Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an upcoming side-scrolling platform game for the Nintendo Switch. It was first announced during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, and is set to be released worldwide on October 20, 2023. It is the twenty-second installment in the Super Mario series and the first new full-fledged 2D Super Mario game since New Super Mario Bros. U released almost 11 years prior.

A dedicated Nintendo Direct for the game titled the "Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct" broadcasted on August 31, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m. ET.

Overview
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a -style platformer that supports both single-player and simultaneous multiplayer modes. Its art direction is reminiscent of the New Super Mario Bros. series of games, incorporating changes such as updated character designs and new sets of animations.

Alongside Mario and Luigi, several other characters are also playable, including Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yellow Toad, Blue Toad, Toadette, Yoshis of four different colors, and Nabbit. Their moveset features standard abilities, for instance the Wall Jump and the Ground Pound. The Yoshis retain their Flutter Jump, ability to use their tongue, and can also be used as a mount, and they and Nabbit do not take any damage from enemies. The players can receive new abilities by consuming power-ups, both returning and brand new ones, such as an elephant-themed fruit.

The signature feature of the game is the Wonder Flower, a power-up that changes the world around Mario and friends in unique and strange ways, examples including bringing Warp Pipes to life and causing themselves and elements of the stage to stretch upward. Also revolving around the "Wonder" theme are the Wonder Seeds and purple coins, prominent collectibles. Another notable addition are Talking Flowers, non-playable characters that populate the levels and comment on the events and gimmicks nearby.

The game takes place in a location distinct from its predecessors, and foregoes some of their established elements while featuring new level themes, such as autumnal forests and savannas. The hub consists of a contiguous world map, similar to that of New Super Mario Bros. U, where each level is represented by a 3D modeled icon, as in Super Mario 3D World. Also similar to both games, levels have unique names. Each one is also assigned a difficulty rating in-game, a feature only found previously in Super Mario Maker 2's Story Mode.

Unlike every other 2D side-scrolling Super Mario game, excluding Super Mario Bros. 2, there is no score or Time Limit in this game, allowing players to explore levels for as long as they wish.

Plot
The game's plot focuses on Mario and company being invited to the Flower Kingdom, ruled by Prince Florian, when Bowser suddenly appears, along with Kamek and Bowser Jr. Bowser then takes hold of the Wonder Flower, merging himself, his Koopa Clown Car, and Prince Florian's castle to become a flying fortress, wreaking havoc across the land and trapping the Poplins in their homes. Mario and the gang (including Prince Florian, the Yoshis, and Nabbit) must then set off on a journey to defeat Bowser and save the Flower Kingdom.

Playable characters
Counting the colored Toads and Yoshis separately, Super Mario Bros. Wonder features a total of 12 playable characters, the most playable characters in a mainline Super Mario game. Among them, Daisy and the Yoshis are playable for the first time in a home console Super Mario game after being previously playable in Super Mario Run. Most characters have the same attributes and play identically aside from revealing different Invisible Character Blocks. The Yoshis and Nabbit do not take damage from most obstacles and enemies, but cannot transform using power-ups. Additionally, Nabbit does not flinch from attacks and turns power-ups he collects into flower coins, while the Yoshis retain their ability to Flutter Jump, use their tongues, and allow other characters to ride them.

All descriptions are from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder page on the Nintendo website.

Levels
The game is set in the Flower Kingdom, and has six different worlds, as well as a central area to which all of them connect, the Petal Isles. Each level contains at least two Wonder Seeds, one of which is obtained by finding the level's Wonder Flower and reaching the end of the Wonder Effect section, and the other obtained by reaching the end of the level and grabbing the Goal Pole. Some levels also have a hidden third Wonder Seed which is obtained by finding a secret exit. Additionally, every level hides three 10-flower coins, which behave similarly to the Star Coins from the New Super Mario Bros. series, the Star Medals from Super Mario 3D Land, and the Green Stars from Super Mario 3D World.

In addition to the main levels, there are also smaller, bonus levels, all of which (except "Bonus" levels) have one Wonder Seed, obtained by completing the level:
 * Bonus levels can be accessed via golden propeller flowers. One of them, Coins Galore!, contains many coins and flower coins for the player to collect and appears when the player(s) receive(s) a Game Over.
 * Break Time! levels are short levels with a specific objective in order to obtain the Wonder Seed.
 * Badge Challenge levels involve using the abilities of a particular badge in order to reach the goal. The player is also rewarded with the badge upon completing the level. Despite their short length, they still hold three 10-flower coins in them.
 * Wiggler Race levels involve racing a Wiggler wearing roller skates to the goal.

Each location of the Flower Kingdom has a corresponding color for its Wonder Flowers, Wonder Seeds, and interactable tulip-like flowers.

Items and objects
New items and objects are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Badges
A new element in this game are badges. Obtained either by completing a Badge Challenge or buying them with flower coins in a Poplin Shop, the player can equip their character with a badge before starting a level or after losing a life. There are a total of 24 badges, including nine Action Badges, which add new abilities to the characters, nine Boost Badges, which assist the player during gameplay, and six Expert Badges, which grant an advanced skill to the characters.

The player is also given an option to select a badge at random using "Prince's Choice", which can be selected by pressing on the Badges selection screen.

Staff
Super Mario Bros. Wonder was produced by Takashi Tezuka and directed by Shiro Mouri, who previously served as the programming director for New Super Mario Bros. U and director for New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. This is also the first game in the whole Mario franchise to feature Kevin Afghani as the voice of Mario and Luigi, succeeding Charles Martinet.

Promotion
By pre-ordering the game through, customers will receive an exclusive sticker set depicting the playable characters, a Wonder Flower, and a Talking Flower.

By pre-ordering the game through 's website, customers will receive a trading card pack, each containing ten cards randomly pulled from a total of 20 difference cards to get. All the possible cards that will be distributed in the card packs include 15 base cards, 4 holofoil cards, and a limited edition holofoil card depicting Elephant Mario with only 1,000 produced.

At, an exclusive shadowbox collectable depicting the game's main artwork can be received with purchase of the game in-store.

By pre-ordering the game through 's website, customers receive a free art print with the game's main artwork.

In Canada, customers will be offered a free Elephant Mario keychain as a pre-order bonus for the game at GameStop. Those who pre-order the game at Walmart will receive an exclusive pop-out magnetic set.

By pre-ordering the game through the My Nintendo Store in Europe, customers receive an Elephant Fruit stress ball and pins depicting an Elephant Fruit, Talking Flower, and Wonder Flower. A bundle containing the game, a Talking Flower resin figure, 2D diorama, and magnets using the game's promotional artwork is also available in Europe.

The Elephant Fruit stress ball can also be received as a bonus by pre-ordering the game at in the UK.

In Australia, it was announced that customers who pre-order the game through would also receive the Elephant Fruit stress ball, though this was later confirmed to be a mistake and customers would instead receive a pin of Elephant Mario. Customers who pre-order the game through receive the same power-up pins as Europe's My Nintendo Store.

Advertisements for the game were shown in.

Descriptions

 * Nintendo Australia website: Classic Mario side-scrolling gameplay is turned on its head with the addition of Wonder Flowers! These game-changing items trigger spectacular moments you have to see to believe. Witness pipes coming alive, wreak havoc as a giant spiky ball, and see even more unexpected events called Wonder Effects.

References to other media

 * Mario Bros.: An arrangement of the phase start tune (for Phase 2 onwards) can be heard at the beginning of one song, which was used during the Mario Red Edition Nintendo Switch – OLED Model's introduction in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct.
 * Super Mario Bros.: Mario's jumping animation closely resembles the he makes on the Japanese box art from this game. Several notes from the ending fanfare are played at the beginning of the intro cutscene.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2: The Power Squat Jump move reappears as the Crouching High Jump badge, and Luigi's high jump and Scuttle return as the Floating High Jump badge. Peach's Floating Jump is also stated to return as another equipable badge. Ninjis return.
 * Super Mario Bros. 3: Boos are redesigned with smaller eyes and highly-raised eyebrows like in this game's artwork. The Enemy Course theme is reused in the Trottin' Piranha Plants minigame. A cover of the P-Meter sound effect can faintly be heard behind the sound of an inflating Item Balloon.
 * Super Mario World: Princess Peach is escorted to the Flower Kingdom by Yoshi with her hands on her lap, similar to the ending from this game. The Yoshis' design shares traits from their design from this game and are the same colors (except with Light-Blue Yoshi instead of Blue Yoshi). Several of Mario's animations are similar to the ones in this game such as ducking, falling with his cap floating up slightly, and losing a life. The digging sound when using the Drill powerup resembles the sound effect for when a block is broken from this game. The player can throw shells upward and crouch while holding items. The new snail enemies can be removed from their shells when stomped on similar to Koopa Troopas. One of the Wonder Effects is the playable character inflating like a balloon. Lil Sparkies, Hotheads, Rotating Blocks, semisolid slopes, and carriable Blue Shells return. The Add ! Blocks badge functions similarly to this game's Switch Palaces. Yoshis can extend their tongues through walls like in this game.
 * Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: The 1-Up jingle sounds very similar to how it did in this game. Melon Piranha Plants spit seeds similar to Yoshi and Ukikis with a watermelon. The Yoshis' animations like running and falling is similar to this game's.
 * Super Mario 64: Part of "Koopa's Theme" plays when Bowser is transformed into Castle Bowser from the effects of the Wonder Flower. An arrangement of "Slider" plays during the bonus level Coins Galore!
 * Super Mario Sunshine: The Underground Theme arrangement reduces the main motif to three notes, sounding similar to the Delfino Airstrip theme. The new Dry Bones-like wheeled enemies can be pulled from their leashes and launched forwards and wear red, spiked collars similar to Chain Chomplets.
 * Yoshi Topsy-Turvy: Red Yoshi's artwork from the character select screen has a similar pose to from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. series: The "Super Mario Bros." part of the series' logo is used in this game's logo, with the design being based on its more three-dimensional appearance as of New Super Mario Bros. 2. The sound that Yoshis make when stomping on enemies is reused.
 * Mario Party 8: Peach's artwork from the character select screen has a similar pose to from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Invincible Mario's artwork is reused from this game. The Goomba artwork is an updated version of one from this game. The last eight notes of the Super Mario Bros. 3 Enemy Course theme are played when all enemies are defeated in the Trottin' Piranha Plants minigame, like in this game's Enemy Courses. Light-Blue Yoshi's artwork for this game has a very similar pose to from this game, but without Yellow Toad riding on him.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2: The Drill Mushroom powerup resembles and functions similarly to the Spin Drill item from this game. Mario's Spike Ball form under the effects of the Wonder Flower functions similar to Rock Mario.
 * Mario Party 9: Yellow Yoshi's artwork uses the same pose as an updated version of Yoshi's artwork from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2: King Boo chases the player(s) in a slow auto-scrolling section similar to Boohemoth.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U: Bubble Mario can shoot bubbles that function similarly to those of Bubble Baby Yoshis in this game, which were the inspiration for the form. Goombrats return as enemies.
 * New Super Luigi U: Nabbit returns as a playable character with a very similar gameplay style.
 * Super Mario 3D World: Certain sections of maps can be freely roamed and zoomed out of like the worlds of this game. Fire Mario's artwork is reused from this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: Yellow Yoshi's artwork from the character select screen has a similar pose to from this game.
 * Super Mario Maker series: After a Yoshi eats a Dry Bones, it can spit out three bones that act as projectiles, like in this series' Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U styles. Lakitu's Cloud can appear out of pipes like in this series if one is inserted into a pipe in editing mode.
 * Super Mario Run: The playable character roster from this game returns, albeit with some color variations: Toad is replaced by Yellow Toad and Blue Toad while some Yoshi colors differ as well. The Jet Run badge functions similarly to the gameplay of this game. Invincible Mario can attract nearby coins like in this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Daisy's artwork from the character select screen has a similar pose to and her up taunt from this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe: Peachette's ability of bouncing back out of bottomless pits, lava, and poison returns as the Safety Bounce badge.