Everything we learned about Super Mario Bros. Wonder from the Direct

Nintendo’s fifteen-minute Direct last night gave us a wealth of information on the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We learned about the story, the setting, returning and playable characters, local and online modes and even new power-ups.

Wonder is set within the Flower Kingdom. After receiving an invite from Prince Florian, the ruler of the Kingdom, Bowser shows up, touches the Wonder Flower and merges with Prince Florian’s castle to himself become a castle. He then proceeds to spread chaos across the land. As he does.

The kingdom contains six worlds, but there are seven areas to explore. The new world map can also be in places we navigated openly without having to follow a track. You can jump back to previous levels at any time with a menu.

Playable characters include Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and two different Toads, Toadette, who all control the same. You can also play as Yoshi or Nabbit and not take any damage with these players. Yoshi also has his flutter jump. All the characters can also ride Yoshi, including when in Elephant form.

Speaking of Elephant form, all characters can turn into an Elephant now. There’s a new Bubble and Drill power-up as well. The titular effect, Wonder Effects, is enabled when you touch a WondeR Flower. This can make stages title, pipes move, change perspective (top down!), or players can ever float through space or turn into a Goomba.

During the course of the game, you can also collect badges that change your character’s abilities. These badges can make wall jumping easier, allow you to move through the water faster, do a bounding crouch jump or even shoot vines to stick to walls. These badges are also available in local multiplayer.

Yes, the game has local four-player co-operative player. Now, if your character dies, they’ll come back as a ghost on the course. Revive them in time so as not to lose any lives.

An online mode does feature. It’s something completely new and different. When you’re playing solo, you can connect online and see other people on the world map or in courses. They appear in real-time as “live player shadows”. They can interact with your game by reviving you, but you don’t play directly with them. If you make a room with your friends, you can see what your friends are up to, and if you join them on a course, you can have a race with them.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out on October 20th, and there’s also a Mario Red Edition Nintendo Switch OLED out on October 6th.