Released on October 20th, two of the world’s most popular characters got new video games, Spider-Man and Mario! Both Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros’ Wonder have put their all into making games that truly give fans what they want. This is no surprise for Insomniac, as their Spider-Man series has been universally loved. Mario, however, has had a rocky road for the past decade with the classic 2D platformers.

While 3D games like Super Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and Odyssey have consistently become fan favorites, the standard 2D Mario games became unoriginal and failed to meet the highs of games like Super Mario World for the SNES or the original New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS. Super Mario Bros Wonder, however, doesn’t seem like that, so let’s dive into why.

Here is a list of the standard games since New Super Mario Bros, including:

• New Super Mario Bros Wii
• New Super Mario Bros 2
• New Super Mario Bros U
• New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe

Just looking at the titles, all of them barely make themselves stand out, something shown by their art style, stories, and, most importantly, gameplay. While they introduced a few new features, like utilizing their consoles’ gimmicks or introducing new playable characters, it doesn’t save it from being an unchanged, barely updated series of games. That seems to have changed, though: Super Mario Bros Wonder breaks away from the New Super Mario Bros name and sets up a brighter future for the franchise.

For those wondering what’s new in the game, some big examples are the game taking place in the Flower Kingdom instead of the Mushroom Kingdom, eight total characters to play as, tons of new enemies and bosses to fight, additional Power Ups to collect, and a new Badges system. Outside of the gameplay, the game has a brand-new art style, new music fitting the kingdom, and a different voice actor for Mario for the first time in the series.

Since Charles Martinet, the original voice actor for Mario, Luigi, and more, has now become an “ambassador” for Mario, Kevin Afghani has taken up the mantle, playing both Mario and Luigi in the game. It makes sense as he has no major commitments outside of this and has worked with Nintendo as Mario for various commercials. While some fans noticed slight differences in his performance for this game and the trailer for WarioWare: Move It!, he has been well-liked and will continue to voice Mario in the near future.

The game has been praised by fans and critics alike, with stellar reviews from IGN and Polygon. It has both physical and digital copies for purchase at $59.99, so if you’re a fan of the games, check it out! Many great games, such as Tears of the Kingdom, Jedi: Survivor, Starfield, and Spider-Man 2 released this year, and Super Mario Bros Wonder will surely be amongst them at this year’s Game Awards on December 7th.