The best 2D Super Mario game since Yoshi’s Island is upgraded for the Nintendo Switch 2, with a suite of new multiplayer modes and a smattering of single-player content.
It’s been obvious since the start that Nintendo is trying to use Switch 2 Editions of existing games to pad out the console’s release schedule, just as it used remasters of Wii U games to bolster the original Switch. The obvious problem with that is that hardly anyone had played the Wii U games, and they were often given useful updates in their move to the new format. However, most Switch 1 games are already near perfect versions of themselves and, as we’ve seen multiple times already, there’s not much more to add.
Switch 2 Editions fall into two categories, the cheaper ones can be upgraded from Switch 1 for just £8 and are typified by the two most recent Zelda games, which got a small graphical upgrade but little else. The other type costs £17 and involves significant new content, as seen with Super Mario Party Jamboree and Kirby And The Forgotten Land.
The Kirby update was okay but neither game offered anything vital to justify the upgrade and both gave the impression that the idea to make a Switch 2 Edition had come before the idea of what it’d be. That’s also the case with this expansion for 2023’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder, although it does have a very focused remit, in that most of its additions are related to multiplayer action.
Although it was a major hit, selling over 17 million copies, we’ve always felt Super Mario Bros. Wonder was slightly underappreciated, coming out in a banner year that saw Baldur’s Gate 3 and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom dominate during the award season. But as we explored in our original review, Wonder is easily the best 2D Mario game since the SNES era, especially given the insipid nature of the New Super Mario Bros. titles.
This is essentially Super Mario Bros. 4 but since that’s also what Super Mario World was subtitled in Japan, the Wonder moniker has been used, a reference to the fact that Mario and co. are visiting the Flower Kingdom and trying to collect Wonder Flowers, which trigger a reality-warping effect in otherwise normal 2D levels (normal for a Super Mario game anyway).
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This can range from a horde of buffalo suddenly crashing across the level, as a lake of poison rises up from the bottom; to getting transformed into a blob of slime to navigate weird jelly-like obstacles; or swimming up the downpour from an overhead cloud, like a salmon trying to spawn.
It’s a fantastic game and we heartily recommend it, although it’s also something that already has plenty of multiplayer options in terms of online co-op and an unexpected Dark Souls style concept, where you can see other online players as ghosts and leave clues for them about hidden secrets.
New multiplayer modes in Super Mario Bros. Wonder Switch 2 Edition
The new content for the Switch 2 Edition revolves around an in-game theme park called Bellabel Park, whose key attractions are multiplayer minigames, split unevenly between local and online play. Since you can use GameShare with all of them, only one player has to own the game to play.
Bafflingly though, all the characters are still ghosted out in online play, even if the other players are classified as Best Friends and they own the game. Why? We have no idea but it’s off-putting and weird, as if there’s some more connected mode you don’t have access to.
There are six online minigames, all of which are competitive. Each of them has multiple different stages but there’s three horizontally scrolling races (holding onto a flower, riding in a spaceship, and sitting in a roller-skate), plus another one that’s a bit more maze-like, where you hold onto a bouncing ball.
Only two online minigames involve actual platforming, with one that randomly generates a course filled with invisible barriers, that you only find by bumping into them. Finally, there’s a combination between hide and seek and It, where you have to find hidden players and not be the one that’s It when the game ends.
These are all fine – we particularly liked the roller-skate and hide and seek ones – but they’re hardly ground-breaking or particularly nuanced.
There are also 11 local minigames, split between six competitive and five co-op games. The former lean more heavily on the game’s platforming roots, with one involving collecting coins, including a variant where you can only do so when King Boo, in the background, is asleep.
Another focuses on using power-ups against other players, one has you collecting food to feed Baby Yoshis, and there’s an arena battle mode where you’re competing to defeat randomly spawning enemies. When it comes to a game like this, local multiplayer is inherently more enjoyable than online but it’s the co-op minigames that are the most fun.
These include a game of hot potato with a Bob-omb, that calls out the name of who has to carry it; an interesting one where one person is controlling a cursor (using mouse controls) to make platforms for the other player; and an especially fun minigame where one player controls walking and the other jumping, which we’d love to think is a homage to ZX Spectrum classic Head Over Heels but probably isn’t.
After a couple of goes you unlock the option to play three of the minigames in a row, as a more structured experience. It’s all decent fun, but the question is whether it’s worth the fairly expensive upgrade, which is largely dependent on how often you’ll be playing local multiplayer. But only you, dear reader, can answer that, based on your own circumstances.
The good news is that since the Switch 2 is backwards compatible you can just buy the Switch 1 version of the game and leave out the DLC extras. As a 2D game there’s not a lot for the Switch 2 version to really upgrade in terms of graphics, although it does now run at 4K in TV mode.
New single-player content in Super Mario Bros. Wonder Switch 2 Edition
However, there is some new single-player content, including a number of new levels and boss battles centring around the seven Koopalings, all of which are fun. You also get to play as Rosalina for the first time, with the option for a less capable co-op player to take the role of Luma the star (optionally using mouse controls) to collect stars and knock off enemies.
There’s also a separate new assist mode that makes any character immune to damage or falling down holes, making the game much more accessible for less skilled players.
In addition, there’s a new power-up that turns you into a flower, that can hover and double jump, and shoot blossom projectiles vertically up the screen. Plus, there’s a whole thing going on where you can grow flowers using water droplets given as rewards in multiplayer games. Although you can also get them from a variety of challenges set in pre-existing levels, involving things like defeating courses in a certain time or collecting all the coins.
These droplets unlock random rewards, ranging from instruments for a marching band to a new line in dual badges, which offer two perks instead of just one. Alternatively, there’s a wide range of flowers and decorations to unlock, that you can put wherever you like in the park. So there’s a lot to do and find, even if it does all feel a bit piecemeal.
Bellabel Park is very far from essential but if the multiplayer focus is appealing to you there’s just enough content to justify the asking price. We’d be more scathing about the price increase if you couldn’t just buy the Switch 1 version instead but since you can we’re not going to be churlish enough to mark the Switch 2 Edition down for being more expensive.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder has always been one of the best games on Switch 1 and this makes it very slightly better. Like the other Switch 2 Edition games, the improvements are mild, but we can’t criticise Nintendo for finding it difficult to improve on the original game. We’ve no idea how they’re going to do it with the next 2D Mario game and we’re not surprised this expansion doesn’t offer any real clues.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park review summary
In Short: An inessential but enjoyable expansion for the best 2D Mario game of the modern era, with some fun multiplayer distractions and a soupçon of new single-player content.
Pros: The core game is still insanely imaginative and entertaining, and more stages, characters, and power-ups are perfectly welcome. New multiplayer games are almost all fun, even if many of them are quite shallow.
Cons: The art design and music are still underwhelming. An expensive upgrade, if you’re not going to play multiplayer much, and the ghosted out online players are a strange choice.
Score: 10/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: £66.99 or £16.99 upgrade pack
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Release Date: 26th March 2026
Age Rating: 3
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