Mario Wonder: More Wonder Bread than Wonderment

This will be my first in a series of blog posts for the SuperPod network. I plan to write reviews of games I've recently played, retrospectives of games I've completed in the past, and anything else that comes to mind. I will be putting a special emphasis on the history behind the games I write about. For a quick introduction: My name is Will and I'm from Dallas, Texas. Video games have been a part of my life since my older sister watched me die a thousand deaths in Super Mario Bros. 3 on her Super Nintendo. I discovered the SuperPod Network through my friend, Chris, over at A Novel Console, as well as Thrak's multiple guest appearances on the show (I stalk him wherever he goes. It's consensual. Maybe.). I like Yakuza and short walks to the fridge. But enough about me...

I recently completed 2023's Super Mario Bros. Wonder on the Nintendo Switch. As one of the most recent entries in the pantheon of Mario spin-offs, expectations for Wonder were high when the release was announced unexpectedly in the June 2023 Direct. Upon release, Mario Wonder received universal acclimation from reviewers, but did it live up to the lofty expectations set by the Super Mario franchise, to have both a challenging and accessible 2D platformer? In my opinion, we're still stuck in neutral here, with the scales shifted towards accessible.

Mario Wonder is technically a standalone entry, but it was billed by the developer, Nintendo EPD (the largest studio under the Nintendo corporate umbrella), as a spiritual successor to the Super Mario Bros. titles on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Unfortunately for Wonder, it has much more in common with the New Super Mario Bros. series that preceded it. For some background: after 1990's Super Mario World there was not another standalone single player 2D Mario title on home console or handheld for 16 years. Fans would have to content themselves with the Mario & Wario Land games on handheld, or Yoshi's Island.

We take it for granted in 2024 that there is an enduring market for 2D platformers, but in the mid 00s this was far from the case. The vast majority of major studios had moved on to 3D, and there was not yet a robust indie gaming industry to fill the gaps. 2D platformers continued to find success on the Game Boy family of handhelds, but the aforementioned Land franchise was much more niche than Mario Bros. on the NES. So it came as a surprise to the public when Nintendo announced that a game called "New Super Mario Bros." (NSMB) would be released on the megahit Nintendo DS system. While it may seem obvious in hindsight, Nintendo took a risk putting such a hefty marketing budget behind the new title.

The gamble paid off, as NSMB became the best selling DS title of all time with 30 million units sold. The 1-2 punch of Nintendogs and NSMB ensured that the DS would become the best selling gaming console ever. NSMB was incredibly beginner friendly with a toned down difficulty from the NES/SNES titles and giant mushrooms that allowed you to break through previously unbreakable barriers giving you a reason to replay certain levels. At this point Nintendo saw green, and much to our detriment, released a flurry of NSMB sequels on the Wii (2009), 3DS (2012), and Wii U (2012-2013).

By the time we got to the Wii U, a NSMB title was no longer the console mover and shaker it had been just 6 years prior. They failed to meaningfully sell the 3DS or Wii U who were both struggling. It seems that Nintendo decided to go back to the drawing board and placed any future titles on hold. Close cousin games were released in the form of the Mario 3D World and Land games, but as their name would suggest they were not 2D platformers (but they are MUCH better games). The Switch has the Midas touch however, and in 2019 the rerelease of NSMB and Luigi U in one package as NSMB U Deluxe sold 17 million units in 2019. This piqued Nintendo's interest, and development of Wonder began soon after.

Nintendo EPD was ordered to make a unique entry that harkened back to the NES titles, and over 2,000 suggestions were provided by Nintendo developers to change up the stale franchise. Nintendo gave the development team a long runway with no deadline imposed, even though releasing it at the same time as the Mario movie would be a rising tide for both entries. Did they succeed in reinvigorating the franchise? After 25-30 hours played, I would say no, but it's a start.

Let's start with the good: Mario Wonder is as polished and easy to pick up as any Mario game. New features to the Mario gameplay format include badges, which can make tackling certain levels easier for example by allowing you to jump higher, or giving you a second chance when you fall off the map. You earn these badges by completing certain levels or paying off merchants with "Flower Coins" that are earned through playing the game (you'd think they'd help Mario for free given the condition of their Kingdom, but that's none of my business...). New power-ups include the elephant mushroom which turns Mario into a giant elephant that can frontally penetrate enemies and shoot steamy bullets of water, a drill mushroom that lets Mario drill down and up into the map (and his enemies), and a bubble mushroom that allows Mario to blow bubbles to suffocate his enemies, or jump on to reach higher ground. In retrospect, Freud would have a lot to say about these power-ups!

The other major change to the Mario formula is the "wonder seed" (I can't make these undertones up!) gameplay. Optional in most levels, hitting the wonder seed icon changes up the level and usually forces the player to quickly navigate through obstacles in order to collect all of the wonder seeds in a zone. This provides some replayability as you usually can't complete everything to do in a level in one run.

Now for the bad: Wonder plays the difficulty level far too conservatively. Nobody is expecting a 2023 platformer to be as difficult as an NES game, least of all me, but the 6 worlds that make up the core Mario Wonder gameplay are laughably easy to get through. There is no real difficulty spike to speak of, all of the levels are usually in the 2-3 star range (out of 5) up to the final boss fight. There is a secret world that can be accessed after each individual world, and the levels found there are punishing, but the game really lacks an in between setting. Don't get me wrong, the secret world is very fun, but Wonder would have benefited from making the back half of the worlds harder.

And the ugly: The talking flowers are unsettling. In all seriousness, Wonder is not a significant upgrade or deviation from the NSMB titles that came before. If that was Nintendo's goal, they will need to work harder. Perhaps a page needs to be taken from the success of Roguelites, but currently the Mario Maker series is doing more to move the franchise forward than anything else Nintendo is putting out. I am not mentioning the plot or setting because if you're playing a Mario game for that, then I have some beachfront property in Dallas to sell you.

Mario Wonder isn't a home run, but it's not a ground ball either. It's a single. And while a single will sell well on the Switch, I expected more from what is essentially the fifth NSMB game. At some point, you have to stop leaning on the brand expectation and change things up. Nintendo has done this to great success with Fire Emblem, Zelda, and Animal Crossing just to name a few. In an industry chock full of indie 2D platformers, Wonder would not get a second look without Nintendo's marketing budget behind it. For the next one, Nintendo needs to swing for the fences.