Platform: Switch 2Age: 7+Verdict: ★★★★★
Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo Switch 2 Edition)
Nintendo’s pipeline of new games for the rest of 2026 remains somewhat cloaked in mystery, bar the promise of a fresh Yoshi adventure next month and rumours of the return of Star Fox. As has become routine, the Switch 2 first-party release schedule is being shored up with another re-release incorporating low-key visual enhancements and additional modes or levels.
Unless you’re a joyless curmudgeon, you would have been foolish to ignore the exuberant Super Mario Bros Wonder when it hit the Switch in 2023. Few games, even from Nintendo, achieve that height of heartwarming charm with its clever 2D platforming. Brimming with invention, stuffed with charisma and long on laughter, Wonder immediately entered the pantheon of great Super Mario titles.
If you’re a Switch 2 owner who somehow spurned this previously, this reissue with extra DLC is unmissable. For existing fans who may have played the original to death, it’s much less essential.
Super Mario Bros Wonder, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Party – to apply its full drawn-out, prosaically descriptive title – hands you everything that made the 2023 version so compulsive … and fortifies it with a bunch of extras.
Nintendo takes care to enhance the package – but not too much, as was the pattern established by various other glow-ups applied to the likes of Kirby, Super Mario Jamboree and Zelda.
The marquee additions relate to new options in both local and online multiplayer. They range from helper modes that benefit younger or less dextrous gamers, to frantic mini-games, mostly based on repurposed single-player levels.
Their merit varies wildly. Some, such as Koopaling boss battles, challenge and entertain in equal measures. Others, such as the coin-collecting time trials, fare less well. On the whole, though, they bring hours of extra fun. Many can be attempted in solo mode but clearly their raison d’etre lies in the frenetic arena of multiplayer.
Thanks to Switch 2’s clever GameShare technology, only one player need own a copy of this release for up to three others to join in, even if they are on Switch 1 consoles.
Even so, this new version costs €20 more than the original, a chunky sum that the upgrades struggle to justify.
Clearly, if you’ve somehow missed out on the irrepressible energy of Super Mario Bros Wonder until now, your life is lacking and you should consider buying at least the still-marvellous Switch 1 version (€20 cheaper at €60). For the completist, the Switch 2 edition has its virtues but its bonus material pales beside the triumph of the foundation that underpins it.