Nintendo’s next Super Mario Bros. game is about to side-scroll its way to a Nintendo Switch near you this week. The new game ditches 3D mechanics and returns to the franchise’s roots with another 2D side-scrolling outing for Mario, Luigi and friends. And in this game, you can turn into an elephant.
Here’s everything you need to know about Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
When Is The Release Date?
Super Mario Bros. Wonder comes out on Friday, October 20th on the Nintendo Switch. It costs $59.99 and can be downloaded from the Switch eShop or ordered online.
Where Does Wonder Take Place?
Mario leaves the Mushroom Kingdom behind and travels to the Flower Kingdom. This neighboring kingdom is ruled over by Prince Florian, a caterpillar-like Wiggler, and is populated by talking flowers and the Toad-like Poplins. It’s dived into seven different lands, all of which you’ll explore in Wonder. As you can see in the map above, Bowser has his grubby claws dug into this kingdom as well.
What Are Some Of The Power-Ups?
Power-ups are always what make Mario games shine. All the way back to mushrooms that make Mario big and flowers that give our favorite plumber fireballs, power-ups are the key ingredient to what makes this game series tick. Some of Wonder’s include:
- A fruit that transforms Mario into an elephant.
- A flower that lets you create bubbles to trap enemies with.
- Wonder Flowers that can change entire levels in truly fascinating ways.
- A mushroom that gives you a hat with a drill on it.
- Badges that, when equipped, give players special perks including passive and active abilities, including higher jumping or long, floaty jumps (think Mario 2 but with abilities that you can equip rather than being tied to specific characters).
What Playable Characters Are There?
At launch there will be 8 playable characters:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Princess Peach
- Princess Daisy
- Toad
- Toadette
- Nabbit
- Yoshi
There are no differences in playstyle or mechanics for any of these characters except for Nabbit and Yoshi. Neither of these characters can use power-ups, but they have their own special mechanics such as Yoshi being able to eat enemies and Nabbit’s ability to convert power-ups into Purple Coins which you can use to buy 1-Up Mushrooms, Wonder Seeds, Badges and more.
Is There Multiplayer?
There are actually three different ways multiplayer works:
- You can play couch co-op with up to three friends using one system and multiple controllers. Play each level with friends just like you would solo.
- You can play online with up to three players but only by setting up course races rather than traditional co-op.
- You can turn on a persistent online mode that inserts ghosts of other players into your levels. This allows you to spawn into one of these ghosts when you die, giving you an extra bit of help to tackle levels. It’s kind of cheating, though.
How Are The Reviews?
The reviews are, well, quite wonderful.
IGN says the game “oozes joy” and GameInformer says the new Wonder Effects bring “joyful surprises”. The game is currently sitting at 93/100 on Metacritic, placing it below Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 and right at the same level as Super Mario 3D World, making it one of the best-reviewed Mario games to-date.
Trailer
All told, it looks like Super Mario Bros. Wonder is about to become a huge hit with Nintendo fans and stake its claim as one of the best 2D side-scrollers in the franchise’s long history. Letsa go!
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