I’ve breezed through the first half of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario Bros. Wonder in a couple of days. It’s frivolous fun and I’m g🐓lad that the eponymous plumber has eschewed lore in favour of doing things just because, but I’m still waitingꦿ for the challenge to begin.

I went into Wonder hoping for a blast of nostalgia. My first ever video game was Super💝 Mario Advance 2, and I put hundreds of hours into the first world alone. That’s not an exaggeration – I got stuck early in World 2 but still managed to reach a million points by replaying every level before then over and over.

When a friend came over to help me past my insurmountable hurdle, he was initially impressed. Then he was thoroughly baffled. He proceeded to get all the way to World 7 over the course of an evening, and I replayed every level in his wake, before finishing off Bowser myself. There were s🃏till challenges to overcome on my way, but I had 99 lives and a free skip for any level that proved too tough.

Granted, I was about nine at the time, and two decades on I have a wealth of platforming experience under my belt. But I’ve been out of the 2D Mario loop for a good while, skipping all but the first New game, and I’m more into first-person shooters than platformers. And yet, as I mentioned in the first sentence of this artic🧸le, I’m breezing through Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Games are meant to grow more challenging as you play more of🃏 them, I get that. But, during the first three worlds of Wonder, I only died a couple of times. The game does an exc🍎ellent job of introducing new mechanics and badges, but the difficulty curve has thus far been completely horizontal. Not to mention the lack of timers and abundance of lives means death never really has a lasting consequence.

Yes, I’ve died a couple of times, but platformers are about trial and error, especially the first time you play through a level. I’ve never come up against a mechanically tricky challenge that has really tested my fingers and wrought h💯avoc on my reflexes.

The only tricky sections I’ve faced so far were in Badge Challenges, tests designed to teach you how to use each Ba✨dge. My favourite so far was the challenge associated with wall jumping. A vertical level with rotating platforms, it was a true test of skill and perseverance. It took me a few tries and around 15 minutes, longer than any other level, and the feeling of satisfaction I got from finishing was unmatched.

Platformers need those little boosts of serotonin, and they just don’t hit as hard when you haven’t been adequately challenged. Even the Badge Challenges have their downsides, as you don’t lose lives for failing th🍸em. I get that they act as tutorials, but it does take away some of the jeopardy when you can die over and over again with no repercussions.

I’m currently making my way through the thorns of the lava world, and the layout of the overworld is more difficult to navigate than the levels themselves. Maybe I’m still too early in the game to need to stretch my thumb muscles. Maybe I’m getting too old now. Maybe I’ve come full circle and taken on the mantle of my friend from 20 years ago, and it’s my job to help some poor kid through a simple level. Maybe Mario is just easier these days. Maybe I’m looking for a challenge in the wrong game. I j꧋ust hope Bowser isn’t as much of a pushover as his son.