Editor’s Note: This review primarily goes over the value of Meetup in Bellabel Park. If you were interested in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, refer to our review of the original Switch game here.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park makes a convincing case for upgrading the original title if you already own it. This upgrade offers some new features, including Rosalina as a new playable character, boss battles with the Koopalings, and the main attraction, Bellabel Park, a multiplayer-focused plaza with new levels for local and online multiplayer. There are also new badges, a power-up, an assist mode, and appearances from Captain Toad and Plucky. That’s a pretty sizable addition of new material to the game that breathes some new life into the two-and-a-half-year-old game. While I would stop short of saying you should go out and buy the $80 physical release for the Switch 2 right now if you don’t already own the game, there’s enough here to recommend paying $20 to get the DLC.
Let’s start with the main course, Bellabel Park. Bellabel Park is accessible early if you’re starting the game from the beginning. Bellabel Park is split up between three sections. There’s the Local Multiplayer Plaza, Game Room Plaza, and Tour Plaza. With the Game Room Plaza, you can play over local wireless with eight players or with 12 players over LAN or online. There’s no way to play with people who aren’t your friends, so keep that in mind going into this.
There are 17 attractions that are either versus or co-op attractions. These attractions include creating donut block bridges while one player tries to get to the end of the level, an attraction where one player controls Captain Toad and the other controls Plucky flying the other two to the end of the stage, there’s an attraction where players control Yoshi and eat as many enemies as possible, there’s a competitive coin-collecting spree, and more. They’re all fun and remind me of the Boost Rush Mode in New Super Mario Bros. U. If you have someone else to play them with, they make the upgrade worth the money.
Another area in Bellabel Park is Camp Central. Here you can find the Toad Brigade Training camp, where you can play little challenge courses and earn Bellabel Water to water plants and gain Dual Badges that combine two badge effects. These are very short challenges based on existing courses from the game and don’t have as much going for them as the multiplayer courses, but they offer a decent challenge that justifies their overall existence.
There are some minor additions to the single player mode, with Rosalina being a playable character, new badges, a Super Flower Pot power-up, and Koopaling stages. The Koopaling stages are about as challenging as the main game and don’t provide much besides a couple of minutes of gameplay, but the stages are interesting, and it’s fun seeing the new power-ups that the Koopalings have. They’re in the Brigade Tent levels found in the single player mode. Rosalina makes an appearance here, and she doesn’t have any abilities that make her distinct from Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad. She does have Co-Star Luma, who can be controlled by a second character and can’t take damage. If Rosalina is your favorite character in Mario, then it’s probably enough to just get to play as her.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park does a good job of showing the value of upgrading to the Switch 2 edition of this game. With a good amount of new multiplayer-focused content, you can get some extra enjoyment out of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it if you didn’t have friends or family to play it with, unless you really want to play as Rosalina, but this is one of the few Switch 2 editions that offers a good amount of value and is worth the cost if you already have the base edition of the game.
While I would stop short of saying you should go out and buy the $80 physical release for the Switch 2 right now if you don’t already own the game, there’s enough here to recommend paying $20 to get the DLC. While I would stop short of saying you should go out and buy the $80 physical release for the Switch 2 right now if you don’t already own the game, there’s enough here to recommend paying $20 to get the DLC.
Editor’s Note: This review primarily goes over the value of Meetup in Bellabel Park. If you were interested in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, refer to our review of the original Switch game here.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park makes a convincing case for upgrading the original title if you already own it. This upgrade offers some new features, including Rosalina as a new playable character, boss battles with the Koopalings, and the main attraction, Bellabel Park, a multiplayer-focused plaza with new levels for local and online multiplayer. There are also new badges, a power-up, an assist mode, and appearances from Captain Toad and Plucky. That’s a pretty sizable addition of new material to the game that breathes some new life into the two-and-a-half-year-old game. While I would stop short of saying you should go out and buy the $80 physical release for the Switch 2 right now if you don’t already own the game, there’s enough here to recommend paying $20 to get the DLC.
Let’s start with the main course, Bellabel Park. Bellabel Park is accessible early if you’re starting the game from the beginning. Bellabel Park is split up between three sections. There’s the Local Multiplayer Plaza, Game Room Plaza, and Tour Plaza. With the Game Room Plaza, you can play over local wireless with eight players or with 12 players over LAN or online. There’s no way to play with people who aren’t your friends, so keep that in mind going into this.
There are 17 attractions that are either versus or co-op attractions. These attractions include creating donut block bridges while one player tries to get to the end of the level, an attraction where one player controls Captain Toad and the other controls Plucky flying the other two to the end of the stage, there’s an attraction where players control Yoshi and eat as many enemies as possible, there’s a competitive coin-collecting spree, and more. They’re all fun and remind me of the Boost Rush Mode in New Super Mario Bros. U. If you have someone else to play them with, they make the upgrade worth the money.
Another area in Bellabel Park is Camp Central. Here you can find the Toad Brigade Training camp, where you can play little challenge courses and earn Bellabel Water to water plants and gain Dual Badges that combine two badge effects. These are very short challenges based on existing courses from the game and don’t have as much going for them as the multiplayer courses, but they offer a decent challenge that justifies their overall existence.
There are some minor additions to the single player mode, with Rosalina being a playable character, new badges, a Super Flower Pot power-up, and Koopaling stages. The Koopaling stages are about as challenging as the main game and don’t provide much besides a couple of minutes of gameplay, but the stages are interesting, and it’s fun seeing the new power-ups that the Koopalings have. They’re in the Brigade Tent levels found in the single player mode. Rosalina makes an appearance here, and she doesn’t have any abilities that make her distinct from Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad. She does have Co-Star Luma, who can be controlled by a second character and can’t take damage. If Rosalina is your favorite character in Mario, then it’s probably enough to just get to play as her.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park does a good job of showing the value of upgrading to the Switch 2 edition of this game. With a good amount of new multiplayer-focused content, you can get some extra enjoyment out of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it if you didn’t have friends or family to play it with, unless you really want to play as Rosalina, but this is one of the few Switch 2 editions that offers a good amount of value and is worth the cost if you already have the base edition of the game.
by Kayla Merritt
