I can definitely see some of these mechanics still causing issues with a 3-year-old, but some of the changes have really been a game changer for me and my 7-year-olds! In particular, removing collision detection with co-op players -- the bane of my existence with New Super Mario Bros. and why we stopped playing that. Thankfully, we haven't had any issues with character selection, so they've picked a normal character and I've played as a Yoshi so I can carry a kid on my back whenever there's a section they don't want to deal with.
Also, in terms of the crown, the person who starts the level with it is the person who got highest on the flag pole in the last level. You can also transfer the crown to someone else by having the person with the crown manually go into ghost mode (L+R). Not sure how it chooses between the remaining players (maybe whoever was second highest on the pole last level?) but if it's still the wrong person they can manually go into ghost mode too. I found it much easier for me to have the crown to help control the pace of the level, especially for the kid who happened to be lagging behind.
My family encountered the lives issue as well, when suddenly on level 3 our youngest fell in a pit and was just "out" for the rest of the level because she didn't get her ghost tagged in time. In family board games these days it's like a cardinal sin to make a rule where a player can be knocked out of the game early and no longer included. I think the #1 thing I'd wish for in a patch would be to make the ghost timer infinite either via a badge or for the Nabbit/Yoshi characters.
When I played Super Mario 3D World with my kids I used a trick to get hundreds of lives and would still periodically have to re-up if I let my 3yo constantly drive a Toad off the edge.
Your review very closely mirrors our family's experience playing Wonder where sessions so far have all ended in frustration and squabbling. It's a beautiful game, but the crown system, lives allocation and bubbling are all a backwards step on U Deluxe. The only improvement is getting rid of character collision, but that doesn't apply if you play as a Yoshi, when you effectively become a horse for the youngest to ride around on.
Really nice review. My 5 years old daughter is always asking to switch character, from Yoshi to any main one, in order to be able to test the new abilities when we discover one. Tonight was the drill. It would also be interesting to be able to switch on the go. Unfortunately we need to go out of the level to do so. And, I may be mistaken, but I could not quit the level if I did not finish it once before. A bit bothersome, but no big deal.
My 4-year-old and I have enjoyed the first few levels, although I wonder if the later ones will start to be too much for him to keep up with. The screen limitations and ghost timer are a little annoying, but in a way they just transform the game slightly into a different kind of babysitting experience where I need to coax him along and dash to revive his ghost if something goes awry.
I'm also lucky that he has yet to form any opinions on Mario, so he has been perfectly happy to pick one of the Yoshis.
Fascinating look at what this is like playing with multiple children. My use case is a little different, daughter is only 14 months old. Bought it with my wife to play whilst baby is asleep at night she's not really a gamer having not played since Mario Bros 3 other than dabbling in a bit of New series.
Ultimately she says the game is "ok" she says the elephant doesn't feel like Mario to her...and says she wants take it easy and slowly...so the lack of second save slot is a real shitter.
My issue then would be knowing my playthrough is on second user lol....unless I play up to the same point on second user and my wife never knows lol, that's ok right? She's not going to care at all haha.
I can definitely see some of these mechanics still causing issues with a 3-year-old, but some of the changes have really been a game changer for me and my 7-year-olds! In particular, removing collision detection with co-op players -- the bane of my existence with New Super Mario Bros. and why we stopped playing that. Thankfully, we haven't had any issues with character selection, so they've picked a normal character and I've played as a Yoshi so I can carry a kid on my back whenever there's a section they don't want to deal with.
Also, in terms of the crown, the person who starts the level with it is the person who got highest on the flag pole in the last level. You can also transfer the crown to someone else by having the person with the crown manually go into ghost mode (L+R). Not sure how it chooses between the remaining players (maybe whoever was second highest on the pole last level?) but if it's still the wrong person they can manually go into ghost mode too. I found it much easier for me to have the crown to help control the pace of the level, especially for the kid who happened to be lagging behind.
Ahh, that's so good to know about the L+R thing!
My family encountered the lives issue as well, when suddenly on level 3 our youngest fell in a pit and was just "out" for the rest of the level because she didn't get her ghost tagged in time. In family board games these days it's like a cardinal sin to make a rule where a player can be knocked out of the game early and no longer included. I think the #1 thing I'd wish for in a patch would be to make the ghost timer infinite either via a badge or for the Nabbit/Yoshi characters.
Just make it work like it did in the last game! That worked prefect!
When I played Super Mario 3D World with my kids I used a trick to get hundreds of lives and would still periodically have to re-up if I let my 3yo constantly drive a Toad off the edge.
I wish they would just get rid of lives entirely.
Your review very closely mirrors our family's experience playing Wonder where sessions so far have all ended in frustration and squabbling. It's a beautiful game, but the crown system, lives allocation and bubbling are all a backwards step on U Deluxe. The only improvement is getting rid of character collision, but that doesn't apply if you play as a Yoshi, when you effectively become a horse for the youngest to ride around on.
Really nice review. My 5 years old daughter is always asking to switch character, from Yoshi to any main one, in order to be able to test the new abilities when we discover one. Tonight was the drill. It would also be interesting to be able to switch on the go. Unfortunately we need to go out of the level to do so. And, I may be mistaken, but I could not quit the level if I did not finish it once before. A bit bothersome, but no big deal.
I believe the crown is rewarded to whoever finished highest on the flag pole at the end of the previous level.
I thought that too, but I've had the crown change who is holding it in mid level before.
My 4-year-old and I have enjoyed the first few levels, although I wonder if the later ones will start to be too much for him to keep up with. The screen limitations and ghost timer are a little annoying, but in a way they just transform the game slightly into a different kind of babysitting experience where I need to coax him along and dash to revive his ghost if something goes awry.
I'm also lucky that he has yet to form any opinions on Mario, so he has been perfectly happy to pick one of the Yoshis.
I believe the game can be finished without playing all the levels, so you might be able to avoid some of the really gnarly ones?
Fascinating look at what this is like playing with multiple children. My use case is a little different, daughter is only 14 months old. Bought it with my wife to play whilst baby is asleep at night she's not really a gamer having not played since Mario Bros 3 other than dabbling in a bit of New series.
Ultimately she says the game is "ok" she says the elephant doesn't feel like Mario to her...and says she wants take it easy and slowly...so the lack of second save slot is a real shitter.
You should be OK by making another user, so long as you're not dealing with this primary/secondary Switch issue. It only takes a few moments.
My issue then would be knowing my playthrough is on second user lol....unless I play up to the same point on second user and my wife never knows lol, that's ok right? She's not going to care at all haha.