Super Mario Bros. Wonder rejuvenates mainseries Mario in such a way that it feels as if we've entered a new era for the series, with a new visual style, new gameplay ideas, and even a new voice actor for the titular plumber himself as we head out of the “New” series. Credit has to be given for just how many new things Wonder tries, with Wonder Flowers giving every stage a unique gimmick to set it apart, focus given to a plethora of new enemies, and a badge system giving some customizability to gameplay, all of which contribute to make it one of the best 2D Marios.
And yes, Wonder's a great 2D Mario, but, well... it's still a 2D Mario. As time has gone on, that format seems to appeal to me less and less. Playing Wonder after the insanely kinetic Pizza Tower, getting stripped back to such a minimalistic moveset left me feeling like something was missing... I can't help but wish more of the movement options from 3D Mario games were translated into 2D. Of course, a less robust moveset allows more room for badge abilities to flesh things out, but it also leaves the base game's movement feeling a little lacking. It's not bad by any means, but I've just come to expect more from the kinds of platformers I play nowadays. And as for smaller nitpicks, the game's bosses besides the final one are wholly uninteresting, the aesthetics of each world aren't going to blow your mind, and I had some minor frustrations with the camera scrolling (ugh, I really wish more platformers gave the option to manually move the camera around a little!).
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a fun experience that feels definitively like a step in the right direction for the series. It clearly had a lot of love put into it and features a plethora of zany ideas, but the core of it remains the same as any other Mario game... A core that personally is starting to lose prominence for me as I play other platformers.