On Aug. 31, Nintendo unveiled new details regarding the next installment in the Super Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Today, we finally received an official trailer to give us an in-depth look at all the latest gameplay mechanics.
Set in the Flower Kingdom, a “not so distant land” adjacent to the Mushroom Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder sees Bowser fuse with Prince Florian’s Wonder Flower, thereby assuming the form of Florian’s castle.
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, and others leap into action to stop Bowser from enslaving the Flower Kingdom. Thanks to Bowser’s newfound powers, chaos spread across the land, but our heroes won’t give in so easily.
Let’s break down all the new features in Super Mario Bros. Wonder:
- Introducing the Flower Kingdom, made up of seven distinct areas: Pipe-Rock Plateau, Fluff-Puff Peaks, Shining Falls, Petal Isles, and three other locations that are locked when the game starts.
- You can move around the map in each distinct world to select a course to complete, or walk freely through open areas you stumble across.
- Play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yellow Toad, Blue Toad, Toadette, Yoshi, Red Yoshi, Yellow Yoshi, Light-Blue Yoshi, and Nabbit.
- For a more easy-going experience, the Yoshis and Nabbit don’t take damage, so you can explore to your heart’s content.
- New power-ups include Elephant Form, Bubble Form, and Drill Form, each with unique attacks and puzzle-solving capabilities.
- The classic Fire Form returns, activated with Fire Flowers.
- Touching a Wonder Flower during a course triggers a Wonder Effect, capable of moving pipes, sending stampedes of enemies, and even tilting the terrain.
- Certain Wonder Effects even transform characters to give them heightened abilities, such as turning them into a Goomba or spike ball.
- Unlocking badges will equipped characters with certain powers, such as the Parachute Cap or Grappling Vine.
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder enables both local co-op play and online multiplayer.
- You can revive other players, send greetings, and share power-ups.
And that’s only what Nintendo have shared with us, so the information we’re privy to might not even cover the extent of what Super Mario Bros. Wonder can do. You won’t ever know the true impact of the game until you play it for yourself. Nintendo’s latest chapter in Mario’s story will release exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on Oct. 20.
