ready to do something else, then I come back to it later in the same day or the next. Can't explain.

@bigsocrates: I'm broadly in agreement with you, but I had to comment on your last paragraph, because I'm experiencing the same thing! Other than the first day, where I dropped maybe 3 hours into it, everything since has been satisfying bite-sizes. This is, to put it mildly, very unlike my general game playing style, but for whatever mysterious reason it works for this game.

i'm undoubtedly in the minority, but i think i'd prefer it if the levels and concepts weren't so bite-sized. the wonder flower segments are overwhelmingly my favorite part, and i find myself wishing it was a game of maybe 20 of those for longer stretches.

very fun game though, no doubt!

@mellotronrules: I don't think I necessarily agree with you but I do understand where you're coming from. In some ways this game's levels feel like demos for bigger more expansive iterations on its concepts, and while some of the wonder seeds are pure novelties some are mechanically interesting and could be fleshed out.

Plus there are all the mini levels like the badge challenges or the "break time" levels, making everything seem very brief and bite-sized. There's enough that I think that the game isn't necessarily content poor (though it seems not as long as some other recent 2D mario games) but it's kind of like a meal of appetizers, which can be fun but may not satisfy you if you're looking for something heartier.

yeah that's an apt way of putting it- there are so many fun ideas on display, i personally think they could definitely riff on them a little harder.

but i also see the breezy appeal of wham-bam-thank you mario, and it's a great display of creativity- so it all makes sense.

Still have a few loose ends to clean up, but had a great time with this game. Found it very hard to put down when I could play another level instead. My one complaint: this game is easy. Like, probably the easiest mainline Mario game ever. I unlocked what seems to be the final challenge of the game earlier today and beat it in maybe 5 tries (which technically does make it one of the hardest in the game). Pretty underwhelming, and I feel like I've already forgotten most of the level. By comparison, Odyssey's and 3D World's final challenges each took me hours to finish, and finally getting through them felt like a real triumph. This game's open map design and difficulty rating for each level really gave them the opportunity to satisfy casual players while also providing more of a challenge for players looking for it, and they just didn't take it. The game is an excellent roller coaster ride, but I think breezing through it does cause it to all feel like a bit of a blur, which is a shame. So there's that teeny worry in the back of my head that Mario will become too easy, but at the same time, it's been decades since we've had a 2D Mario this good, so it's hard not to be excited for the future.

Finished the game: I thought it was really great. Definitely left wanting more but that's better than getting tired of it. Looking forward to playing it together with my nieces at Christmas!

Most surprising aspect for me was how much fun I had with the online part. Helping others find secrets / rezzing them after tough jumps was always a treat.

So I just rolled credits on this. Obviously I fell off for awhile but I did want to at least finish the "story" campaign and I'm sure I will pick away at some of the levels I didn't get to over the coming months. Honestly I, too, was left wanting more and I thought that the main levels were a bit on the easy side. The final boss especially is a bit of a cakewalk.

I really loved this game at the beginning and there are some great aspects to it and ideas it has but it feels slight for a full price adventure. I realize that Mario games aren't necessarily "for" people like me (Mario, just like Wu Tang, is for the children) but I have played most of the mainline games in the series and really loved many of them. I had a good time with Wonder but I am not sure people will still be talking about it in a year or two.

Will it be remembered as a major reinvention of the series and a turning point away from the stale New Super Mario Bros. formula and towards greater creativity or just as kind of a weird entry towards the end of the Switch's life? I don't know.

I will say that the wonder seed transformations really do anchor the game and keep it from being a disappointment. It may not be long or hard enough but it has a lot of really fun moments.

La verdad es que Super Mario Wonder me parece un poco sobrevalorado. Es cierto que sus animaciones y estilo visual son cautivadores y aporta excelentes ideas de juego, como esperábamos de esta franquicia. Sin embargo, como algunos han señalado, en su conjunto puede resultar insuficiente, quizás corto y falto de profundidad en comparación con otros grandes juegos que han dejado huella en los fans de la serie a lo largo de los años.