Eri Reviews Things

Rating: 4/5 stars (so far)
System: Nintendo Switch OLED + Pro Controllers

I got a chance to play Super Mario Bros. Wonder with some friends during PAX Aus and it’s pretty good. This upcoming Mario installment had me and my companions talking about what this title has to offer, the news of Charles Martinet leaving his iconic voice acting role, and for some reason, “What if Kirby entered the Mushroom Kingdom.”

While the game has yet to be released on Oct 20, we got to play the demo version for 15 minutes and here are our thoughts.

Players have the chance to play as Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Peach, Toad, and Toadette. It also has options for those who are inexperienced with platformers via the Yoshis as they don’t get damaged by enemies. However, if you want to use the power-ups, you need to use the main characters.

I chose Toadette and my friends chose Daisy and Mario. We only had 15 minutes to try the demo before the “thank you for playing” message popped up. We dashed through the Flower Kingdom and it’s pretty cool. For starters, each world tells you the difficulty level through the star ratings. Aside from the familiar characters, like the Goombas, there are new foes that add flavour and an interesting challenge to each level.

Now let’s talk about the ELEPHANT in the room – the Elephant power-up. As expected it’s super weird to see our favourite characters LITERALLY TRANSFORM TO ELEPHANTS. But it adds to the comedic and whacky elements to the game. It also has a unique ability as well, where you can use your trunk to get through the level, which I thought was pretty neat. It was like a stretchy long arm. However, due to your size, you can’t crawl down to the secret levels if the path has a tight entrance. So you need a friend who’s in their default form to access them.

There are also other cool power-ups as well that are exclusive to certain levels, like the drill power-up, which allows you to move on ceilings. However, you can only get it during underground levels or ones that require drilling obstacles. Wonder has a feature where you can save up to three power-ups that you’ve collected and it can be carried throughout each level. So if you want to use certain abilities in other areas, you can if you want.

Based on our gameplay experience, we only got the chance to use the new abilities and didn’t get to see the classics like the Fire Flower in the game. The regular mushroom was there though, so that’s good.

Another cool feature the Wonder has added is the “Badges” system. According to one of the staff (and the Overview trailer), Badges will be something you can collect in the final game, and each of them has abilities that can help you through the level. In the demo, we were offered at least 6-8 badges to choose from. Due to the limited time we had, I couldn’t properly see if had any effect. I guess we’ll find out once Wonder gets released.

We also got to experience “The Wonder Effect,” which made our gameplay feel a bit trippy. It gave us a more entertaining experience to get through the Flower Kingdom. However, one of my friends thought this might be a reference to “illicit substances” based on how it’s presented and how the kingdom goes haywire.

Due to this being the demo, some things weren’t available during this showcase. One of them was the Online Multiplayer feature where you’d get to see “live shadows” of other players. Makes sense since the game isn’t out yet. Also, we couldn’t collect more badges and had to stick with what we were offered.

Of course, not all games are perfect and here are some of my gripes that I had during this demo session. First of all, you need to be way ahead if you want the screen’s attention. So if you’re way behind, you need to move as fast as you can so you can see your character.

My friend managed to find some sort of secret area but just like the original Super Mario Bros, the screen does not adjust so you’re kinda blind until you move into an area where you can be seen. Lastly, warp pipes follow “majority rules.” So if you have three people playing the game and two want to go to the next area and one has unfinished business, through luck. You’re going up to the next world regardless.

Overall, one of my friends plans to get the game so looking forward to a game night at some point. There were moments in the game that felt trippy and you need to be a quick thinker during certain moments in the difficulty level. Super Mario Bros. Wonder left a good first impression during my time at PAX Aus and I’m keen to see what more this Flower Kingdom has to offer.