Super Mario Bros. Wonder - here's all the details from the special Direct presentation

In a special Direct this morning, Nintendo provided more information on Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first 2D side-scrolling game in the series for over ten years.

The video presentation showed nearly 15 minutes of footage featuring new gameplay, power-ups, and Wonder effects.

Nintendo Direct 6.21.2023 - Nintendo Switch

With a new Flower Kingdom to explore and a varied roster of playable characters, the game introduces Wonder Flowers . These are game-changing items that create surprising effects.

Story-wise, in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Prince Florian has invited Mario and his friends to the Flower Kingdom, a land beyond the Mushroom Kingdom. But Bowser has other plans.

With just a single touch of the mysterious Wonder Flower, Bowser merges with Prince Florian’s castle, and thanks to his newfound power, chaos spreads across the land. It’s up to Mario and his pals to stop Bowser and save the Flower Kingdom.

The Flower Kingdom features six distinct worlds that circle the Petal Isles, providing seven areas to explore. You can traverse multiple islands, dive into the sea, and spelunk in caves. A variety of courses await in each world, and you can even walk freely through open areas on the world map.

Throughout the game, you will come into contact with Wonder Flowers that thrive off the world's mysterious power and release it when in bloom. When you touch a Wonder Flower in a course, a Wonder effect will trigger, causing dramatic changes. Pipes might start moving, the terrain may tilt, your perspective can change, or you might float through space. There are even Wonders that can transform your character into a Goomba or a Spike-Ball.

Besides Mario, you can also play as Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Blue Toad or Yellow Toad, and even Toadette. They all play the same, so feel free to pick your favorite or mix it up with someone different. Yoshi and Nabbit won’t take damage, and are the perfect characters if you are looking for a more relaxing experience.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder features the debut of new power-ups such as the Elephant Fruit, which allows Mario and some of his friends to transform into Elephant form. While in this form, you can throw around your weight and your nose as you swing your trunk to attack enemies, destroy blocks, and dash across large gaps.

There's also the Bubble form that allows you to blow floating bubbles that you can use to capture enemies from a distance. And the Drill form makes dealing with spiky or hard-headed enemies a breeze. It also allows you to burrow and move through the ground.

When it comes to enemies, you’ll encounter new ones while adventuring through the Flower Kingdom. Hoppycats will copy you and jump when you jump, Melon Piranha Plants will spit seeds from their mouths, Condarts will fly at you and stick their beaks into your business, and Maw-Maws will eat anything that comes too close to their mouths. These are just a few of the new enemies for you to discover.

As you progress through the game, you’ll earn in-game badges, each with a special ability. These badges include one that enhances your wall-jumping abilities, one that provides an underwater burst of speed, another that charges up a bounding leap, one that turns you invisible, and another that allows you to shoot vines mid-air to stick to walls.

The game features local multiplayer for up to four people on the same Nintendo Switch system, and should a player get defeated in local co-op, their character will float around the course as a ghost. If another player reaches them before time runs out, they’ll jump back into action, and the group won’t lose any lives. If someone is playing as a Yoshi, you can jump on their back and ride them around the course. Also, in local multiplayer, each group of players will use the same badge.

If you do not have friends to play with locally, jump online and create a room to get together with friends. In a shared room, you can see which courses your friends are playing, play the same one together, and even turn most courses into a race. Even when playing solo, if you connect online, you can see other players from around the world in courses and on the world map playing in real-time, appearing as live player shadows.

You can come back to life by bumping into a live player shadow here, and you can assist fellow online players by placing a standee that they can use to revive ghosts. The game will even display how many people have used your standee assist.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder will release at retail and through the eShop on Nintendo Switch and in the My Nintendo Store on October 20 for a suggested retail price of $59.99, or your regional equivalent. Pre-orders are open now.

In other Direct news, Nintendo announced a Mario-themed Nintendo Switch - OLED Model.

The Mario Red Edition will arrive in stores on October 6 at a suggested retail price of $349.99. The system, the Joy-Con controllers, and dock all sport a Mario Red color. The console also features a small silhouette of Mario jumping on the back of the dock.