Summary
The developers behindSuper Mario Bros. Wonderrecently shared some unused Wonder Effect designs at this year’s Game Developers Conference. The latest mainlineMarioplatformer launched on the Nintendo Switch in October to rave reviews and record-breaking sales figures, with many praisingSuper Mario Bros. Wonderfor its colorful graphics and imaginative additions to the classic 2DMarioformula.
Some of the most prominent of these new additions are the Wonder Effects, which activate whenever the player collects a Wonder Seed and alterSuper Mario Bros. Wonder’s levels in surreal ways. Each stage has a different Wonder Effect, withMario’s classic green Warp Pipesrising and lowering as the player moves across them, Piranha Plants breaking into song, and Super Stars suddenly raining down from the sky being just a few of the zany effects players can come across.
As it turns out, there are a few Wonder Effects that didn’t make it intoSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, and they might be even more bizarre than the ones that were included. The game’s developers were present at GDC 2024 (viaThe Gamer), and they spoke about some of the ideas that were ultimately left on the cutting room floor. According to sound director Koji Kondo, one of these unused Wonder Effects would have briefly turned Mario and the level around him into live-action versions, withSuper Mario Bros. Wonder’s musicand sound effects being hummed by the plumber himself.
Some Of Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Strangest Ideas Didn’t Make The Cut
This wasn’t the only scrapped Wonder Effect idea shared at GDC. Another would have transformed Mario into a retro-style sprite inspired by theoriginal NESMariogames, with his head growing to gigantic proportions. This would have made dodging enemies impossible, so the player would have had to simply charge their way through the level as blocks broke off Mario’s head with each foe he bumped into. The development team ultimately found that the effect of Mario losing his head ruined the feature’s visual appeal, hence why it was cut fromSuper Mario Bros. Wonder.
That isn’t to say that these ideas weren’t utilized to some capacity inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, as the scrapped live-action Wonder Effect did inspire the game’sunlockable Sound Off Badge, which turns off all sound and replaces it with noises from a random person. According to the developers at GDC 2024, there were over 2,000 ideas generated forSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, so there are probably several more outlandish Wonder Effects that were left on the cutting room floor for one reason or another.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
WHERE TO PLAY
The next evolution of Mario fun: Classic Mario gameplay is turned on its head with Wonder Flowers in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game! These game-changing items can make some wonderfully weird stuff happen. Witness pipes coming alive, wreak havoc as a giant Spike-Ball, and lots more!Loca: Up to 4 players can tackle courses together, share power-ups, and revive each other. Yoshis can also carry other players on their back to help each other overcome challenging courses!Online: With a Nintendo Switch Online membership**, you may share your adventure with players from all over the world or play online with up to 12 friends in a Friend Room, with 4 players per course. Help each other out or see who can finish first! If you place a standee while you’re playing online, other players can use them to revive!
