Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review: A Wonderful Release

It’s been a long time since an interesting 2D Mario game was released. The New Super Mario Bros. titles weren’t bad. Some of them were even quite enjoyable. They were well-made, competent platformers made to appeal to long-term fans of the Mario franchise. None of them were particularly innovative, though. These weren’t games designed to push the series forward and do anything new. They were designed to provide a hit of nostalgia and make fans think of earlier, better games.

The most exciting thing about Super Mario Bros. Wonder may be that for the first time since the mid-90s, it feels like a 2D Mario game is trying to push the series forward. It does things this series never has before and does them incredibly well, creating a new set of experiences and points of reference for a series that has for too long been comfortable relying on what came before. While not every element works as well as it could, this is the most exciting 2D Mario game since Super Mario World.

Stranger In A Strange Land

Super Mario Bros. Wonder kicks things off with Mario and the whole gang visiting the nearby Flower Kingdom. Prince Florian, a small bug, is showing off their special wonder flower when Bowser shows up and steals it. This allows him to take over the kingdom and even merge himself with its castle in a weird mashup I’m not sure anyone would have asked for, but which largely works.

With Bowser in control, you’ll have to get into the Kingdom and take him out. This involves exploring a variety of levels in an assortment of worlds and finding the Kingdom’s royal seeds. Finding these will open the way to Bowser himself and your final confrontation.

Each world has a fairly similar setup. You take on a number of stages, each with a flag pole at the end for you to land on. Between main stages, you’ll find shops where you can spend the resources you find in levels, shorter bonus levels, and unique badge challenges, which we’ll get back to in a bit. None of this is far outside the normal Mario playbook. At certain points in each world, though, you’ll find a hard stop where you need a set amount of Wonder Seeds to progress. These Wonder Seeds are primarily earned by completing levels, but you can also gain them by completing Wonder Flowers within those levels, meaning that most stages have at least two seeds available.

Wonder Flowers

What are Wonder Flowers? They’re the major new power-up for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, though, even calling them that isn’t quite right. Whenever you touch a Wonder Flower, the world around you shifts. How does it do so? It changes entirely from one level to another. In some levels, your playable character might transform into a completely new type of creature or even into a type of enemy. In others, the world shifts, and the very properties of the game change. Others may send you on a race to stay ahead of stampeding foes. While some of the cooler Wonder Flower effects are repeated once or twice, for the most part, each stage is unique, so each time you grab one of these flowers, you’ll need to be ready for anything. It’s an incredibly compelling concept, and the vast majority of the changes are winners. You can complete a stage without its Wonder Flower, but you’ll be leaving behind at least a seed and also a fun experience.

Stage variety here is a huge winner as you’ll find that in addition to the main levels, you also have smaller combat arenas, races with Wiggler, smaller stages where you just have to locate hidden items, and small puzzle-based stages that are quick but fun experiences. You’ll also find badge challenges, which are the other major addition to the Mario formula this time around.

Despite having a large cast of playable characters, most of them play identically. Those of us used to being able to float with Princess Peach or jump higher with Luigi may be disappointed, but there’s a good reason for this. The only characters who play differently are Yoshi and Nabbit, the two designated easy mode characters. They can’t take damage but also don’t get to use the game’s power-ups, which is a shame at times as even on easy mode, these power-ups would be fun. To customize any other character, you’ll need to equip them with badges. Mario Wonder is filled with a huge group of badges, which each carry a unique ability. One might make you jump further. Another might act as a grappling hook. One lets you dash underwater. There are dozens of badges to find. Some are given for completing a badge challenge, a special course where you must prove you can use the new badge. Others are just sold in the shops. These badges, though, can be a massive help if you’re stuck on a level. That’s not likely to happen too often for more experienced players as Super Mario Bros Wonder isn’t the most challenging game in the world. Still, some challenge levels significantly increase the difficulty and will test even more experienced players. They’re not going to gate your progress, but the right badge can make all the difference there.

Minor Issues

There are several other new powers in Super Mario Bros. Wonder as well. The new elephant ability, which literally turns your character into a pachyderm, has gotten the most press, and it’s a very cool option, allowing you to break through blocks and throw most enemies around with ease. You also have a drill helmet which allows you to break through blocks and protects you from above, and a bubble ability which allows you to shoot bubbles. All of them are a success, and of course, they’re joined by at least a few series mainstays, such as the fire flower.

The team at Nintendo mostly did a brilliant job with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but there are a few missteps here. Multiplayer is fine but not a strength. Playing offline, you’ll all be on screen together, but there’s little interaction, and everyone has to use the same badge, which is limiting. Online you’ll play the same levels as others, but other players are represented only as shadows. While you can revive each other, or be revived by random players if you aren’t playing with friends, this all feels somewhat limiting.

Boss battles are also not a highlight. Several worlds end without any climactic encounter, and the ones that do have a boss mostly just have you fight the same boss over and over again. This fight isn’t very interesting the first time around, it certainly doesn’t get better by the third time you’re going through it with only minor changes, though the last version of it at least plays with some of the game’s insanity. The final confrontation with Bowser is better but still not particularly memorable.

Conclusion

Those are minor missteps, though, in an otherwise fantastic release. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is easily the most interesting a 2D Mario title has been since the 90s, and any fan of platformers absolutely needs to play this game. The Switch has had a fantastic year for first-party releases, but Super Mario Bros. Wonder stands alongside the very best of them.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: Switch (Reviewed); Publisher: Nintendo; Developer: Nintendo EPD; Players: 4; Released: October 20th, 2023; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $59.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a retail copy of Super Mario Bros. Wonder