A brand new 2D Mario title titled Super Mario Bros. Wonder was revealed at the June Nintendo Direct and will be arriving on October 20 for Nintendo Switch.
Despite Mario starting off as a 2D franchise — and those games generally being the more popular ones – it has been a full 10 years since we last got a full side-scrolling adventure. New Super Mario Bros. U was the last brand new entry before rereleases and the Super Mario Maker games carried the 2D platforming torch. Despite how great Super Mario Odyssey and the other 3D entries have been, we’re long overdue for a classic Mario adventure, but thankfully we won’t have to wait much longer.
Launching this year, Super Mario Bros. Wonder will take a slightly different art direction than the New series 2D games had previously used. This new entry has all the staples you’d expect from a modern 2D Mario entry, however, it will also have some interesting twists. The Wonder Flowers are the main mechanic on display, and they will tend to be very unpredictable. We see the environments shift in strange ways after collecting them, such as pipes crawling like worms and background elements stretching and contracting with Mario in silhouette form.
This will be a co-op game as well, with Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, and even Daisy shown as playable. The trailer ends with a brand new item that looks like a mix of an apple and an elephant head that turns Mario into a large elephant himself.
That’s just one of many Mario projects Nintendo has in the works right now. A Super Mario RPG remake is coming later in November, and a Princess Peach-focused game is currently in development.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches on October 20 for Nintendo Switch. Preorders are available now.
