Super Mario Bros Wonder review: Jaunty and delightful addition to the famous plumber’s toolbelt

It’s one of those few games that does precisely what it says on the cover and does so with a refreshing amount of confidence, imagination and glee.(Image: Nintendo)

Whether Mario Kart, Mario Party, Smash Bros, Paper Mario or Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, I’ve always enjoyed the iconic Nintendo character’s side hustles far more than his day job. The side-scrolling titles that entailed jumping on Goombas and Koopa Troopas, avoiding Piranha Plants, sliding down pipes and jumping deftly across platforms have very rarely held my attention too long.

A large part of this could very well be down to my stunning lack of competence when it comes to the genre of platformers in general. From as far back as Lode Runner (1983) and Dangerous Dave (1988) through a litany of Metroidvania titles and as recently as Shovel Knight, I’ve lacked the application and capacity to make much progress in games of this sort. Certainly, the original Prince of Persia — which I actually completed on a number of occasions — can technically be called a platformer, but is an anomaly since it featured a healthy mix of combat and platforming.

To cut a long story short, even after a few teasers and gameplay videos published by Nintendo in the leadup to launch, I wasn’t really sure what the lure of Super Mario Bros Wonder was and whether I even wanted to check it out. After all, to my untrained (and quite dismissive) eye, it looked like the old jumping-around Super Mario games with a lick of paint. A fancy lick of paint, no doubt, but a lick of paint all the same.

(Image: Nintendo)

Subverting a tried-and-tested formula

In the world of game development, there’s a tendency to cling tightly to a successful formula and stick with it until the bitter end — said end being the time when gamers finally tire of it and abandon the IP/series of games in droves. On the other end of the spectrum are those few who try and constantly innovate with new ideas. Sitting nestled comfortably somewhere in the middle are those who take an idea that has brought them much acclaim, popularity and wealth and seek to put a twist on it.

With 2006’s New Super Mario Bros, Nintendo dusted off and revived the Italian plumber in a 2D side-scrolling game for the first time in 14 years. Instead of just rebooting an old game, the developer took a slightly different approach by using 3D models instead of the usual 2D ones and giving the game a distinctly 2.5D look. The platforming action became more complex and simultaneously less rigid with new enemy types, different platforming physics and a whole lot of different ways to complete a level.

Now, nearly 18 years on, this evolving take on side-scrollers has arrived on the Nintendo Switch in the form of Super Mario Bros Wonder, having previously turned up on the Japanese gaming giant’s Wii and Wii U consoles. Not having played any of the titles in the ‘New Super Mario Bros’ franchise, this was all very new to me.

The game, as you’d expect, is a Switch exclusive and with the console lurching into its seventh year, Super Mario Bros Wonder is certainly one of its last major releases. As I waited for the game to load up (a fairly short wait), I couldn’t help pondering the fiddliness of the Switch’s tiny game cards. But that’s a story for another day, because we were soon up and running, and plunged right into the story.

As with a majority of Mario titles, the ‘story’ — if at all it can even be called that — exists simply to lend a few brush strokes of colour to your journey. Further, it can be summarised in one line: Regular baddie Bowser has invaded and occupied the Flower Kingdom and you have to liberate it. At your disposal are franchise regulars Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, Toadette and Yoshi, and Nabbit (whom I was encountering for the very first time). All of them play largely the same, except for Yoshi and Nabbit, who cannot take damage but cannot benefit from power-ups either.

(Image: Nintendo)

A masterclass in capturing wonder

I decided to go with Mario for my first foray into Super Mario Bros Wonder and it didn’t take long for me to be mesmerised by the game’s sense of joy and magic. It was probably the first thing I noticed about bouncing around off one platform, onto a Koopa Troopa and to another platform was how precise it all felt. My experience with side-scrolling Mario titles until this point has largely entailed sliding off platforms or falling off them in an overzealous attempt at overcorrection.

But Super Mario Bros Wonder was a revelation in that regard. Not only did I find myself skilfully able to manoeuvre across its array of colourful and beautifully designed levels, but I was able to do so with a smile on my face rather than through gritted teeth. The old-school Mario games used to leave me a glowering and gnashing mess, but not this title. Not yet anyway, because certain later levels (for instance, those set on ice) leave you slipping and sliding in a vain effort to retain your foothold.

If it wasn’t the transformation to the awesome elephant form, the singing Piranha Plants and the diversity of level types, it was the innovative badges (that serve as modifiers) and trials that kept me captivated for every second of my time in Super Mario Bros Wonder. To elaborate just a little bit on the varied level types, apart from the traditional side-scrolling and platforming, the game features jumping-focussed levels, combat-driven ones, freefalling ones that require moving from side-to-side to collect coins and gems and more.

And this is before we even get into the marvellous art style. While the aesthetic seems uniform, it’s how individual levels are handled that is most striking. From levels where a quick journey down a pipe leads you to a section of the scene in the distant background or grimy and grotty ones that depict the vileness of Bowser’s handiwork to a handful that are made entirely of shadows and some that are underwater, Super Mario Bros Wonder is a stellar collection of beautiful little puzzles and adventures.

It’s spread across eight worlds — six main ones, a central hub that eventually hosts the final boss world and for an added challenge, a special one comprising only the most difficult levels. Each of these, although serving no major purpose other than being an animated mission selection menu, is painstakingly crafted with the audiovisuals adhering closely to the theme. For instance, the fourth world titled Sunbaked Desert has a distinctly West Asian look and feel that extends to the ambient music in the area and its levels.

Each level gave me the impression that the developers were trying to push the creative boundaries of what is doable in a side-scrolling platform. I zoomed across high-speed conveyor belts, floated through clouds, bounced along on clouds and rode on the back of a dragon over my 16 hours in Super Mario Bros Wonder. And I was left wanting even more.

(Image: Nintendo)

Death Stranding x Super Mario?

As the subhead suggests, I got the distinct feeling elements of Hideo Kojima’s 2019 outing Death Stranding made their way into Super Mario Bros Wonder. Kojima had famously noted in the months ahead of Death Stranding’s release that it would belong to a brand new genre of “action game/strand game” that would utilise a “social strand system”. We all had ourselves a hearty laugh at the expense of that whacky ol’ Kojima-san and his eccentric notions.

But once the game launched and we got a better idea of just what it was he was talking about, it all made perfect sense: Gaming that is simultaneously single-player and a social experience. Your actions would indirectly contribute to someone else’s experience without the need to be present in their game. Death Stranding had a system whereby you could leave signs all over the world to alert other players to danger, shelter, steep climbs and so on. At the superficial level, Super Mario Bros Wonder also has the provision for leaving these signs (referred to as Standees) that can be used to show players hidden platforms and such.

However, they also allow players the chance to return to life after being ‘killed’ by one of Bowser’s goons or a fall down a crevasse. On a deeper level, the game utilises the social strand system to allow the other players into your game in a meaningful way. Certainly, the game does support a four-player couch coop, but when connected to the internet, it also allows you to see other players who are playing the same level as you. From helping to resurrect you when you die to demonstrating how to clear a particularly tricky area, theirs is a non-intrusive presence in your game and one that you are well within your rights to disable.

Additionally, you also encounter what Super Mario Bros Wonder refers to as shadows — the ‘memories’ of other players. When online, you can find ghost-like versions of other characters in your game replicating their prior run in that level. Overall, these strand-like features not only interestingly implement social gaming, but also give us one of the strangest crossovers of ideas in gaming history. Possibly.

(Image: Nintendo)

If you’ve never played a Mario game before…

A number of Indian families missed out on ‘Mario mania’ from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s on account of Nintendo’s staunch refusal to engage with the Indian market. Sure, there was the Samurai (the semi-authorised version licensed for sale on these shores), but its market penetration was low. Today, thanks to globalisation, the destigmatisation of gaming, all manner of emulators and the Switch’s archive of officially emulated titles from older Nintendo consoles, Mario and his adventures are far easier to access.

And if you’ve never played a Mario title before, this is one of the most accessible ones around. The key reasons for this are that you can play as Yoshi and Nabbit — who take no damage, that levels indicate their difficulty levels before you embark upon them, that badges can turn tricky levels facile, and that aforementioned strand features can be quite helpful in a pinch. And if you’re a bit more seasoned, you can play as a regular character, ignore the badges and stay offline.

Perhaps the only reason this game might not be for you is that you are particularly allergic to the Japanese notion of kawaii because Super Mario Bros Wonder (like other games in the franchise) falls overwhelmingly in this category. Whether it’s the high-pitched voices, the look of the characters (playable and non-playable alike), the nomenclature of places and characters or even colour schemes, it’s all extremely cutesy. The irony of an ultra-litigious and tough (borderline anti-consumer) organisation like Nintendo churning out some of the most adorable characters and stories never fails to amuse me, but it is what it is.

However, if kawaii is not an issue for you, you owe it to yourself to give Super Mario Bros Wonder a go — it’s one of those few games that does precisely what it says on the cover and does so with a refreshing amount of confidence, imagination and glee.

The game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.