SUPER MARIO BROS. WONDER: THE PIPES CAME ALIVE
9.0 of 10 bananas. The freshest 2D Mario in decades, where every level hides a joke that rewrites the rules, held back only by soft bosses and a gentle difficulty curve.
By the Alpha. Switch game listing. Updated Oct 19 2026.
Honest note: This is not a fresh hands-on playtest. I built this verdict from launch reviews, critic consensus, update history, and what is known about the game today. If I put real hours in on stream, I will update the score and say so.
Platforms: The Amazon button is the US Nintendo Switch game card (Nintendo, released October 20 2023). It also plays on Nintendo Switch 2. At my Oct 19 check Amazon.com was not the seller: the offer came from a third-party seller, shipped by Amazon, at 53.90 dollars, so check the seller and price before you pay. A digital code listing also exists. No PC, PlayStation, or Xbox version.
Get Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Switch on AmazonSit with me a moment. I have watched Mario run left to right for longer than most of the troop has been alive. I thought I knew every trick a pipe could pull. Then a pipe stood up and started crawling like a caterpillar, and I laughed so hard a banana fell out of my hand.
What It Wants To Be
Wonder is a side-scrolling Mario set in the Flower Kingdom. The hook is the Wonder Flower: touch one and the level changes its own rules for a minute. Pipes move, the camera flips, enemies stampede, Mario turns into a Goomba or a spiky ball. New power-ups include Elephant Fruit, and badges let you pick a perk like a wall jump boost or a floaty jump. Up to four players can share one Switch, and online play shows other players as ghostly silhouettes who can revive you.
What Works
Surprise is the engine and it rarely misfires. Almost every course saves one strange idea for its Wonder sequence, and the game never reuses a trick long enough for it to go stale. The animation is the best the 2D series has ever had, with Mario squeezing into pipes and peeking through doors. Badges add real choice without breaking levels. Critics put it in the low nineties on aggregate, and it won Best Family Game at The Game Awards 2023, which you can see on the box art the listing uses.
What Breaks
Listen well. It is easy for most of the run. Yoshi and Nabbit cannot take damage, which is great for little ones, but veterans will cruise until the final world. Boss fights are the weak link: many are repeat Bowser Jr. scraps, and the big finale is short. Online play shows other players as shadows and standees who can revive you, but true co-op, where you share one screen and bump into each other, is local only. And the physical card is often sold by third parties now, so the price floats.
Who Should Play
Play it if you own any Switch and love platformers, or if you want a couch game that a parent, a kid, and a grumpy uncle can all enjoy. Wait for a better price if the seller listing is high that day. Skip it only if you want punishing difficulty from the first level.
STRENGTHS
- A new surprise in nearly every level
- Best animation in 2D Mario
- Badges add real choice
- Four-player couch play that works
HONEST COSTS
- Easy until the last world
- Weak, repetitive bosses
- Online is light
- Third-party seller at my check
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