It arrives in stores in just over 10 days Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a new 2D platformer exclusive to Nintendo Switch. This isn’t the first time we’ve brought you some post-game experiences, but taking advantage of the fact that we already have the full game, today we want to delve a little deeper into some other aspects.
Please note that due to embargo issues we are unable to speak or teach as much as we would like: The creators of the game want to keep as many secrets and curiosities as possible so they are discovered by the player.
And this is what I can’t agree with: Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of those games that is better off knowing little or nothing. While the game’s base is “old-fashioned” 2D Super Mario Bros., this is the most disruptive installment we’ve seen in years, introducing “surprise” elements in each level that change up the familiar formula.
This is something that Nintendo has masterfully done in recent years, updating their most famous series. We’ve seen it with the last two Zeldas (especially with Breath of the Wild and after Tears of the Kingdom), with Kirby and The Forgotten Land or Pokémon Legends: Arceus… and now it’s applied with complete skill to the crown jewel of the platform.
Gameplay changes that, without completely losing their essence, transform the experience into something new and refreshing. This is the idea that Super Mario Bros. revolves around. wonder: a two-dimensional platform game, but more unpredictable and strange than the previous games in the series.
Wonder Flowers, the crazy ingredient from Super Mario Bros. Wonder that changes everything
For this new installment, Nintendo tackled the Kingdom of Flor, a new neighbor of the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario and company travel after receiving an invitation from Prince Florian.
But, as always happens, Bowser has to show up to spoil things, and upon touching the Magnificent Flower, it becomes a floating fortress of sorts, intent on capturing all flowers of that type to do some evil. You already know what you’re getting, right?
We won’t lie to anyone the story and dialogues are the least important here, and maybe the weakest, at least in the part we were able to see and play. But that’s understandable given that it’s a game for the whole family, including the little ones.
This is something that other ideas also reinforce, such as having characters that don’t take damage (such as colored Yoshis or Kaka Gazappa). But be careful, that doesn’t mean anyone looking for a challenge won’t find it here.
From the first bars, Super Mario Bros. Wonder surprises by breaking the rules that have always been present in 2D Mario games. So, while we start off with a traditional scheme of unlocking levels and progressing along lines (like in NES Super Mario Bros or Super Mario World), we soon gain access to small ‘open’ areas.
In these areas we find everything from the levels themselves to the so-called amusements (which are like mini-games or levels with unusual conditions), as well as badge challenges (which we will talk about later), shops and even reminders to activate online regimes.
Needless to say that There is no shortage of secrets, shortcuts, and hidden paths in these areas…If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a pure Mario game. Also, in these open spaces, you decide the order in which to do things.
It should be noted that the Super Mario Bros levels and tests. Wonder show their level of complexity with the star system1 to 4 (at least in the part we’ve seen so far) and they might even require us to have some Miraculous Seed to unlock them earlier.
These Wonder Seeds are a major collectible, just like the stars in Super Mario 64, and we always get them when we complete a level for the first time. Another one of these seeds is obtained by activating the level’s Magnificent Flower, which is unique in each case, and overcoming “whatever happens” next.
At this point, we’re not going to surprise anyone after Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct and several subsequent videos. These flowers produce the craziest effects imaginable.: They change the physics, the setting, the characters, they turn us into enemies, they cause an avalanche that destroys everything… each level has its own madness.
Many of the levels we played were in previous impressions, such as Arrival at the Flower Kingdom, the first level in which the pipes become “caterpillars”, or Invincible Tap Tap, in which a flower causes a stampede.
Among the new ones, I particularly liked the level “The Cave of Gem Blocks”, whose Wonder Flower completely changes the style of the game to become a sort of Mr. Driller (a Namco classic) in which we have to drill a type of crystal while running away from a giant rock that threatens to crush us from above.
We tested about a dozen, and you can see the results in the video at the beginning of this article. Unlike previous experiences, we played solo to see if it would be more difficult… and the truth is, with the exception of a few levels, they are all accessible and above all, fun.
There is also no shortage of other “new” elements such as Purple Flower Coins that are the currency used to buy items in Poplin shops (icons, lives, panels…) or even to help repair the paths that allow us to move forward.
In addition, as in countless Mario games, there are also larger and often hidden flower coins that we must also find in order to pass the level at 100% (also taking into account the search for optional exits or reaching the highest point of the final position).
Levels… and more: hobbies, badges, multiplayer…
Without going into details to keep the surprises, apart from the regular levels, there are also other types of challenges called Badge Challenges and Hobby Challenges.
These last, Badges are an item that gives us special abilities which we can equip when entering a level (or when dying on it before returning to the game). Some we buy, others are given to us when entering certain levels, others are hidden… In total, there are more than 20 different ones.
As we mentioned before, we can’t preview all of them, but we can show some of the ones we’ve unlocked and give a few glimpses of the effects they have:
- Parachute cap– While in the air, press or shake the controller to open the hat and slowly float down.
- Rock climbing jump: jump to the wall and then press B to jump straight once.
- Dolphin Drive: While underwater, press R or shake the controller to unleash a short burst of speed.
- High jump: jumps higher than normal and floats for a moment.
- Squat High Jump: Crouch and charge up energy to jump higher than normal.
- Climbing plant: While in the air, press R or shake the controller to launch a vine that can be attached to a wall.
- Award: You get coins for defeating enemies.
- Automatic super mushroom: You start the level with a super mushroom.
- Defensive rebound: You bounce off pits, lava, or poison pools (only once per fall).
- Sensor: detects important nearby items such as flower coins or wonder seeds.
- Coin magnet: attract nearby coins
- speed: you run at higher speeds all the time
- Invisibility: You disappear from sight, making it impossible for enemies to find you.
Therefore, icons will also be an important help to achieve 100% completion of levels, for example, if you have trouble finding some key objects, or, conversely, for additional help, for example, not to die when falling into a pit or chasm, when level chokes you.
There are also certain issues to be found around these icons, which require us to master these skills in a more complex context. One of the ones we tried offers us to use the wall jump in a very precise way (the prize for the trials is a miracle grain).
Logically, the further we progress, these trials will also become more difficult. Like the levels themselves, there are 4-star ones, in case you thought that all the trials in the game would be easy…
In addition to challenges, there are also so-called hobbies, which, as we mentioned before, are “atypical” levels where we have to do something very specific (and no, it doesn’t go all the way).
We’re not going to go into anything too specific, but there are speed goals, others that play with memory, find objects… there’s a little bit of everything, and it also helps add to the sense of variety and expect the unexpected with every step we take.
Finally, everything They can be used in a multiplayer game, both locally and online, for 4 players. If you play online, you must have an active subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, and it has some extra features.
So, for example, in Poplin stores you can buy so-called panels, which are, as it were, cut-out game characters in various poses. There are 144 of them in total, and they are completely random (you can repeat them when you buy them).
To make a comparison, its function is similar to the message function in Dark Souls, we can place these panels anywhere in the levels (it’s random, we don’t choose the model), but They will be especially useful if we place them in front of a “difficult” area..
This way, online players will be able to see these panels, and if they happen to die and remain in spirit form, they will be able to go to these panels to regain their lives.
Final impressions before reviewing Super Mario Bros. Wonder
The more I play Super Mario Bros Wonder, the more it becomes clear to me that the game isn’t just a breath of fresh airbut it’s also a great showcase to recreate the best of the entire history of 2D Marios and make a sort of “greatest hits” remade with new ideas.
If you have played the previous Mario 2D, here you will find many levels that you have seen before, but you will experience them like never before. And not only in games: Technically, it’s a waste of beauty and good taste.. Graphically, I think it’s as attractive and powerful as Luigi’s Mansion 3, which was already impressive in its time.
And if the effect of Wonderful Flowers is impressive, wait and see character animations, which change contextually depending on who we’re working with, whether they have enabled inclusion, etc. For variety, they differ even in minor details, such as entering a pipe or completing a level. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a carefully crafted gameand it shows a lot.
If I had to single out something negative… perhaps the only thing it would be the voices of the talking plants. They’re a little funny, sometimes with childish jokes… but luckily they can be muted in the settings to make it less noisy. Or you can even put them in Japanese, which is less tiring.
At the moment, there is not much we can say about Super Mario Bros. Wonder without spoiling the impression. Short of finishing the game in its entirety and giving you our final verdict, I have no doubt that along with WarioWare: Move It! and Super Mario RPG, will the final touch to a historic year for Nintendo.
