Super Mario Wonder Revealed
At yesterday’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo finished off their solid showcase with their big title for Winter this year: a brand new 2D Mario game. The game, titled ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ is set to release on October 20th this year- which places it just over a month before the also announced ‘Super Mario RPG’ Remake. You can check out the trailer for this new 2D Mario adventure below:
The trailer started off with a showcase of the new art style of 2D Mario. Fans were becoming tired of the ‘New Super Mario Bros’ formula that they’ve been fed since 2006, so this distinct graphical style certainly sets it apart. On top of that, everything in this trailer looks far more expressive: from the enemies to Mario and his friends- and even the environments. If the New Super Mario Bros. series was playing things too safe, Mario Wonder is course-correcting massively.
After some enjoyable, relaxing gameplay and a talking flower (which may or may not ruffle your feathers), we get to see the biggest departure that makes this game special: the so-called ‘Wonder Seeds’. Upon picking up this, the pipes in the level begin to seemingly dance and we get to see all sorts of random gimmicks. From Mario and enemies elongating their bodies to riding on a herd of charging rhino-creatures, anything can happen when Mario grabs this power.
After that craziness ends, we are treated to the title drop for the game alongside some more surprises. Daisy is revealed to be a playable character (the first time in any Mario game), the game is confirmed to have a beautiful world map and, more importantly, we get to see Yoshi again! Only now, it seems that you can ditch Mario and pals altogether and play as the green dinosaur on his own. With these changes, it seems Nintendo took the criticisms of blue and yellow toad from the New Super Mario Bros series to heart (although you can still play as the little yellow guy if you so please).
After seeing some more wacky effects of the Wonder Seed, we get to see what seems to be a new permanent upgrade for Mario. In what was the most surprising and baffling reveal of the entire event, Mario transforms into an elephant and completely destroys a sleeping goomba nearby. Whether this is a Mario-exclusive power or if everyone has the ability to morph into an animal is yet to be confirmed- but it’s certainly something to look forward to. Overall, this is the freshest we’ve seen from 2D Mario in nearly two decades- and it’s a shake-up that’s sorely needed. Whether or not this new title lives up to expectations will be revealed when it releases on October 20th this year.
