The newly released Super Mario Bros. Wonder has amazed Nintendo fans across the globe. It was the first mainline 2D Mario platformer released since New Super Mario Bros. U in 2012.
Nintendo fans have been craving a new 2D Mario game for the past decade, so Nintendo finally delivered; however, Nintendo decided to release the first regular 2D Mario Platformer that wasn’t under the ”New” title since Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins in 1992.
Nintendo decided to make this game feel more unique than past Mario games. However, it’s “too unique,” because it doesn’t feel like Mario.
The music is good but doesn’t have the same feel that all previous Mario games had. The art style looks much different compared to most Mario games, almost in a silly way. This isn’t much of a problem for new Nintendo fans, but there’s no nostalgia for the lifelong fans that Mario games have.
While the new art style and music doesn’t feel right, there are still new elements and power-ups that were a positive change compared to previous Mario games.
Collectibles
The biggest change from all Mario games to this one is the Wonder Seed. There are two to three Wonder Seeds per level. By collecting a Wonder Flower, Mario is struck with the Wonder Effect. This alters the level and brings Mario to a funky reality. The background changes, pipes and trees move, and Mario is forced to collect the Wonder Seed to escape the Wonder Effect. No Mario game has ever done this, and it adds a silly element to the game; however, the Wonder Seeds are still challenging to collect, making the difficulty and silliness balance out.
Similar to previous Mario games, there are also three coins per level, but this time, they’re Purple Coins instead of Star Coins. They work the same and are just as annoying to collect. In some cases, they’re in ridiculous spots like in the sky, which can only be accessed by hitting a random block in the level, which spawns a vine leading to the sky. With there already being two Wonder Seeds per level, the Purple Coins slow down the pace and force the player to look in random spots for the coins. As a result, the Purple Coins are an unnecessary time-waster that many people will simply YouTube to find the locations of them because wondering around aimlessly is not fun.
Power-ups
Most Mario games hit it out of the park with new power-ups, and this game is no different. In the first level, the Elephant Fruit is introduced. Mario is turned into an elephant and can hit enemies with his trunk, it’s one of the funniest-looking power-ups in any Mario game. When Mario eats the Elephant Fruit, he says ”Wowie Zowie!”
In Billy Given’s article All Super Mario Bros. Wonder Power-Ups, Ranked, published by Digital Trends, he loves how the power-up looks and works. ”Visually and mechanically, there’s just no other power-up in Super Mario Bros. Wonder that hits this hard, both literally and figuratively.”
The next new power-up shown is the Bubble Flower. The Bubble Flower allows Mario to shoot bubbles that will eliminate enemies. Although it works like the Fire Flower, bubbles can travel through walls and diagonally across the screen; fireballs from the Fire Flower stop at walls and only move left to right.
Finally, the Drill Hat is shown and instantly becomes one of the best power-ups in any Mario game. While it isn’t the prettiest, it may be the most overpowered power-up in the game. The Drill Hat allows Mario to dig and travel through the ground and ceiling. While Mario is in the ground, he can’t be damaged by enemies.
Characters
Super Mario Bros. Wonder has the most playable characters out of any Mario platformer. It includes Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad who all play the same. Yoshi and Nabbit are also playable characters but neither of them takes damage and can’t use power-ups.
Difficulty
Super Mario Bros. Wonder balances out its difficulty better than any Mario game. Many Nintendo fans thought the game would be too easy after seeing the funny-looking art style; however, this game is more challenging than most Mario games, but it isn’t unfair and builds a competitive setting for players.
This game has a difficulty ranking system, which no Mario game has ever had. Each level is rated by stars with one star being the easiest and five stars being the hardest. As players progress through the game, more four and five-star levels pop up.
Nathan Firch, writer for Wccftech, believes Nintendo did a great job of balancing out the difficulty of the game and believes that even lifelong players should be challenged, which previous Mario games struggled to do. ”The New Super Mario Bros. games were often criticized for their difficulty curves, specifically, that the games didn’t get hard at all until near the very end, but that’s not the case here. Every course has a difficulty rating and Nintendo mixes some tough levels into early worlds for those who want to challenge themselves early. Once players get to the game’s latter half, even wizened old Mario vets should find themselves engaged by the challenge.”
Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder lived up to its expectations despite some glaring flaws. This game had so much emphasis on change and succeeded in most of those changes. This game deserves an 8 out of 10, but fans should worry that the next edition will stray too far away from the Mario we have grown up with.
All Photo Credits: Nintendo
Published by: CallahanLeahy2025
Back to Wolf Pack Press