Wonder of Wonders, Mario of Marios (original) (raw)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – I received this game as a Christmas present, and while I’m generally not that good at action games, I’ve played through some of it. Between this and Odyssey, I wonder if Mario games just aren’t as difficult as they were back in the day, although it probably varies. It wasn’t that long ago that I played some of Super Mario World on the 3DS, and I kept dying early in the second world. It’s a visually appealing game, with a lot of cartoonish elements. While that’s generally the case for Mario games, it’s even more prominent here. I guess it’s kind of a contrast to Odyssey, which, while still whimsical, had a more realistic look to its graphics. It’s a sidescroller, with a lot of different playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Blue and Yellow Toads, Toadette, four Yoshis, and Nabbit.

Most of them are the same in terms of control, although Nabbit can phase through enemies, and the Yoshis are bumped back by them without being damaged. So far, I’ve been playing as Daisy, because how often do you get that chance?

The story is that these characters are visiting the Flower Kingdom, a neighbor of the Mushroom Kingdom.

There was some discussion online about how that was basically the name of Prince Haru’s homeland in The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach, and that Daisy being in the game could mean a link to Sarasaland, but instead it’s ruled by a caterpillar called Prince Florian.

He journeys with you, and is able to equip badges to help you out in various ways. The badge I use the most often is the one that lets you automatically start a level with a Super Mushroom, but I should probably experiment a little more with them. The conflict starts when Bowser shows up and turns himself into a castle, which is pretty bizarre, although Bowser Jr. is all for it.

The map screen gives some freedom of movement, but you do have to beat certain levels to open up new paths, and others have to be unlocked with Wonder Seeds. You start out in the Pipe-Rock Plateau, then get to the central Petal Isles, from which you can reach the other worlds.

It’s also where Bowser, in castle form, is hanging out. The kingdom is largely inhabited by Poplins, who look pretty similar to Toads, except with flower caps instead of mushroom ones. The flowers are usually dormant, but will sometimes bloom. There are also talking flowers that make brief, often comical observations on what’s going on around them.

Each course has a difficulty rating, so you can have some idea what you’re getting into. Most recently, I haven’t been able to figure out how the Spinning Boost Jump challenge has one-star difficulty, but I’m probably missing something obvious. Falling in the same pit repeatedly is pretty demoralizing, even though you don’t lose lives on the badge challenges. Not that losing lives, while annoying, is all that devastating, as you can buy extra ones for Flower Coins. I’ve played through the first four worlds, although I haven’t done every course; I mostly skip the ones with higher difficulties except when they’re required. I had trouble with the Zip Track Dash in Shining Falls, which not only requires fast reactions, but also finding a secret exit. I did eventually get through it, although I guess I could have done it with Nabbit if it had gotten too frustrating.

The most publicized new power-up is a fruit that turns you into an elephant, in which form you can smash through things and hit enemies with your trunk. There’s also a flower that lets you blow slow-moving bubbles, and a mushroom that lets you drill through the ground. Another highlight of the game are the Wonder Effects, in which a level becomes even more psychedelic than usual, with such oddities as pipes moving around, enemies behaving differently, or the player character turning into something else.

Bowser Jr. is able to harness Wonder Power himself in order to alter things in boss fights.

New enemies include the Blewbirds, whose beaks shoot off their faces and become platforms; the charging Bulrushes that are described as a cross between a triceratops and a bison; the rolling Hoppos that you can bounce on; the balloon-fish Bloomps; huge-mouthed Maw-Maws that eat anything they encounter; and the Trompettes that are basically really tall Goombas.

Each of these new creatures has a stage devoted to introducing it. There’s also a kind of Piranha Plant that resembles a watermelon and spits seeds.

And there’s a level where the Koopas have roller skates.

So, yeah, it’s pretty fun so far, and very creative. We’ll see how much farther I can get in this one.