10 things I learned while playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder

I was recently at Nintendo Live 2023 in Seattle where I got to play Super Mario Bros. Wonder and talk with a representative about the various features. And, admittedly, I also got a slew of swag. Not entirely relevant to the article but you know what? I’m gonna flex some swag because I love it.

But if you can’t tell by several of the items, Nintendo Live was VERY heavily about Super Mario Bros. Wonder and that’s perfectly fine. I’ve been really curious about the latest Mario game and was psyched just how much I was able to learn about the game. I got to play and then ask someone a slew of questions about it and here are 10 things I learned.

10. The Elephant power-up is incredibly versatile

The Elephant Fruit turns several of the characters (but not all, more on that later) into an elephant-like version of themselves. When the first trailer appeared there really wasn’t that much clue as to what it did but getting to play the game I got to feel it.

First off, the Elephant trunk can be swung up and down and works a lot like the Tanooki tail only with a lot more range. It can be used to break through breakable bricks and knock out enemies in front of you. With the trunk swinging up and down it covers an area as tall as your character making it a lot easier to hit things with it.

In addition, anytime someone with an Elephant power-up runs through water or is hit by water, the trunk swells up with water. Spraying things with water can cause different things to occur. Negating flames, making plants grow, and if you hit several of the talking flowers, they’ll say cute things as well which was just kinda cool to watch background elements affected.

9. Sign posts copy a move from Dark Souls

Throughout the game, you’re given the option to collect these little standees of the various characters in different poses. For example, I was able to collect one of Toadette swimming. It reminded me a lot of the collectible stamps in the Wii U Mario 3D World.

But every now and then you’ll get a special item that allows you to place one of these standees somewhere in the world alongside a message. Obviously, you can’t type your own because, as Nintendo learned with Mario Kart DS, it would just be a ton of signs that say “penis”. But it’s things that allow you to say hello or give a useful (or harmful) tip or clue to the player.

When places, anyone else who’s playing online and gets to that stage might suddenly have your sign pop up with your user name and the attached message. Expect to see a lot of people putting signs before pits with the clue “Hidden area below”. Trust at your own peril.

As someone who loves collecting things in games, though, I was just hyped because when I unlocked the Swimming Toadette, I saw what looked like well over a hundred greyed-out signs to collect and I love that.