Toad-ally worth the upgrade
By Paul Hunter
I reviewed Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Nintendo Switch in 2023 and I had a blast playing it woth my family. Now Nintendo EPD is back with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and it's packed with excellent additions.
The Flower Kingdom adventure now runs at 4K docked with a locked 60fps and HDR support, and the visual improvement is noticeable right away. Rosalina joins the roster as a fully playable character, the first time she's appeared in a 2D Mario game, and the Koopalings, Bowser's seven lieutenants, are back as all-new boss fights, each powered by all-new Wonder transformations. The Super Flower Pot, a brand-new power-up that gives characters a flutter jump and an upward projectile attack, is a genuinely fun addition, and new Dual Badges let you combine two badge abilities at once for the first time.
Then there's Bellabel Park, a new hub area in the Flower Kingdom bringing 17 local multiplayer attractions, six online modes, and over 70 Toad Brigade Training Camp challenges. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition can be purchased as a standalone game, or existing owners can upgrade for $19.99 USD / $29.99 CAD. Is the Nintendo Switch 2 addition worth jumping back into the Flower Kingdom for? Let's find out!
The technical side goes further than the 4K resolution, locked 60fps, and HDR support already mentioned. Load times are noticeably faster, and your save data from the Nintendo Switch version transfers instantly, so you can continue right from where you left off. The Talking Flower has a new voice actor (same one as in the Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition), and Pikmin easter eggs are scattered throughout the Flower Kingdom's worlds for anyone paying close attention.
The seven Koopaling boss fights are the standout campaign addition, and I had a great time with every one of them. You track each Koopaling down by finding Captain Toad's Brigade Tent, a new level type on the overworld map that marks where each Koopaling is hiding, in their respective world. Bowser's Wonder Power has transformed each fight into something completely unlike a standard Mario boss encounter. Wendy takes on a giant Cheep Cheep form, calling in waves of enemies through portals that open around the stage. Morton becomes an oversized marionette with a pair of Lakitus pulling his strings from the foreground, his enormous frame attacking you from the level's background. Lemmy keeps you busy catching the explosives he lobs at you and firing them right back while he teeters on oversized balls. Harder rematch versions of every Koopaling unlock later, and a few of those genuinely pushed me to plan my badge loadout, choosing the best abilities to counteract each Koopaling's specific Wonder transformation.
All in all, the new characters, expanded Assist Mode, Koopaling boss fights, and new mechanics give the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition a strong set of fresh single-player content that goes well beyond a simple port.
Before getting into the attractions, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition makes some smart fixes to local co-op that I noticed immediately when playing woth my family. You can now zoom the camera out during local multiplayer for a wider view of each stage, which helps enormously with four characters on screen. Autoscrolling stages don't support it, but most courses do. A Player One camera lock keeps the screen's focus on the lead player when alive, and off-screen players warp straight back to Player One instead of sitting as revival ghosts. These improvements make a real difference in every group session.
Attraction Central is the main draw, split into the Local Multiplayer Plaza and Game Room Plaza, with Tour mode letting you chain 1, 3, 5, or 10 attractions in sequence. The Local Multiplayer Plaza holds 17 attractions for up to four people locally or via GameShare, across both co-op and VS formats. The co-op modes are where I had the most fun. Build Away: Donut Block Maker puts two people on platform-laying duty while two others race ahead, using the Donut Blocks being placed in real time to get to the goal. Look Out! Bob-omb Relay keeps the whole group focused on carrying a live Bob-omb to the finish and pass it between specific people to prevent the countdown from hitting zero. Pumped Up: 1,2,3, Jump! has everyone timing jumps to the music to push a platform upward together. Fly Free, Captain Toad splits Captain Toad's movement and jumping between two people, with one handling left-right motion and the other controlling jumps and flutters through Plucky the bird. It's easily the co-op mode I recommend starting with. Jump Count gives the whole group a shared jump target to reach by the end of a course, but each person's running total stays hidden from the others, so communication is essential to avoid going over the limit.
The VS modes are fun and varied. Fast Cash: Tip-Tap's Coin Spree has three versions, all built around collecting the most coins across a course, with King Boo and Bowser balloons serving as hazards in different variants. Get Gobbling: Yoshi's Buffet locks everyone into Yoshi to compete over fruit. Knock 'em Back: Bubble Blaster turns the action into an arena brawl, with Bubble Blasters used to push opponents into hazards, whoever holds the most lives when time runs out taking the win. Run, Hide! Phanto Tag is the crowd pleaser. Phanto-masked hunters chase others who escape by transforming into Talking Flowers to hide in plain sight. A Baby Yoshi attraction rounds things out, with colour-coded Baby Yoshis competing to eat the most fruit.
The Game Room Plaza's six online attractions support up to eight people via local wireless or twelve via online play, all on separate systems. These are race-based modes across vertical and horizontal courses, using Propeller Flowers, bouncy balls, winged rockets, and rollerskates.
Camp Central is on the other side of Bellabel Park and hosts the Toad Brigade Training Camp, with 70-plus challenges set inside existing courses but built around fresh objectives. You collect coins in time, defeat enemies before the clock runs out, clear full courses against a timer, or make it through a stage without losing your invincibility. The later challenges are a real step up from the base campaign, and I found the final stretch rewarding to push through. Completing missions earns Bellabel Water and rank patches that track your Toad Brigade standing. Clearing everything takes roughly six hours.
All considered, Bellabel Park is a content-rich hub that rewards both solo and group play, with the co-op attractions and Training Camp standing out as the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition's strongest new additions.
Final Score: 9.5/10 - Amazing
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
I reviewed Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Nintendo Switch in 2023 and I had a blast playing it woth my family. Now Nintendo EPD is back with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and it's packed with excellent additions.
The Flower Kingdom adventure now runs at 4K docked with a locked 60fps and HDR support, and the visual improvement is noticeable right away. Rosalina joins the roster as a fully playable character, the first time she's appeared in a 2D Mario game, and the Koopalings, Bowser's seven lieutenants, are back as all-new boss fights, each powered by all-new Wonder transformations. The Super Flower Pot, a brand-new power-up that gives characters a flutter jump and an upward projectile attack, is a genuinely fun addition, and new Dual Badges let you combine two badge abilities at once for the first time.
Then there's Bellabel Park, a new hub area in the Flower Kingdom bringing 17 local multiplayer attractions, six online modes, and over 70 Toad Brigade Training Camp challenges. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition can be purchased as a standalone game, or existing owners can upgrade for $19.99 USD / $29.99 CAD. Is the Nintendo Switch 2 addition worth jumping back into the Flower Kingdom for? Let's find out!
New Characters, Bosses and Power-Ups
Replaying the entire game as Rosalina was a blast, and from a control perspective she moves exactly like Mario, Luigi, Peach, and the rest of the existing roster. She fits perfectly into the game, especially given the timing of the Super Mario Galaxy movie, which she of course stars in. Co-Star Luma floats alongside her as a companion and is an assist character, supporting 2-player local co-op. Luma is invulnerable, flies freely around the screen, and uses a spin attack to defeat enemies. Joy-Con 2 mouse controls let you point at the screen to direct Co-Star Luma, mimicking the pointer from the original Super Mario Galaxy. Co-Star Luma is a completely separate option from Assist Mode, which gets its own upgrade here. Assist Mode now covers all characters, not just Yoshi and Nabbit as in the Nintendo Switch version, and lets anyone float to safety via Propeller Flower after falling into a pit.The technical side goes further than the 4K resolution, locked 60fps, and HDR support already mentioned. Load times are noticeably faster, and your save data from the Nintendo Switch version transfers instantly, so you can continue right from where you left off. The Talking Flower has a new voice actor (same one as in the Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition), and Pikmin easter eggs are scattered throughout the Flower Kingdom's worlds for anyone paying close attention.
The seven Koopaling boss fights are the standout campaign addition, and I had a great time with every one of them. You track each Koopaling down by finding Captain Toad's Brigade Tent, a new level type on the overworld map that marks where each Koopaling is hiding, in their respective world. Bowser's Wonder Power has transformed each fight into something completely unlike a standard Mario boss encounter. Wendy takes on a giant Cheep Cheep form, calling in waves of enemies through portals that open around the stage. Morton becomes an oversized marionette with a pair of Lakitus pulling his strings from the foreground, his enormous frame attacking you from the level's background. Lemmy keeps you busy catching the explosives he lobs at you and firing them right back while he teeters on oversized balls. Harder rematch versions of every Koopaling unlock later, and a few of those genuinely pushed me to plan my badge loadout, choosing the best abilities to counteract each Koopaling's specific Wonder transformation.
All in all, the new characters, expanded Assist Mode, Koopaling boss fights, and new mechanics give the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition a strong set of fresh single-player content that goes well beyond a simple port.
Bellabel Park and Multiplayer
Bellabel Park shows up early in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, just a few main story levels in, and it quickly becomes the game's new home base. The park divides into Attraction Central and Camp Central, with Bellabel Water, a water droplet currency earned across both, used to grow flowers and decorations and bring the park back to life.Before getting into the attractions, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition makes some smart fixes to local co-op that I noticed immediately when playing woth my family. You can now zoom the camera out during local multiplayer for a wider view of each stage, which helps enormously with four characters on screen. Autoscrolling stages don't support it, but most courses do. A Player One camera lock keeps the screen's focus on the lead player when alive, and off-screen players warp straight back to Player One instead of sitting as revival ghosts. These improvements make a real difference in every group session.
Attraction Central is the main draw, split into the Local Multiplayer Plaza and Game Room Plaza, with Tour mode letting you chain 1, 3, 5, or 10 attractions in sequence. The Local Multiplayer Plaza holds 17 attractions for up to four people locally or via GameShare, across both co-op and VS formats. The co-op modes are where I had the most fun. Build Away: Donut Block Maker puts two people on platform-laying duty while two others race ahead, using the Donut Blocks being placed in real time to get to the goal. Look Out! Bob-omb Relay keeps the whole group focused on carrying a live Bob-omb to the finish and pass it between specific people to prevent the countdown from hitting zero. Pumped Up: 1,2,3, Jump! has everyone timing jumps to the music to push a platform upward together. Fly Free, Captain Toad splits Captain Toad's movement and jumping between two people, with one handling left-right motion and the other controlling jumps and flutters through Plucky the bird. It's easily the co-op mode I recommend starting with. Jump Count gives the whole group a shared jump target to reach by the end of a course, but each person's running total stays hidden from the others, so communication is essential to avoid going over the limit.
The VS modes are fun and varied. Fast Cash: Tip-Tap's Coin Spree has three versions, all built around collecting the most coins across a course, with King Boo and Bowser balloons serving as hazards in different variants. Get Gobbling: Yoshi's Buffet locks everyone into Yoshi to compete over fruit. Knock 'em Back: Bubble Blaster turns the action into an arena brawl, with Bubble Blasters used to push opponents into hazards, whoever holds the most lives when time runs out taking the win. Run, Hide! Phanto Tag is the crowd pleaser. Phanto-masked hunters chase others who escape by transforming into Talking Flowers to hide in plain sight. A Baby Yoshi attraction rounds things out, with colour-coded Baby Yoshis competing to eat the most fruit.
The Game Room Plaza's six online attractions support up to eight people via local wireless or twelve via online play, all on separate systems. These are race-based modes across vertical and horizontal courses, using Propeller Flowers, bouncy balls, winged rockets, and rollerskates.
Camp Central is on the other side of Bellabel Park and hosts the Toad Brigade Training Camp, with 70-plus challenges set inside existing courses but built around fresh objectives. You collect coins in time, defeat enemies before the clock runs out, clear full courses against a timer, or make it through a stage without losing your invincibility. The later challenges are a real step up from the base campaign, and I found the final stretch rewarding to push through. Completing missions earns Bellabel Water and rank patches that track your Toad Brigade standing. Clearing everything takes roughly six hours.
All considered, Bellabel Park is a content-rich hub that rewards both solo and group play, with the co-op attractions and Training Camp standing out as the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition's strongest new additions.
The Verdict
The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a great package for both returning players and newcomers. The Flower Kingdom gets a real visual and performance upgrade, the new boss fights and solo challenges give single-player fans plenty to dig into, and Bellabel Park's co-op modes give you a fun reason to gather around the screen with family and friends. Add in new characters, fresh mechanics, and improved multiplayer options, and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is the version of Wonder to own.Final Score: 9.5/10 - Amazing
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park details
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
A key was provided by the publisher.