What Reviewers Are Saying About Super Mario Bros. Wonder

It's time for families to get excited about this coming weekend.

Oct 18, 2023

We’re days away from the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and while yours truly does not have access to an early copy, plenty of other game critics do. And thankfully, many of them seem to have played the game with an eye for families in mind!

In short, it appears Super Mario Bros. Wonder is fantastic. Though Nintendo is not a company that has always kept accessibility top of mind, it appears there has been real thought put into the idea of playing this new Mario game with people at varying ages and skill levels. It’s a little unfortunate some nifty ideas like invincibility are relegated to less popular characters like Nabbit, but at least Yoshi has the same abilities, too!

I’ll publish more extensive thoughts on Crossplay next week, when I’ve played it myself.

Below are excerpts from various reviews that hit today, and I’ve specifically pulled out quotes that should be relevant to figuring out whether Super Mario Bros. Wonder makes sense for you and the various people, both big and small, who might also be playing:

IGN:

“While there are some five-star difficulty stages – including an entire group of them I won’t spoil here – Wonder is a bit light on the challenge side of things, so there’s not as much here for seasoned series veterans as its predecessor has. Though in fairness, Mario is for everyone, and my daughter appreciated the inclusion of Nabbit as a playable character – when we played together, enemies couldn’t hurt her and we had more fun progressing through many of the stages. I nevertheless remain hungry for Mario’s next 3D adventure, especially as I watch the calendar surpass six years since Odyssey.”

Polygon:

“To maintain balance, the designers layered on new challenges, keeping Wonder within the Goldilocks window. Not too hard, not too easy. Just right.”

The Verge:

“Wonder supports co-op play with up to four players, and I was able to play with my two young kids with no issues. They tried their best as multicolored Yoshis, while I carried us through the tougher stages as Princess Peach in elephant cosplay. What’s great about the accessibility tools, though, is that, while totally optional, they can really help most types of players. My kids have a way to push through levels without dying constantly, and I’m able to use some of the badges to get that extra little boost I need to finish a particularly difficult four-star level.”

Eurogamer:

“Throw in badges, which - okay, I'm really not sure what badges are for, in the minds of the designers at least. They're collectables you find and can have equipped - only one at a time. They're partly a way of making the game a little more forgiving. One badge will allow you to fall off the screen once a level and return safely, say. And they're partly a way of breaking up Mario's fearsome moveset and making it manageable, a series of choices. So you might say, do I want the Yoshi flutter jump, or do I want to be able to squat and then jump extra high? Do I want to be able to swim really well or have a cap that works as a parachute?”

Video Games Chronicle:

“Thankfully, multiplayer is handled a lot better than in previous entries. Crucially, you can’t physically get in each other’s way, with players now ghosting through one another instead of colliding, which makes for a far less frustrating experience than the days when you had to fight three other players for the same tiny platforms. The previously confusing act of tracking four-player action on a screen designed for one player is also mitigated somewhat by the Wonder effects, which are nearly always a fun to experience, even if you’re not entirely sure what’s going on.”