Nintendo announced it was hosting a new Direct focused on the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder, set to air on August 31 at 10 AM ET. The developer promised roughly 15 minutes of information would be revealed alongside a new look at gameplay.
Here’s what we saw during today’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct.
Kicking off at 10 AM, we see Mario and Luigi invited to the Flower Kingdom by Prince Florian. However, Bowser has other plans and with one touch of the Wonder Flower, Bowser merges with Prince Florian’s Castle. It’s pretty strange but on par for Bowser to muck things up.
It’s up to Mario and his friends to save the Flower Kingdom. The presentation goes over many of the new powers you’ll find in the Flower Kingdom. Speaking of, it is made of six distinct worlds that circle the Petal Isles, for a total of seven explorable worlds. The adventure begins in Pipe-Rock Plateau before moving to Fluff-Puff Peaks, then you head to Shining Falls, underwater and in caves in PEtal Isles, and a white sand desert, a giant mushroom forest, lava spouts and a whole lot more.
You can freely walk around areas and play stages in any order you like. You can even reply to stages you’ve completed if you wish. Every stage has talking flowers that talk to Mario, offering hints or coins to your team. Besides Mario, you can please Luigi, Peach, and Daisy, one of two Toads or Toadettes; they all play the same. The Yoshis don’t take damage and are meant to be a more effortless experience.
Hoppycats jump when you jump, Melon Piranha Plants spit seed at you, Condarts fly at you and stick to walls, Konks plow through goo to get at you, Mumsies can be unravelled, Maw-Maws eat anything that gets close to you. Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Boos, and Lakitus make a return as well, and Nintendo says there are several new enemies to discover.
We look at the new power-ups, including Elephant form; you can use your nose and size to deal with enemies and even bounce back shells with your trunk. In this form, you can easily break blocks and dash across gaps. Mario can also store water in his trunk to help the talking flowers. Every character has their own Elephant form as well.
The Bubble form allows you to blow light bubbles to capture and defeat enemies from a distance, and you can take enemies in one go; even impervious enemies are susceptible to the bubbles. You can even jump on bubbles to get to hard-to-reach places.
The Drill form allows you to deal with spiky enemies quickly, and you can drill downwards and burrow through the ground, the ceiling, and more.
The Fire Flower is back, and you can even store a spare power-up or swap it to fit the situation you’re currently in.
The Wonder Flower was shown during the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct. it is grown in the Flower Kingdom and was the power Bowser was after. Touching a Wonder Flower in a course triggers an effect in the course, and pipes may start moving, a stampede of enemies may appear, the terrain may tilt, a freefall may occur, lots of bubbles might bubble up, your perspective may change, or float through space. In the presentation, we saw Mario’s form shift to a Goomba because of the Wonder Flower, a spike ball, and even a balloon.
It would help if you collected the Wonder Seed to restore the level, and the seeds need to be unlocked to open new levels. You’ll also earn these seeds when clearing a course. Nintendo also revealed in-game Badges that change up the way you can play; for example, the Parachute Cap allows you to press R in midair to float slowly downward, or the Wall-Climb Jump allows you to press B on the wall to Jump straight up once, of the Dolphin Kick allows you to press R underwater to unleash a burst of speed. You can even time consecutive jumps to jump even higher than usual. Nintendo says only one Badge can be equipped per course and can be equipped on the world map or at the start of the level.
Some Badges can be earned in Badge Challenge Course or at Poplin Shops across the Flower Kingdom.
Regarding multiplayer, there are four four-player local co-op, and anyone defeated in co-op will float around as a ghost; any other players need to touch the defeated character to return them to the mix. You can mix and match characters, and anyone who plays as the other players can ride Yoshi. Online play lets you see other people playing on the world map and courses, appearing as live player shadows. You can even bring other players back to life by touching their ghosts. A remarkable feature in the video is that you can place standees in levels. These statues of your character are utilized by defeated players to be brought back to life if you’re not around and are best placed in not-so-easy areas and can be purchased at the Poplin Shops as well. Online rooms can be created online, and you can see courses your friends are in, join them, and then challenge them to get through courses as fast as possible. Some courses require you to grab a Wonder Seed or defeat a boss instead.
Nintendo closed out the Super Mario Bros. Wonder by revealing a new Mario Red OLED Switch featuring easter eggs dedicated to Mario, and it launches on October 6, 2023.
