Highlights
- Head of Xbox Phil Spencer praised Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a Nintendo game, highlighting his enjoyment of the 4-player co-op experience.
- The upcoming game features classic elements of the 2D Mario series, including the addition of Princess Daisy as a playable character.
- Spencer's positive comments about the game indicate that Nintendo is poised to release another successful platformer that will excite fans.
Phil Spencer’s Xbox may be a rival to Nintendo, but he still has plenty of praise for one of the Switch’s next big first-party titles: Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Nintendo officially announced a brand-new 2D Mario platformer after months of rumors and speculation back in June, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder set to bounce onto the Switch on October 20.
Phil Spencer has always been an active face in gaming, especially after he was made CEO of Microsoft in January 2022 - a promotion that coincided with the announcement of Microsoft’s planned buyout of Activision Blizzard and its massive library of properties. Most of Spencer’s gaming-related comments have pertained to the Xbox brand, with some recent examples involving the upcoming Xbox console-exclusive Starfield and Xbox’s standing in the ongoing competition between itself, Sony’s PlayStation, and Nintendo. Hence, it’s pretty unexpected to hear him comment on an upcoming game outside of his company’s wheelhouse, but that’s exactly what happened.
Phil Spencer was in attendance at PAX West 2023 at the Washington State Convention Center earlier this weekend, and shared some of his experiences on Twitter. He mentioned how fun it was to walk around the busy PAX West show floor and play some of the newest games with his family - such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Spencer notes that he “had a blast” with Wonder’s 4-player co-op at the Nintendo Live event and thanked Nintendo of America for letting him and other attendees try it out ahead of its October launch.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder will feature all the elements of a classic 2D Mario game with a few new bells and whistles to make things exciting for longtime fans of the franchise. The fan-favorite Princess Daisy will finally be playable in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and there are plenty of new power-ups and level-warping Wonder Seeds to help Mario and his friends run and jump their way through a host of colorful levels in their quest to stop the nefarious Bowser from taking over the Flower Kingdom.
Plenty of gamers are excited to dive into Mario’s latest side-scrolling adventure next month - and one of them is none other than Xbox head Phil Spencer. It’s not every day that an upcoming Nintendo Switch blockbuster gets high praise from the leading figure of one of its top competitors, but Phil Spencer’s compliments for Super Mario Bros. Wonder are a promising sign that the Big N is set to deliver another crowd-pleasing platformer featuring Mario and the rest of the gang this fall.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches on October 20, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
