Review: Super Mario Bros. Wonder
I’ve waited 30 years for Nintendo to release a game like Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
In the early days of the plumber’s signature franchise, each game was branded with a sequential number. Most of us are familiar with the original NES trilogy (squabbles about the “real” Super Mario Bros. 2 notwithstanding), but slightly less known is that Super Mario World was actually labeled as “Super Mario Bros. 4” in Japan. However, after this fourth mainline entry, the series took a sharp turn away from that classic side-scrolling style. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is a stellar game, but it’s not one that I nor Nintendo consider a mainline Mario game. And with Super Mario 64, it appeared that the moustached hero’s future was now firmly in the third dimension.
We, of course, got a return to classic side-scrolling with the New Super Mario Bros. series. Yet, while I enjoyed these games, they felt like filler content after the first Nintendo DS installment. Super Mario Bros. 3 and World weren’t legendary games because you could stomp on Koopas and go down pipes. Rather, they were special because they were filled to the brim with inventive level design and creative challenges. They contained secrets within secrets that encouraged you to explore. Each game offered tight, impeccably crafted platforming overflowing with imagination. For the longest time, I truly believed we’d never see another 2D Mario game like these.
But now, I’m beyond happy to tell you all that this hiatus of fantastic side-scrolling Mario titles is finally over. Not only is Super Mario Bros. Wonder a spectacular game, but it’s also the first title I would happily call Super Mario Bros. 5.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher:
