Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a delight of a game – possibly the best 2D platformer in the series since the SNES era brought us Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island – so any excuse to go back to it is welcome. With such a superb game at its core, an enhanced version of Wonder for the Switch 2 could have kept things pretty simple and still come up worth recommending. But here, Nintendo has bucked the trend of some of its other Switch 2 Editions and delivered something genuinely worth picking up.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park, a title that takes roughly four business weeks to say out loud, is a veritable Bullet Bill blast of content and updates that touches just about every facet of the game.
It all starts at the titular Bellabel Park, a new overworld map location that’s unlocked as long as you’ve progressed through at least the first handful of levels in the base game’s first world. A community space in the Flower Kingdom stumbled upon by Captain Toad, it turns out your arrival at the park is fortuitous as to the Koopalings have also rocked up and stolen the region’s precious Bellabel Flowers, which I’m sure are important for one reason or another but are mostly a good reason to go and kick Koopaling shell.
This pursuit of the Bellabel Flowers becomes a whirlwind tour back around the main worlds of SMBW – or a first time through if you’re fresh to the whole experience – and is essentially just a series of seven new boss levels. But what boss levels they are. Nintendo has ratcheted up the creativity on these things, giving the Koopaling bosses each their own Wonder power that makes them a visual and game design treat. One will see you breaking steadily-falling blocks to create a path to smack a crystal-encased Larry, another turns Wendy into a giant cheep cheep, and my personal favourite tasks you with pulling the strings of a giant Morton puppet to make him punch himself in the head. Wonder-ful.
The single new power-up is the Flower Form, and it’s a decent addition that comes into its own during a lot of the new Koopaling levels. It’s a great example of the series’ design genius, where the Flower Form’s main ability to… fling a big flower upwards… doesn’t exactly inspire a great first impression, until the game starts throwing situations at you that give it an incredible amount of utility. I winded up playing through all of the additional content as newcomer to the roster, Rosalina, and felt both cute and powerful in my floral cosplay.
This update also features some welcome new gameplay additions, like unlockable Double Badges that give you the benefits of two select badges at once. I found the badges in general to be far more useful in the new Koopaling fights than they were through a lot of the original game content as well, which is nice. There’s a wealth of unlockables tied to Bellabel Park and a new stream of currency found by engaging with its activities, and your progress is marked by expanding customisation and festivities within the space. The 70+ challenge stages found in the park’s Camp Central, which put fun twists on existing levels with objectives like don’t get hit or don’t collect any coins are a real treat and probably the highlight outside of the new Koopaling stages.
This is all without even touching on the multiplayer additions in Bellabel Park. There are a number of different avenues for local and online multiplayer, designed for various player counts and setups. I’ve really only had a chance to check out the couch co-op compatible stuff, and most of it is just fine. There are some neat gimmicks and twists to find, including creative use of the Switch 2’s unique feature set, but this isn’t something I’d keep coming back to or recommend picking up the game for as a pillar. The requirements to play the smattering of games in the Game Room Plaza, which are only available online with folks on your friends list or via wireless play, also render a good chunk of what’s here redundant for some.
Visually, Wonder remains an especially striking 2D Mario entry, possessing far more personality than the “New Super Mario Bros.” series ever mustered. While new hardware doesn’t necessarily do much for this particular game, the upgrade to a 4K output in docked mode and the solid 60FPS performance mean it’s the best way to play it. Oddly enough, I found I had infrequent hitches while roaming the overworld map screen that I don’t remember experiencing in the original version of the game, but I also couldn’t find much evidence of similar issues online so this could be an isolated issue of mine.
Despite the multiplayer stuff not having a huge shelf life though, it’s hard to argue with how much Nintendo has crammed into Bellabel Park, and the stuff that hits really hits. I’m on side with everyone wondering how long the company plans to bolster its new console’s library with repackaged Switch 1 games at premium prices, but this one has the sauce, at least. For existing owners of the game, the Switch 2 upgrade’s USD $19.99 / AUD $30 / £16.99 asking price feels just right based on what’s here, and for those yet to jump in I’d easily recommend Super Mario Bros. Wonder as a complete package.
Reviewed on Switch 2 | Review copy supplied by publisher
Great
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder still rules
- The new Koopaling bosses are excellent
- Tons of fun challenge levels for solo players
- Plenty of multiplayer content to check out
- Looks superb on the Switch 2
Not great
- Multiplayer offering feels disjointed and lacks staying power
- Some odd performance issues on the overworld map