Super Mario Brothers Wonder (2023)

 

A wonderful 2D Mario game.

After the great Super Mario Odyssey, it was hard to image where the video game franchise could possibly go for a follow up. Somehow it was followed up by a game that was just as good, if not better. 

The basic story of this Mario game is very simple. Bowser gets a hold of a magical wonder flower, that turns him into a powerful fortress. Mario and his friends (old and new), team up together to stop the evil Bowser. 

There is so much fun to have with this game. Most every Mario 2D platformer has been a lot of fun (even if some are even better than others), yet this manages to stand as one of the best. The main complaint about other fairly recent 2D Mario games was their familiarity. As much fun as The New Super Mario Bros. games were, there is nothing in them that was new to the franchise. This game however is full of creativity. The levels themselves are imaginatively designed and tons of fun. Nearly every level also has a Wonder Flower which when touched changes the level or gameplay in some way. Each of these ways are incredibly creative and keep most every level feeling fresh and new. There are also badges you can collect. Like in the Paper Mario games, each of these badges gives you a different ability. However, you can only choose one badge to wear at a time. Adding this to a Mario platformer is a great idea and adds a bit of fun strategy to the game. There are also some new power ups (including one that makes you an elephant) that are very creative yet feel right at home with the classic powerups. Beyond the new additions here, this game also has lots of good old-fashioned platforming. 

One thing that doesn't work here however are the Search Party levels. Advertised as puzzle levels, they really are anything but. In each of these levels there are hidden tokens around a small stage, and you have to find them all. This would be a great idea, if this game actually provided puzzles for you to solve to find each token. This is not the case here. You just jump around randomly until by chance you find something. This is not fun and can honestly get rather annoying. Luckily there are only four of these levels. The boss battles can also get repetitive as you simply fight Bowser Jr. over and over in similar fights. However, Mario fans have grown to accept things like this. 

A modern Mario classic. 

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (2026)

 

A delightfully charming video game. 

After having been around for decades, it is amazing that the Mario franchise can still do something new. Yet this new Yoshi spin-off game is something completely new. I have never played a platformer that has felt like this before. Rather than your typical straightforward platforming stages, this is a game that encourages you to explore these levels and the learn about the creatures in them. The premise is that you are helping an anthropomorphic encyclopedia learn all it can about various creatures in its pages. Each creature has its own stage and the point of each of these stages is to learn all you can about these creatures. As someone who simply loves exploring the world around him, a video game that encourages you to explore the video game world in the same way is automatically appealing to me. To simply move at your own pace as you move around this world creates a very charming and relaxing game to play. I found this game a perfect way to unwind after a workday myself. The game even lets you use your own creativity giving you the opportunity to name the creatures you meet. 

It of course helps that the world you explore is delightful. The artwork is fantastic and many of the environments and creatures are very creative and fun.   

With its often very easy difficulty, this game is heavily aimed at younger Nintendo players. I have no problem with this and feel this is a perfect game to make for kids. After all it is always a wonderful idea to encourage creativity, exploration and curiosity when making something aimed at kids. Heck even most grown-ups could use more of each of these. 

The only problem I have with this game is with the mixture of often very easy difficulty and its short length, you finish the game, before you know it. 

A delight for kids and kids at heart.