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Returning to its 2D platforming roots, the Super Mario series is reinvigorated by “Super Mario Bros. Wonder,” which feels the ultimate version of a lineage of games that started with the original “Super Mario Bros.” and ended with “Super Mario World.”
While that have been many 2D Mario games since Mario World, none have felt like they broke new ground like Mario Wonder. The level designs are creative, not only moving horizontally and vertically through levels, but occasional moving into the background or foreground. Everything looks fantastic, with detailed animations of Mario and his friends and enemies that often make you feel like you’re playing a cartoon. The new power-ups are fun. While the game includes classics like Fire Flowers and Super Mushroom, new additions like the Elephant, Bubble, and Drill abilities all add different ways of progressing through levels. The game also adds Badges that can either give Mario useful abilities like higher jumps or saving himself from falling to his death. You can only use one badge at a time, and some also can actually make levels harder. (Like a badge that allows Mario to run super-fast and jump after walking on air but forces him to keep running non-stop.) The biggest selling point to the game is the Wonder Flowers. Grabbing one will really throw you for a loop because you don’t know what’s going to happen the first time you grab that level’s flower. You could turn into a Goomba and be forced to waddle along past enemies, find yourself floating weightlessly through space or even be surrounded by singing and dancing Piranha Plants.
The plot is irrelevant, just the standard “Mario must save the Kingdom from Bowser” story. This time the action takes place in the Flower Kingdom, which isn’t really different than any other place we’ve been in these games. The leader is a pretty forgettable caterpillar, while the inhabitants are just total rip-offs of the Toads, but flower people instead of mushroom people. (However, the talking flowers you come across are surprisingly charming and breathe life into your adventure.) You can choose from a wide array of playable characters, but it gets pretty redundant once you get to four or five different color Yoshis. Thankfully, the enemies are more varied and have a nice mix of classics and brand-new foes.
The gameplay is varied, with the worlds getting progressively harder as you get closer to the end. And there are plenty of hidden exits that will take you to levels that will put all your skills to the test and then some. While beating every level, finding the big purple coins, and touching the top of the flagpoles will get you to nearly being 100% complete in a fairly organic way, having to buy all the standees by collecting enough normal purple coins turns the game into a grind. (Since you can’t hold more than 999 at a time, and you’ll probably spend them all on extra lives for the super hard levels, you probably won’t get enough coins with by just playing and completing the rest of the game.)
“Super Mario Bros. Wonder” improves on the 2D Mario lineage and still keeps the spirit of those early NES and SNES games. Well-designed levels, detailed character animations, and the wonderful chaos caused by the Wonder Flowers make for a fun, and occasionally challenging adventure.
****1/2 out of *****