EGX 2023 is currently running and I had the chance to go and play several upcoming games, a couple from big developers like Nintendo and SEGA, and then several upcoming indie titles. In this set of previews, I’ll share my thoughts on several of them, including the highly anticipated Super Mario Bros. Wonder!
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: October 20th 2023
- Link: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Super-Mario-Bros-Wonder-2404150.html
Join Mario and friends on a new 2D side-scrolling adventure full of wonder! Surprises await around every corner in Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario is back for another 2D platformer, the first since New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on Wii U (unless you count the Mario Maker games of course). It’s a game I’m very excited for, as someone who enjoys both the classic 2D Mario games and all of the New Super Mario Bros. games and so I was bound to enjoy my time with Wonder as well. Finding out if the game was good wasn’t really my objective of this preview though, I wanted to see what had changed and what has remained the same.
I played through the game twice, once as Daisy and once as Yoshi. Daisy is the latest character to join the 2D Mario cast and she plays exactly the same as Peach, who in this game plates exactly the same as Mario, Luigi, the Toads and Toadette. There is no difference between these characters which is different to how past titles, both 2D and 3D, have handled secondary characters. Nabbit also plays the same as the rest of the cast, but he can’t die unless he falls down a pit. The same for Yoshi, but they do feel different from everyone else. The Yoshi characters feel like they’ve come out of Yoshi’s Island and come with almost all of the abilities of that sub-series – the only part they lack is the ability to throw eggs.
Regarding what this means for game feel, I found that this title feels almost identical to the New Super Mario Bros. games in terms of physics. Everything you could do in that game from wall jumping to spin jumping to ground pounding is back and the only new base mechanic I could find is that if you ground pound onto a slope and then push forward then the characters will break into a run the second they hit the bottom of the slope, something similar to how 2D Sonic plays. Then again, this might actually be in the New Super Mario Bros. series and I just never noticed.
So does this mean that it’s only in the visuals that Super Mario Bros. Wonder stands out? Not exactly. The new badge mechanic, allowing players to equip a single badge that helps them progress through a level, is the new gameplay shake-up here. These badges let the player perform new movement techniques, like using a grapple hook to attach to walls, or bring back techniques from older games, like the crouch jump from Super Mario Bros. 2. You can only pick one badge at a time and they exist mainly to help players collect all the big purple coins and the Wonder Seeds, the two main collectables of the game. During my playthrough I accidentally killed an enemy that I needed to bounce off of to reach a coin, but because I had the crouch jump badge equipped, I could use that to gain the height I needed.
The collectables vary in difficulty. Obviously, in this preview I only played the early stages of the game but even then there were some levels where I failed to get all the collectables in a single run. Sometimes this was because I lost the power-up I needed but other times I just straight up missed where it was located, or couldn’t reach it because of a mistimed jump and the wrong badge equipped. And then other times, it was because it was a secret. At least one of the levels in the demo actually had a secret exit that you could only reach by activating a wonder seed and using it to bypass the first flag, leading to a secret second one and another wonder seed to be collected.
Speaking of the wonder seeds, the special wonder flower segments of every level were pretty great. They were all very high-energy and had me running at full-pelt, trying to dodge hazards like I was playing a precision platformer. Except in the one where it was raining superstars. In that case I ran through everything as I chased down the terrified enemies. The level was a lot of fun.
And I think this is the other place where Super Mario Bros. Wonder stands out. From the five levels I played, it feels like the 2D Mario developers have borrowed a page from the 3D Mario developers. The level design here feels more in line with Super Mario 3D World than any prior 2D Mario game. I’m talking about the 4-koma design mentality, where stages are metaphorically broken up into four sections that help safely introduce the player to a mechanic, build on it, test the player and then add a twist at the end (serving as the metaphorical punchline). This structure made 3D World’s level design fantastic and it appears like the same thing is being applied here.
While on the topic of new mechanics, I of course have to mention the new power-ups: Drill and Elephant. I honestly found Drill a little finicky to use. By pressing B, players can dive into the ground or ceiling and travel underground. This can be used to avoid enemies and reach locations that you couldn’t get to otherwise, but it took some getting used to before I could use the ability properly. Elephant was a completely different situation though. The Elephant power-up is just plain fun, as you whack enemies and blocks around like they’re made of nothing. It’s a simple ability but I enjoyed using it a lot. Yoshi can’t use any of these abilities of course, but his ability to eat things like in Yoshi’s Island is already pretty busted. He doesn’t need anything else.
Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is really fun and I’m looking forward to playing the full game next week. That being said, if you were expecting a big departure from the New Super Mario Bros. series in terms of game feel then be prepared, as you may be disappointed.
#BLUD
- Platforms: Windows
- Release Date: 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1921480/BLUD/
Save your friends, fight off the vampire apocalypse, and survive the horrors of freshman field hockey practice in #BLUD, a delightfully zany animated dungeon crawler that blurs the line between action RPGs and hyperkinetic 90s cartoons.
During Gamescom 2023, a developer recommended that I give #BLUD a try and unfortunately I didn’t get the time to be able to. I was able to rectify that at EGX though and I’m glad I did because #BLUD is a lot of fun. It’s an isometric action game where you play as this little girl running around suburbia and fighting insects, robots and, later on, vampires. You can punch, kick, roll and wack things with weapons and the fast-paced nature of it all left a positive impression in my mind.
However, what I think makes #BLUD immediately stands out is its presentation. The entire game is animated with this really pleasing, bouncy, art style that reminds me of 90s cartoons. The animations are over the top and very expressive, and it all greatly matches the tone of this game which seems to be going for a cross-between the cartoons it was inspired by and the dialogue of Earthbound – you know, the very modern day, tongue-in-cheek gags and references.
While I’m overall quite positive on this one, I need to see how the combat evolves as the game goes on. If it stays the same as it is throughout, I could see it eventually getting a little samey. It looks like you get new weapons as the game goes on so ideally that will change up how it plays, but we’ll just have to see.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
- Platforms: Windows
- Release Date: TBA
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2011780/Yellow_Taxi_Goes_Vroom/
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is an arcade bump’a’jump platformer where you take people for rides and the oil industry for all they have.
I was attracted to this game due to its low-poly aesthetics and I ended up staying for its fusion of Crazy Taxi and Super Mario 64 gameplay. Yes, you read that right: Crazy Taxi and Super Mario 64. In this game you play as a little yellow Taxi as you drive/boost around open 3D levels – trying to collect all the gears (and secret bunnies) in a level. You can only travel as far as you have fuel though and that’s where the Crazy Taxi element comes in. Jotted across the world are people who want to be taken to other parts of the island, or have special missions they need you to accomplish like boss battles, and doing these will charge up the car’s battery further so that you can explore for longer.
The game is fun and fast paced, with a variety of objective types inspired by Mario’s 3D outings. You have special challenge rooms like in Super Mario Sunshine, boss battles like those in Super Mario 64 and randomly located collectables like in Super Mario Odyssey. The main difference between Mario and this Yellow Cab (other than one being a wind-up car of course) is that the Taxi cannot jump, at least in the traditional sense. By double tapping the boost, or ramming into walls, you can do a backflip for some height, from which you can then immediately boost from again in order to go longer distances. Your limited to how many times you can do this in a row, but mastering it allows you to make some great jumps and reach locations that feel out of bounds.
Honestly, this feels like a real winner and the only two pieces of criticism I can think of is that it’s not immediately obvious how combat works and that the game needs some saturation. Maybe it was just the venue or the TV I played this on but the game was blindingly bright. Neon Yellows, Pinks and Greens flashing in my face made it almost difficult to look at for long periods of time. There’s a demo on Steam right now though, so try it out yourself and see how you feel.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, Mac
- Release Date: Q1 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808680/Snufkin_Melody_of_Moominvalley/
Join Snufkin in this musical adventure about restoring harmony and balance to Moominvalley, protecting it from the industrious Park Keeper.
Moomin as a franchise is something I’m only aware of vaguely through the cultural zeitgeist. I have friends and neighbours who like the series but I myself have never watched or read anything officially connected to Moomin and so I went into this game from a neutral point of view and came out with positive feelings. The game stars Snufkin, a traveller, and notably not a Moomin, who returns to Moomin valley at the end of Winter to meet up with his friends after hibernation, only to find that some kind of Moomin police officer has established rules and order across the valley, something Snufkin really does not like.
So your job in this game is to fight against authority and stick it to the man, and you do this with the power of music (and stealth). As Snufkin explores Moomin valley, he’ll collect various quests that can be accomplished by playing music. But in order for the music to have an effect, Snufkin needs to have enough inspiration and so this needs to be collected. Sometimes inspiration can be found in the unlikeliest of places (like a bush) and other times you get from fulfilling quests and destroying parks. Destroying parks is a good thing in this game, as they are acting like cages for nature and causing Moomin Valley to shrivel up. In order to begin dismantling the park though, you need to remove all the signs that are enforcing the rules, but they are being guarded by the police. So, you must sneak around and solve puzzles to keep the police distracted while you pull out all their signs and destroy this nature cage. It’s all very silly but it’s an enjoyable aesthetic for what is otherwise a simple isometric adventure game.
I wouldn’t say Snufkin does anything ground-breaking but it doesn’t have to. It just needs to be fun to play and a good show of the Moomin IP, and from a non-fan perspective I think it does that well. It’s certainly got a calming vibe to the whole thing and the music is pretty great. I could imagine just listening to the OST of this game in order to relax. There’s a demo on Steam right now so if you are interested, go and try it out for yourself.
ROBOBEAT
- Platforms: Windows
- Release Date: 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1456760/ROBOBEAT/
Keep your trigger finger on the pulse! In rhythm shooter ROBOBEAT, you’ll play as Ace – a bounty hunter on a mission to capture robot-gone-rogue Frazzer in his ever-shifting lair. Wall run, slide, and shoot to the beat, blast through robot armies, and track down your target.
ROBOBEAT is the second robot FPS-shooter rogue-like indie game I’ve previewed at one of these events, but the gimmick for this one is that it’s also a rhythm game. Pick up a gun or two and jump headfirst into the dungeon, with randomly generated rooms and enemies to blast your way through before advancing, earning perks and better guns as you keep going. However, to deal the most damage in this title you need to time your shots to the beat of the music, turning into a pretty fun, and quite challenging, rhythm game.
The game gives you several types of music tracks to pick from, covering several genres from Rock to Disco, and the music changes the speed at which you should fire your gun. What’s more, you can even use your own custom music and the game changes its own speed to match the tempo of the custom track. That alone is super cool and offers a lot of replayability. ROBOBEAT still feels quite early along though and I didn’t think it was too visually interesting either, but the rhythm mechanic offers a lot of replayability which is needed for games like this.
Amp
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
- Release Date: 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2498650/Amp/
Dive into the synesthetic world of Amp, the neon rail shooter set in a polygonal rhythmic universe.
Amp was the last game I played at the show and it was touted as a Star Fox inspired rhythm game. While it certainly does feel like the former, I’m not so convinced of the latter. While I did fire my lasers and rockets to a beat, it felt like that beat was conjured up in my mind rather than it being the actual beat of the game. In rhythm games you can usually tell when you’ve gone off beat because the game punishes you for it, but it didn’t feel like that here. Even though there was music, I was able to just fire off at my own pace and get by just fine.
Well, that’s not quite accurate, because the enemies and lock-on do work to a beat and you have to follow that in order to destroy the enemies. What this usually comes down to however is waiting for the lock-on to appear and just mashing the shoot button till everything dies. It was a little mindless in all honesty and could do with some more tweaking if the intention is to make an enjoyable rhythm game (and even a Star Fox game for that matter as it felt too simplistic).
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On the topic of SMB Wonder, Kevin Afghani is confirmed as the new voice of Mario and Luigi.
https://www.gematsu.com/2023/10/super-mario-bros-wonder-mario-and-luigi-voice-actor-announced-to-be-kevin-afghani
Official website: https://www.kevinzafghani.com/home
Welcome aboard mr. Afghani!🍄⭐
Moving on, its been ages since I heard anything about Moomin. I live in Scandinavia so I was very familiar with it as a kid, good times. Nice to see the franchise is still active.