I’ve always been open to both styles. Each has their own “identity angle” when it comes to Mario. But I REALLY lost love for the New Super Mario games. The newest iteration actively frustrated me on controls. NSMB just feels so…floaty. Jumping felt off, and I never seemed to have full control on my forward momentum.
Mario Wonder? It feels “snappy” in ways I haven’t seen since the pre-rendered era. I also think a big thing about the “feel” you mentioned, Caldwin, is the new presentation. NSMB had gotten a bit…sterile. Wonder is bursting with personality. From the animation of the characters to the style of the worlds, even the flowers add a sense of “community” that many earlier Mario games lacked. Even when playing alone, you never felt alone because those flowers would add comments and exclamations that positively reinforced my experience.
I KNOW my experience with an early bonus stage would have been different if I didn’t have that crew of Flowers cheering me “GO, GO, GO” as I bolted across musical blocks.
By this point, NSMB (and to an extent, the 3D World/Land games) have started to feel sterile and lonely. Odyssey and Wonder? Even playing alone, you have vibrant worlds filled with characters and dynamic environment details.