One of the most exciting announcements in Nintendo’s June Direct is Super Mario Wonder, so here’s what we know so far, including details on the gameplay, graphics, trailer and a whole lot more. It’s the first side-scrolling game in the series since 2021’s Super Mario 3D World, which was a release of the 2013 Nintendo Wii U game of the same name.
That means it’s been ten years since we last had some new 2D Mario game, so there’s a lot of anticipation and expectations for Wonder to live up to. It definitely looks like Nintendo has tried to shake things up since then with a lot of new mechanics to push the series forward, so it’s going to be interesting to see if it all comes together as well as previous games.
AdvertisementWe’ll start be covering the basics of what we know about Super Mario Bros Wonder, including the release date, age rating and price. We’ll then take you through everything announced for the graphics and gameplay, which you can see in action in the trailer below.
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Super Mario Bros Wonder what we know: Release date, age rating latest and price
Firstly, we know that Super Mario Bros Wonder has been given a release date of October 20th, 2023. This will cover all of the main release locations, including North America, the UK and Europe, Australia and New Zealand and Japan.
October is always a busy time for new games to come out, but Nintendo has given Super Mario Wonder a pretty big competitor in Spider-Man 2 on the PS5. With both games out on the same day and the Spider-Man sequel getting a lot of hype, it’s probably not the best release date to have chosen.
AdvertisementAdmittedly, they have different age ratings, with Spider-Man 2 coming in as a 16 and SMBW being younger (provisionally PEGI 7 in the UK), but there will be plenty of older gamers that will be forced to choose between the two on launch day. They’ll both be in contention for Christmas though, so maybe Nintendo is banking on this, but the fact that Thanksgiving 2023 will be on October 23rd is the main reason for the big powerhouses to go head-to-head.
The retail price at launch in the US will be $59.99 and £49.99 in the UK, so it’s a little cheaper than The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom was. It’s also cheaper than Spider-Man 2 PS5, so it’s got that in its favor as well as the target audience, so it will probably be one of the biggest new games out over winter 2023.
What we know about the gameplay
On the face of things, Super Mario Wonder is yet another 2D platform game in the style of previous games in the series. However, as you can see in the trailer below, we know that things are going to be very different this time around.
It’s going to be a bit like comparing Super Mario Bros with Super Mario Bros 2 on the NES. There’s been a lot of innovative mechanics introduced in the Nintendo franchise over the years, but Wonder looks like it’s getting the kitchen sink, elephant and all.
AdvertisementTo start with you’ve got slightly annoying talking flowers telling where to go and what to do at various points in a level. Mario can also swim up waterfalls like Link in TotK when he gets the Zora armor, roll giant hippos at Goombas and rail ride like he’s a zip-line pro.
However, it’s when he gets a Wonder Flower that things start to really change. This makes the level go all over the place with everything from out of control pipes to make it past, even bigger rolling hippos in the mix and blackout negative situations where Mario can stretch himself like he’s Reed Richards.
You can also see him transformed into a rolling spiked ball at 1:10 in the Super Mario Wonder trailer below. It then follows that up with a herd of charging bison to ride on before it teases a Wonder Seed, which appears to put everyone to sleep.
We also got a little view of the world map with levels including Welcome to the Flower Kingdom and Piranha Plants on Parade. We also know that playable characters will include Mario, Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi and for the first time, Princess Daisy, who can push big Bros back with their pipe attack.
AdvertisementThe world map view also seemed to confirm that Bowser would be the main antagonist once again. That should mean that he’ll be the final boss fight, but we’ll probably have to wait for the release date to come around before we get to confirm this.
Other gameplay mechanics featured in the trailer below include Wiggler on roller skates, speed strips, 4-player co-op, getting to ride on Yoshi’s back and cap flight. Super Mario Bros Wonder will also let you skydive, either grow big or shrink bosses, and finally pick up an elephant power-up that turns Mario into a new pachyderm version of himself. This will allow him to boot Goombas to the skies, and we’re hoping a whole lot more, so the gameplay is packed with new additions.
What we know about the graphics
It’s fair to say that Super Mario Bros Wonder has a very unique art style, but it’s also one of the crispest games in the series. You can see in the trailer below that when the screen zooms in there’s no clear pixels… only smooth curves, which looks good.
However, there’s a dial up in the cuteness rating for the graphics, which isn’t necessarily going to work for all gamers. It’s a bit cartoony, which we’re not big fans of, but if the gameplay mechanics work we’ll then it might be easier to overlook the way it appears.
AdvertisementIt looks like it might be achieving 30 frames per second (FPS), which could be the reason it looks so smooth. It has zero shanks and you really have to play the trailer below on a large screen before you see the pixels, so from this point of view, Super Mario Wonder will be the best looking 2D game in the series. It’s just a shame the art style hasn’t been dialed down a bit more.
Super Mario Wonder trailer
The trailer for Super Mario Wonder gave us a pretty chunky 2 minutes and 38 seconds of gameplay action during the June Nintendo Direct Presentation. It showcased a lot of the new features for the next game in the series and gave use a pretty good idea about what to expect from the title.
We didn’t get to see much from the bosses with the exception of the shrinking and growing Phantom Bowser at the 2:00 mark. We’ll probably get at least another trailer for the game before the October release date, so we might get to see more of them then.
We’ll update you with more details on the next Mario game as they’re confirmed. You can also check out our computer games section to keep tabs on other releases. Visit the Nintendo website at www.nintendo.com/ for more details.
