A brand new 2D Mario is just months away, and today, we got an in-depth look at Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first new 2D Mario in almost 11 years.

Today's Nintendo Direct didn't give us any shocks, per se, but we have a better idea of what to expect from the Flower Kingdom, how to play online, and some new enemies and power-ups.

Here's everything revealed during today's Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct - Every Announcement And Detail

Prince who?

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Prince Florian
Image: Nintendo

Remember the cute little caterpillar on the game's main art? Well, it turns out he's a prince!

Prince Florian is the ruler of the Flower Kingdom, and his castle is taken over by Bowser. Florian then teams up with Mario and friends to help them on their journey. He's not playable, just extremely cute and very noble. We like that in a prince.

New worlds and levels

Flower Kingdom Map
Image: Nintendo

The Flower Kingdom is a brand new setting for the Mario series. Made up of seven different worlds — six islands that surround the central Petal Isles.

Other locations have been teased — such as a desert area and a poisonous mushroom forest — but for now, let's go over the worlds Nintendo has named.

Pipe-Rock Plateau

The Starting world, and very much like your traditional starting Super Mario world. Many of the mountains and hills look like pipes. Dinosaurs and grassy plains await Mario and friends on their adventure.

Fluff-Puff Peaks

A blend of a winter wonderland with mystical, fluffy clouds, Fluff-Puff Peaks is situated high up some snowy mountains and will give Mario a bit of a chill. At least until he reaches the top, where he can venture through the cloud sea and go higher than ever before.

Shining Falls

Golds, browns, and bronzes make the Shining Falls glisten under the cascades of the waterfalls. Lots of moving platforms and cave networks seem to make up this world, while big snails and water enemies lie in wait.

Petal Isles

The central area of the Flower Kingdom, the courses in this world vary from deep caves to sprawling seas. This looks like it connects to all six other worlds, so we'll have to see how this comes into play.

Open areas

No, 2D Mario isn't going open-world, but this little feature will help people play their own way. In some of the worlds, there are open areas that allow Mario to walk around freely, which lets you tackle certain courses in whatever order you see fit!

The traditional map structure is there too, but this helps Super Mario Bros. Wonder feel fresh.

Once you've beaten a course or level, you can select it from a menu, which will warp you directly to that level on the map.

What do the talking flowers do?

Seriously... what are they for? The talking flowers have featured pretty prominently in the trailers so far, and they had their own little spotlight during today's Direct.

They add flavour and personality to the world — talking flowers in the Flower Kingdom makes sense, right? But otherwise, it doesn't look like they benefit Mario other than perhaps commenting on the scenery or acting surprised when you appear out of nowhere, dressed as an elephant.

Talking Flower
Image: Nintendo

But don't worry, they're not just decoration — these flowers can give you hints for your adventure, but some will also give you coins if you water them. How do you do that? Well... we'll get to that.

All characters play the same

There are 12 playable characters in Super Mario Bros. Wonder — five of which are a little more unique than the rest.

But in terms of the normal cast, we have Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yellow Toad, Blue Toad, and Toadette. It's fantastic to see some of these characters in a 2D style Mario game, and you can play as whoever you want whenever you want, but today's Direct also stated that all of them play the same — so no floating with Peach or no high jump from Luigi.

All characters
Image: Nintendo

There are a few exceptions to this rule, however, and it relates to those five characters at the back.

Nabbit is back!

New Super Mario Bros. U favourite Nabbit returns in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and he brings the same benefits as before. he's basically the invincible mode of the game, and while you can still lose a life, it means you can run into enemies without fear of losing health.

Playable Yoshis

Yoshi and Nabbit
Image: Nintendo

Four different-coloured Yoshis are also playable in Super Mario Bros. Wonder — and you can pick from Green, Red, Yellow, or Light-Blue Yoshi. But they come with a twist. They don't take damage, either.

Just like Nabbit, Yoshi make the player invincible to damage, but can also lose lives. As an added bonus, the little dinosaur does have his flutter jump to let him get higher up much easier than the others.

Tons of new enemies

Goombas, Koopa, Dry Bones, and Lakitu are all making a comeback — would it be a Mario game without them? But there are a lot of new enemies to encounter in the Flower Kingdom, too. Nintendo touched on a few of these during the Direct, but we also spotted some extra ones that we know very little about so far.

Let's dive into what we know.

Hoppycats

What looks like a harmless little mound of green stuff, Hoppycats copy your character's actions — specifically, your jumps. This can make it tricky to get over them, but they're kind of cute, right?

Melon Piranha Plant
Image: Nintendo

Melon Piranha Plants

A new melon twist on the popular enemy, Melon Piranha Plants look like melons — we bet Yoshi is keen on these. They spit seeds out of their mouths as opposed to fireballs, and it looks like you can bounce on top of those seeds, too.

Condarts

A new bird-like enemy, these hang from the ceiling or wall and shoot themselves towards you, often getting stuck in the wall or floor if they miss. They can also destroy blocks, from the looks of things.

Konks
Image: Nintendo

Konks

We reckon Konks are in the same family as Thwomps and Whomps. These are big blocks that like to crush things, but these can even push through the ticky, sticky goo you'll find in the Flower Kingdom's more sinister areas.

Mumsies

We're not talking about flowers or pet names for parents, here. Mumsies are mummified enemies that you can actually unwrap to reveal... well, nothing, just coins.

Mumsies
Image: Nintendo

Maw-Maws

These might be our favourites — flat, platypus-like creatures that eat up everything in their paths. They look so goofy. You can lure them into other enemies, and they'll gobble up Goombas.

...and the rest!

Lots of other foes were shown off during the Direct, but many didn't get a name. There's an unusual chipmunk-type enemy that you can chase through levels, giant snails with shells that react like a Koopa Shell, and those chunky dinosaurs.

Three new power-ups

Three new power ups Mario Wonder
Image: Nintendo

A trio of power-ups are making their debut in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We've gone over these in some detail elsewhere, but let's give you a brief summary of what these are.

Elephant

Go big or go home with this new power-up which turns Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and everyone into an elephant. This makes your character bigger, stronger, and lets you run across big gaps.

Bubble

This bubble-blowing power-up is great for taking down impervious enemies, but you can also use it to create platforms to get to hard-to-reach areas.

Drill

Mario gets a little drill hat with this power-up. You can use this to drill through the ceiling or the floor, which will let you get past obstacles.

Daisy can use the Fire Flower!

Finally. We know Daisy fans are already happy with her inclusion in a new 2D Mario game, but seeing Daisy use the Fire Flower just feels right, you know?

How many people re going to play as Daisy in this game? Everyone? Okay.

Daisy Fire Flower
Image: Nintendo

The Wonder Flower gets weird

Super Mario Bros. Wonder's name likely comes from the Wonder Flower, a special flower that shifts reality in weird and wonderful ways. it's the power that Bowser claims at the start of the story, and the one you sometimes need to use to get through a level.

What this does is trigger a Wonder Effect in the level you're in. This can do anything from summon swarms of enemies, turn Mario into a ball, send him to space, or blow tons of bubbles around the level. When this happens, you need to find the Wonder Seed to revert things back to normal. You'll also need Wonder Seeds to unlock some levels, so make sure you seek out those flowers.

Nintendo said to "expect the unexpected", and with how wild some of these shifts are, we're excited to see what else the Wonder Flower has up its roots.

Badges galore!

If you've played Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi RPGs, then you might be raising an eyebrow here — but the badges in Super Mario Bros. Wonder are a bit different, though they are working on a similar level.

You unlock badges by spending Flower Coins, saving Poplins (the residents of Flower Kingdom), or clearing Badge Challenges. Equipping a badge will change the way you can play, giving Mario and his friends some new abilities. One badge allows you to dolphin kick underwater, while another lets you do a wall-climb jump to just directly up a wall.

Some badges will also help players out if they're struggling — there's a badge that gives you a safety bounce, for instance, and another that gives you an item sensor.

Orange badges are called Action Badges, while Blue badges are called Boost Badges. There are some yellow ones at the end here — we think these are the badges that can turn you invisible and cause you to constantly run, which means they add some extra challenge to the game.

Poplin Shop until you drop

In some areas of the world map, the Poplins will have shops set up for you to buy items from. These include the aforementioned Badges, as well as extra lives, Wonder Seeds, and useful items for Online Play.

Four-player local multiplayer

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but local multiplayer is back. Up to four players can play together on the same Switch console and work together to get through the game.

There are lots of benefits to playing with friends, but one addition is the ability to save your friends if they lose all of their health. When you "die", you turn into a ghost, which when touched by an ally, you will be brought back into the game. Want another big benefit? If someone is playing as Yoshi, you can ride Yoshi.

Yoshi can ride Yoshi

... that also means that if two people are playing as Yoshi, then one Yoshi can ride another Yoshi. Oh goodness.

Yoshi on Yoshi
Image: Nintendo

...and Elephant Form can ride Yoshi

Though the scariest thought is the fact that even if you're in Elephant form, you can ride Yoshi. Poor guy is probably getting very squished like that.

Online play is a bit different

We knew some kind of online play would be coming to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but it's not as straightforward as you might expect. Online co-op in the traditional sense is gone — if you want to play the game normally with friends, then you've got to be in the same room together, sadly. That doesn't mean there aren't any unique or interesting additions, though.

Online play

Online play means you'll see in real time where other players are in the game. You'll spot their Live player shadows on the map and in levels, and you can bump into a shadow to revive yourself if you lose all your health.

If you spot others in-game, you can send them a greeting or share items in-game with each other to help them out. Nintendo puts this as a "subtle connection" between players, which is a nice way of wording it, we think.

You can also place Standees in levels now. These are handy for difficult sections, as they will revive ghosts who touch them. Standees also display Heart Points, showing others how many people you've helped out.

Standee
Image: Nintendo

Online multiplayer

As we said, online multiplayer is a bit different. You can still play with friends, but not in co-op play.

To play with others, you can create a room for friends to join. You'll be able to see which levels your friends are playing, start playing through the course together (but not together if that makes sense), and enter a race.

This last one is called a Friend Race, and you and three others can race through certain courses together online in a competitive mode. Reach the Flag Pole, get a Wonder Seed, or defeat a boss first to win.

Mario Red Edition Nintendo Switch OLED

The final big announcement during the direct was the reveal of a brand new Switch OLED — the Mario Red Edition.

Featuring red Joy-Cons and a red dock (and some hidden coins), it's a simple design that is sure to pop on your shelf. Check out where you can pre-order yours ahead of its 6th October release.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is coming out on 20th October 2023, and it looks wonderful. What did you think of today's Direct? Let us know in the comments below.