Our pal Mario, the humble plumber that he is, sure gets around, doesn’t he? He’s been to countless iterations of the Mushroom Kingdom, far away galaxies, and the big city. He’s been deemed a savior, a collector, a friend, and even a foe. After forty years of going here, there, and everywhere imaginable, where else could he go?

To other dimensions, that’s where!

Okay, so maybe I’m stretching things a little, but that’s not a totally inaccurate way to describe the new adventures of Mario in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

P. S. I refer to Mario as the main protagonist throughout, but the game offers a cast of characters players can use – Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, and Toadette, along with Yoshi and Nabbit, neither of which takes damage. They are great choices for game’s more frustrating levels.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 1-4 player, side scrolling, platform game for the Switch that does things just differently enough to set it apart from past titles. The TL;DR is that while it’s a charming, fun, and gorgeous game, it doesn’t reinvent the genre. Not that it’s supposed to or meant to be a revolutionary title – it flawlessly hits many well-tread beats, making it the best sort of gaming comfort food. But at the same time, it toes the “familiarity breeds contempt” line with control issues, wild variances in difficulty, uneven level designs, and ridiculously-placed collectibles. Y’know, all the things that make a Mario game a “Mario game.”

In Mario’s latest romp to save a world in trouble, he and all his friends find themselves in the Flower Kingdom. Invited there by its kindly ruler, Prince Florian, leader of the Poplins, the kingdom is a place and peace and tranquility, until Bowser appears and takes over its castle. Well, “takes over” is putting it lightly, when, in fact, he becomes the castle! Indeed, with lackey Kamek’s magical assistance, Bowser lifts the Flower Kingdom’s castle from the ground, fuses with it, and sets up shop as an airborne fortress, guarded by six Cloud Piranhas, waiting for his moment to strike.

Being the gentleman he’s known for, Mario agrees to help Florian regain the Flower Kingdom and defeat Bowser. Together they set off to the kingdom’s various lands to collect the necessary items that will give them access to Bowser’s fortress. Along the way, they’ll also collect coins, various power-ups, badges, Wonder Seeds, and, most notably, Wonder Flowers. These flowers are where the “other dimensions” come in, as obtaining one alters the fabric of and sometimes the characters in its level in some fantastical way. While Wonder Seeds and Wonder Flowers are in regular levels, reaching each worlds’ castle is paramount, as they contain Royal Seeds. As Mario and Florian discover, these Royal Seeds eliminate Bowser’s Cloud Piranhas, meaning they have to retrieve all of them (six total) in order to get to Bowser. Adding to the main goal to remove Bowser from the Flower Kingdom are a side adventures to rescue trapped Poplins and gather extra Wonder Seeds through tests of skill. Altogether, there are plenty of things to see, do, and stomp on in the Flower Kingdom.

A couple things help set Super Mario Bros. Wonder apart from its predecessors. The Wonder Flowers are the most obvious component, but in the Flower Kingdom, players are given the freedom of movement. No longer is Mario forced onto set paths between levels. Once he arrives in a world, he can move freely between levels. Within levels, the mechanics are familiar – travel right to defeat enemies and reach the flag pole at the end. There’s a decent range of different enemies, with some new additions to the regular roster of goombas and koopas, such as bouncy Hoppos and targeting Condarts. The game also has new power-ups along with the regular standards. In SMBW, players can spout water and bust bricks as elephants; blow bubbles to trap enemies and help with traversal; and drill into the ground to hide, access new areas, and defeat foes.

The Wonder Flowers, however, are the stars of Mario’s new adventures. Obtaining one temporarily changes its level in different ways. Inanimate object might come to life, Mario’s physical form might alter, special events might happen, new paths might open, the level’s layout might change, or maybe you end up in quiz show. You never know what’s going to happen when you get a Wonder Flower – the results could be loads of fun or borderline annoying, depending on your own platforming proclivities. Either way, they definitely spice up the series’ tried and true formula.

Trippy flowers and fruit aside, my favorite addition to the game is personality. The world of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is not only gorgeous, but it’s brimming with charisma. Characters’ traditionally stoic, unmovable faces are replaced with those that show emotion – joy, fear, sadness, nervousness, anger, wonder. The differences are subtle but make a huge difference in making the Flower Kingdom feel more alive. There’s also more spoken text thanks to the game’s talking flowers, though personal mileage will vary on liking them or not. There’s an option to silence them; I didn’t mind them too much, as they sometimes offered helpful clues, especially when it looked like I was about to miss something important, like a well-hidden Wonder Flower.

Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a wonderful game for fans of side-scrolling Mario games, and it represents a decent step for the series, if not a radical one. On the plus side, it’s complete with vibrant environments and characters, has solid controls, and is great to play solo, for sure. (I imagine it’s fun with friends, too.) It accounts for a wide variety of skill-levels and contains lots of smiles, and even offers up a few laughs, even if those laughs stem from confusion rather than all-out humor. On the downside, level designs widely range from tame to rage-inducing, Bowser’s “arc” is odd, and the game remains very strongly tethered to tradition. Even with the Wonder Flowers ability to “change reality,” there’s not much here that breaks from the Mario mold. I wouldn’t recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder to any and every Switch owner, but I would say that if you’ve not played a Mario side-scroller in a while and want to, or if you’d like to introduce friends and family members into the series, this is the game to play.

All images, including lede, were captured by author during gameplay of Super Mario Bros. Wonder (©Nintendo).