Board 8 > Super Mario Bros. Wonder review zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

Metacritic - 95 average from 40 reviews
https://www.metacritic.com/game/super-mario-bros-wonder/

Opencritic - 93 average/97% recommend from 30 reviews
https://opencritic.com/game/15123/super-mario-bros-wonder

I said wowie zowie.

Wowie Zowie gimmick infringement I was in the middle of driving home from work when reviews went live v_v

As far as 2D Mario goes this puts it far ahead of any of the NSMB games and in the same conversation as Super Mario Bros. 3 (97.50%) and Super Mario World (94.44%)

VGC - 10/10
Inventive and full of heart, with a tight design and striking presentation, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is undoubtedly the plumbers most memorable 2D outing since the 1990s.

Eurogamer - 10/10
Ultimately, the only real flaw with Super Mario Bros. Wonder is that at one point it will end (theres plenty of post-game content though and its 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 whats 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.

My Nintendo News - 10/10
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a whimsical masterpiece, and I can say with utmost certainty that it is one of the greatest platformers that Nintendo has ever made. As the first 2D Mario game of the post-movie era, it sets an incredible precedent for the future of the series with its fresh new gameplay mechanics, expertly-crafted level design, gorgeous visuals, and lively animations. If youre anything like me, youll repeatedly tell yourself just one more level while a joyful smile remains plastered across your face, all the way up until the end-credits roll. Referring to the game as wonderful would be an understatement, as Super Mario Bros. Wonder is sure to exceed expectations when it launches for Nintendo Switch on 20th October.

Shacknews - 10/10
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a delightful surprise in what has been an amazing year for Nintendo's iconic mascot. The game offers the right amount of challenges while remaining accessible to a wide cross-section of players. It can be enjoyed as a single player and also as something to be broken out in a party atmosphere. At its core Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a fun and fantastic escape from reality that will leave players smiling for years to come.

Destructoid - 9/10
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first Mario game in literal decades to live up to the plumbers legendary 2D platforming legacy. It is a return to levels overflowing with creativity, a world rich with secrets to uncover, and controls that make the mere act of movement fun. Whether Wonder exceeds or meets the quality of Super Mario Bros. 3 or World is for the fans to debate. But that aside, Im confident in saying that Marios latest adventure is one of the best side-scrollers youll find on the Switch. Long live 2D Mario!

NintendoLife - 9/10
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is, quite simply, the best 2D Mario game since Super Mario World. This is the slickest, sharpest and smartest that two dimensional Mario has felt since 1991 and in its Wonder Flowers, badges and online aspects, it serves up an endlessly inventive and impressive platforming adventure that we've been utterly hooked on. With local co-op and online fun adding to the replayability factor and 100% perfect performance in both docked and handheld modes, this feels like 2D Mario with its mojo back, and one of the very best platformers we've played in quite some time.

IGN - 9/10
Super Mario Bros. Wonder looks and plays like the true next step for 2D Mario platformers. Wonder effects change each stage in both surprising and delightful ways, the Flower Kingdom makes for a vibrant and refreshing change of pace, and Elephant Mario steals the show.

Digital Trends - 8/10
With its wealth of unpredictable levels, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the series best 2D entry since its SNES days. Its still the same familiar platformer, but one thats been given a new lease on life thanks to a fantastic new art style, delightfully absurd transformations, and flexible difficulty. Its the closest Ive gotten to recapturing those magic moments with the original platformers, even if theres still room for Mario to grow into his new overalls.

Digital Spy - 7/10
It is a game that tries to evoke a feeling of discovery at every possible turn, but in doing so loses the element of wonder fairly quickly. Instead, Wonder's strongest moments are when it takes a breather, taking the time to set the scene while letting the platforming do the talking.

Thank you for the review summaries SHINE I will agree to share custody of the review zone.

I THINK this is the best reviewed 2D game since the transition to 3D. Rayman Legends and Celeste sit at 92.

dear god

Expected way more 9s than straight up 10/10s. The hype is real.

LightningStrikes posted...

I THINK this is the best reviewed 2D game since the transition to 3D. Rayman Legends and Celeste sit at 92.

Genuinely incredible that Tropical Freeze isn't #1! Lol game journos amirite

Pumped.

_Blur_ posted...

dear god

Expected way more 9s than straight up 10/10s. The hype is real.

Genuinely incredible that Tropical Freeze isn't #1! Lol game journos amirite

Tropical Freeze had two things going against it: the difficulty, but also I think a lot of people were up-front disappointed that Retro did another Donkey Kong Country game. I think this is why it reviewed much better on Switch despite not adding much to the game.

mario is always day 1

Hopefully it's more than nsmb with more color, because you can't really tell from trailers.

the reviews pretty unanimously saying its on par with SMB3/SMW and clearly better than the NSMB games. I hope thats true

It's not really the kind of game I want to play anymore, but I am glad it's there if I ever feel the urge.

Heres my review: its a Wonder why these Supbar Mario devs would put their game out the same week as Sonic!!

GANON1025 posted...

Heres my review: its a Wonder why these Supbar Mario devs would put their game out the same week as Sonic!!

They smelled the Denovo blood in the water

Im not going to name names, but I remember back in the old days before both came out a certain user saying that Super Mario Galaxy was going to be terrible compared to Sonic 06.

It looks like the Galaxy 2 of 2D Mario which is exactly what I want

LightningStrikes posted...

Im not going to name names, but I remember back in the old days before both came out a certain user saying that Super Mario Galaxy was going to be terrible compared to Sonic 06.

I can actually understand this mindset before release!

If you're looking at prerelease hype you've got a supposedly high priority lavishly produced Sonic game with the confidence to straight up call itself "Sonic the Hedgehog" up against Mario but with waggle motion controls.

Of course Sonic 06 came out a year earlier than Galaxy and only a few months after Galaxy was announced, so the window of opportunity for this take to be acceptable was, uh, very slim.

However I don't think I even knew Sonic 06 existed until after it came out, lol.

LightningStrikes posted...

Im not going to name names, but I remember back in the old days before both came out a certain user saying that Super Mario Galaxy was going to be terrible compared to Sonic 06.

Oh dear hopefully it wasn't me

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I can actually understand this mindset before release!

If you're looking at prerelease hype you've got a supposedly high priority lavishly produced Sonic game with the confidence to straight up call itself "Sonic the Hedgehog" up against Mario but with waggle motion controls.

Also worth noting that Sunshine was the most recent 3D Mario at that point. Can't really blame someone for having low expectations for the series after that.

I forget, did it look like Sunshine or SA2 was gonna win in gotd

Leonhart4 posted...

Oh dear hopefully it wasn't me

Dont worry it was not lol.

pjbasis posted...

I forget, did it look like Sunshine or SA2 was gonna win in gotd

Sunshine though neither looked great. Although lets be honest Sunshine is still a much better game!

Sunshine is a better game than SA2, but I would definitely rather pick up and play SA2 any given day.

Let's be honest, there aren't many games that we should say Sunshine is much better than, and SA2 isn't one of them

Particularly since Sunshine isn't better than SA2

are wae not talking about super mario sunshine and sonic adventure 2 here

SA2 feels pretty horribly outdated compared to Frontiers.

Could probably say the same thing about Sunshine compared to Odyssey!

SA2 is a mediocre game and I regret replaying it and ruining my childhood memories

who is talking trash about the camp classic that is Sonic Adventure 2

Yeah the secret implication of my post is that SA2 was not great. Sunshine isnt an amazing game but I beat it for the first time a few years ago, it holds up well enough.

andylt posted...

who is talking trash about the camp classic that is Sonic Adventure 2

everyone who played it in the last 5 years

MacArrowny posted...

everyone who played it in the last 5 years

not me

Sonic Adventure 2 is the best 3D platformer ever made

If were being frank Sunshine plays better today than Super Mario 64. Of course 64 is still the better game because it has better pacing and lacks the dull repeat content Sunshine has.

andylt posted...

who is talking trash about the camp classic that is Sonic Adventure 2

hey I was gonna call it a bad game and changed my post to mediocre

the campiness is still fun...the gameplay, not so much

_Blur_ posted...

hey I was gonna call it a bad game and changed my post to mediocre

the campiness is still fun...the gameplay, not so-

i'll make you eat those words

I don't think SA2 is that good

Just better than Sunshine

why are y'all talking about sa2 as a 3d platformer instead of a pet sim

SA2 is over 20 years old and it's still getting talked about in the review topic of a brand new mainline mario. It really is that game! Timeless.

I think part of it though is that there's no other good Sonic game that plays like SA2, while with Sunshine you could be playing multiple games in the franchise that are just flat out better with the same core game feel.

I think Unleashed running stages and Frontiers are far superior to SA2's gameplay, but the games barely resemble eachother so you don't feel like you could just be playing something else. I would never play Sunshine if I could be playing Galaxy, Odyssey, or 64, regardless of whether Sunshine is good on it's own or not.

andylt posted...

SA2 is over 20 years old and it's still getting talked about in the review topic of a brand new mainline mario. It really is that game! Timeless.

Praise pjbasis for bringing it up.

Grimlyn posted...

why are y'all talking about sa2 as a 3d platformer instead of a pet sim

Chao garden is abysmal.

One thing I do like about SA2 is that it does really commit to the multiple genre thing in a way very few games do. Unfortunately not all of those genres are handled equally well!

pjbasis posted...

Hopefully it's more than nsmb with more color, because you can't really tell from trailers.

Yeah this is where I'm at. If they wanted to convey that it was either a major departure from NSMB or a return to SMB3/SMW I definitely didn't get that impression from just the trailers. Gonna wait a few months and see how public opinion pans out, but the reviews are promising.

LightningStrikes posted...

Yeah the secret implication of my post is that SA2 was not great. Sunshine isnt an amazing game but I beat it for the first time a few years ago, it holds up well enough.

SA2 is way closer in quality to the actually good 3D Mario games than it is to Sunshine tbh

andylt posted...

SA2 is over 20 years old and it's still getting talked about in the review topic of a brand new mainline mario. It really is that game! Timeless.

It is is epic in the truest sense of the word

GANON1025 posted...

It is is epic in the truest sense of the word

It begins in media res, takes place in multiple lands, contains a long catalog of objects, includes a talking ship, features divine intervention, and has a journey into Hell?

Hot take: I don't really see the NSMB games as some kind of half-step down from 3 or World. Like they're all basically the same level of quality to me, except for NSMB playing slightly slower.

NFUN posted...

It begins in media res

In the middle of a police chase.

NFUN posted...

takes place in multiple lands

so many lands

NFUN posted...

contains a long catalog of objects

so many objects

NFUN posted...

includes a talking ship,

all those talking bosses

NFUN posted...

features divine intervention

did somebody say Chaos Control?

NFUN posted...

has a journey into Hell

It's a Sonic game. The whole thing is Hell.

MacArrowny posted...

It's a Sonic game. The whole thing is Hell.

Cannon's Core is metaphorically Hell while the Dark Chao Garden is visually Hell.

I've managed to play some via secret means and it's quite good. Really snappy level design which has been missing in a lot of the more recent 2D games, though I never played U

colliding posted...

Hot take: I don't really see the NSMB games as some kind of half-step down from 3 or World. Like they're all basically the same level of quality to me, except for NSMB playing slightly slower.

I think Wii and U were really good, but the visual style definitely outlasted its welcome

also Wii brought back the Koopalings, so its a 10/10

nsmb2 felt the most phoned in, I think

NFUN posted...

It begins in media res, takes place in multiple lands, contains a long catalog of objects, includes a talking ship, features divine intervention, and has a journey into Hell?

Does the biolozard attaching to the ARK count as a talking ship?

MoogleKupo141 posted...

I think Wii and U were really good, but the visual style definitely outlasted its welcome

also Wii brought back the Koopalings, so its a 10/10

nsmb2 felt the most phoned in, I think

This exactly, and particularly U was excellent. That's the only one I would say is close to the level of 3 and World if not equal. I have a feeling Wonder could be the one that dethrones all of them.

I have hated nearly every NSMB game(3d land/world were okay) and I'm getting suckered into buying this one too even though i know I'll regret it.

SA2 isn't good necessarily, but there are 0 games since that have done what it does or come even close. It was uniquely bad. Incredibly influentially bad. Sonic 06 and Frontier are just run of the mill bad.

andylt posted...

SA2 is over 20 years old and it's still getting talked about in the review topic of a brand new mainline mario. It really is that game! Timeless.

That's why this will continue to happen, for another 20 years prob.