For all of you saying 3D World was easy did you try playing it through online co-op with NSO's terrible lag? Game sent me and my buddy into spiraling rage.

NSMB Wii
NSMB U
Super Mario 3D World

All those games were pretty challenging. Mario games aren't automatically easy.

3D World was honestly a masterpiece. I don't get much out of games that are too easy (games like Kirby and Yoshi have zero appeal to me), but I don't ever remember it being too easy. It wasn't a hard game, but there was no point at which I was thinking it would be better if it was harder (something like Metroid Dread is amazing for its difficulty, but I don't want beating a level in Mario to be that hard haha).

I think it perfectly toed the line of being hard enough to be pleasing while being playable for people of any age. I died plenty, especially when specifically trying to 100% all the levels, but it was never so hard that it felt frustrating. Sure most of the levels were easy enough to beat on the first try, or if you didn't just screw up and fall off an edge or something, but it never felt too easy. And then the difficulty significantly ramped up in the extra worlds (and that last world is just insane).

NSMBUD was probably harder, though I don't remember it being easier or harder than 3D World, but I'm guessing there were more levels where I died a few times before I beat the level. But NSMBUD had loose controls, kinda stale design/concepts/levels/graphics, and the only time it was really fun was in co-op, that one time I played in co-op haha, so regardless of whether or not it was a little bit harder than 3D World, the level of satisfaction upon beating levels or beating the whole game, was much much lower with NSMBUD.

"New" felt like it was designed for family/kids co-op, and not to be a great game to play through yourself.
I just hope Mario Wonder has enough challenge combined with great gameplay and levels to give that 3D World feeling of "wow this is amazing".

They certainly changed up a lot in Mario Wonder to make it look fresh, but is it gonna be geared more toward kids/family play with loose controls and a focus on making it good for multiplayer, or is it gonna have tight controls, interesting levels, good difficulty, and gameplay that works great in single player as well. These are things I felt "New" didn't have. I hope the so-called DNA of Mario Wonder is significantly different and that its not just "New" wrapped up in a prettier and wackier package. It certainly looks different than the New games in both graphics and ideas, but it needs to feel/play different and better than the New games. 3D World managed to be 4 player Mario that was amazingly good 1-player. NSBMUD did not manage that at all. My $50 game voucher is praying that Wonder does manage it.

Meh, personally couldn't care less how hard or easy it is as long as it's fun.
I enjoyed the heck out of games like Mario Galaxy or Kirby and the Forgotten Land that I found quite easy, and games like Donkey Kong Country Returns/Tropical Freeze which I found quite challenging.

For me, a game's quality rests on how good it feels to control, how creative and enjoyable the level design is, stuff like that, rather than how easy/hard it is.

To me  if you have those things and the game is too easy then it's bad level design. A game that requires little skill is what i call bad gameplay. Now if it has great story, puzzles and has a nice world to explore then i can deal with it, but linear game that is easy is just meh. 

To each their own; for me sometimes a game that is relaxing to play can be immensely enjoyable. Whether I have fun isn't dependent on how much I'm being pushed, just like a meal being delicious isn't dependent on it being spicy or taking effort to chew. Some people like spice, and I do too sometimes, but I'm not dependent on it to enjoy myself. 

3D World was honestly a masterpiece. I don't get much out of games that are too easy (games like Kirby and Yoshi have zero appeal to me), but I don't ever remember it being too easy. It wasn't a hard game, but there was no point at which I was thinking it would be better if it was harder (something like Metroid Dread is amazing for its difficulty, but I don't want beating a level in Mario to be that hard haha).

I think it perfectly toed the line of being hard enough to be pleasing while being playable for people of any age. I died plenty, especially when specifically trying to 100% all the levels, but it was never so hard that it felt frustrating. Sure most of the levels were easy enough to beat on the first try, or if you didn't just screw up and fall off an edge or something, but it never felt too easy. And then the difficulty significantly ramped up in the extra worlds (and that last world is just insane).

NSMBUD was probably harder, though I don't remember it being easier or harder than 3D World, but I'm guessing there were more levels where I died a few times before I beat the level. But NSMBUD had loose controls, kinda stale design/concepts/levels/graphics, and the only time it was really fun was in co-op, that one time I played in co-op haha, so regardless of whether or not it was a little bit harder than 3D World, the level of satisfaction upon beating levels or beating the whole game, was much much lower with NSMBUD.

"New" felt like it was designed for family/kids co-op, and not to be a great game to play through yourself.
I just hope Mario Wonder has enough challenge combined with great gameplay and levels to give that 3D World feeling of "wow this is amazing".

They certainly changed up a lot in Mario Wonder to make it look fresh, but is it gonna be geared more toward kids/family play with loose controls and a focus on making it good for multiplayer, or is it gonna have tight controls, interesting levels, good difficulty, and gameplay that works great in single player as well. These are things I felt "New" didn't have. I hope the so-called DNA of Mario Wonder is significantly different and that its not just "New" wrapped up in a prettier and wackier package. It certainly looks different than the New games in both graphics and ideas, but it needs to feel/play different and better than the New games. 3D World managed to be 4 player Mario that was amazingly good 1-player. NSBMUD did not manage that at all. My $50 game voucher is praying that Wonder does manage it.

Many gamers choose easy/story mode cause they want that relaxing gameplay experience it's understandable. For me, if it only has that mode then i can't consider the gameplay good. yes i might enjoy it, but why would i say the gameplay is good? when it's  not challenging me or making me use my brain or learn gameplay mechanics at all, especially in a linear game thats not story driven the only thing i can think is you really enjoy the art and music.