Super Mario Bros. Wonder | Switch Review

You’d think that with the release of Super Mario Maker 2 that Nintendo would be done with 2D Mario games. Once you give everyone the keys to the Mushroom Kingdom, there’s simply not any more ideas left, right? Super Mario Bros. Wonder proves that notion wrong. Our favorite plumber isn’t going anywhere soon thanks to the brilliant minds at Nintendo. It may lack the difficulty that longtime fans of the games might expect, but this game simply oozes with charm. You’d be hard-pressed to walk away from any individual level here without a smile on your face.

Save the Prin…err…Kingdom

I’ll give you two guesses as to whom the villain in Wonder is, but you’re only going to need one. Of course it’s Bowser. This time around, Mario isn’t rescuing Princess Peach, however. Making her a playable character is an obviously deliberate choice to tide us over until her own adventure releases in March. That’s not the only reason, of course, as I wouldn’t expect Peach to be the damsel in distress any time soon.

What is staying the same, however, is Bowser’s attempt to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. There’s not much new here story-wise. If you’re coming to a Mario game for a dense plot, you’re barking up the wrong tree. In typical fashion, Mario and his pals have to collect a certain number of items, in this case “wonder seeds”, in order to clear out the cloud piranha plants circling Bowser’s keep. Once that’s accomplished, you’ll have access to face the King of Koopas to wrap up another adventure.

I’ve said this about modern Mario games, and I’ll say the same thing about Wonder. I don’t need a rich narrative when it comes to these titles. The fact that Nintendo keeps coming up with fresh ideas with these titles is impressive. I’m here for the platforming, and this feels like a return to form after the “just OK” Mario Wii titles.

Sheer and Utter Joy

Super Mario Bros. Wonder reminds me of Super Mario World (SNES) more than any other title since its U.S. release in 1991. That game blew me away in its scope, secrets, and ridiculously fun level design. I haven’t had as much difficulty putting down a game this year as I did here; I simply didn’t want to stop playing. I just couldn’t wait to see what the next level had in store for me.

The first fun additions are the power-ups. As we all saw in the trailer, each character can turn into an elephant, and it’s just as fun as it sounds. You can attack with your trunk or bash through bricks with ease. You can even draw in water with this appendage, which adds some fun gameplay surprises. Other power-ups include one that allows you to shoot bubbles to trap your enemies (Bubble Bobble, anyone?) and a drill hat that gives you the ability to burrow into the ground or even the ceiling. They all feel like fresh additions to the genre and are never overused.

Another new addition to Wonder is the badge system. As you traverse the Mushroom Kingdom, you’ll come across “bonus” levels of sorts. These act as a way to teach you new mechanics available to you if you don an awarded badge. These offer drastically different ways to play a 2D Mario game than you’ve probably experienced. One allowed me to fire a piranha plant vine that sticks into walls and zip-lines me across the screen. Another made my character completely invisible on the screen, adding to the difficulty in a way I have no desire to ever try again. This unique approach to platforming is quite welcome. The only thing I would have changed is allowing co-op partners to choose different badges.

[Enter Obligatory “Wonder” Pun Here]

If all of that isn’t enough to entice you to play this game, let me tell you the best part. Every single level in Super Mario Bros. Wonder has a hidden “wonder flower” in it. If you have happen to collect one, the level takes a crazy turn of events that I promise you won’t see coming. The trailer doesn’t do this justice. I expected the environments to get a little wacky, but there’s so much more going on here. Every time I nabbed a wonder flower, I was blown away by the creativity put into new mechanics. Every single time I found myself thinking, “I’ve never done this in a Mario game before”. It’s absolutely astounding what’s available here, and no aspect ever overstays its welcome. It’s not as good as you’ve heard; it’s better.

I haven’t even had a chance to talk about how gorgeous Wonder looks and sounds. The color palette works perfectly with the imaginative world at play here. Everything from the enemies to the landscapes simply pop with vibrancy. I believe that sound design is often overlooked in Mario games, but both the music and sound effects are some of the best I’ve ever experienced in this series. Running over colored blocks with different musical notes feels amazing, and hearing the friendly flowers give you words of encouragement along the way will never not be satisfying. There are even tiny little touches that totally didn’t need to be in the game, but add so much. For instance, when going through a sideways pipe, your character will disappear, then reach back and grab their hat that was left behind. I love it.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Final Verdict

I’m hard-pressed to find anything negative to say about this game. The lack of difficulty may be a turnoff for some people, although there’s an entire bonus world of levels that up the challenge quite a bit. I honestly feel like Nintendo made this one a bit easier than others because they wanted to have a quality co-op experience for friends and families. I remember struggling like crazy to play with friends in the Wii era of Mario titles. Wonder doesn’t nail co-op perfectly yet, but to be honest, that’s such a tough nut to crack when it comes to multiple people on the screen at once in a platformer. Still, it feels like closest they’ve gotten yet.

Believe the hype. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a delight to play from start to finish. It never lets up on the creative nature of its level design, and there’s not a single stage that I would even consider “mediocre”. It’s all so great. Don’t let this title slip past you in an otherwise loaded 2023. I know there’s a ton of games out there to play, but this one should be near the top of your backlog list if you haven’t played it already.

To hear me talk more about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, be sure to listen to our November 29th episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a purchased Nintendo Switch copy of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It is exclusive to this platform.