2D Mario really needed a shake up. They’ve been using the same formula and aesthetic for the last 17 years. It looks like they were really creative with this one.
Yes yes art style and gameplay wise it's eye popping, but that's not the thing everyone's focused on. Princess Daisy being a playable character is a lot more significant
Context time: Princess Daisy has been an oddball character in the Mario franchise for a long time, just like Waluigi. Her first appearance was Super Mario Land on the original Game Boy in 1989, however until now, that has been her only mainline appearance as mainly just a replacement Princess Peach, and she was indistinguishable from Peach.
She was originally supposed to be just a one off to be a princess from another land in place of Peach. She didn't reappear until the first Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 in 2000 since Nintendo needed characters for their new sports spinoff, so she was called back in to boost the roster. In Mario Tennis she got a more detailed look, but was ultimately still just Peach but colored yellow.
She just came out of nowhere, and since then she's become a reoccurring character in spinoff games. In Mario Party 4 in 2002 is when she got her design as we know it today.
And since then she has received many changes to her to set her apart from Peach. She's energetic, spunky, can easily become a short fuse, and is just overall a upbeat bombastic personality...sometimes to her detriment as evident in Mario Kart Double Dash where she got her infamous catchphrase "Hi I'm Daisy!"
And despite all that, her positive attitude and vibrant design has garnered her a cult following around the world. She became more popular than Peach because until the Mario Movie Peach didn't really have a personality and was always sidelined as the endgoal of a Mario game, unlike Daisy.
Just one problem, and it's the same problem Waluigi has: She was only used in spinoffs. Daisy's only appearance in a main Mario game was Mario Land. Even Princess Rosalina who only appeared in Mario Galaxy showed up in more mainline Mario games as she was playable in Super Mario 3D World, and almost had a cameo appearance in Mario Odyssey. With Daisy's massive fanbase they begged Nintendo to put her in proper Mario games again, but Nintendo had no interest in pushing her. She was added to the mobile game y'all forgot about Super Mario Run as a bonus character, but hardly anyone got her since she required a massive grind in Remix 10 mode.
But then in 2018, something happened. Super Smash Bros Ultimate was announced, and during the E3 showcase the Echo Fighters were announced, characters that are clones of existing fighters but with a different appearance and animations so characters who were fan favorites but too similar to existing characters could get into the game. Ken Masters appeared as an echo of Ryu, as well as Dark Samus and others. But one echo stood out: Daisy. After numerous fan requests Daisy finally got into Smash as an echo fighter. Getting into Smash changed perception of Daisy as an important character if she was able to get into Smash Bros, to the point when she initially wasn't in Mario Strikers Battle League there was massive outcry about her being missing.
And now we've arrived to Super Mario Bros Wonder, and the big bombshell.
After 34 years, Daisy has finally returned into a mainline Mario game, and this time she's actually a playable character. Daisy becoming playable cements her as a mainstay Mario character, a character who's important enough that her being gone would raise questions. Her becoming playable is a massive victory for her passionate fans who loved her for decades. This is a dream come true for so many people, to the point the word Daisy was trending on Twitter for days. People are more focused on Daisy actually being a playable character more than how amazing the game itself already looks.
So yeah, I guess you could call it a shake up.
