During the recent Nintendo Direct, a game was revealed that made my heart grow three sizes. That game was Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Due out in late October, it represents Nintendo’s latest take on Mario’s classic side-scrolling adventures. There will be pipes! There will be castles! There will be little Mario, big Mario, and Yoshi! It will all be glorious, I’m sure. What struck me the most, however, was just how affected I felt watching Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s trailer. It transported me back to that time when I was introduced to Mario and his motley crew on the NES. He’s been in so many of our lives for a long time.
While I played the original Super Mario Bros. and later played on repeat Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World on the SNES was the Mario game that provided the most mileage. I couldn’t get enough of it! It’s world and refined (for the time) mechanics (though Mario was forever “slippery”), along with the addition of Yoshi captivated my gaming attention for a long time. Of all the Mario side-scrollers, it would become the one to which I return the most. The later release of Super Mario All-Stars not only introduced me to a different take on Super Mario Bros. in The Lost Levels and black-sheep entry Super Mario Bros. 2, but it also rekindled my love of Super Mario Bros. 3.
In time, Mario would make his way into all three dimensions – Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and then some– and I embraced the change. But, I always found myself returning to the side-scrolling classics. The Wii and WiiU Super Mario revamps found places in my library, though I’ll admit that I never took to them quite as heartily as I did Super Mario Bros. 3/World. As I moved to playing different games on different consoles (enter a little game called Mass Effect, for one), my side-scroller skills and/or interests faded. When New Super Mario Bros U. Deluxe was released on the Switch, I hate to say it, but I didn’t take notice.
So why am I now “suddenly” interested in SMB Wonder? Well, the thing is that it’s not sudden at all; the feeling were always there, buried, waiting for the right moment to re-emerge. There were games before the original Super Mario Bros. (oh, Galaga!), but it was the game that set in motion a lifelong fandom of side-scrolling platform games that has ebbed and flowed just as the game industry itself has. When I watch Super Mario Bros. Wonder in action, some nostalgia creeps in, but the desire to play the game is more akin to seeing an old friend after a long time apart. It’s trepidation coupled with anticipatory joy, because you don’t know how good or bad the experience will be. You just know that you want to experience it.
And that’s why I know I’ll always be a Mario side-scroller fan.
What are some of your lifelong gaming fandoms?
Lede image taken from IGDB.com press kit for Super Mario Bros. Wonder (© Nintendo).
VIRTUAL BASTION 
I’m thinking you’re right that the interest in 2D Mario has always been there, though I don’t necessarily think it’s been dormant. Rather, I think that Nintendo just hasn’t really been making game to appeal to it. Sure, New Super Mario Bros. on the DS was fun, but it was a DS game and didn’t really do anything transformative. All 2D Mario games that followed it were even less impressive.
Super Mario Wonder though? This one looks like something special. It’s like Nintendo took all of the creativity that’s been exclusivity used for the series mainline 3D releases is finally being channeled into a new 2D game, and it shows. I dunno if I’ll pick it up right away, but I’m absolutely going to pick it up at some point. 2D Mario is finally exciting again!
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That’s an excellent point! SMB Wonder almost looks like they mashed together elements from the recent Yoshi games and 3D Mario games, and wrapped everything up in a new, creative package. It evokes something fresh over Nintendo various retreads of the Mario side-scrolling formula. Of course, here’s hoping that they didn’t just “put all the good stuff in the trailer,” ha! But seriously, it is very cool to be excited for a new 2D Mario game again!
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Reblogged this on Recollections of Play and commented:
Every now and then, a game comes along that make me believe that the road to nostalgia really is paved with gold. Most recently that game is the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which, as I posted on Virtual Bastion, is a personal must-play for fandom alone.
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