Note: This is a personal review and I am in no case a professional. So please expect this to be very subjective.
Hello! Welcome to my review of Super Mario Bros. Wonder (SMBW)! Before going into it, please note that I have been a Mario fan since I was 4 and that I consider myself a 'confirmed' platformer player. So things might differ to you, such as difficulty for example.
While it is mostly spoiler-free, I will also assume that you have at least completed the main story.
Story
The story does not differ much from the other 2D Mario. Instead of saving Peach you just go save the Flower Kingdom. But story isn't really a huge matter in Mario games so it is not something to take into account when judging the game.
However, compared to the other games, SMBW has much more dialogues and small cutscenes. Each world will have an 'incident' you'll have to resolve in order to get the Royal Seed, equivalent to the Grand Stars for this game.
While it is nice, I do find them annoying on repeat playthroughs, while cutscenes are skippable, so you'll just have to mash through the dialogue unfortunately.
Gameplay
Game Feel
The game feels responsive, aside from some issues with groundpounding with the L button, I felt I was in full control of Mario (yes I main Mario.)
Stage Design
The stage design is overall very good, maybe even one of the best in the series. Most of the stages have some creative ideas in it, and each one feels memorable, especially with the Wonder Flower gimmick. There were many moments where I got surprised.
The badge system is also very nice, while some are overpowered, they allow for more unique player expressions, and are a nice way to add more replayability.
The difficulty is also good, it is gradual and for most part are completable no matter the badge. Towards the end of the game it also gets fairly challenging, which is very much appreciated.
However, the Search Party stages, while they are probably fun in multiplayer, in solo they are a complete pain and breaks the pace.
Boss Battles
They're all very easy to win and feels more repetitive than the Koopalings, this is kinda disappointing but it didn't bother me much.
Going for 100%
I went directly for 100% on my first playthrough, so I did not have to backtrack for most parts. It will take some time but it is overall easy. also PSA if you have a lot of flower coins, please spend them on standees, they are necessary for 100%.
The game tells you whenever you completed a stage/world, with a green checkmark in stage select and the wonder seed counter being green. This is a very nice quality of life.
Graphics
The artstyle is very cute, the characters are very expressive aswell as the animations, compared to the NSMB series, this is an HUGE improvement.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is very nice, it is varied, from calm to energetic music. The desert themes still kinda blows tho.
Conclusion
In the end, I fully enjoyed the game and had a lot of fun with it. At the end this truly feels like a Super Mario Bros. 5. I strongly recommend this, for a new player or a long-time fan. Thank you for reading.