Nintendo Switch #5

[HanSolo]

I'm only like 6 levels into Wonder but I'm loving it. Super Mario Bros World was one of my favorite video games growing up and is probably the game I've replayed the most. After hating the New Super Mario Bros series, I'm really enjoying this game. Don't know if it'll match or exceed World but it's a great time so far.

 

[HanSolo]

So the levels all have star ratings to tell you how challenging they are. First world is mostly one stars and like one two star, all pretty easy.

One 4 star level which I died on a few times so there is some challenge here.

I think I just did the one you're talking about. Bulrush express in the opening world? I died like 8 times trying to get everything and I still think there's one more thing in there I can get with elephant Mario if I take no damage for the whole run.

Felt like a Mario maker challenge run.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think I just did the one you're talking about. Bulrush express in the opening world? I died like 8 times trying to get everything and I still think there's one more thing in there I can get with elephant Mario if I take no damage for the whole run.

Felt like a Mario maker challenge run.

That's the one, definitely had to replay it a bunch and I didn't even think of the elephant for those bricks at the end. Must be a secret in there.

It honestly feels like they took a lot of inspiration from Mario Maker with the Wonder stuff. The plant parade was like those music box levels

 

[Mikeaveli]

I'm really interested in Mario Wonder, I love the psychedelic art style they went for. If the Switch 2 has backwards compatibility that will be one of the first games I pick up.

 

[Jovavic]

My FOMO may be kicking in in regards to Wonder, I got nothing to play till Like a Dragon Gaiden in a few weeks and nothing in the ole backlog is jumping out at me

 

[Shareefruck]

Played and finished Super Mario Wonder (every level + special world, but not 100% collectables), and I actually do think it's quite good. Skepticism turned out to be unfounded.

For me, it's the best 2D Mario aside from maybe World-- I like it more than SMB3 and Yoshi's Island (and Odyssey, for that matter), personally. In terms of raw level design and map traversal, I'm not sure it feels as elegant as World, but the overall package is very strong.

While the Wonder Flower gimmick is not much more than just cute and doesn't actually improve the gameplay (comparable to getting a star or transformation in Yoshi's Island), I actually don't think it's the bread and butter of the game's mechanics anyways (thankfully)-- The badges are, and I found selectively choosing between them and mastering their usage (sometimes combined with certain power-ups) pretty satisfying.

Definitely still nowhere near as brilliant of a platformer as something like Celeste, but it's somewhere in the ballpark of what Metroid Dread did with the Super Metroid formula, IMO.

Nitpicks: (1) There were a few instances of trial by error that I wasn't a fan of, (2) the boss fights (mainly Bowser Jr.) are a throwback to SMB3's repetitiveness (which to me is a step down from World and Yoshi's Island), (3) I would have preferred more hidden Metroidvania-esque unlockable paths/power-ups, and (4) I wish there were more hard levels (only a handful felt like gauntlets to overcome that required more than a few tries).

 

[robertmac43]

I ended up caving and ordered this one. Comes in end of day today.

I went from never buying games at launch to 2 launch buys in one week lol.

 

[Beau Knows]

Wonder is great.

I'd probably put it only below SMW and Yoshi's Island for the 2D games. It's a huge step up from the New Super Mario Bros. series, which was so bland and uninspired.

I didn't care too much for the badge system, a lot of the moves could have just been included in the core controls or as some kind of unlock to add to your move set. I don't really get the appeal of having to switch between the dolphin kick thing and the crouch jump for instance.

The boss fights are the only thing that really disappointed. Outside of Yoshi's Island, I've never thought the 2D Mario boss fights were all that good. The rest of the game was so creative, but it's like they ran out of time with the bosses or just didn't know what to do with them. They should just phase out the boss fights or come up with something better than this tired jump on their heads 3 times stuff.

 

[Shareefruck]

A lot of the levels themselves ended up having more of the feel and spectacle of a boss fight than the actual boss fights themselves, IMO. The Wonder Flower sequences almost seemed to take their place, to the point where I totally agree, it would have been better to just straight up not have a boss fight, period. Have the level end on obtaining that Wonder Seed or something.

Personally, I like the restrictions of the badge system (having too many tools or too fancy of a move-set can hurt mechanics a lot and feel directionless, I find), although I agree that there's not much of a point having to choose between land and water ones (would have been nicer if certain land moves translated into different water moves).

 

[Liminal Cat]

I'm incredibly skeptical of Wonder, but I also think that Super Mario World is weak compared to SMB3.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It hits those sweet spots I remember as a kid when I played 3, World, and Yoshi's Island where you are excited to see what the next level is going to throw at you.

But some of the levels are bullshit hard. The blinking blocks level in World 2 is horseshit.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I do agree I miss the creativity of Yoshi's island boss fights. Nintendo has never gotten back there for 2D platformers.

Though even Mario world level boss fights would be nice. Like you said it's very Mario 3 where the Boom Booms and Koopalings are mostly exactly the same

But yeah the wonder flowers sort of replace that. I am always excited to find a levels wonder flower and see what crazy effect it will throw at me next.

 

[HanSolo]

It hits those sweet spots I remember as a kid when I played 3, World, and Yoshi's Island where you are excited to see what the next level is going to throw at you.

But some of the levels are bullshit hard. The blinking blocks level in World 2 is horseshit.

I just spent an hour on this. I got real close my first run and then had my sanity slowly dwindle with every failed attempt. I think the baby slow/easy beginning portion is effective at lulling you and testing your patience cause at some point I was falling through blank bricks just from impatience.

 

[Shareefruck]

Here's a very specific random tangent/rant that I'm sure nobody else cares about, but speaking of Super Mario Wonder, my absolute biggest pet peeve when it comes to statements of hype and praise that you ALWAYS hear when something like this comes out is "<the thing being hyped> is the best <thing from this franchise> since <the last time the franchise wasn't forgettable or worse>."

That SEEMS like a promising statement, but if you think about it, it's completely useless information that logically, doesn't actually suggest what it's meant to convey. In reality, it doesn't imply that it's remotely close to as good as the good one, or that it's notably better than the forgettable ones. All you're really saying is "Super Mario Wonder is at least a slight improvement on the New Super Mario Bros. games." Oh wow, how bold.

It's like feigning promise/inspired hope/a strong statement without actually saying anything. Quit p***yfooting around it and just say that it competes with or surpasses the good thing instead, for crying out loud.

(Yes, I'm aware that Yoshi's Island came out after World, but whether or not it counts as a Mario game is slightly ambiguous, and come on, you know that people would still be saying that even if it wasn't in the picture)

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Mario Kart Wave 6 incoming:

Spoiler

Acorn Cup: Tour Rome Avanti, GCN DK Mountain, Wii Daisy Circuit, Tour Piranha Plant Cove
Spiny Cup: Tour Madrid Drive, 3DS Rosalina's Ice World, SNES Bowser Castle 3, Wii Rainbow Road

 

[Emperoreddy]

One minor annoyance with Wonder is that a lot of levels actively want you to have a specific power up, but there are always only two power ups in a level and if you are small Mario it will always just be a mushroom.

The reserve item mitigates it a bit but not enough to the point I wish there was a top secret level like in Mario World where you can back track and quickly pick up the power up you want.

There is a badge that helps with that too, but that's a bit of a waste of badge slot. Not that you need badges to complete most levels, but some are nice to have like the wall jump badge.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I just spent an hour on this. I got real close my first run and then had my sanity slowly dwindle with every failed attempt. I think the baby slow/easy beginning portion is effective at lulling you and testing your patience cause at some point I was falling through blank bricks just from impatience.

Beating it leads to a special world level that's even more bullshit. I'm honestly shocked I beat it.

The jumps aren't even all that difficult to complete, it's just you have zero time that the smallest hesitation means you start over.

 

[HanSolo]

Beating it leads to a special world level that's even more bullshit. I'm honestly shocked I beat it.

The jumps aren't even all that difficult to complete, it's just you have zero time that the smallest hesitation means you start over.

I actually completed that one a lot faster (even though it's labeled as higher difficulty). And I'm not even the most consistent with the wall jumps. I think the thing is the whole first half goes slower than you expect then the back half its the same consistent "go as fast as you can"

 

[Emperoreddy]

Here's a very specific random tangent/rant that I'm sure nobody else cares about, but speaking of Super Mario Wonder, my absolute biggest pet peeve when it comes to statements of hype and praise that you ALWAYS hear when something like this comes out is "<the thing being hyped> is the best <thing from this franchise> since <the last time the franchise wasn't forgettable or worse>."

That SEEMS like a promising statement, but if you think about it, it's completely useless information that logically, doesn't actually suggest what it's meant to convey. In reality, it doesn't imply that it's remotely close to as good as the good one, or that it's notably better than the forgettable ones. All you're really saying is "Super Mario Wonder is at least a slight improvement on the New Super Mario Bros. games." Oh wow, how bold.

It's like feigning promise/inspired hope/a strong statement without actually saying anything. Quit p***yfooting around it and just say that it competes with or surpasses the good thing instead, for crying out loud.

(Yes, I'm aware that Yoshi's Island came out after World, but whether or not it counts as a Mario game is slightly ambiguous, and come on, you know that people would still be saying that even if it wasn't in the picture)

Yeah it shouldn't be that bold a claim to say it's better then the original SMB or SMB2.

Whether it's better then 3 or World is a different matter entirely.

Yoshi's Island might be better then all of these games, but yeah whether it should count as a true Mario game is debatable.

I leave the 3D games out of this because 2D and 3D Mario are just apples and oranges.

Wonder does feel to me more of a natural evolution of 3 and World then the New SMB games.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I actually completed that one a lot faster (even though it's labeled as higher difficulty). And I'm not even the most consistent with the wall jumps. I think the thing is the whole first half goes slower than you expect then the back half its the same consistent "go as fast as you can"

The wall jumps really aren't hard. Only time I struggled was in that period when playing a level over and over that you somehow start getting worse.

It was just getting to the last wall jump fast enough. I kept getting there like a spilt second too slow and the last block vanishing on me.

The first blinking level is insidious because the the jumps toward the end are awkwardly spaced so you can't do them at a full sprint, you have to slightly slow down so not to overshoot which kills you time wise.

You also got some quick change of direction jumps early on that can cost you time because depending how fast you are going can make Mario switch directions fast or really slow.

 

[Shareefruck]

After 100%ing it, I think my impression of it has dropped back down a bit. While I enjoyed myself during my first run and found the postgame content sufficient and hidden exits quite well placed, and the game as a whole polished and complete (I didn't necessarily find that much WRONG with it, per say), after doing all that, I had pretty much zero desire to revisit the game again or pseudo-speedrun it, which was not at all the case with games I've loved recently like Celeste/Hollow Knight/Into the Breach/Metroid Dread/Tunic, etc.

It's good, not great, IMO.

 

[robertmac43]

Mario Kart Wave 6 incoming:

GCN DK Mountain is one of my all time favourite tracks. That is a huge addition imo!

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Mario Kart Wave 6 incoming:

Spoiler

Acorn Cup: Tour Rome Avanti, GCN DK Mountain, Wii Daisy Circuit, Tour Piranha Plant Cove
Spiny Cup: Tour Madrid Drive, 3DS Rosalina's Ice World, SNES Bowser Castle 3, Wii Rainbow Road

It's funny to think back of how underwhelming wave 1 was and how they've really turned it around.

Also what this video doesn't say is they're adding a jukebox mode and a bunch of new Mii outfits.

 

[robertmac43]

I still think the ultimate addition to Mario Kart would have been a double dash mode. I know it was a pipe dream, but how cool would it have been to add that into the last track pack.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Gimmie now!