Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an Essential Game for the Nintendo Switch
I remember seeing an infographic similar the one above prior to The Game Awards, where Super Mario Bros. Wonder was nominated for Game of the Year. Awestruck by all the 9s and 10s awarded to this game, I became intrigued by what made Wonder deserving of its near perfect critical reception.
I finally managed to snag a copy of the game during the holidays to see if it was worth the hype.
It absolutely was.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is worthy of the growing praise it has received and deserves to be recognized as one of the best games released within the past few years. I feel Wonder’s success can be attributed to three gameplay elements which Nintendo nailed when conceptualizing and developing this game.
Level Design
Many games nowadays will have individual stretches that are a drag to play through. These parts often feel repetitive and unengaging because a gameplay change was not introduced in time or did not have enough of an impact to differentiate these stages of the game from the sections that preceded it.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder rarely encounters this issue with how the levels of the game are designed. Most of the levels in Wonder introduce and highlight a unique gameplay mechanic (e.g. a specific enemy type, environmental obstacle or interactable object) not featured elsewhere in the game. There are a handful of levels where previously introduced mechanics are reused. However, these levels still feel different and creative because these mechanics are utilized in a different way, often to complement another mechanic the player is experiencing for the first time. Ultimately, the lack of overlap between levels in Wonder greatly enriches the gameplay experience, as it challenges players to constantly adapt to obstacles they have not encountered before.
Each main story level also contains a Wonder Flower — a new mechanic which distinguishes Wonder’s level design from other 2D Mario games and platformers in general. Upon reaching and activating a Wonder Flower, the entire stage will transform and drastically alter the level’s pre-established gameplay design. An example of a gameplay change triggered by a Wonder Flower would be the player character transforming into an enemy or object with different movement abilities. I absolutely love the changes activated by Wonder Flowers because they often impact elements of the game such as player movement, level verticality and music which are generally untouched by the unique gameplay mechanics I previously mentioned above. Wonder Flowers wholeheartedly embrace the game’s approach to level differentiation — almost all the gameplay changes introduced by Wonder Flowers are playable exclusively in Wonder Flower sections and most of them are featured only once within the entire game. Wonder Flower changes also synergize with the gameplay mechanics each level introduces, which further elevates these mechanics and helps each level stand out from the rest even more.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a game that I find incredibly memorable, to the point where I find it easy to recall individual levels and the nuances within them. I cannot say the same for many other games I have played, and I think this primarily lends itself to the attention to detail Wonder’s level design demands from its players. By featuring meaningful variation in gameplay across nearly every single level, Wonder naturally prevents players from breezing through levels and going through the motions. The lack of predictability encourages players to put in a deliberate effort to learn the ins and outs of each level to develop the appropriate strategies to finish them. In my opinion, I really admire this philosophy because it keeps players engaged and continually pushes them to critically think as they play through the game.
Exploration
Super Mario Bros. Wonder makes it rewarding for players to meticulously explore and replay the game’s unique and imaginative levels. The game’s rich exploration is also supported by some new additions to Mario’s traditional movement mechanics and power-up library, which helped increase the freedom that players have when it comes to traversing through levels and trying out different tactics.
First, Wonder actively encourages thorough exploration through various secrets hidden off the beaten path. Most levels will have a secret path or two leading to a purple flower coin — three purple coins are found in each level and collecting them all is required for 100% completion. I found it fun going through some of these levels a second time with a completely different objective, scouring these levels high and low to acquire some of the game’s trickier purple coins which often require players to tap into their puzzle solving skills to locate.
Apart from purple coins, a handful of levels feature even harder to find secrets (usually hidden flagpoles ending the level) which unlock entirely new levels and sections of the world map. I suspect most players will end up missing these secrets, fully unaware that they were even in the game to begin with (I know I sure did!). Finding these secrets unassisted is honestly one of the most satisfying things a Wonder player can experience, which only exemplifies the importance of experimenting as you play through each level in Wonder because you never know what secrets the Mario team has tucked away for players to discover.
On the topic of experimentation, the game’s Badge system and new power-ups enable players to interact with each level in different ways and play through them differently. Badges are exclusive to Wonder, and essentially functions as a permanent skill that the player can equip and freely switch after starting a level or losing a life. I liked how many of the Badges expanded and added depth to the basic movement of characters through new abilities centred around jumping. Although many Badges are gimmicky and impractical, a handful of Badges like the Parachute Cap and Grappling Vine meaningfully influence how players can approach levels by introducing new options for reaching platforms and navigating around obstacles. One of the most enjoyable parts about Wonder’s Badge system is trying out different Badges when you play a new level for the first time, to ultimately discover which Badge is the most useful given the level’s unique layout and obstacles. The new power-ups in Wonder — in particular the Elephant Fruit and Drill Mushroom — also adds to the game’s exploration. These new power-ups offer additional ways of interacting with the environment (e.g. walls, objects, etc.) for many levels, opening up new areas that would have been difficult or impossible to reach otherwise.
Difficulty
For a game targeted to children, it goes without saying that the majority of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is not difficult at all to complete. I would even say the difficulty curve is quite reasonable, as most levels are simple enough for casual players to complete without too much frustration. However, I want to draw specific attention to the four and five star difficulty levels featured in the game, which I personally consider to be the highest points of my playthrough.
When the Mario team were designing these levels to make them hard, they really made them HARD. I really had to pay attention while playing through these levels, memorizing the behavior of different enemies and obstacles so I could properly time my movements and figure out the best route for reaching the next checkpoint. A high level of precision and planning is essential for these levels because they feature a noticeably smaller margin of error compared to the game’s easier levels with tougher jumps, more elaborate enemies / obstacles and more bottomless pits which lead to an instant death. Despite this, almost all of the levels felt fair and achievable with enough practice. The effort required to overcome these levels makes the process of finally completing them incredibly gratifying, especially as you observe yourself getting further and further with each new life by learning from the missteps made in previous runs. The best feeling though comes from beating one of the game’s 10 five star levels, which are all relegated to a bonus Special World separate from the regular world map. These levels were specifically designed to test and challenge the player, and each of them took me somewhere around 60–80 lives on average to beat for the first time.
For the game’s easier levels, I also liked how optional aspects — collecting purple coins, finding hidden exits and reaching the top of flagpoles — sometimes required more advanced techniques (e.g. making tricky wall jumps, jumping with perfect timing) to locate and reach. I personally feel this enriches the experience of attempting a completionist run of the game and adds another avenue of engagement catered to higher skill players without impacting the experience for beginner or casual players.
Final Thoughts
Regardless of whether you are a newcomer to the Mario series or a diehard Nintendo and platforming guru, I feel that all players of Wonder will fall in love with and fondly remember the game’s outstanding collection of levels. Each level in Wonder is crafted with an immaculate attention to detail and innovation that all game developers should aspire to apply to their titles. There are also so many other things that I liked about Wonder that I did not even have time to mention in this review, like the art style, secondary levels (e.g. Badge Challenges) and co-op mode! Ultimately, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a perfect fit for every Switch player’s library. It is so easy to pick up, play and come back to, and I am confident that every gamer out there can find a way to enjoy the game and discover something (or many things!) to appreciate about it.
