Everyone to Bellabel Park with Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Switch 2!

Although he always looks like a young man, with such thick mustaches and a cunning gaze, good old Super Mario this year reaches the milestone of 40 years: oh yes, it seems like yesterday we saw him jump on a square block for the first time. With the second chapter of the animated film dedicated to the world's most famous plumber, titled Super Mario Galaxy and arriving on April 3rd, Mario returns as the protagonist on Nintendo Switch, but not with a new game (perhaps the announcement of a new adventure will be the real birthday gift?), but with the updated Switch 2 version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which for the occasion also gains a new suffix to an already very long title: Everyone to Bellabel Park!

What's New in Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Everyone to Bellabel Park

As has already happened for other particularly important Nintendo franchises not yet available on Switch 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder has also enjoyed a series of tweaks, big and small, before landing on the Big N's new flagship console. Like the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Animal Crossing New Horizons, for example, the technical sector of Super Mario Bros. Wonder has been updated to take advantage of the greater power of the new Switch version, thus bringing the maximum resolution to 4K in docked mode connected to the TV and Full HD in portable mode.

The true heart of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a new play area, located within the Flower Kingdom, called Bellabel Park. Access to this new zone is obtained after completing a handful of levels, while if you have a save from the Switch version and already meet the requirements to access it, upon restarting the game you will be greeted by an animation that will open the doors to the Park and illustrate its contents. Bellabel is built around two large Plazas, the Local Multiplayer Plaza and the Rooms Plaza. Both provide access to a set of multiplayer challenges, which can be tackled respectively with a group of friends on the couch or with other players online.

The proposed challenges are based on a handful of mechanics, sometimes bordering on Mario Party, yet still firmly rooted in the established Wonder imagery. Obviously, it's nothing too complicated, where a bit of skill is always needed, but the controls to master are quite basic; the difficulty lies in navigating the moving parts of the levels, disguised debuffs, and that inevitable chaos that arises when four players try to collect coins or trick each other by planting electrified traps (nothing gruesome, don't worry parents). The new features, however, also extend beyond the Park's boundaries.

Firstly, two new playable characters make their debut: Rosalina, ready to make her big screen debut in the upcoming Galaxy, and the Helper Luma. The latter, in particular, is a new addition to the set of characters designed for younger players or to offer help to first-time players of any kind, and can flutter around the scenery, even using mouse-style controls. Meanwhile, however, the mischievous Koopalings have stolen the Bellabel flowers, scattering them throughout the Park, and to retrieve them they are ready to offer a wide range of mini-boss challenges from the neighborhood. If you think you need some training, you can instead turn to the Toad Troop Training School, open to a maximum of four players, where challenges are held that earn badges (in addition to the possibility of beating friends' records).

Wonder is Always Wonder

The crucial point in the case of these Switch 2 editions of games already released on the first version of the console is always the relationship between price and content. And it's not easy to navigate, because Nintendo seems to do things differently from game to game. In the case of this upgrade for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Nintendo has chosen to move with a different approach compared to other games: with the already mentioned Animal Crossing New Horizons, for example, the additional content was free and common to both the Switch and Switch 2 versions, while the paid upgrade only concerned Switch 2 owners and was necessary to take advantage of the greater power of the console to display the game at a higher resolution. In this case, however, the Switch version remains unchanged and the additional content is reserved exclusively for the paid upgrade for Switch 2.

While one can debate whether €19.99 is a fair price to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, or if €79.99 is justified for the complete Switch 2 package (a strictly personal consideration, after all, today deciding whether to pay or not is the closest decision to casting your vote that one can make), underneath the new Nintendo Switch 2 Edition you still find Super Mario Bros. Wonder in a polished version, and there are very few doubts that it is one of the best 2D platformers ever, moreover offered in its best form. A game with a depth of ideas that still surprises with its freshness.

The intuition of the Wonder Flower that, when collected, transforms the levels, unleashing a burst of madness that involves every element on the screen, suddenly coming to life and overturning the rules of the game, is still extraordinary and surprising, even on the second (or third, fourth...) playthrough. And the same can be said for the look: the ability of Nintendo designers to create small jewels of elegance and cleanliness with few resources was already evident in the previous generation, but the almost divine beauty of those levels observed through the 4K pixels of the TV panel is something Super Mario Bros. Wonder truly deserved.