Nintendo showed off Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the first time last week, and it looks like they’ve been experimenting with lots of new ideas and mechanics. In fact, the new Treehouse demo was brimming with them.

The badges and Wonder Flowers are interesting and were highlighted by Nintendo in the Direct and Treehouse demo. Badges are something we normally would see in a Mario role-playing game, not a platformer. The Wonder Flowers seem to add an unpredictable element and really add some creativity to the gameplay.

Another interesting feature is the lack of a time limit. The countdown timer that’s been in all the New Super Mario Bros. games is conspicuously absent in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This will allow for more exploration, which should help make for a better overall experience.

Online play will add some replay value.

Seeing more of the game, it appears to be the same art style Nintendo has been using in 2D Super Mario platformers since the first New Super Mario Bros. in 2006, albeit a prettier version of it. You see more in the backgrounds, and overall the game is colorful, but it’s the same basic character models for Mario and friends, and the enemies, that Nintendo standardized for the series almost two decades ago, which is disappointing.

We didn’t get a sense of how big the game is and only heard little bits of the soundtrack. Hopefully, Nintendo still has some innovation and creativity for the 2D platformer genre. From what Nintendo has shown us so far, it looks like they do.