Mario in Wonder Land

[Dark Jaguar]

Yep, that's basically what this is.  Super Mario Bros. already had a pretty clear Alice in Wonderland inspiration, but this game really leans DIRECTLY into that until the background falls open and all the little backstage critters holding up the blocks and clouds freak out and run away.

This... is an absolute must play.  I haven't seen such an "inspired" 2D Mario game since... Yoshi's Island.  They also seem to realize just how creative they're being here, because they've dropped the "New Super Mario Bros. X" titling entirely.

[Dark Jaguar]

Wow

[A Black Falcon]

The art style of Super Mario Wonder is certainly original, it looks great.  As far as the gameplay goes, I'm expecting something a bit like the NSMB games but hopefully better.  The art is certainly better, will the gameplay also be better?  We'll see.

Obviously as a Mario game fan I'm looking forward to this game and will definitely play it, but how much I play it depends on how it turns out, you know?  I'm hoping it'll be great, and it well could be, but... at this point I'm a Mario Maker fan first, and a fan of the rest of the franchise second.  I don't know if Nintendo will ever make a Mario Maker 3 and aren't really expecting it, but that game is inspiring in a way the rest of the series isn't anymore, this game included... I love the creation, even when the results are bad levels!  So yeah, will I play the new SMW (and yes I hate that they used the same acronym as Super Mario World...), of course, but... the only NSMB game I've actually finished is the first one, on the DS.  And none are even the best 2d/2.5d platformers on their console, something that I'd never say about classic Mario on the NES or SNES.  The inventive art design and weird level changing concepts when you grab a Wonder flower hopefully will elevate this game above NSMB, I'm expecting better than those games based on what we have seen, but it'll be interesting to see just HOW good the results are.  Will it be amazing, or just like, kind of like NSMB but with much more inventive graphical design?  That would be fine, it'd still be a great game, but I hope that it can recapture at least some of the magic of the NES and SNES games.  Who knows which way it will turn out.

To be clear, I'm excited for nu-SMW, the reveal looked great.  It's particularly awesome to see Daisy finally playable in an official Mario platformer, that has never happened before!  I'm not the biggest Daisy fan but still, she's better than Peach... but between how deeply I love Mario Maker (1 or 2) in a way that this kind of game can't recapture and my hesitancy based on how the NSMB games were good but not classic Mario great I'd say that I'm expecting pretty good things but I'm not sure if it'll be amazingly great things or not.  I hope it hits that level, it could; think of Super Mario 3D World, an absolutely exceptional classic that did so many things right...


On another note, amusingly, there's a Super Mario 64 romhack released earlier this year which gives Mario an elephant's head.  Really.  Odd cooincidence there. :)

[Dark Jaguar]

Alright, the gameplay is on full display in that trailer.  The gameplay centers around crazy unique level design with new stuff affecting whole sections of the level each time you get a "wonder flower".  To me, that looks utterly amazing and it's enough to make this game's gameplay stand out as the first truly original take on the formula we've seen since they started making the "New Super Mario Bros". games.  Level design is a core part of platformer gameplay, so utterly changing up what we can expect from the level design is a big deal.

[A Black Falcon]

Yes, Nintendo did a Direct today about the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game!  ... Yes, I think it's amusing how that is always how Nintendo introduces games in their Directs.  But anyway, the game looks pretty good. 

The visual style and controls look like they started out with the basic engine of a NSMB game, but mixed things up but with new, more creative graphics, some cool level morphing areas when you get a Wonder flower, a bunch of new enemies, and more.  It looks good, and I want to play it, but my main reaction is predictable: I'd like to see some of that stuff in Mario Maker!  It's a shame that all this stuff will be stuck in only this game given how Mario Maker seems to be abandoned, I want to make and play levels with some of these things...

But yes, I know, I'm a hopeless Mario Maker (2) fan.  I still play it all the time and watch people better than me play it on Youtube to.  I made another new level a few days ago, and have another harder one I'm working on.  I love that concept so much, it's basically the perfect core game idea.  This game looks great, but while I'm sure it would be a lot more consistently fun than Mario Maker, there's something about those games' stupid weirdness that I really really love.

But anyway, other than that, it's really great that there are 12 playable characters, I love that.  Nintendo finally decided to remove the flight ability from Peach in a game; she's playable here, but all characters play exactly the same.  It's too bad, but if that is what is required to get her playable in the games I guess it's necessary.  However, it's kind of too bad that the Yoshis are invincible only.  It's the same mistake they made in the switch version of NSMBU with Peachette, including interesting characters but then locking them into super easy mode only.  Like, why have a character as 'the OP one' instead of a toggle or something?  Oh well.

Otherwise I like almost everything else I see.  The online features look decently thought through as well.

[Dark Jaguar]

I'm avoiding the preview because I want to keep the surprises the levels have in store.  Don't really care about "story spoilers" in this case, more the "level design" spoilers.

[A Black Falcon]

I've watched the trailer like five or six times now.

... what?  I watched it a few times myself, and several times with the reactions of several different Mario streamers, to see their opinions on it.  And I don't regret watching it that much either.