Super Mario Bros. Wonder – the once and future king (Picture: Nintendo)

Nintendo returns Mario to his 2D origins in what might be the best game of the year…

Forget therapy dogs and comfort food, if things are getting you down and you want to feel good about life, the universe, and everything then we strongly recommend spending some time with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It’s the first mainline 2D Mario game in almost three decades and we’ll get the obvious joke out of the way now, by saying that it is absolutely wonderful. In fact, it’s the most joyfully imaginative video game we’ve played in years.

Super Mario is often credited as being the best-selling video game series ever but what constitutes being a mainline entry is open to interpretation. Even Nintendo couldn’t decide whether Super Mario World is also Super Mario Bros. 4 or if Yoshi’s Island is really Super Mario World 2 but, depending on your perspective, the latter, from 1995, was the last traditional 2D entry in the series.

Ignoring things like Yoshi’s Story and Super Mario Run on mobile, the only other games since then have been the four New Super Mario Bros. games which, while made by Nintendo’s prestigious EAD studio and hugely successful, are usually not counted. Nintendo treats them as a sub-series and fans treat them as a pariah, for their disappointingly generic presentation and phoned-in gameplay. Wonder is the absolute opposite of that and so bursting with unique new ideas it feels like a hundred new games all in one.

What’s especially encouraging about Wonder is that apparently it features the work of a lot of younger new developers. As Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto enters his 70s there’s concern over what happens after he retires, but Wonder makes it clear that as well as being a world class video game developer he’s also an excellent teacher.

Miyamoto’s touch is evident in every element of the game, including the almost complete lack of plot. All you’re told is that Mario and friends are visiting the Flower Kingdom, which has somehow never been mentioned before, and the moment they arrive Bowser steals a Wonder Flower and merges with the Flower Kingdom castle to… act as the final boss (he can’t kidnap Peach because she’s playable).

Things only get weirder from there, as a talking caterpillar takes up residence in Mario’s hat and you learn that each of the game’s many levels also contain a Wonder Flower, which once collected causes an instant LSD flashback. Or at least that’s what it looks like, as the screen goes wibbly-wobbly and reality warps around you, causing all manner of unpredictable effects.

Whether or not you’ve ever cared about story spoilers in a video game before we strongly advise you to avoid lengthy of descriptions or videos of Wonder, because the surprise of what the Wonder Flower effects will be is the absolute best part of the game. In any case, Nintendo won’t let us talk about the wilder ones before the game launches, but we will say make sure and try to find the Wonder Flower on the second stage of World 1, because it’s an amazing start to the game.

What’s incredible about Super Mario Bros. Wonder is that all the Wonder Flowers are different. There’s a few that use the same gimmick, but even then it’s only reused a few times and always in different scenarios. Others only come up once and are then completely forgotten about, despite them being interesting enough to support a whole game in themselves.

One level has you being chased by a giant Indiana Jones stone boulder, as the screen tilts crazily about you; another has you jumping on a rising sea of bubbles as you ascend into the sky; one turns you into a balloon and another transforms you into a Goomba trying to avoid being eaten by another enemy; and one suddenly switches to a top-down view, as the little flower petal coins you’ve been picking up are suddenly revealed to be alive and scuttle away from you like suddenly disturbed insects.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – expect the unexpected (Picture: Nintendo)

There’s an unwritten rule that Mario games add a new idea every level and it often seems like Wonder exceeds that, although, again, we can’t talk about some of the most exciting new additions yet. The Wonder Flowers are usually hidden, so you can often complete a level without finding them, and yet the levels are so entertaining on their own you never feel shortchanged.

We also appreciate the fact that the majority of enemies are brand new, rather than just rehashing existing ones, like the Blewbirds that shoot darts that can be used as platforms, Outmaways that will stop items you throw at them and kick them back at you, or Maw-Maws what will happily eat enemies and items as well as you.

Mario veterans will probably breeze through the core stages without too much trouble but there are also some extra hard levels along the way (there’s only a small number of stages you must complete, with the primary goal being to collect Wonder Seeds – which are given at the end of a stage and used to stop Wonder Flower effects). Some of the optional hard stages are near impossible to mere mortals, so there’s something to please every level of player.

The underlying gameplay is still an old school 2D platformer, with buttery smooth movement and inspired level design that’s as good as anything Nintendo has ever done. There are also very distinct visual and gameplay references to almost every 2D Mario adventure, from Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, Jr. to Super Mario Bros. 3 and beyond.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – we can’t talk about this level but it’s a great one (Picture: Nintendo)

However, these are relatively rare and the game is eager to introduce more modern elements, most obviously a range of unlockable badges which you can enter a level with and do everything from enabling extra moves (including a grappling hook, surprisingly) to automatically saving you from a fall or making you invisible.

You can only use one badge at a time but there’s also three fun new power-ups, on top of the iconic Fire Flower, that give you a drill hat, allow you to blow bubbles like Bubble Bobble, and turn you into an elephant – who can suck up water and squirt it at enemies or dehydrated flowers. On top of this, many of the Wonder Flower effects also turn you into an enemy, complete with their own unique abilities, expanding the variety of forms and powers even further.

Courses can be played in four-player co-op both online and offline, with the characters split between those that can use power-ups as normal (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toadette, and yellow and blue Toad) and those that cannot but are immune to damage (Nabbit and four colours of Yoshi). You can still fall off screen but if you do you can be revived by another player touching you, which means it’s very easy to mix players of different skill levels.

There is no matchmaking for online multiplayer – you have to play with friends or not at all – but there is a surprisingly substantial set of other online features, that are very obviously inspired by, of all things, Dark Souls. You can see other players running around as shadows in their own game but both you and they can leave little standees around the level to act as both a hint, as to the location of a secret or what power-up to use, and also a means to revive you if you can get back to it as a ghost.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – run! (Picture: Nintendo)

In gameplay terms Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a near flawless creation but we do have to admit we are little disappointed by the presentation. There’s some very cute animation, especially the look on enemies’ faces when they realise they’re done for, but the art style is very flat – this is absolutely not a 2.5D game – and nowhere near as inspired as the level design itself. It is more characterful than the New Super Mario Bros. games, but that is a very low bar.

For a game that is obsessed with music, including a number of rhythm action style stages and skits, the soundtrack is also disappointingly mundane. There are a few decent melodies, particularly in the Fungi Mines, but nothing that comes close to the iconic tunes of old.

In terms of audio, the most interesting thing is the new voice of Mario, although we still can’t decide if he’s more or less Italian than he used to be. He’s good, but it’s the nameless talking flowers, who appear in every level, that steal the show, as while their comments feel like they should be obnoxious they’re actually just as charming as the rest of the game.

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Ultimately, the only real flaw with Super Mario Bros. Wonder is that at one point it will end (there’s plenty of post-game content though and it’s highly replayable, especially in multiplayer). It absolutely deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World and is a stunning achievement of imagination, perfectly hewn gameplay mechanics, and good old fashioned Nintendo surrealism.

Despite being the latest entry in an almost 40-year-old franchise its greatest achievement is that you never know what’s going to happen next… and are always charmed and amazed when you find out. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an absolute joy, from beginning to end, and one of the best things Nintendo has ever done.

Formats: Nintendo Switch
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Release Date: 20th October 2023
Age Rating: 3

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Nintendo returns Mario to his 2D origins in what might be the best game of the year…