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Super Mario Bros. Wonder brings the series back to 2D this October

Jesse Lennox
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This story is part of the Digital Trends Summer Gaming Marathon series

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.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Direct 6.21.2023

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.

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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.

Mario and Peach floating using their hats.
Nintendo / Nintendo

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.

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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.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
All Super Mario Bros. Wonder power-ups, ranked
Mario turning into Super Mario.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is perhaps the Mario franchise's most colorful and unusual game to date, featuring all manner of dream-like themes and near-endless amounts of creativity. Like any new Mario game, though, it also comes packing some brand-new power-ups alongside a handful of returning classics that everyone knows and loves. All of the power-ups have their unique uses that can help you fend off baddies, reach new areas, or simply create hilarious hijinks, but some are notably more exciting than others.

Here are all of the Super Mario Bros. Wonder power-ups ranked. They'll all come in handy when you're tracking down all of the badges, medals, and Special World entrances.
All Super Mario Bros. Wonder power-ups, ranked
6. Super Mushroom

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Wonder no more: the new voice of Mario has revealed himself
Wiggly pipe in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Genshin Impact voice actor Kevin Afghani revealed himself as the new voice for both Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Earlier this year, we learned that longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet would be taking a step back from the role and become a Mario Ambassador. At the time, Nintendo said that it would not reveal the voice actor before the game's launch; instead, it encouraged people to check out the game's credits when it dropped. That hasn't stopped people from speculating, though. Many thought it would be frequent Iron Man voice actor Mick Wingert, but Wingert denied that was true. Now, Kevin Afghani has revealed himself as the new voice of Mario and Luigi one week before the launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder," Afghani wrote on Twitter. "Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!" Afghani is best-known as the voice of Arnold in Genshin Impact. This is certainly the most notable game role Afghani has had yet though, and he may be the new name that we associate with the Mario Bros. for years to come.
https://twitter.com/KevinAfghani/status/1712900880218181648
IGN corroborated Afghan's claim, and we've also reached out to Nintendo to confirm that Afghani is the new voice of Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We will update this article when we get a response. Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on October 20.

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Super Mario Wonder is more of a transformation than you’re expecting
Bowser terrorizes Mario and company in Super Mario Wonder.

It’s been an unexpected year of change for Mario. The Super Mario Bros. Movie reversed the series’ big-screen fortunes, delivering a blockbuster hit led by (non-Italian) Chris Pratt. More shockingly, Nintendo recently announced that longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet is stepping down from the role after decades of work. A new era is dawning on the Mushroom Kingdom, and you can feel a bit of anxiety among longtime fans who don’t want the character they love to change too much.
With all those complicated threads coming together, Super Mario Wonder feels like a fitting game for the moment. It’s a throwback to Mario’s traditional 2D platformers, keeping old fans happy while still promising some level of transformation -- and I’m not just talking about Mario’s new elephant form. Whether it was Nintendo’s intention for not, it could wind up being the most symbolic release in the franchise’s long history.

That context was in the back of my mind when I demoed an hour of Super Mario Wonder, jumping through six of its main courses and two bonus stages. Longtime fans won’t be disappointed, as the latest entry retains all of its staples and Nintendo’s enduring 2D design chops. What’s more exciting, though, is how many new ideas Super Mario Wonder brings to an old formula. It’s not a total transformation, but it exists in a healthy middle ground that should make it a reliable crowd-pleaser.
The Flower Kingdom
I’m not sure anyone needs me to go over the basics of a 2D Mario game at this point: run, jump, collect coins and power-ups. All of those gameplay hooks are unchanged, as is Nintendo’s level design philosophy. If you still love that formula, that’s probably all you need to know until reviews hit this October.

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