Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Direct Summary

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of a handful of first-party games announced by Nintendo earlier this year. The game will seemingly follow the general 2D-Mario formula but promises to bring some… wondrous new things to the beloved franchise. To show off more about the game with an upcoming release on October 20th of this year, Nintendo shared some news in today’s 15-minute presentation. There is a surprising amount of information to unpack.

Apart from the new, striking art style that is better seen for yourself, the game is set in a new kingdom. The Flower Kingdom is said not to be too far away from the Mushroom Kingdom we are all used to. The story, of course, has Bowser making a mess of things once more. This time he causes trouble by activating one of the game’s Wonder Flowers which made him merge with King Florian’s castle. Now, it is up to Mario & Co. to save the day.

The Flower Kingdom consists of seven worlds in total. There are six main worlds as well as the petal isles enveloped by all other worlds. However, the petal isles don’t seem to be the final world from what we’ve been shown in the presentation.

The worlds are set up as usual for the most part, though there are some changes. Within these worlds, there’s a chance you’ll find yourself in an open area. This means that the courses in said area can be tackled in whichever order you like. That seems like a good approach to a new game if only to change things up a little bit.

In addition to these areas, any finished course can then be accessed via a course menu. This menu gives players the ability to replay their favorite courses without having to walk across the entire overworld.

Within the courses, there’s a range of different new things you can find. One of which is the talking flowers, which have actual voice lines. These lines range from gameplay hints to funny quips. They can even give you coins if certain requirements are met.

There’s also a surprisingly large range of playable characters available in the game. The more normal ones are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, two different-colored Toads, and Toadette, which all generally play the same.

The more special characters are the different Yoshis as well as Nabbit. These characters seem to be intended more for younger or less skilled players. This is because they can’t take damage unless they fall into a pit. The Yoshis receive the most special treatment as they can flutter-jump as well as eat objects and enemies as well as spit them back out.

It wouldn’t be a new Mario game without at least some new enemies. Super Mario Bros. Wonder actually seems to have quite a lot of new enemies. Some examples are Hoppycats, which jump when the player jumps, seed-spitting Melon Piranha Plants, and more. Don’t be afraid, though, because classic enemies like the Goombas and Koopa Troopers return for this game as well.

We’ve seen glimpses of the new power-ups in the reveal trailer for the game, but this time we got a closer look at all three of them. The elephant power-up transforms the player into, well, an elephant. As an elephant, you have all sorts of different abilities surrounding the trunk, such as swinging at enemies or storing water for later use. The bubble power-up creates floating bubbles which you can use to capture and defeat enemies, as well as use them to jump off and maybe reach some higher-up or hard-to-reach areas.

My favorite power-up has to be the drill, though. It seems like the most versatile of the new trio since it can protect you from enemies falling on or jumping on your character’s head. On the other hand, you can use it to dig down into the ground as well as the ceiling, making for some fun ways to avoid and outmaneuver enemies.

The last power-up shown is the fire flower everyone knows by this point, a staple within the franchise. This one just seems to be an addition, with no tricks up its.. buds. Lastly, you can hang on to one additional power-up while playing, giving you the ability to swap out different powers if the situation calls for it.

Now for the most exciting thing within the game, the wonder flowers. These flowers are littered throughout the different courses and each one gives you a unique and game-changing effect upon touching it. These effects go from moving pipes, to tilting terrain, perspective changes, transforming your characters and beyond. I don’t want to give too much away, since I think discovering these effects on your own will be much more fun. If you’re curious, however, these effects were shown in the presentation linked below.

Once one of these effects has been triggered, the goal is to find and touch a wonder seed. Wonder seeds act as a sort of collectible in the game, not too dissimilar to golden coins in previous games. These can either be found within the courses or can be earned by finishing them. Akin to previous collectibles, the seeds can be used to unlock courses, as well as special badges. Badges are another new mechanic introduced in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

These badges can be earned through all sorts of different means, most commonly purchased with either coins or special badge challenge courses. One badge can be equipped at a time and will grant you a specific effect throughout the course. The effects are as simple as an enhanced wall jump or can give you even more of an advantage with a float jump gained from the parachute badge. Not all effects are beneficial, however, since there was a badge shown that turns you invisible to both the enemies as well as the player. You can only use one badge per course, though you can switch them out upon death or when exiting a course.

With Nintendo, co-op play has always been a difficult topic. Done locally, it usually works pretty well (apart from a few exceptions), but online play tends to be kind of iffy with this company. This is why there is a significant difference between local and online play in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Starting off with local co-op, it’s fairly standard. You can play with up to four players made up of the different characters introduced earlier. When one of your friends dies, they turn into ghosts. Ghosts float around and can be directed slightly, with the goal being to touch another player. Upon coming in contact with a dead player, said player is revived without losing a life. However, there is a time limit to this option. One little added bonus; if you or one of your friends plays as a Yoshi, other players (or Yoshis) can jump on them.

Online play is a very different story and a very interesting one at that. In online play, you can’t directly play with your friends. That sounds weird, but Nintendo worked on a concept that seems to work fairly well without having to consider connectivity issues too much. You can see other online players on the world map and in courses, shown as so-called live player shadows. Within a course, these function just like normal co-op partners, even with the ability to revive when bumping into them.

There are no such things as player-collision, however, so it doesn’t quite feel like you’re playing with a friend. Or at least that’s what it looks like. In online play, you can place standees (very much like cardboard cutouts) in different locations. These are pretty much a stand-in for other players, giving you the ability to bump into them to revive even when there are no live player shadows around. Different looks for these standees can be purchased through shops around the world.

Upon meeting a live player shadow or a standee, the player’s username will show up along with the number of heart points they’ve gathered. Heart points can be earned through different means, such as placing your standees in a useful location or finishing a course in time with some live player shadows.

One last option for online play is rooms. You can create or enter a room, which lets you interact with your friends more directly. You can decide to either join their course to play alongside them. However, you aren’t quite joining as they’re still there in the form of a shadow. Alternatively, you can challenge them to a race through different courses. This seems like a fun way to play with your friends without really playing with them, but it’s a function I’ll have to test myself to see how well it works, when the game comes out on October 20th.

Nintendo left one surprise for the very end of the presentation, announcing a new Nintendo Switch OLED model in Mario Red. The joycons as well as the dock are colored in the shade of red found on Mario’s clothes, and some details like coins can be seen on the back of the dock. It’s a nice little surprise, but I’ll most likely be waiting for a more special console variant, if at all.