The first mainline game to incorporate a four-player co-op was New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It was a 2009 release and it changed everything for Nintendo. Mario was back in a big way thanks to the multiplayer inclusion and the 2D design. The series bounced back and forth between 2D and 3D for a while but then the 2D well sort of dried up until now.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: All Captain Toad Locations
Players that want to earn some easy Flower Coins should visit Super Mario Bros. Wonder's Captain Toad at the locations detailed in this guide.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder brings Mario back to his 2D roots once again with another delightful four-player co-op adventure. What changes has Nintendo made to how they approach online multiplayer games? Is Super Mario Bros. Wonder an innovator in the online space or is it stuck in the past? Here's what it does right with the multiplayer portion.
7 Choices For Multiplayer
For Online And Offline Co-Op
Nintendo hasn’t always been good about online integration in their games. Thankfully, Super Mario Bros. Wonder has one of the better setups. Players can go in alone, or play with up to three other friends on the couch. If players have friends online, they can connect that way to go through the campaign too.
While it’s not great players cannot play full levels with random people easily, there are ways to interact with them in the game instead. Overall, the online segments are not perfect but couch co-op is as fun as ever.
6 A Diverse Cast Of Characters
There Are Twelve To Choose From
Super Mario Bros. Wonder has more characters than most co-op platformers let alone co-op games in general. From the get-go, players can jump into the shoes of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Toadette, Green Yoshi, Red Yoshi, Yellow Yoshi, Blue Yoshi, or Nabbit. The core group does not have unique abilities like they do in Super Mario Bros. 2.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: How to Farm Purple Flower Coins Fast
Players that want to quickly earn Purple Flower Coins in Super Mario Bros. Wonder can find two great farming methods in this guide.
Princess Peach, for example, cannot fly but no abilities aside, the roster is great. It’s unknown if Nintendo will release more characters at this time, but there is precedent for them to do this with their various sports games like Mario Kartand Mario Golf.
5 Co-Op Has A Difficulty Curve
Yoshis And Nabbit Are For Beginners
While Princess Peach cannot fly, some characters do have special properties. All of the Yoshi characters can float via their flutter jump. They can swallow enemies and shoot them out like all classic Yoshi-based games. Also, they are impervious to damage.
Yoshis can still die though because pits and lava will kill everyone. Nabbit is also invulnerable, plus he is a bit faster. The only downside is that these characters cannot obtain power-ups, but their inclusion is great for easing younger or more casual players into co-op.
4 There Are Character Combos
Yoshis Are Also Power-Ups
Yoshi was first introduced in Super Mario World as basically a power-up for Mario. They hatched from eggs, and made Mario invulnerable, technically, although getting hit would make a Yoshi run away. From there, Nintendo made a plethora of Yoshi spinoffs to make the species less about being power-ups.
Players cannot find Yoshi eggs in the wild for power-ups in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but the riding ability still exists. If one player is Mario and another player is a Yoshi, then the Mario player can mount the Yoshi and the Yoshi player will take control of the situation. It’s a unique way to incorporate a combo in a platformer.
3 Shadowing Other Players Online
Creating A Unique Multiplayer Experience
Players can turn their game online anytime they want via the menu or machines strewn throughout the many worlds in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. This doesn’t mean that players have to immediately go into a match with someone else. Super Mario Bros. Wonder players can think of the game kind of like Dark Souls.
They can see transparent versions of players at the same level. These aren’t ghosts either because these players are there in real-time. Players can treat these other players like ghosts in a racing game though and try to beat the level ahead of them. It can be fun to create multiplayer experiences not explicitly designed in the game.
2 Leaving Standees Is Like Dark Souls
Players Can Be Saved By Other Online Players
There is another way that this game operates like Dark Souls. When players die, they leave behind a standee in Super Mario Bros. Wonder which is kind of like a death message. New standees can be bought in shops but one is no different from the other power-wise.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: All Special World Entrances
There are seven entrances to the Special World in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and this guide will help players find all of them.
When players “die” in a level they turn into a literal ghost. If players touch a live transparent player online then they can get revived and vice versa. Players can also be revived in this ghost form if they touch a standee.
1 Certain Power-Ups Can Be Shared
Supercharge To Victory
One of the best things about a Mario game compared to other platformers is the power-ups. Super Mario Bros. Wonder has plenty of new ones too like the Elephant Fruit which literally turns characters like Mario and Princess Peach into elephants. Players cannot share most of these power-ups via the transparent players online.
The big exception concerns how Super Stars work which turns characters invincible for a short amount of time. If players are in this form and touch another player online, they can get this Super Star power too, and vice versa. Most players may not even know that is possible.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Platform(s)
- Switch
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo EPD
- Released
- October 20, 2023
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
