Super Mario Bros. Wonder

North American box art.
Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo EPD
Release Date(s)
Nintendo Switch	WW: October 20, 2023
Nintendo Switch	WW: October 20, 2023
Platform(s)
Sales	13.44 million
Genre(s)	Platformer
Download Size	4.5GB
Rating(s)
ESRB	03
PEGI	01
CERO	01
ACB	01
USK	01
SMECCV	01

Staff
Director(s)	Shiro Mouri
Producer(s)	Takashi Tezuka (producer) Shinya Takahashi (general producer) Shuntaro Furukawa (executive producer)
Art Director(s)	Masanobu Sato
Programming Director(s)	Hiroshi Umemiya
Sound Director(s)	Koji Kondo
Composer(s)	Shiho Fujii Sayako Doi Chisaki Shimazu

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that is an entry to the Super Mario series.

It was released on Nintendo Switch on October 20, 2023.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot

The game retains elements from the New Super Mario Bros. games, but has new mechanics and gameplay styles. The art style and visuals are more genetic, hyper, and more expressive, similar to Super Mario Run. Defeating enemies ignite combos, ranging from "Good" to "Wonderful". The ability to store items returns. Talking flowers would accompany players and interact with gameplay environments. Players can also collect purple flower coins to shop for items such as Badges and 1-Ups.

Interacting with certain objects would spawn a special power-up that would change the environment and give characters unique abilities. Collecting a Wonder Seed would revert the stage back to normal.

Each stage would be marked by difficulty, and have pictures upon choosing a course. In some levels, there is a foreground-background hybrid gameplay, similar to Virtual Boy Wario Land and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

For Badges, players can use them one at a time to gain a unique additional ability. With them, players can jump from walls, crouch-jump, glide with caps (including Peach and Toad), etc.

Plot

Mario and friends arrived in the Flower Kingdom after being invited by Prince Florian. Just then, Bowser disrupts the greeting and harnessed the power of the Wonder Flower, merging Florian's castle with himself and caused havoc throughout the land. Mario and friends, and Florian, ventured off into the kingdom and begin a new adventure.

After defeating Bowser in his "Rage Stage" battle, peace has been restored to the Flower Kingdom, and the crew and Poplins celebrated.

In post-credits, Bowser, Kamek, and Bowser Jr. crash landed in a distant plains.

Characters

Playable

The game's playable roster.

Yoshis (all colors) and Nabbit are the only ones who don't take damage, but also can't use power-ups. This is Princess Daisy's first playable appearance in the mainline series (unless one counts Super Mario Run).

• Mario
• Luigi
• Princess Peach
• Toad (Blue & Yellow)
• Toadette
• Princess Daisy
• Yoshi (Green, Red, Yellow, Light-Blue)
• Nabbit

Bosses

• Bowser
• Bowser Jr.

Enemies

• Goomba
• Tall Goomba
• Koopa Troopa
• Koopa Paratroopa
• Rolla Koopa
• Cheep-Cheep
• Piranha Plant
• Melon Piranha Plant
• Wiggler
• Spiny
• Hoppo
• Goombrat
• Mechakoopa
• Boo
• Anglefish
• Armad
• Bulrush
• Bloomp
• Skedaddler
• Torpedo Bullet Bills
• Cloud Piranha
• Hoppycat
• Taily
• Konk
• Pokey
• Thwomp
• Kerpop
• Gamboo
• Condart
• Condrop
• Sluglug
• Noknok
• Snortoise
• Smogrin
• Robbird
• Whohoo
• Baboom
• Swirlypod
• Trompette
• Flying Mechakoopa
• Lil Scorcher
• Lava Blobble
• Shoomp
• Zip-Zap

Power-ups

L-to-R: Elephant, Bubble, and Drill power-ups

In addition to returning power-ups, four new ones make their debuts in this game.

• Super Mushroom
• Fire Flower
• Star
• Elephant Apple (new)
• Bubble Flower (new)
• Drill Mushroom (new)
• Wonder Flower (new)

Release

The game was first announced at a Nintendo Direct presentation in June 2023. On August 31, 2023, a special 15-minute Nintendo Direct was held as a preview of the upcoming game.

The game was released on Nintendo Switch on October 20, 2023.

Less than a week before the game's release, an anonymous source leaked the game online, with more than 2.5 million illegal downloads. The file was taken down 3 days later.

Sales

Within the first two weeks, the game has sold 4.3 million copies worldwide; the fast-selling game in the Super Mario series.

During its fiscal year report in February 2024, Nintendo announced the game sold 11.96 million copies.

Reception

Super Mario Bros. Wonder received universal acclaim from game critics. Many have praised the game's return to form, its surprises, difficulty balance, and level designs.

On Metacritic, the game has a score of "92/100" based on 126 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". On OpenCritic, the game received a "Mighty" rating of 92, with a 98% "Critics Recommend" score.

In the 2024 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Super Mario Bros. Wonder was nominated for Favorite Video Game; unfortunately, it lost to Roblox.

Development

Takashi Tezuka and Shiro Mouri at a Nintendo Live event in Seattle.

During the development of the game, the development team was given creative freedom without a given deadline. Over 2,000 ideas came about for the game, some of which was used for the Wonder effects. Producer Takashi Tezuka said that alongside returning staff, newcomers have also contributed to the game's development.

Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto expressed his initial dissatisfaction with Elephant Mario's design, stating that "[he] doesn't look like a Mario character". Character collision was originally planned in multiplayer, but was later removed for the sake of "[removing] a lot of the stress".

Sound director Koji Kondo has submitted a pitch for a live-action Mario in which he would 'hum' the background music, and say "boing", which went unused.

According to director Shiro Mouri, the decision to include Daisy as a playable character was to help resolve fights among his daughters over Peach.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has inspired the game's change in animations and art direction, but is not directly involved with the game itself.

Tezuka stated that the game's budgeting went more towards its animations, adding that the intention was to recapture the experience for viewers of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, adding that it would interest viewers of playing a Mario game. Hoping for no disappointment, it is likely the reason for the change of art direction. Despite this, Sato confirmed that the film had no direct impact of the development of Wonder.

The updated animations of the game were due to the use of 3D models, according to Mouri. Tezuka mentioned that the game took inspiration from the series' 3D platformers, citing the 2D games to be "unforgiving". The game has doubled the amount of animations from New Super Mario Bros. U, due to the Switch's improved hardware.

The game originally had "live commentary" with an option for a Tsundere version. Tezuka said that the commentary work would've matched the players actions, and the feature alone would've required a large amount of work, causing it to be scrapped.

In October 2023, Kevin Afghani has confirmed on his Twitter that he's voicing Mario and Luigi.

Regarding the series' future, Tezuka said that it has transitioned to a "new phase".

Voices

Kevin Afghani is the new voice actor for Mario and Luigi.

Wonder is the first piece of Mario media to have a new voice actor for Mario and Luigi as Charles Martinet stepped down as the voice of these characters in August 2023. Martinet would continue to work with Nintendo as "Mario Ambassador".

Other new voice artists for the series include Dawn M. Bennett (Nabbit) and Giselle Fernandez (Daisy), among Mick Wingert (Talking Flowers), Caitlyn Elizabeth (Prince Florian), and Christine Marie Cabanos (Poplins) voicing new characters. The new voice cast is made of anime and gaming voice artists, coming from the Fire Emblem and Pokémon series, with English direction by Patrick Seitz. Kenny James, Caety Sagoian, and Samantha Kelly are the only voice artists reprising their roles. Yoshi's new voice actor is currently unknown since Kazumi Totaka did not reprise Yoshi in the game.

Less than a week of release, the game's voice cast was reportedly leaked by a dataminer, leading to rumors of Mick Mingert voicing Mario and Luigi, which was later denied by his agent. Nintendo originally planned to reveal the new voice actors after the game's release before the leaks became apparent. Nintendo of America's Doug Bowser has stated that the purpose of secrecy was to shift players' focus on the game's experience.

Performance

The game runs at 60fps in full 1080p (docked) and 720p (undocked) resolutions. It uses the same engine as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Splatoon 3. In some instances, frame rate and performances can slightly drop down.

Gallery

Main article: Super Mario Bros. Wonder/gallery

Trivia

• The following firsts for this game:
  • First new traditional mainline 2D Super Mario game:
    • Since New Super Mario Bros. U.
    • Not part of the New Super Mario Bros. series since Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Super Mario Land 2 if not counting ports).
    • To be released in the 2020s.
    • To have no time limit.
  • First new Mario game to be released after The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
  • First new traditional 2D Super Mario console game released after Satoru Iwata's lifetime.
  • First 2D Mario game to have full sentences voice acting.
  • First 2D Mario console game to allow item-storing since Super Mario World.
  • First original 2D Mario game released on Nintendo Switch.
  • First mainline Mario console game to lack Amiibo support since its introduction.
  • First original Super Mario game released in 2020s.
  • First game since Hotel Mario in which Mario and Luigi are not voiced by Charles Martinet since he stepped down as the voice of these characters in August 2023. However, Martinet would continue to work with Nintendo as "Mario Ambassador".
  • First 2D appearance of Captain Toad and King Boo. It's also the first mainline physical appearance of King Boo.
  • First 2D game with free-form navigation.
• Shiro Mouri previously directed the New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Switch port.
• Prior to release, reports of the game's leaks apparently included mods featuring profanity. Nintendo quickly removed them.
• Reports suggested a scrapped live-action idea for the game. If it had been included, it would've marked the first official Mario media, since the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film, to use live-action.
• On Metacritic, it is the most-acclaimed original 2D Mario game, the highest rated 2D Mario game since New Super Mario Bros., and the most-reviewed 2D platformer game in general (126 reviews).

External link

• Official Website