I recently got my hands on the demo of Super Mario Bros. Wonder at PAX Australia’s Nintendo booth, and the game had my head spinning.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D side scrolling platformer where your chosen character traverses from one side of the screen to the other while collecting power-ups and avoiding hazards. So far so Mario.
Movement is tight, abilities are interesting, level design is impeccable. Again. Mario.
The latest Mario game is, expectedly, the latest Mario game.
To keep the game fresh, however, Wonder adds a few unexpected mechanics into the mix.
Related: Yoshi & Nabbit Are Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Easy Mode
First is the new (and much publicized) Elephant power-up. Collecting this turns the character into an elephant, capable of bulldozing through blocks with your trunk, which is fun to see. There is also the Drill form, which also enhances your vertical block breaking abilities. You can also store extra pickups for later use if you like, available with a quick press of the controls.
Further enhancing your abilities is the Badge system. Collecting Badges via finishing bonus levels and attaching them to your character grants them some interesting new options, usually in movement. The wall jump badge was a fun little toy, giving me an upward boost when I needed it by jumping off a wall.
Periodically, the game will allow you to roam sections of the overworld map freely, selecting between main and bonus levels. Completing bonus levels usually grants you some small reward like a Badge, and you can complete these areas freely and in any order.
Another new addition is the Wonder Flower mechanic. Collecting this item changes up the level in some way. In one early level, hitting the Wonder Flower created a stampede of bison, pushing the platforming along at a break-neck pace.
Most disorienting to me personally was the co-op multiplayer. Since this was a rushed demo on a convention floor, I was thrown into the demo with two complete strangers who just happened to be in line after me.
We all selected our characters and then started the game.
Wonder’s multiplayer plays like any standard 2D Mario, if Mario was a game about directing multiple cats into separate boxes. Also the cats are drunk.
Some brief context: I have never played a multiplayer Mario title.
Related: All Playable Characters in Super Mario Bros. Wonder
My preview session of Super Mario Bros. Wonder quickly became a chaotic mess of characters zooming in and out of screen, picking up random items, getting lost in screen clutter, and generally flying around everywhere. Particularly chaotic was the bison set piece, which had all three of us hurtling blindly over hills and across gaps.
When I got over my initial confusion and we learned how to play together as a team, my experience settled and I found an enjoyable groove. But I can already tell that Wonder is a vastly different experience co-op compared to solo.
What was a standard 2D Mario game with a new coat of paint can also be a wild new experience full of mind-blowing randomness and frenetic motion and sound.
I can’t say I hated the experience. I can’t say it’s my preferred way to play. But it is, if nothing else, truly wondrous.
