A series many of us will have grown up with, Super Mario Bros is the absolute titan of the 2D platforming space. With huge releases on all but two of Nintendo’s major platforms, it had previously struck some as odd that the Switch hasn’t seen any new content since its launch in 2017. At last however the dry spell has ended, and an astonishing 11 years after the debut of New Super Mario Bros U as a launch title for the Wii U, we rejoin the peerless plumber himself to see whether it was really worth the wait.

A New Beginning

The story this time opens to Mario and our colourful cast heading to the Flower Kingdom on the invitation of its prince Florian. Much to nobody’s surprise, the festivities are interrupted a certain reptilian monarch, kicking off the quest to once again thwart his evil schemes. So what’s the plan this time? To use the Wonder Flower and, hear me out, merge with a castle to… Frankly I’m not even sure what the end goal was here. Regardless he does need to be stopped, and you have one heck of a crew assembled to stand in his way.

Outside of the series staples Mario and Luigi, and New Super Mario Bros staples of Toad and less good Toad, we’re joined by princesses Peach and Daisy, Toadette, an assortment of Yoshis, and Nabbit. It’s quite refreshing to have a story start out with the princess not being capturing, and it’s great to finally have both Peach and Daisy as a playable characters in a 2D Mario game. This diverse cast does come with a bit of a caveat in that most of them play exactly the same, with Yoshi and Nabbit basically functioning as an easy mode. While Nabbit just walks through any potential source of damage and is a great choice for the younger siblings of the world, it is neat to see Yoshi getting some unique moves in their signature flutter jump and eating abilities. You also won’t take damage as Yoshi, but you will at least be knocked back. It’s a decent middle ground, and also just a really fun character to use if you want some variety later into the game.

Jumping right into the first level gives you a great taste of what’s to come, and believe me there’s a lot to like. Movement feels snappy and responsive, and the larger art style is a real breath of fresh air after seeing much of the same from the New Super Mario Bros games for the past 17 years. The music especially stands out, and this is something you’ll notice throughout the game with the game’s style and flair really shining in the audio. From this early stage it’s small details like the music emphasising brass once you’ve picked up the new Elephant Fruit power up, but as you progress the soundtrack does more and more to stand out. This isn’t just something that just sits in the background, it really goes a long way in supporting the unique and interesting visuals.

Out of the gate you’re given the new Elephant Fruit, which is fairly typical for a 2D Mario game. Mario 3 gave you the Raccoon Suit, New Super Mario Bros gave you the giant mushroom, Wii gave you the Propeller Suit, and U gave you the Squirrel Suit. It follows tradition to show you this shiny new power from the start but I couldn’t help feeling underwhelmed. It set me off on the game with a bit of a sour taste for just how minor the power-up felt compared to its predecessors. You can break blocks and spray water from your trunk, but it lacks the same freedom given to you by the various flight-enabling power-ups that came before it. As I played more though, I did start to understand. It sets a tone that you won’t break a level so easily with power-ups by just avoiding all of its dangers and flying above. Instead, the levels are designed to be broken on their own terms with thanks to the Wonder Flowers, and this is where the game really comes into its own.

Flower Power

At the core of any Mario game is of course its level design, and it’s here we’ve seen the majority of the series development since New Super Mario Bros hit the scene in 2006. We’ve seen new levels, we’ve seen fresh power-ups, but that’s really been it. Thanks to the addition of Wonder Flowers, this game steps things up to another level. With one in each traditional level, these flowers warp and contort your surroundings in any number of unexpected and bizarre ways. Ranging from altered graphics and twisting scenery to a sky raining stars, a singing entourage of plants and ghosts to the game transforming into a top-down Zelda-style dungeon, the Wonder Flowers are an absolute treat in crafting an entirely unique and fresh experience from start to end.

Where I really found myself impressed though is the fact that almost all of them are entirely optional. You see when you beat a level you’ll be rewarded with a Wonder Seed. You’ll need a certain number of these seeds to access key levels to progress in the game, and you can get an extra one from any level with a Wonder Flower by just finding it and playing through the section. You’re rewarded for that exploration and discovery, but you’re also not punished for missing them. With each level you often find yourself with two entirely differing environments, two ways to play. On my first playthrough I had so much fun just running through some levels and getting to the end, and I love that I was entirely able to do so. I think the Wonder Flowers are one of the best things to happen for the 2D Mario series, but it’s fantastic to see the core gameplay hasn’t been neglected for their inclusion. Pick and choose, play how you’d like. If you want to see all there is, you basically have double the levels at your disposal in choosing to or not to take the flower.

Badge of Honour

Beyond new power-ups and the Wonder Flowers though are something far simpler, yet just as impactful on your larger experience as you go from level to level. A first for 2D Mario, badges are additional unlockable abilities that can be equipped prior to entering a level. These abilities range from minor bonuses like getting coins for defeating enemies, to fundamentally changing core mechanics like movement speed and jump height. There’s a lot to like even on a surface level, with these badges enabling really fun mechanics to come back into the game in a much more granular form than something like Toadette’s Crown power-up in the Switch version of New Super Mario Bros U. They’re well-designed where nothing feels particularly broken, and even taking what might be seen as an easy mode option like saving yourself from falling into a pit is a meaningful choice you have to make in depriving yourself of something that may be either more fun or overall more useful in the level. I found myself switching up badges pretty often, even outside of levels that are largely designed for one badge over another (think water levels as a key example here, where one badge lets you dash in water).

Really my only fault with badges is in the linearity of obtaining them. I will admit a lot of this disappointment comes from the fact I was looking forward to playing with the Grappling Vine badge since its inclusion in an early trailer, only to go through the majority of the game with it nowhere in sight. This just comes down to how badges are unlocked, and it’s something I’m not really sure there would be an easy fix for. Badges are either tied to beating specific levels, usually a short challenge to act as a tutorial for the badge in question, or specific shops in the overworld. Because these levels and shops are locations you progress to, you can naturally only have certain badges at certain points in the game. A reasonable middle-ground may have been to pace badge obtaining to the first half of the game, and then spend the second half really ramping up their usage as you’ve had some time to get used to them. It just feels a shame to have these really fun powers and not all that much time to get the most out of some of them.

A Vast World

Between the levels designed for specific badges and levels that just fit them well, you do at least get a glimpse of what each badge can do at its best, and it does take us quite nicely onto talking about the larger topic of level variety. You obviously have your traditional levels. These follow a fairly standard formula that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve played any 2D Mario game before this one, and that’s not a bad thing. Each of these levels has three collectable large coins, a Wonder Seed to be collected by getting to the flagpole, and an additional Wonder Seed to be collected by finding the Wonder Flower in the level and completing its section. You might also find a secret exit here or there to reward you with an additional seed and an alternate path on the world map. Outside of your staples though, it is nice to see something more. I’ve already touched on badge challenges, providing a space to teach you how to use unique badges, and then later going onto test you with them. On top of these, you also have Wiggler races, which are a straight dash to the goal against a roller-blading Wiggler, KO Arenas, which pit you against several rooms of enemies on a timer, and finally Break Times, which are short and often one-screen levels to break up the action a touch.

I really had a great time moving between the level types, and the variety on offer did a good job in keeping the game interesting. There was one type of level in particular though that I felt could just be frustrating if playing alone, these being the Search Parties. These levels take what is potentially the most annoying aspect of user-generated Mario Maker levels, invisible blocks, and decides to run with it several times over through the game. Your goal here is to collect five fragments to form a complete seed to beat the level. These fragments are, as I mentioned, either hidden in invisible blocks, or are accessible by hitting invisible blocks. On paper this is absolutely awful design, and if you’ve played the game entirely offline, I can see very little in the way of redemption for some of these levels, the first one in particular. I do understand what they were going for though, and I can if nothing else appreciate the vision.

A Wonderful Community

Multiplayer in Mario Wonder works a touch differently to its predecessors, in no small part due to the inclusion of an online mode. While this online mode does let you host a lobby with your friends, its primary function serves to put you into a world of random people playing the game at the same time as you, and you’re able to see them in both the overworld and level. Whether playing with friends or random people, you won't be able to throw them and you can’t mess with them, but you do get a real sense of togetherness as you venture on. This togetherness is the core of the Search Party levels, and it’s only because of it I was able to get through them without just looking up a guide. Seeing other people run around, or standing mysteriously midair ended up being a genuinely fun time. People stopped to help me, and I felt compelled to do the same in pointing the way. This togetherness really does go beyond these specifically-tailored levels and spills into the game as a whole.

My strongest memory of Wonder was playing an auto-scrolling airship level a few days after launch. I had a few people in there with me making progress at their own pace, and I happened to get hit on a section that required using a cloud to navigate it. Thanks to a helpful person nearby I managed to revive myself, and for that I was treated to a surprisingly difficult platforming problem of manoeuvring rotating canons you were really meant to be flying around. I came to enjoy these small interactions, and did my part in return on some of the later levels as I guided two poor souls while they fell into lava comically often. I didn’t expect much from the multiplayer as somebody who usually plays these games alone, but the seamless nature of it connecting automatically once you’ve been online once and the community itself made it a surprise standout. In a way it reminds me of a Dark Souls game though, where I can imagine much of this activity and magic will die down within the weeks and months following release.

I will also mention here that local multiplayer has seen some changes, with the biggest being that players can’t interact with each other anymore. There is one exception here with somebody playing as Yoshi being able to carry another player per the classic mechanic, but that’s really it. I’m personally torn as to whether this is an issue. On one hand we all have our fond memories of dumping a family member or friend into a lava pit when playing New Super Mario Bros Wii, only for them to throw the Wiimote onto the ground and leave the room. We all cherish those memories I’m sure. Is it what Nintendo want these games to be remembered for though? Probably not. Wonder puts a much higher emphasis on players supporting each other, and its version of multiplayer certainly meets this vision. It’s not necessarily worse off for it, but I can understand some degree of disappointment.

The Difficulty of a Mario Game

In terms of difficulty you really have a mixed bag in Wonder. The series as a whole has often put more of an emphasis on accessibility and creativity, and this game really sticks to that principle. It’s marvellously fun, and I feel there’s something to be had here regardless of whether you’re a child joining the series for the first time or somebody like me who’s grown up with it. I will stress there are some challenges, with the Special World in particular standing out in this respect, not to mention the very final level of the game should you choose to seek it out. The key here though is that these challenges are entirely out of the way, and you find that being common among the majority of the game’s major hurdles. They’re optional, and that’s just really good design.

The world map is central to this, and though it’s just a hub to move between levels, it’s certainly the best iteration we’ve seen to date. You can think of it as being made of three parts: linear sections where you have to beat a single level to unlock the next, an open selection of levels to pick between, and locked levels that require a set number of Wonder Seeds to open. Generally speaking the first category are your simpler traditional levels, introducing you to the larger style of a world and the themes at play, and acting as go-betweens for the larger open sections. These open sections are the meat of the game, featuring the assortment of levels available I mentioned earlier. Where this system shines is in the optional Wonder Seeds available to pick up in most traditional levels. With these, you’re open to avoid levels if you do find yourself hitting a wall, allowing for a few solid trials to be scattered around, even as early as the first world. Finally you have your locked stages, these often being castles or other minor hurdles. I did often find these less difficult than some of the stages available in the open areas, but they do strike a good balance for being stages that can’t be avoided. It’s a satisfying step up, if only a minor one, to test you on your journey.

I do also want to say how much I enjoyed the variety in terms of actual world design. In what is to my knowledge a series first, worlds don’t always end in a castle. This sounds like a small change, but it really is refreshing to see new ideas being tossed around. One world sees you tested for your worthiness to obtain the Royal Seed you’re hunting, and another sees you delve deep underground to rescue a group of Toads after a cave-in. They’re small details, but they really do add up to avoid the game feeling stale as it progresses. The castles themselves still managed to feel creative with enemies appearing around you as you make your way through them. One area that really fell short though was the bosses.

The Obligation of Bosses

Disappointing. There’s really no other word for them. In a game that screams creativity and variety, they for some reason decided to make every castle boss into the exact same fight. I hope you like Bowser Jr because you’ll be seeing him a lot! Now these fights have some interesting elements. The core idea is that they start out normal, you jump on the child Koopa’s head, and then things start to spice up with some Wonder power. This might warp the room, it might affect you, or it might affect Bowser Jr. If this were just one fight I think it’d be a fine idea, but it isn’t. It’s especially frustrating when you realise they already had a winning formula for this in 1995 with Yoshi’s Island on the SNES.

In that game, you see Kamek turn completely normal enemies into wildly creative and fun bosses by throwing some magic on them. That’s all we really needed. Enemies have so much personality in this game thanks to their revamped graphics and animations, and I’d have loved to have seen this turned up to 11 and thrown into a spotlight. The bosses here feel more like an obligation than something to look forward to, and that really shouldn’t be the case. To some extent the game redeems itself with a surprisingly fun end to the story, but it just doesn’t do enough for me.

Closing Thoughts

When all is said and done, I can absolutely recommend Mario Wonder to anybody wanting a great platformer on their Switch. Though certainly not without flaws, it stands as my favourite 2D Mario experience thanks to its overwhelming creativity and style. It’s an absolute breath of fresh air to what many have viewed as a stagnating franchise, and it has me excited to see what’s coming next.