At Gamescom the other day, I had the fantastic opportunity to play some levels in closed-door multiplayer in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder with two other co-users: a A Nintendo representative (obviously a veteran Mario player) and another reporter from a different outlet (obviously not). I think myself, who proudly represents Gamereactor, one of the former, so the combination of coincidences proved ideal, can assess how this game is again trying to cater to hardcore precision platform fans on the one hand, and newcomers or just gathering in Players who enjoy casual party games together.
In short, I love Wonder New! I was pleasantly surprised by the added variety, silly fun, and attention to detail the series brought, but perhaps it’s easier to go level by level:
Major tweaks to game physics
For those like me, the New! For those of you spending endless hours with friends on the consoles of Super Mario Bros. (i.e. NSMB Wii and NSMB U/Deluxe), the first big change that redefines the rules of the game, Nintendo cleverly hid in the trailer: Then bump into each other and jump. Yes, there is interactivity when you play as Yoshi, and you can mount a friend on your back, but forget about character trampolining, throwing, and shoving. This mechanically diverts your attention for obvious reasons, while the competitive and cooperative aspects suffer as well.
Here is an ad:
How does it feel? Convincingly good. I naturally miss the modern staples of the series, but at the same time, given the new style and how Badges (which I’ll explain later) work, the more I play it, the more it makes sense. You also can’t steal items, and collected items are lined up in a FIFO inventory in the upper left corner, readily available to anyone who might need them.
Physics issues aside, don’t expect its characters to get the Super Mario Bros. 2 or Super Mario 3D World treatment: all seven mainlines behave the same, there’s no Peach’s surge, Luigi’s no higher jump, or Toad’s There is no faster run.
Wait, how many characters are there in Super Mario Bros. Wonder?
i mentioned seven main power supplies , but now I count to nine in the character select screen. Can Bowser be unlocked? Who knows. Here’s the list so far:
Mario
Luigi
peach
daisy
red toad
blue worm
yellow toad
Ara
Nabit
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Now, from Mario to Toads, it’s all about how they look on screen (and I mean a lot, because I’ll elaborate on that later too), and Yoshi and Nabbit are designed to be useful characters for beginners because They don’t die from hits.
Aside from Mario and Peach, I only play dinosaurs, and the problem is that newcomer characters can’t use items because it’s probably a little too much and a little too weird. Instead, except for being virtually invincible, Yoshis can do every move like everyone else (including wall jumps, ground bashes, spins, or Badge moves), followed by their own signature moves like quiver jumps or tongue-grabbing shells ability (even the mid-air that I bragged about in my game) and spit it out.
Yes, you can play SMB Wonder online, it’s fun
Part of our meeting surprisingly turned to online gaming. A Nintendo representative holds an OLED Switch, which is then connected to our ongoing TV session. The company has been reluctant to try this on its best-selling platformer due to potential lag issues and infrastructure constraints, but now it’s finally here, very popular, and has a bunch of interesting ideas. However, I, uh,want to knowIs this why the characters don’t collide anymore…
Anyway, what’s interesting about Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s online mode is that a given world map can host up to 11 additional players, for a total of 12, like a living lobby. The user then goes to a different level (the one that shows an active player inside the blinking marker) and teleports to where the action is happening, but this is of course still limited to a maximum of 4 players. Others are represented by ghost silhouettes, there are different action emojis, and you can leave posts for others to save you (this also works offline).
Of course this is for random players, but you can do pretty much the same thing with known users by creating a room for your Switch friends and setting a password, and then if you get over four full parties, you can go online Party but play different classes.
Even more interesting, however, is the fact that you can turn a given portion of a level into a timed race by hitting a tile, which is sure to make for intensely competitive encounters.
Flowers, Badges, and Props: The Elephant in the Room
But there’s a good reason Nintendo moved everyone from Mushroom Kingdom to Flower Kingdom: There are plenty of new power-ups and transformations in this world.
First, you have the traditional props, and besides what you’d expect (mushrooms, sparklers, etc.), we tried elephants and drills.
Not only is the elephant bigger and stronger, it’s also hilarious: it also allows you to use its trunk to deflect incoming projectiles (like acorns), break harder blocks by swinging it around, and, any plumber’s dream , absorbs liquid and then waters enemies or handy flowers.
The drill was also a nice surprise for the subterranean level, but it feels like a more familiar throwback to the spinner adapted from Super Mario Galaxy 2. It allows you to penetrate up and down surfaces, dive into smaller holes and crevices and break through gems. Oh, and a drill hat protects you from falling hazards, too.
Then there are Badges. They are special abilities granted to all players by Prince Florian, unlocked by completing special Badge Challenge levels that also serve as tutorials for unlockable Badges.
To put this into perspective, think of it as a way to give your character additional attributes beyond typical Super Mario moves. Two obvious examples are a badge that allows us to do a vertical wall jump (nicely combined with a side wall jump), or another that activates a super high jump while crouching. Since Badge’s power is the same, it changes the approach of each level for the entire group. Here is a list of some Badges:
Parachute hat (can fly with ZR’s cover even in elephant mode)
wall jumping
floating high jump
squat high jump
Dolphin Kick (useful underwater)
car super mushroom
Sensors (detect items and secrets)
The latter because the game seems to be full of secrets, seeing as you have to try a few runs through certain levels to collect every miracle seed, because that’s what you’re here for.
What about the last thing? Wonder Flower effects mean the craziest transformations of characters and environments.
You saw the first teaser trailer with snake-like or pushable pipes, stomps, and more, but during our meeting, we actually saw the character turn into… Gumba s. For the stealth part. it is true. Can’t Gulu Gulu jump down? But they can hide behind trees and bushes. They can go in circles during one of the funniest moments in Mario history. Those eyes, if you’re Peach, well, those eyes have beautiful lashes.
looks great
In the end, it looks like the game will move away from the simpler elements and textures that Nintendo has overused for decades while staying true to the schematic nature of the series. More depth, better effects, but most importantly more animation, the amazing attention to detail breathes life into this series, and we look forward to enjoying all of these little details.
In the end, it seems to me that they’ll keep the challenge and fun I’ve demanded of the series, as they’re now trying to illustrate non-veterans with additional prompts, and show the difficulty level before entering the course.
Even if you can’t play Globetrotter with friends, I expect this to get very, very technical with the different Badges, wacky transformations in Flower Kingdom, and the possibilities that online play brings. October 20th can’t come soon enough.
