I don’t have a lot to say about Wonder. It’s a good game. It’s the best 2D Mario Game since either the horribly-named New Super Mario Bros. (The DS one, not the Wii one) or Yoshi’s Island, but of the “Good 2D Games”, it’s pretty low on the list. Anyway, here are some mini-topics since I don’t have a real coherent review in me.

Mini-Topic 1: They’ll probably never admit it, but I found it very interesting that they took what I feel was direct inspiration from Celeste in the hyper technical disappearing block levels, akin to Celeste’s cassette-pickup segments. Easily two of the hardest levels in the game, which I did not like.

Mini-Topic 2: The minimal re-use in the game is truly shocking. There’s a gimmick in every level, and most of them are completely unique. Same deal for enemies, some levels are based around wholly-new enemies, and you’ll see them in that one level and that’s it. They could have phoned this stuff in, but they didn’t.

Mini-Topic 3: The badges were interesting, but I basically only engaged with it when I was forced to. The cap parachute is the first and objectively best one, it should have just been default movement kit. All the others ranged from “well ok this exists” (charge jump, grapple) to “this is atrocious why would I ever equip this absolute trash?” (turbo-run, auto-jump).

Mini-Topic 4: The choice to make Yoshi into an “accessibility character” is a good idea but I feel it was missing something crucial. Having a character that doesn’t take enemy damage is good. Having that character have a built-in attack is also good. But – from abundant experience – the thing people who are new to platformers need help with is the platforming. I think they could have made this way better if they just changed one thing: if someone jumps on a Yoshi, let the rider drive (Or make it opt-in, or whatever). Then it’d be a perfect li’l buddy character, they can do their own thing with minimal consequences, and when they’re having trouble making a tricky jump, you can collapse to “one” character and get through. You could even let them still control the tongue.

Conclusion: Highly Recommended, but I don’t feel good about it like I do with most games I tag as Highly Recommended. There are a lot of people throwing out that this is the best 2D Mario game ever, or that it’s a certified guaranteed GOTY contender. It isn’t. It’s good, but it’s not that good. But it’s still good! So go play it!

BONUS STAGE! - Ranking the 2D Mario Games.

The Good Ones

  1. Yoshi’s Island
  2. World
  3. SMB3
  4. SMB
  5. Land 2
  6. Wonder
  7. SMB2 (U)

The Less-Good Ones

  1. NSMB
  2. NSMB2
  3. NSMBU

Trash

  1. Land
  2. SMB2 (J)
  3. NSMB (Wii)