Nintendo fans have a major complaint about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which has otherwise received glowing reviews from the gaming community since its October 20 release, and it’s centered around a certain fruit-loving dinosaur.
Yoshi lovers were initally excited to discover four variations of the popular character would be available as protagonists in the latest Mario game (along with Nabbit, Toadette, and two versions of Toad) after a list of playable characters was unveiled in an August 31 Nintendo Direct. But upon reaching the in-game character selection screen, players are greeted with an unwelcome warning in the bottom left corner: “Yoshi’s and Nabbit won’t take damage, but they also won’t transform with power-ups,” it reads.
Essentially, the resulting gameplay for those who select Yoshi or Nabbit is a “forced easy mode,” as one user coined on Twitter/X. “Easy mode controversy aside, I think Yoshi looks pretty much perfect in Super Mario Bros. Wonder and I just can’t not play as him in this game when I get it,” another user wrote on X. “Sucks that it’s forced easy mode but whatever, I’m gonna rock this dinodude regardless!”
Here’s my logic:
He’s easy mode, so what?
It’s Yoshi, my favourite video game character
Therefore I’m playing him pretty much all the time because I adore him
(Plus I just love how they made Yoshi in this game as a bonus but that doesn’t matter)
— 🎃Burningboo!🎃 (@burningbluey) September 2, 2023
On the same thread, another die-hard Yoshi fan echoed a similar sentiment about sacrificing difficulty for the chance to play as the beloved character: “He’s easy mode, so what?,” the user wrote. “It’s Yoshi, my favourite video game character. Therefore I’m playing him pretty much all the time because I adore him.”
“I was gonna be Yellow Yoshi but because he’s baby mode… I’ll probably be swapping between him, Mario, and maybe yellow toad,” a fan of the Mario franchise wrote on Reddit.
Though Nabbit and Yoshi are immune to damage from enemies, playing as these characters is not entirely risk-free. Players an still die by falling into pits, for example. In exchange, all Yoshis have the ability to consume enemies, spit out items, flutter jump and carry other players, while Nabbit can turn extra power-ups into Flower Coins.
“I’d love to play as Nabbit, but I want him to be a hard mode character: No power-up, 1 hit -> death,” another Redditor responded, to which a user suggested Nintendo implement a badge or time trial mode for the game’s easy mode characters to achieve this effect.
The clear benefit to the addition of easier-to-play characters is that they widen the game’s accessibility to a new generation of young kids first getting into the franchise. One parent on Reddit reccommends adults play as Yoshi so their kids can piggy-back for difficult parts of the game.
“If you’re a parent playing with your young children, play as Yoshi,” the Redditor said in a Nintendo Switch forum. “They can ride you and the power-ups you get go straight to the bank for them.”
“My kid wants the power-ups,” the user continued in the comments. “Since they’re usually losing them first anyway, me playing as Yoshi gives them more chances for the power-ups.”
Mario fans have similarly criticized Nintendo for dumbing down the mechanics of the new game’s hidden coins, which needed to be recollected in previous games if a player died before passing a checkpoint. In Super Mario Bros. Wonder, hidden Flower Coins remain collected even after a player dies, meaning players could intentionally die in-game for the sake of grabbing a hard-to-reach prize.
“I strongly believe it also takes a lot of the challenge out of collecting all three,” one Redditor posted, attributing the shift to Nintendo attempting to make the game more family-friendly. “Like… I can see why they would want to make it more accessible to young people but wtf… It’s not like most kids are gonna go for 100% completion… They should have at least made it an option in the settings for those who like the challenge.”
“There needs to be some toggle options,” another Redditor agreed. “Same thing with certain characters being invincible, should be a toggle so Nabbit and Yoshi fans can play their characters without easy mode.”
Yoshi first gained fame with the 1990 release of Super Mario World, where the character was introduced as Mario’s rideable companion. Then, when Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island debuted in 1995, the platformer brought Yoshi back as a main character.
In the years that followed, Yoshi has been the protagonist and source of inspiration for a long line of titular platformers and puzzle games — most recently Yoshi’s Crafted World, which was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
Suffice it to say, this little green dino has a whole lot of history, not to mention he’s captured the hearts of gamers across Nintendo’s massive fanbase. But for all you adult Yoshi fans out there, unfortunately you’ll have to select from Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s seven other characters if you’re looking for an added challenge. Here’s hoping future Mario games give players the option to adjust difficulty settings on a character-by-character basis.
Want to learn more about Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Check out our review of the game from IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey or tune in to IGN Game Scoop’s October 28 podcast.
