Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Have you gotten this game yet?

  • Total voters
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Tropical Freeze wasn't done by Nintendo itself, but Retro Studios. Nintendo only published it.
 
My thoughts on Super Mario Bros. Wonder


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  • It's fun
  • Prince Florian is obsessed about you swapping badges.
  • Everyone speaks English but the flowers all speak Russian for some reason.
  • Awkward camera shots.
  • Being able to awkwardly talk to the Poplin shopkeeper while you and your partner merge into a monstrosity.
  • Douchebag Poplins that are too "tired" to fix a bridge...unless you pay them.
  • Wacky wonder flower effects that totally change up the level, has a nice whoa didn't see that coming vibes.
  • Toadette playable good.
  • Blue Toad going YAH YAH YAH when he gets a power-up
  • Yellow Yoshi and Yellow Toad making Bowser Jr. just hate the color yellow in general
  • Co-op is brilliant
  • Music is there for the most part.
  • Characters mwahing with the bubble power-up
  • Characters have a six second long screaming voice clip.
  • Drill good and fashionable
  • Some segments stretch the definition of the word "boss".
  • Spamming Mario's IT'S A ME at the character select.
 
Last edited:
MartinetIsBestMario said:
Hopefully; with Better Bosses that AREN'T Just the Player fighting Bowser Jr!!

Seriously; Take influence from Tropical Freeze; a game that has BOTH Unique Standard Levels and Unique Bosses that are Also Different Characters!!

If You can Offer such Variety with the Levels; offer variety with the boss battles!! as in MORE Than just Bowser Jr
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But the bosses in tropical freeze are awful and the worst part of the game
 
I've finished the game 100% with Daisy! Yes, that means I beaten every level with Daisy without switching them.

The Final-Final level is very much the most difficult level in the game. Since badges are switched out to tackle the segment's challenges, it's bound to be tricky. The worst is the last one, the Invisibility one because well, making a character invisible makes platforming difficult to tell. They do give you clouds and some HUD or effects to make it easier but they are still not visible enough. It's the Bloomps that are the worst part.

While the game is already overall very good, with all the various Wonder effects and the expressive animation from the characters, I think it's enhanced by Daisy's inclusion because if it weren't for that, it would feel less special if they resort to standard characters.

One plus side with Daisy being playable like this here is that in future games, when I mention that I would like Daisy to be playable, nobody (or at least significantly fewer people) will think I am cuckoo-crazy or insane for suggesting it, since there is now precedence. With her in Smash and now in a Super Mario platformer, the only thing left to make her major placement secure is to be put in an RPG (since RPGs tend to be viewed more fondly compared to spin-offs).

Thank you for reading.
 
I haven't beaten the game yet since I've only just beaten world 4, but I can already say that what makes 100%ing it so fun is the sheer amount of variety in terms of the level types

like, not just can you do a lot of levels in whatever order you want, but you've got a buncha enemy brawls/breaktimes/search parties (which kinda suck but still) that are here so the normal levels don't get too stale and repetitive, and that's ON TOP of every level having their own wonder effects to distinguish them
 
being real for a sec, the time limit set for the gold medal on Bashmaster in Time Attack is almost 4 minutes, and the world record back in 2014 was over 3 minutes.


yes, the bosses in that game are long and novice-unfriendly and would have benefitted from some kind of checkpoint system. but they're nowhere near close to bad.
 
I was able to finally beat the level I was struggling with
Fluff-Puff Peaks Special: Climb to the Beat
It was tricky at first, but once you learn the timing to keep your control stick pressed into the wall until you wall jump, the level becomes quite fun.
 
I mean, I haven't gotten the game yet, but everything just seems like a Mario game again, like Mario World (NO, NOT NEW SUPER MARIO BROS U), as it's wacky, unexpected, and HOLY COW THEY LET YOU "mwah" BUBBLES LIKE A KISS AND CROUCH WALK

But anyway, I want to play all the characters (not Yoshis and Nabbit) during my run, so:
Pipe-Rock Plateau: Blue Toad
Fluff-Puff Peaks: Peach
Shining Falls: Yellow Toad
Sunbaked Desert: Daisy
Fungi Mines: Luigi
Deep Magma Bog: Mario
Petal Isles: Toadette
Castle Bowser: Blue Toad
Special World: Corresponding character for each world's special level; Blue Toad for Semifinal, Final, and Final-Final Tests.

In case you couldn't tell, I LOVE Blue Toad, and as Teedgee said:
Teedgee said:
that level, as well as many other special world levels, feel like hard-ass mario maker levels, and i mean that in the best possible way
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a lot of these levels seem like Mario Maker levels, what with enemy and powerup placement
 
I have crunched the numbers and come up with a guide for the most efficient way to unlock all 144 standees.

There are two ways to unlock standees, the first way, available from the start is to spend 10 purple coins on standee surprise, to unlock a random standee with a chance of duplicates but later on you unlock the ability to purchase a guaranteed new standee for 30 purple coins.

The issue then becomes when to make the switch from rolling for random standees to paying extra to guarantee that you'll get a new unique.

The odds remain in your favor as long as the chance of getting at least one unique standee from standee surprise remains above 50% while making two rolls for 20 purple coins.

You start out with 12 jumping-pose standees, which I haven't determined whether or not you can get duplicates from, so I've created two formulas for when it would be worth to switch from standee surprise to the guaranteed unique standees.

If you can get duplicates of the 12 standees you begin with you should switch after unlocking 108 standees, but if you can't get duplicates of the 12 originals, then you should switch out after unlocking 111 standees.

If anyone wants to check my work to see if it's in error, I'd appreciate being corrected, also if anyone can pay attention to see if they can get repeats of the original 12 jumping-pose standees, I can narrow down to the one correct answer.
Many places online say you should switch after 96 standees, as this is when 2/3 of the standees have been unlocked, therefore you have a 1/3 chance of getting a unique standee each time you pay 1/3 of the price. It may seem a little counterintuitive, but I think you should be able to roll a little more, because it doesn't account for the fact that spending 20 coins rolling twice is still less costly than spending the 30 coins.

Solving for x and rounding down gives the number of standees you can unlock safely before you switch.

0.5 = (1-x/144) + (1-(x-1)/144) Formula if you can unlock duplicates of the original 12 standees you start with.

0.5 = (1-(x-12)/132) + (1-(x-13)/132) Formula accounting for the possibility that you don't get duplicates of the original 12 standees.
 
I've been loving Wonder. It is so refreshing to have a new style for 2D Mario; the game looks gorgeous and the animations are top-notch. I have been taking it slow, playing only a couple of levels a day after school/work in order to prolong the game and explore everything. I like the powerups they've added and the new enemies are unique and have interesting mechanics. I wish the game was a bit harder and that some of the levels were longer, but that has been an issue with 2D Mario for a while.
 
For me, length wasn't an issue at all, I think it's about just right, but my sister and I do try aim to 100% the game.
 
All Wonder Seeds Liberated ✅
All 10-Flower Coins Collected ✅
All Flagpole Tops Reached ✅
All 144 Standees Bought ✅
All Bowsers and Bowser Jrs Defeated ✅
Now all that's left is
The Final-Final Test Badge Marathon
 
My girlfriend got it for me for my birthday and I have really and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one of my top favorite Mario games now for sure. Plus the music is awesome! I loved the singing Piranha Plants and the Bowser Rage Stage music.
 
The game does a really good job of recapturing that feeling of playing Mario games as a child. There are so many secrets, and surprises in every level, plus the way that the wonder flower changes every level is really fun.

I give this game a 9 out of 10.
 
I think it was pretty great. I'm happy to get out of the "New" doldrums at last. Some of the Wonder Effects were quite fun and surprising. I liked the new types of platforming that came along with it, like running along the background or turning into/jumping through the slime. It felt like it was new enough, while still feeling firmly 2d Mario. I wish it was a little bit harder, but that just comes from being someone who has been playing Mario for years I think. Love all the playable characters and I hope that shaving their little flourishes off (Peach hover, Luigi leg wobble) doesn-t persist.
 
Loved this game! I'd say this is the best of all time, in fact, even if the first three bosses are weak and the Search Party levels can binge Vegan Teacher videos, especially An Empty Park. 10/10
Best Level: The Final Battle! Bowser's Rage Stage
Worst Level: Search Party: An Empty Park?
 
Honestly I didn't find those Search Party levels that bad. Had to look a couple of them up but I enjoyed them!
 
I only have a few Standees left to collect before 100%, so I think I can round up my thoughts on the game.

I had a more mixed experience with Wonder than anyone else I've seen so far. It's a good game, no doubt, and I'm not just saying that to placate people! It oozes with charm and attention to detail, to a greater extent than any Nintendo game I've played in recent memory, in my opinion. There are entire modes, playstyles, and pieces of tech that I've only scratched the surface of. Given all of this, it's the first time this millennium that it's really made sense and felt earned for 2D Super Mario to be Nintendo's flagship series.

I really enjoyed myself for the first four worlds. And the course-to-course pacing was almost addicting. I think the variety of courses, like Badge Challenges and Break Times!, gave me a lot more motivation to keep going than I expected—palate cleansers in places where I might have otherwise wrapped up the play session. I would play far longer than I thought I had the appetite for.

The lack of a timer also had a far greater impact than I thought it would. The pace of gameplay feels a lot more relaxed and gives space to go searching for collectibles, which are much more plentiful and can feel more subtly hidden. I noticed that whenever a timed Wonder Effect started, I would always have my eyes on the clock to judge whether I was leaving myself enough time or should start rushing ahead, so it's nice to be able to soak in the rest of a course, then run it back more efficiently for later sweeps. I guess Arlo was right about the timer. There are a couple less positive things related to this, though. While there are many cool secrets to find, all the invisible little event triggers à la New Super Mario Bros. U are all signposted with Wow Buds—which are slow to spawn their connected coins or objects, to boot—so that element feels a lot less delightful. And because a more exploratory, even trepidatious pace was encouraged, I only rarely got into the same platforming flow state that I often achieved and loved in, say, the New games.

A lot of other annoyances started coming into focus in the later worlds. All the redundant world map dialogue became really grating. And with the attempt to surprise the player by throwing so many curveballs, especially within Wonder Effect sections, I kept running into spots that felt like trial and error. I would fail to notice, like, two small flower coins, or to just read the designers' minds, I guess, and so I'd get trapped or OHKO'd and have to play the entire section over. By the final full world, I was pretty ready to be finished! If I ever want to replay this game, hopefully I remember enough of this stuff that it bothers me less in future playthroughs.

Moreover, it was like I had exhausted the game's initial creativity. Mechanics and premises started getting recycled, yet weren't present enough to seem integrated into the game's identity. This might be hard to explain, but like, when I think about Super Mario World, there are a lot of interplaying mechanics and systems at the core. There's the two types of jump to strategize around, which interface with the Cape Feather, which interfaces with the Yoshis, which have their own raising mechanic so it feels meaningful to bring them between courses, and the way the courses connect through the map is fairly idiosyncratic and layered itself; and the Yoshis and their colors interface with those of Koopas, which interface with the updated item-carrying mechanics… Meanwhile, because Wonder is so much more varied and focused on new moment-to-moment concepts, its skeleton feels surprisingly similar to that of the New Super Mario Bros. series. There's your basic controls, the addition of a new main powerup, and some returning features and ideas in a shallower form. Your badges can rotate in and out, the Wonder Flower could do anything, there isn't really a core group of enemies to get intimately familiar with, and the interconnected multiplayer mechanics are totally optional. The game… doesn't have much to say beyond its surface-level presentation and unpredictability? This isn't inherently a bad thing—that presentation is gorgeous and exuberantly detailed, after all. I guess I just had different expectations for just how far this game could go to set itself apart. It's a bit… unfocused? bloated, maybe? But looking at it this deep is probably more philosophical than critical, anyway. Just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone else gets what I mean.

Even if I'd managed to love the game up to the finale, I'd have to admit there's still some obvious room for improvement—which is exciting! Obviously, the bosses are in a pretty dire state, which is particularly weird for this of all games. The Search Parties are, at least in execution, difficult to defend. The new characters are disappointing; Prince Florian is a flat nice guy who mostly speaks in stock reminders about badges, and Poplins are just imitation Toads, down to the plot-relevant ones wielding accessories instead of unique names and designs proper. Yoshis getting locked to easy mode while the other characters are indistinct is a shame. The powerup selection is weirdly a bit underwhelming, with nearly all being repeat concepts and the KO Arenas framing the whole lineup as combat tools. I think several of the badges (Grappling Vine especially) should've been additional powerups. And the shop system also leads to some weird balancing decisions. I feel like lives are only carried over to have extra items to sell, and I don't think it should be possible to hit the flower coin cap so often, nor to fall into my current grind to afford all of the Standees with the main flower coin caches all exhausted.

But, as I said, all of this is exciting because they seem like spots the team can give focus in future games, if not learn from going forward. And I am very curious for the future. Counting all of the New Super Mario Bros. games as the same beast and setting Maker and Run aside, this is only the second uncontroversially original 2D Super Mario game to come out since I got interested in videogames. Super Mario Bros. Wonder manages to have both a winning formula and a fair few bumps in the road, and Nintendo must know that no one wants to see this style wrung out, so things are about to get very interesting. The lead-up to getting acclimated to this game was a mysterious, fascinating time, but now I really feel in the dark about where this series is going next, and that's a wonderful new feeling.
 
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