With the Nintendo Switch 2 offering a dose of extra power under the hood, Nintendo has been taking advantage of the success of original Switch games with both free and paid upgrades. From performance tweaks in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition to additional content in Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World and Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, the games are given new life.
As part of the Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary, Nintendo are adding another Nintendo Switch bestseller to the upgrade roster – yet another tongue-twister title, Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park. Imagine trying to ask for that in a video game store (in the little number that still exist). This latest version comes with additional multiplayer and solo content as a paid upgrade from the original Super Mario Bros. Wonder or as a full standalone release. It worth the upgrade or just stick to the standard Switch release?
The original Super Mario Bros. Wonder review from Az praised Nintendo’s shift to a new visual and mechanical style, coming off the back of the increasingly generic New Super Mario Bros. series. This review of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park update very much echoes that sentiment. Wonder remains as one of the best side-scrolling Super Mario games in years – still with the iconic side-scrolling formula at its roots but popping full of surprises and equippable ability badges.
Baddies, flagpoles, bosses and the flexible overworld map return, but with a more expressive and fluid lick of paint. It may sound and look like a cosmetic change initially, a New New Super Mario Bros. if you will, but the main draw of Wonder is the Wonder Flower. This flower isn’t another power-up, but it puts the world into a bizarre drug-induced state – transforming the landscape and/or characters into a surprise segment. The simple change does shake up the standard reach the flagpole approach, making this Mario game feel fresh. After many decades of Mushroom Kingdom conformity, it’s great to see Nintendo pushing the boundaries and go strong with the absurdity. In a good way!
But just how does Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park push the standard release further? At its core, the package is primarily aimed at increasing the multiplayer options, with a sprinkling of content for solo folk to try, too. Much like Kirby’s Star-Cross World update, Meetup in Bellabel Park uses the original map, layering on the additional content as extra spots to… wander off to.
The story trigger to the new content? Those pesky Koopaling children wreak havoc to the newly discovered Bellabel Park area, nabbing the Bellabel Flowers. The aim? You guessed it: find the gang of Bowser’s unruly offspring, who are now hiding across the game world, and recover the flowers. Head to each spot and battle these rather quirky bosses, each taking on a Wonder form. From a jester-like Lemmy to a giant Wendy fish, these battles are inventive; a little dollop of fun. The initial round of Koopaling are straightforward, but re-battles up the challenge for seasoned Super Mario Bros. pros (for which this reviewer is certainly not). To help the plumber brothers this time round, the cosmic duo Rosalina and Luma join the playable roster – a timely inclusion with the launch of the Super Mario Galaxy movie.
Beyond the boss-rush challenge, solo players also have access to the lengthy Toad Brigade Training Camp, a feature that’s not been heavily promoted by Nintendo and is surprisingly easy to overlook. Essentially, it’s a set of fun and occasionally frustratingly difficult challenges as remixed levels from the main campaign. Grouped by goals, these range from collecting all the coins to battling through enemies in a fixed time limit, speedrunning to staying invincible. Extra training levels also throw in far more challenging segments, like avoiding enemies and coins using fixed ability badges. Depending on your experience with Mario mechanics and the initial Wonder release, this could be a quick one-and-done campaign or very much replaying stages again and again.
The Training Camp and Koopaling story stages are a solid amount of content for the solo player – a challenge in both boss battles and quirky missions. Ultimately these don’t push the game too far from the original Nintendo Switch version. Those who didn’t get on with Wonder originally won’t find much difference here. Those who saw the Wonder credits roll and craved more, this feels like a hearty second course.
Beyond the main campaign comes a set of multiplayer attractions within the Bellabel Park area – think of it like a theme park that uses the main Wonder mechanics to brew up Mario Party-lite minigames. Collect coins, feed baby Yoshi, hide from a sleeping King Boo, battle with bubble guns, race through levels and more. It’s good, ol’ fashioned, competitive fun. Co-op play is a particular highlight; a fun thrill of couch challenges to conquer together, like jumping in time to the music or carrying an explosive Bob-omb collaboratively. The feature co-op attraction? The return of Captain Toad, with one player controlling the plodding explorer and the other taking on the wings of Plucky, a bird, to lift Captain Toad across obstacles.
Bellabel Park’s attractions are a mix of clever, fun and innovative ideas and some more forgettable, lacklustre stages. That said, it is good fun overall with friends, whether through couch play or the smaller portion that can be played online. It is a shame, though, that solo players are completely excluded from playing. CPU bots aren’t available, nor are public lobbies – an odd move given this is very much standard in the Mario Party or sports series.
The original Super Mario Wonder already had a strong overall technical performance – popping visuals, fluid animation and framerate. The upgrade to 4K resolution here is neat, but perhaps not as stark a contrast as some of the other Nintendo Switch 2 upgrades – and it doesn’t need to be. A nice to have. What the hardware does allow Nintendo to do is include GameShare – allowing for the game to be streamed to other Nintendo Switch 2 and original Switch consoles via local or even online. It’s not the most essential feature, but particularly handy for the new multiplayer content. Performance wise, apart from the odd blurred dial-up internet-esque frame, GameShare runs surprisingly well.
