Nintendo is making a new side-scrolling Super Mario game in which the Italian plumber turns into an elephant. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out on 31 October.
No, you aren’t in the middle of a cheese-induced fever dream: there is indeed a new side-scrolling Super Mario game on the way, and yes, it does end with Mario himself turning into a rotund elephant.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder takes the 2.5D perspective of the New Super Mario titles and mixes the platforming action up with a new selection of power-ups that, even by the series’ own standards, are truly surreal. Collecting a Wonder Flower will change the level in unexpected, faintly hallucinogenic ways – pipes warp and undulate, sheep dash around like express trains, and yes, Mario gets to shape-shift into weird forms, including a charmingly chunky elephant.
It looks as though there’s four-player couch co-op thrown into the mix, too, with playable characters including Princesses Peach and Daisy as well as Toad and Yoshi. The trailer offers plenty of charm, and a surprising emphasis on speed – when it first started, we thought for a second that it might even be an auto-scroller.
There’s plenty of imagination on display, too – some of the quirkier level designs put us in mind of Good-Feel’s Yoshi and Kirby games, which makes us half wonder whether they might be developing it.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn’t the only Mario game on the way, either; the Big N has also teased a new game starring Princess Peach – the first of its kind since Super Princess Peach on the Nintendo DS – a remaster of Super Mario RPG, and a Switch reworking of the former 3DS exclusive, Luigi’s Mansion 2. That’s a whole lot of Super Mario, folks.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is due for release on 20 October 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
