Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores, but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, all whilst including some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to form your own impressions and views while reading and watching.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park by developer Nintendo:
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park (Nintendo Switch 2)
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is back, this time for the Nintendo Switch 2 with a, you guessed it, a Nintendo Switch 2 edition!!! Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park brings with it new content in both single player and multiplayer, with a multitude of challenges and minigames galore! The game is available now as a standalone physical or digital version, or as an upgrade pack for those who own the Nintendo Switch version. Seeing as we had already reviewed the original version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the Nintendo Switch, we will be focusing solely on what is new and exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. If you are interested in the main game content, please be sure to check out our Super Mario Bros. Wonder review via the link below.
[Review] Super Mario Bros. Wonder | Nintendo Switch
So, let’s jump into our Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park review. Following on from the events of the main game, the Koopalings have come to the Flower Kingdom to cause havoc and steal a sacred treasure in the form of Bellabel Flowers. Not to worry, though, as the Toad Brigade is here to help by providing intel on the whereabouts of each Koopa. As Mario and his pals, it is up to you to go it alone or with your own friends to track down the Koopalings and retrieve the Bellabel flowers they have stolen.
Each of the Koopalings can be found in one of the several worlds of the Flower Kingdom, with their own Showdown course and a boss battle at the end of it. The stages all have their own whimsical effects, as do the koopalings, thanks to the magic bestowed upon them by Bowser. Wendy turns into a giant Cheep Chomp, Roy turns into a giant ghost, complete with a ghost ship that bombards you from afar, and Lemmy turns into a malevolent flower. As for the rest, I’ll let you discover them on your own.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park introduces a new power-up that turns your character into a flower. The Flower Suit allows you to shoot flowers upwards and gives a slight boost to your jump distance by adding a little flutter at the end. This power-up can be found during the Showdown stages with the Koopalings, but if you are still wearing it at the end of the course, you can wear it in other courses until you lose or use another Power-up. Additional badges can be earned, and this time, they possess dual effects. This is actually very helpful because some of the combinations work really well together, such as the Parachute Cap + Boosting Spin Jump to give you extra air time, and the Wall-Climb Jump + Grappling Vine essentially turns you into Spider-Man or (Spider-Mario if you prefer).
As for new characters, Rosalina is now playable and can use Power-ups like most of the other characters (the Yoshis and Nabbit being the exceptions of not being able to use Power-ups). Rosalina isn’t the only new character; a special co-op character in the form of Luma is also here. Of course, to play as Luma, you would need two or more players, with the first player choosing a normal character, and either of the other players can choose Luma. Luma can’t be hurt by enemies, nor can it use power-ups. It can, however, collect coins and defeat enemies, and has the added benefit of mouse controls compatibility with a Joy-Con 2. This means you can zip around the screen at ease, clearing the way for the other players to reach the goal.
The biggest addition to Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park is the new multiplayer mode that has a broad section of minigames to play that are divided into two parts in the Attraction Central. There is the Local Multiplayer area, where up to four players can play together on the same console via local wireless or Game Share. The latter is quite beneficial as you only need one copy of the game, and you can share it with your friends’ consoles, both locally and online.
The other part of Attraction Central is Game Rooms. This particular mode is restricted to online play only, but up to 12 players can join in with the minigame mayhem. Unfortunately, this mode is where some of my preferred minigames are found, but you will need to create a room and have friends join you. There is no option for random players to drop in or have bots make up the numbers if you are lacking friends to play with. You are restricted to those on your friends list, meaning if your friends are too busy playing something else, or don’t have a copy of Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park, you won’t be enjoying these minigames anytime soon.
As for the minigames themselves, there are Vs minigames like roller skate races, phanto tag, and water gun duels, and then there are co-op minigames that have players work together to reach the goal. I do quite like the variety of the minigames, and a number of them have a selection of different stages as well, with varying difficulties, so things don’t get stale too soon.
I should add that Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park also has 4K resolution in TV mode so anyone with a 4K TV can get the added benefit of this enhanced resolution and there is also extra content in the form of a challenge mode where a member of the Toad Brigade will put you through their rigourous training regime. Such challenges include reaching the goal without defeating enemies or collecting any coins, and defeating enemies or collecting all the coins within a set time. There are a few other categories as well, but let’s leave some surprises for you in case you decide to pick up the game for yourself.
Now it is time to wrap up this EXPlay. If you have yet to play the original Switch release, then Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park is definitely worth giving a shot. I had a lot of fun playing it before, and the new content was quite enticing to me. As I already owned the base game, the $20 USD upgrade pack for the Meetup In Belleabel Park content was a win-win, as the extra content available offers much more replayability than that of Super Mario Jamboree + Jamboree TV. The multiplayer minigames are pretty fun, especially when you have more people playing at the same time, and the Toad Brigade Training was challenging without being overly difficult, although there are one or two that will definitely test your skills. The Koopalings Showdown is probably the weakest part of the new content, but only because they were so short. The boss fights were decent enough, but there was little buildup as they each have a singular course, and I think I would have liked a few extra courses before each showdown.
With all said and done, though, Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup In Bellabel Park is definitely a lot of fun that you can have alone or with friends, and the extra content is worth picking up if you already own the base game. If you don’t have a Switch 2 but are considering picking one up in the future, you can play the base game in this version on the Nintendo Switch as well, so you won’t have to double-dip if and when you make the upgrade to Switch 2!
Game Specifications:
Developers: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2 (Digital)
Genre: Action, Platformer
No. of Players: 1-4 (Single System) | 2 -8 (Local Wireless) |
2 – 12 (Online)
Release Date: March 26, 2026
Price: $79.99
File Size: 8.9 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
