Super Mario Bros. Wonder Could Follow a Precedent That…

Summary

Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder are standout releases in a stellar year for Nintendo, showing that the success of Breath of the Wild and the 2D Mario formula can be replicated and innovated upon.
Mario Wonder has revitalized the 2D Mario series with its fresh twists, vibrant aesthetic, and new gameplay mechanics, providing a better direction for the franchise than previous entries.
A potential sequel to Mario Wonder could build upon its foundation, expanding on the art style, animations, playable characters, power-ups, online features, and Wonder effects, ultimately unlocking the true potential of the game.

Nintendo has had an excellent 2023, from January's Fire Emblem Engage to November's Super Mario RPG remake. There have been several great remasters, Pikmin and F-ZERO got their first new installments in years, and Super Mario Bros. Got a new movie after even longer than that. It was a stellar year, and somehow The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder still stand head-and-shoulders above everything else. Tears of the Kingdom proved that the massive success of Breath of the Wild really could be replicated, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder innovated on the old 2D Mario formula decades into its life.

It's impressive to see two of Nintendo's leading franchises get top-tier releases in the same year, but now they've gone their separate ways. Zelda has likely begun planning its next installment, which will leave BotW and TotK's Hyrule behind, while also preparing the first Legend of Zelda film. Meanwhile, Mario still has his usual assortment of releases coming out regularly, but it's unclear what the next mainline game will be. Before it makes something entirely new, however, Super Mario Bros. Should copy The Legend of Zelda’s strategy of following success with a sequel.

Super Mario Wonder Title Above Mario And Sleeping Goomba

What Super Mario Bros. Wonder Could Mean for a Theoretical Mario Odyssey 2

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By Jack Peachey

Mario Wonder and Tears of the Kingdom Are Both Built On Iteration

Arguably, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is as much of a sequel as Tears of the Kingdom is. While TotK directly iterates on Breath of the Wild's narrative and mechanics, to the point of using a redesigned version of its open world, Mario Wonder could be said to do the same with prior 2D platformers. Besides Princess Peach being elevated to playable and the action moving outside the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario Wonder’s plot is comparable to most Mario platformers, and its core mechanics have been around since at least Super Mario World. Calling Mario Wonder the latest in the 2D Mario series is completely accurate.

There Are Plenty Of Things Left To Do With Mario Wonder's Formula

Still, Super Mario Bros. Wonder does more than enough to dodge the stale feeling that set in across the New Super Mario Bros. Series. Its vibrant and bouncy aesthetic, new badge system, online mode, and Wonder Flower gimmicks gave Mario's old-school core a modern facelift, and there's plenty of room left to explore this fresh take on the series. Mario Wonder’s new setup should be a better direction for the series than the back-to-basics NSMB line, and it should capitalize on that the same way Breath of the Wild did with a sequel of its own.

A Mario Wonder Sequel Would Be Fleshed Out Like Tears of the Kingdom

Originally, Tears of the Kingdom started as DLC for Breath of the Wild, explaining why the two games share such a similar foundation. There's no DLC in the cards for Mario Wonder, but the work put into it could easily be reused in a sequel akin to TotK. Wonder's new art style and redone character animations should carry forward, as well as its cast of playable characters. In true Tears of the Kingdom fashion, both could be expanded, which should be the approach to everything in Mario Wonder’s hypothetical successor.

What A New Game Could Build Out of Mario Wonder

Alongside Super Mario Wonder’s Drill, Bubble, and Elephant power-ups, new ones could be introduced. Some badges could return, while others would debut, or perhaps even fold into players’ base moveset and level design. More stages and features in the online mode would be introduced, and, with them, even more could be done with Wonder effects in other Mario games. One more iteration should be enough to bring out Mario Wonder’s true potential like Tears of the Kingdom's dungeons and arm powers did. After that, the series can safely move past Super Mario Bros. Wonder while keeping the value it brought for future games.

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