Meet Elephant Mario: Super Mario Bros. Wonder is coming, Princess Peach game teased

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Nintendo just wrapped up its June 2023 Nintendo Direct livestream, and there were plenty of surprises for fans of the Mario franchise. Rumors leading up to today's presentation suggested we'd see a classic Super Nintendo game get the remake treatment. Sure enough, Nintendo announced a modern version of Super Mario RPG due out on the Switch later this year.

The new Super Mario RPG is based on the 1996 fan favorite, which was the first RPG in the Mario franchise and the last Mario game published for Nintendo's 16-bit console. Players are tasked with helping Mario and friends topple Smithy, leader of the Smithy Gang from another dimension, who has stolen the seven star pieces from Star Road.

The game has been redone in the style of modern Mario adventures like Super Mario Odyssey. It is available to pre-order now over on the Nintendo eShop priced at $59.99. Look for it to launch on November 17, 2023.

Nintendo also shared a teaser for a new game based on Princess Peach. The 25-second snippet suggested the game will be centered around a stage play, which is the same concept that Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka utilized for Super Mario Bros. 3 well over three decades ago.

The as-yet-titled game will be the first since 2005 to feature Princess Peach as the lead protagonist. Super Princess Peach was a Nintendo DS title in which Peach had to rescue Mario and Luigi from Bowser, a reversal of the classic damsel in distress narrative. She's also been featured in many other Mario games over the years including Super Mario Bros. 2, which was a reimaging of a Japanese game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic.

Nintendo saved what was arguably its biggest announcement for last.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an upcoming 2D sidescroller featuring Wonder Flowers that can unlock strange behaviors. Warp pipes could come alive, characters may change their look, or hordes of enemies could appear, Nintendo said, which would transform gameplay in unpredictable ways. There's even a new power-up that turns ordinary Mario into Elephant Mario, who can use his trunk to defeat enemies.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder can be pre-ordered from today for $59.99 and arrives on October 20, 2023.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/99154-game-bits-super-mario-rpg-remake-princess-peach.html

 

[EdmondRC]

My daughters are going to be so excited about the Princess Peach game.

 

[Sherwoodnt]

Pre-ordering now. That way I’ll be sure to get a copy even if my blockbuster sells out!

 

[stewi0001]

I loved Mario RPG, but the price tag heavily disappoints.

Nintendo seems to be having a field day with updating the graphics (and controls) of their old games and slapping on a price tag like they made it from scratch.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Wonder looks good.
Not sure how I feel about Mario as an elephant though. Too weird.

 

[EdmondRC]

I loved Mario RPG, but the price tag heavily disappoints.

Nintendo seems to be having a field day with updating the graphics (and controls) of their old games and slapping on a price tag like they made it from scratch.

Agreed $40 would have been a better price on this one. It's not even really a very long RPG as far as it goes these days. I'm sure it took a little more work than Metroid Prime remake, considering all the assets had to be built from scratch.

Also, I think a lot of the charm of the original was the graphics because it really pushed what the Super Nintendo was capable of. It was a 3D rendered game, and very few of those existed on the system, it also looked good. That will be lost on a lot of new players who were not familiar with the original game.

 

[Zsoltblabla]

Yes! Finally a new Mario 2D game! Nothing can beat the joy and fun my kids and I had while playing all three of us at the same time on stage after stage in Mario Bros. My kids are growing up but those memories will stay with me forever!

 

[Jrfeimst2]

I loved Mario RPG, but the price tag heavily disappoints.

Nintendo seems to be having a field day with updating the graphics (and controls) of their old games and slapping on a price tag like they made it from scratch.

60 Bucks. Are you kidding me? I paid 60 bucks for games in the 90s. If you take inflation into account games should easily cost 110-130 bucks.

 

[HeeeF]

Pre-ordering now. That way I’ll be sure to get a copy even if my blockbuster sells out!

you still have blockbuster? I thought it died globally. Or am I missing a joke :/

 

[HeeeF]

60 Bucks. Are you kidding me? I paid 60 bucks for games in the 90s. If you take inflation into account games should easily cost 110-130 bucks.

SSSSSHHHHHH the game studios are listening. Don't give them your terrible ideas

 

[EdmondRC]

60 Bucks. Are you kidding me? I paid 60 bucks for games in the 90s. If you take inflation into account games should easily cost 110-130 bucks.

Home videogames were still rather new in the 80s and 90s and definitely a luxury item. Many families that did buy a console had only a small handful of games. They rented games on weekends rather than paying the price for them at the store because of this. Overall game sales were much lower and the cartridges and tech were just more expensive. There are a lot of reasons why video game prices haven't gone up that much. One is simply the sales numbers. It's a lot easier to make money on video games than it used to be despite the cost of the games not keeping up with inflation. Having 20 games for home console was virtually unheard of back then unless you were the rich kid. Today, having 20+ games for your console is pretty modest. Something to think about.

 

[MrPractical]

you still have blockbuster? I thought it died globally. Or am I missing a joke :/

There's just one Blockbuster left, so either it's a joke, or they live in my old hometown of Bend, Oregon.