Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Have you gotten this game yet?


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When I say kid-oriented, I mean in difficulty, though I guess their games have always been easy.
 
How very.....wonderful.
 
You know, when I saw the flying Bowser castle in the first trailer I just assumed it was a very animate face at the front.

I didn't think it was literally Bowser's face.
 
thoughts:
flower kingdom is definitely just an excuse to make things different but I'll take it lol
new power-ups look cool I like them creative and interesting
I hate the flowers dumb quip spouting motherfuckers
player shadows are definitely just nintendo just being stubborn and refusing to add actual online co-op for real
uh cool video game I guess I might play it (real)
 
Why was literally half the video just the banner?

Anyways this game looks great and I can't wait to play it!
 
Seeing the new video of it and... I predicted the Bubble Mario apparently, except it isn't a reverse physic Fire Flower but more a straight shoot, but well, both are related to bubbles.
 
Unsure how to feel about this Direct.

On the one hand, the new enemies look super cool. They seem to be incorporating a lot of different games into this one: the 3D World overworld, the M&L badge system, and so on. It's all very fresh. I absolutely love the design of the flower people, their houses and the prince and all. Very good lore expansion, although it's yet another yet unseen kingdom, which is eh but par for the course.

On the negative side though, restricting Yoshi to Easy Mode is disappointing to say the least, especially since I can't imagine all levels are balanced for the Yoshi mechanics; and if they are, why not make Yoshi into an actual mount or full character? The badges look very interesting and I am surprised to see so much Mario and Luigi influence in general; however, I feel like a lot of them are so blatantly overpowered that they might trivialize the entire game again, and furthermore make it impossible for the game designers to design actually challenging levels since they'd have to consider every badge in their designs. Why do we only get the fire flower and three new power ups? Four powerups is laughably little. Why no Ice Flower, Penguin Suit, Frog Suit, Tanookie, Cat Suit, Hammer Suit, ...? I am also disappointed that the world map seems to be so menu-ized now, similar to 3D world; meaning no secret exits, no feeling of exploration, no nothing. Pretty bland. Just like the world themes again: only six worlds, and all of them are the super basic grassland/desert/forest/lava ones? I also really don't like the talking flowers, and the art style is hit or miss. Even the levels and the overworld felt very... basic? Generic? Empty? It's flashy and cartoony alright, but the actual content feels like it's missing substance, decoration, flavor. The overworld map lacks all detailing.

In general, this entire game feels like it is very, very obviously aimed at children. Don't get me wrong, it is a Nintendo game and those were always designed to be appealing to children too, but this time around it feels like it isn't taking either the children or the adults seriously. The appeal for me as a child playing Nintendo games was that they felt genuine; I never felt infantilized or marketed to. But Wonder feels like it is trying very hard to entertain toddlers. Even the narrator in the Direct felt the need to repeat the fact that the Wonder Flower was stolen by Bowser, as if we did not see that five minutes prior. I feel talked down to, which is something Nintendo during the Wii/DS/3DS era never made me feel. It feels like developers putting their soul into software that they'd have loved as a child were procedurally were replaced by board meetings on how to appeal to kids.
 
I feel talked down to, which is something Nintendo during the Wii/DS/3DS era never made me feel.

That period of time was when Nintendo were aggressively shoving shit like patronising narration and children playing with cutesy toys in their trailers and ads, and they were convinced these formed a genius marketing tactic that would put their products on the map:


The Mario Wonder Direct was mild in this regard.
 
When Bowser becomes a flying castle I was confused on why he became a flying castle instead of being a stationary castle, but then I looked back and see that Bowser was already in the Clown Car, so it made sense that he became a flying castle.

It would be funny if Mario becomes a castle down the line, though. It's always fun to see Mario transforms into things.

Thank you for reading.
 
I have no idea why I haven't preordered this game yet since it was already preorder viable on its first trailer. But here are some random thoughts. So, firstly, we get yet another game where Peach is not kidnapped. I like it when Bowser does something different, and I hope each Super Mario game has a unique plot. The Super Mario Bros. Movie didn't do its usual Peach gets kidnapped as well, so I don't mind that. Also, Bowser becoming the castle is just hardcore shit, and I love it. It's the type of dumb I like. So, one of the most disappointing things is the characters. Firstly, Toad is regulated to having two colors for some reason. Why can't I be the red spotted blue vest Toad is anyone's question. Ala-Gold and Buckenberry are iconic, but they are just recolors. Nabbit was a surprise but acceptable considering his role in NSLU, and he's silly enough to be here. But then the Yoshis were a disappointment. I expected them to act like their Yoshi's Island counterpart or be like the regular playable characters, but other players could ride on them. Instead, they are regulated to the "easy mode", which is a big shame since I'll probably never play that mode. So the elephant power-up looks promising, especially being able to stuff water in your trunk. Bubble, on the other hand, is dull. You can do some cool things with it; otherwise, it is unoriginal. I suddenly realize the Paratroopas are acting scared to be caught in the bubble. Amazing detail. The drill is decent. I wish an ice power-up returned in this game; those were probably the best in regular power-ups. One of my biggest complaints is that the item reserve uses... the A button. Why??? Other games use a trigger button, never the A button. I love how the narrator in the trailer makes a drug joke; that's hardcore. I also want to see more Super Mario games have more unique locations. I don't know what to say about badges; they're cool. The grappling hook was a surprise because it's so sci-fi. I'm curious how speedrunners will use these badges. I feel like some of the badges might be too broken? The regular gameplay is already balanced, so adding an extra might make it too easy. One thing I'm curious about is the Yoshi mounting ability. Does the Yoshi player just... sit there while the other player is riding on the Yoshi, or does the Yoshi player make all the moves?

Given that the rider typically commands Yoshi to eat, does the other player control the tongue??? Online play could be better. The races are decent, though. So yeah, I have nothing else to say because there isn't much to talk about that other people have talked about.
 
Might be able to simulate regular/hard mode with Yoshi by pausing and exiting the course after taking a hit.

I'm excited for the MMO affect, until then only Mario Kart has a stable MMO of playing with others.
It looks like a step up from Maker, now instead of comments we actually see others playing alongside us.

My only complaint is if all the normal difficulty characters play exactly the same, there's no reason to not add more. They might fear oversaturation but that didn't stop them from having a huge MK8D roster.
Though I do have a feeling there'll be surprise unlockables like Rosalina and possibly even Donkey Kong, or DLC down the line.
They could even make more Nabbit skins for easy mode, imagine getting to play as Wiggler and when you get hit she gets angry for a second.
 
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