There have been rumours circulating for a while that a new 2D instalment in the Super Mario series was afoot – but perhaps no one expected a game in which the titular plumber could transform into an elephant and bounce on spherical hippos. That’s exactly what we’re getting, however, courtesy of Super Mario Bros Wonder, the first new non-3D Super Mario instalment for a decade, and the highlight of Nintendo’s latest Direct showcase streamed live on Wednesday evening.
Due for release on Switch on 20 October, Wonder is being billed as “the next evolution of 2D side-scrolling”. Ostensibly, it looks like a modernised take on the classic Super Nintendo-era games, with its bright, brash landscape, familiar Koopa enemies, and green pipes, but the game is introducing a new Wonder Flower, which, when touched, causes changes in the game world, including pipes coming alive and wriggling around and enemies bombarding the screen or mutating into new forms. Players will also be able to control Princess Peach, Princess Daisy and Yoshi as well as Mario who is now able to turn into an elephant. Local four-player co-op is another welcome feature.
With luscious backdrops and extravagant visual effects, it looks to be an aesthetic step beyond the clean lines of the New Super Mario series, and its turbo-charged nostalgia seems well timed to cash in on the success of the Super Mario movie. It also comes at a time when a certain rival hedgehog is making a return to 2D scrolling visuals. The new Sonic Superstars title similarly features modernised takes on classic level design, and allows for multiplayer co-op.
This wasn’t the only retro-tinged announcement during the Nintendo Direct presentation. The company also revealed a remake of Super Mario RPG, the acclaimed 1996 role-playing adventure created by Square, the developer behind the Final Fantasy series. Starring a roster of familiar Super Mario characters it was a classic JRPG in design, featuring a large explorable world and a turn-based battle system, but infused with classic Super Mario elements such as punchable question blocks. The game wasn’t officially released in Europe until a digital download version became available on the Wii Virtual Console service in 2008. It’s due on Switch on 17 November.
A particularly nostalgic Nintendo Direct showing also revealed a return for the popular WarioWare series of frantic mini-game titles. WarioWare: Move It! looks to be a fitness-based local multiplayer collection with 200 micro games using the Switch Joy-Con controllers.
