At the June 21, 2023 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo shared the announcement trailer for Super Mario Bros Wonder, a new 2D sidescroller for Nintendo Switch, and it a release date of October 20, 2023. The new angle this time around is wonder itself, as the developers explained: “When you touch a Wonder Flower, expect the unexpected.” The environment could start to move, or Mario could transform into something totally random and new like an elephant. (He is officially called Elephant Mario in this form.) It’s another case of that Nintendo magic.
In addition to Mario — Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Yoshi are all playable characters, so theoretically that means we have Elephant Yoshi in our future. This is very important to contemplate into the long hours of the night.
You can admire how stupidly beautiful Super Mario Bros Wonder looks on Switch below. It already has a bit more charm than the stale New formula had. The game will be available to preorder starting today on both the Nintendo eShop and at the My Nintendo Store online.
This huge reveal confirms a rumor from last year that a new 2D Mario game was coming that did not belong to the New franchise, and this is one rumor we’re extremely happy panned out.