Everything we learned from today’s brief Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct

With the launch of today’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder-focused direct, Nintendo showed off 15 minutes of footage for the upcoming title. Some of the reveals covered details we already knew. For example, four player local co-op was a given. However, we also got to see some pretty wild features, too. Having strangers revive you online? A Badge system that lets you equip new abilities? Yoshis riding Yoshis!?

You can check out an archive of the streamed video below. However, for those on a schedule who just want the details, here’s the most notable news we saw.

The Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct recap

• Bowser is back to harass the Flower Kingdom, this time he’s literally a castle.
• Game will feature “seven areas.” Each world features open areas that let you play levels in any order.
• Flowers will talk to you. I don’t know why. Sometimes they’ll give you coins.
• You can play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yellow Toad, Blue Toad, and Toadette. They all play identically.
• Meanwhile, you can also select four different-colored Yoshis or Nabbit. They won’t take damage, but they also can’t transform with power-ups. Yoshis also have their trademark ability to eat enemies and spit them out.
• Other players can ride Yoshi players. Including other Yoshis.
• A variety of new enemies with unique properties will return alongside familiar creatures.
• Touching Wonder Flowers makes the world go trippy. This will feature unpredictable effects, like turning you into a Goomba or making you walk on the background. Collecting Wonder Seeds will return stages to normal, and you can use these to unlock new stages.

New powers

• The game features three distinct new power-ups.
  • Elephant form gives you a melee attack with your trunk. Water can be stored in your trunk to spit out at flowers and foes. You can also run across gaps that are two tiles wide without falling into them.
  • Bubble lets you shoot bubbles in what I can only hope is a Bubble Bobble reference. Bubbles can float through walls and strike normally impervious foes (like Dry Bones), turning them into coins. You can also bounce off bubbles.
  • Drill fulfills my lifelong dream of watching Mario pierce the heavens. It lets you jump up and hit enemies that would normally hurt you. It also lets you drill downward and burrow into the ground. Ceiling burrowing also works.
• You can hold a spare power-up a la Super Mario World.

The Badge system

• As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock equippable Badges. Powers include a parachute to slow falls, crouching high jumps (Super Mario Bros. 2 style), and a vine that works like a grappling hook.
• Only one Badge can be equipped per course, though you can swap out your Badge upon losing a life.
• The Badge screen showed 24 slots, so at least that many Badges exist in the game.
• Badges can be obtained through special Badge Courses. You can also buy them from shops.

Multiplayer madness

• Four player co-op returns.
• Defeated players won’t result in a lost life right away. Instead they’ll turn into a ghost, which another player can save by jumping to them within a time limit. No lives will be lost if a player is saved.
• You can connect online, where you’ll see other players in real time. The direct calls them “Live Player Shadows.” This includes both on the overworld and in levels.
• Live Player Shadows can save each other in stages if they spot someone as a ghost.
• You can also emote to other players and share items.
• Players can also place “Standees” in certain courses. These cardboard cutouts work as free revive points for other players to float to if they’re in ghost form. Standees can be purchased with in-game currency, though the Direct implies which one you’ll get will be random.
• Helping other players increases your “Heart Points,” which will appear above Standees.
• You can create rooms with friends so you can play together as Live Player Shadows. This unlocks the option to play “Friend Races,” which involves your group competing to clear stages the fastest or accomplish set objectives.

I Wonder what they’ll think of next

Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder looks to be much its own thing according to the Direct. On the surface, there are certainly similarities to the New Super Mario Bros. games. But there’s enough new systems and mechanics here that should hopefully keep this one feeling fresh. That said, seeing the Badge system just made me want a traditional Paper Mario game again.

Regardless of how it shakes out, we’ll see how Super Mario Bros. Wonder ranks among the best Mario games ever when it launches on October 20 for the Nintendo Switch.