[Digital Foundry] Super Mario Bros Wonder - A Switch Masterpiece

[John Elden Ring]

Super Mario Bros Wonder is the best 2D Mario title since 1995's Yoshi's Island, dripping in creativity, joy and polish. John Linneman goes deep on this milestone Switch game, shares why he wasn't so keen on its New Super Mario Bros predecessors and reveals the four pillars of a great platformer... and how SMBW nails them all.

00:00 - Introduction
01:28 - What Makes a Platform Game Great
?02:06 - Core Gameplay Mechanics - The First Pillar
03:24 - Comparisons with Super Mario U
04:53 - Let's Talk Graphics
05:42 - Mario Moves like a Sprite?!
07:24 - The Goombas Have Eyes
08:38 - The Backgrounds
10:28 - Resolution and Performance
12:01 - My Thoughts on Sound and Platform Games
15:18 - The New Sound of Mario
21:49 - Level Design
25:19 - Let's Finish This

 

[historia]

yea why don't you zoom x4 in thise 2D game to decide whether it has ambient occlusion or not DF?

 

[ethomaz]

The game art style looks amazing even if it lacks the graphical level of a next-gen game.
Man I'm so starved to play a 2D Mario game and watching the videos made me go crazy.

But I set my goal... this late I will only buy a next Switch (probably at launch).

BTW this is 2D platform peak design... these Indie 2D platforms needs a lot to learn yet.

 

[Darth Vader]

Looks like a mobile game.

Edit: Shit, when he compares it with Yoshi's Island... How can a 30 year old game have better direction, better animation... It's just on another league.

 

[toadsage44]

Something about the art style just doesn't jive with me. The characters look like they're made of plastic or something, with a shiny surface. I'll probably pick it up if it ever goes on sale, just for the collection

 

[Gamernyc78]

The game art style looks amazing even if it lacks the graphical level of a next-gen game.
Man I'm so starved to play a 2D Mario game and watching the videos made me go crazy.

But I set my goal... this late I will only buy a next Switch (probably at launch).

BTW this is 2D platform peak design... these Indie 2D platforms needs a lot to learn yet.

Nah the art style doesnt pop to me and it's in typical Nintendo fashion Meh. I also didn't like BOTW art style while many supposedky did.

 

[ethomaz]

Looks like a mobile game.

Edit: Shit, when he compares it with Yoshi's Island... How can a 30 year old game have better direction, better animation... It's just on another league.

Yoshi's Insland has a hand draw looks that impress me even today.
The 30 years old game art style is better than this one imo.

 

[Darth Vader]

Something about the art style just doesn't jive with me. The characters look like they're made of plastic or something, with a shiny surface. I'll probably pick it up if it ever goes on sale, just for the collection

Nah the art style doesnt pop to me and it's in typical Nintendo fashion Meh. I also didn't like BOTW art style while many supposedky did.

This.

Yoshi's Insland has a hand draw looks that impress me even today.
The 30 years old game art style is better than this one imo.

What do you mean?

_________________

I love how Jon is fellating the soundtrack when it sounds super subpar as well. Like, he praises the first stage track as if its great, and its absolutely... mid? It's boring.

Edit: Fuck. He's praising the sound effects when they sound annoying. Jesus christ, Nintendo can really do no wrong. This does look like a fun little game, but it also looks mid. It's a downgrade in sound, art style, music... Damn.

 

[ethomaz]

What do you mean?

I mean that the Yoshi's Island art style is better than this new Mario game.
The manual hand draw look please my eyes better than the sharp art style choose in this new Mario.

Yoshi's Island looks very pixeled in pics nowdays but in a CRT it looks pretty good.

Edit.

Not very good because because the record shows the horizontal scan of CRT while looking direct to TV don't.
But you can have an ideia.

 

[Darth Vader]

I mean that the Yoshi's Island art style is better than this new Mario game.
The manual hand draw look please my eyes better than the sharp art style choose in this new Mario.

Yoshi's Island looks very pixeled in pics nowdays but in a CRT it looks pretty good.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

I have switch online, the game still holds up very well on the switch too. I take the pixelated look as the natural charm of the game.

 

[Petekilla]

This.


What do you mean?

_________________

I love how Jon is fellating the soundtrack when it sounds super subpar as well. Like, he praises the first stage track as if its great, and its absolutely... mid? It's boring.

Edit: Fuck. He's praising the sound effects when they sound annoying. Jesus christ, Nintendo can really do no wrong. This does look like a fun little game, but it also looks mid. It's a downgrade in sound, art style, music... Damn.

Yeah. Even Ryan McCaffrey, who is a Mario fanboy said the soundtrack is meh.

 

[historia]

I think a lot of people too fixated on Nintendo behind graphics and tech.

In reality Nintendo get so much favors from the press because they represented childhood, nostolgia.

They are also the sole creators for simple fun games nowadays, good entry points for children to gaming instead of garbage GAAS F2P or mobile games.

I wished I introduced by my teenage daugther to better hobby instead of letting her be consumed by social drama biz, make up channel, bla bla

 

[Darth Vader]

I think a lot of people too fixated on Nintendo behind graphics and tech.

Nobody in this thread talked about tech. The criticism is around the art style and the sound.

In reality Nintendo get so much favors from the press because they represented childhood, nostolgia.

They are also the sole creators for simple fun games nowadays, good entry points for children to gaming instead of garbage GAAS F2P or mobile games.

Agree

 

[Gamernyc78]

I think a lot of people too fixated on Nintendo behind graphics and tech.

In reality Nintendo get so much favors from the press because they represented childhood, nostolgia.

They are also the sole creators for simple fun games nowadays, good entry points for children to gaming instead of garbage GAAS F2P or mobile games.

I wished I introduced by my teenage daugther to better hobby instead of letting her be consumed by social drama biz, make up channel, bla bla

Its not everyone's big gripe, the gripe is the formula and how it grows stale over time as well. Obviously Mario has a big following but I don't get intonthem like I use too and I grew up on Mario. My son is 16 and I tried to get him into Mario as well but he doesn't care much for it.

And yes, the media definitely is biased towards Nintendo but hey they are one of the pioneers of gaming so it is what it is.

 

[Darth Vader]

And not everyone's big gripe, the gripe is the formula and how it grows stale over time as well. Obviously Mario has a big following but I don't get intonthem like I use too and I grew up on Mario. My son is 16 and I tried to get him into Mario as well but he doesn't care much for it.

You need to send your son back to warranty. It's 18 years, right? He's still within an acceptable return time.

 

[Gamernyc78]

You need to send your son back to warranty. It's 18 years, right? He's still within an acceptable return time.

Nah he's good. He Spent his childhood playing lbp instead and would throw Mario to the side lol but I get him. I played my Switch maybe a week upon release and never again since then but I'm dusting it off for this, hopefully it grabs me.

 

[Darth Vader]

Nah he's good. He Spent his childhood playing lbp instead and would throw Mario to the side lol but I get him. I played my Switch maybe a week upon release and never again since then but I'm dusting it off for this, hopefully it grabs me.

Get yourself the switch online subscription, which is like 4 quid a month, and you'll get access to loads of NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 games. Old mario games are pretty much all there.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Get yourself the switch online subscription, which is like 4 quid a month, and you'll get access to loads of NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 games. Old mario games are pretty much all there.

I emulate those and have replayed many but maybe one day I will.

 

[Entropi]

I’m playing this right now and I’m impressed. The game feels like a throwback to classic mario with modern elements baked in.

I’m definitely going to enjoy every minute with this game.