Touch fuzzy get wondered, basically
With Super Mario Bros. Wonder releasing just over a month away, Nintendo has finally dropped some more info for its big game for the Fall season. In a special focused Direct, the full roster was revealed, as well as new power ups, enemies and multiplayer features.
While it might have some semblance of the New Super Mario Bros games, it *finally* looks like it’s going to be considerably different.
The game will feature a roster of 12 playable characters:
- Mario
- Luigi
- Peach
- Daisy
- Yellow Toad
- Blue Toad
- Toadette
- Yoshi
- Red Yoshi
- Yellow Yoshi
- Light Blue Yoshi
- Nabbit
All of the characters will play the same — sorry to the fans of Luigi’s higher jump and Peach’s floats — save for the Yoshis and Nabbit, who are impervious to damage and geared towards more of a lighter experience (or one for your child). Co-op multiplayer will be confined to being in the same room, unfortunately (can we expect anything other than that of Nintendo’s online infrastructure?) but asynchronous play mimics the Wii U era in which players can see the “ghosts” of other running around on the overworld, and can leave banners on levels warning or helping others. It’s like a mini Miiverse!
The company revealed three new power ups, too. While the drill suit’s functions seem obvious, fans are probably looking at the elephant power up as a highlight. When the characters become a pachyderm they gain the ability to bash through groups of bricks, charge across greater gaps, and use the trunk to attack enemies and even shoot water onto everything. The main characters can become the elephant, meaning that not only are Mario and Peach adorable in the anthropomorphic form but TOADETTE AND THE TOADS ARE EVEN MORE SO.
The new bubble suit is perhaps the most intriguing for its ability to launch spheres and capture enemies. This mechanism changes the game from being a standard reactive twitch speedrunning platformer towards something that’s much more about exploration and tool utilization.
Yeah, Mario Wonder feels more like an adventure game now, and that’s kinda really cool.
Adding to this is the new badge system, which allows Mario and pals to equip a special ability for each level, allowing them to jump higher, get more coins, become invisible, and more. It has the ability to really change up how the game plays.
That seems to be the push for this game, honestly. While New Super Mario Bros U was a refinement of the “New” sub-series of games, it’s also been a reminder of how the general series has sort of stagnated (Super Mario Maker not included). You need to “out-Mario” Mario if you want to do something innovative — and Wonder might just be in the right direction.
Watch that Direct above, and get ready for the game’s release on October 20th.
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