If you are even remotely into video games, you are probably aware of all the buzz about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the latest traditional side-scrolling Super Mario game specifically developed for the Nintendo Switch.

The game dropped in October, and while I’m only about halfway through the thing, I’m already blown away.

I myself am a Zelda fan and don’t typically rush out the door for the newest Super Mario Bros. games, but when I heard Wonder was nominated for the 2023 Game of the Year award, alongside ”The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, I felt the urge to investigate.

So, on my way home from work one night, I went back to the GameStop in the Old Mill District, only to find it was no longer where it used to be — it’s now located down the street, at 680 SW Powerhouse Drive, next to the Regal Old Mill.

While the game didn’t win the Game of the Year Award this year — both Tears of the Kingdom and Wonder were beaten by Baldur’s Gate 3 — I can admit I’ve rediscovered the joys of a classic style Super Mario game that doesn’t pretend to be anything like its predecessors.

Wildly popular Mario was infuriatingly difficult

Let me preface this by saying I like playing Mario games as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t say I am a Mario fan. I remember first meeting Mario, the little Italian plumber and his brother Luigi, sometime in the early to mid ‘90s when I was a kid playing on one of Nintendo’s first gaming consoles, the classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

I remember it being incredibly difficult. Unreasonably difficult. Way more difficult than it should have been. Some of the first curse words I ever employed came out of my mouth while playing those games. If you know, you know.

My cousins and I would just keep playing despite dying again and again at the hands of some slack-jawed Koopa, or some shrimpy, bulbous headed Goomba. That taunting jingle and “Game Over” flashing across the screen would drive me into a conniption, but I’d keep going as if the game was daring me to beat it.

Fast forward and Nintendo comes out with a 3D Mario game on the Nintendo 64, which for me seemed to render the 2D side scrolling platformers obsolete. Once I got a taste of Super Mario 64, the franchise’s 3D debut, I was no longer interested in the classics. They were the old way, and 3D was the future. But I was wrong.

Super Mario Bros. is weirder, and I love it

I take it all back. Wonder broke the mold. The game is bananas. It literally makes me crazy to play it. But in a good way. My only critique is that the game is laughably easy compared to the classic Super Mario Bros. games. Maybe my hand-eye coordination is just better these days, or perhaps modern sensibilities call for an easier game.

Despite it being too easy, it’s really fun. The developers managed to pack so much detail, nuance and surprise into such small spaces. Nearly every course has its own obstacles, enemies and unexpected turns of events. And the online play option allows you to bounce around the game with people from all over the world. I love the fact that some stranger in Korea can revive me if I die. Of course, I am obliged to return the favor.

The game follows the usual recipe of Bowser coming and causing some kind of chaos and Mario and his friends having to travel to a number of different themed worlds to defeat him once again. The plot is always the same, but it’s really easy to overlook when you can turn into an elephant, grapple yourself to walls with a grappling vine or ride a pack of stampeding bulls.

The game has a bunch of new power ups and abilities, most of which I have never seen in a Mario game before. Some examples include being able to drill yourself underneath obstacles like a mole or bouncing up onto walls using the wall-climbing jump maneuver.

The main feature that defines the game is what are called “Wonder Seeds,” which are strategically hidden in each level and that when triggered make the environment, and sometimes the player’s character, change into something unexpected.

For example, the player might get transformed into a strange hopping snail, a Goomba, or a balloon and then figuring out what to do next is on you. The most surprising one involved being pursued by my character’s shadow doppelgänger. I laughed out loud when I found myself getting catapulted into the air by jack-o’-lanterns while Piranha Plants danced awkwardly to synchronized lights and music. So weird!

The game is a new spin on an old formula, yes. But it is thoroughly entertaining. The amount of joy and surprise it has brought me has been well worth the price. I think this one will wind up a classic. I just wish it were a bit harder so it would last longer. But you can’t have it all, I guess.