Summary
Super Mario Bros. Wonderjust had many of its new features unveiled, and in the process revealed what could become a new kind of challenge run. With all the new powers and mechanics that the game has to offer, it seems destined to be another success for the series. After all, giving players a lot of new mechanics and items to play with is a great way to drive interest. At the same time, one new feature in particular could become especially useful, allowingSuper Mario Bros. Wonderto end up creating a new trend among players.
Nintendo’s latest revelations aboutSuper Mario Bros. Wonder’s Flower Kingdomhave done a lot to show off how much the game has to offer. New power-ups and enemies, as well as an entirely new mechanic in the form of Badges are showing howSuper Mario Bros. Wonderis making up for lost time after such a long wait for the next 2DMarioplatformer. It remains to be seen how many of these additions will make their way to the Mushroom Kingdom for the next game. However, there is definitely some potential for several of them to become recurring elements in the games.
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Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Invisibility Badge Could Be a Big Challenge for Players
Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s game-altering badgesare undoubtedly one of the most interesting additions. Every badge gives the playable character an ability that affects them in some way, such as protection from falling or detecting hidden items. The most notable of the group may be the Invisibility badge. When equipped, this badge turns the player’s character invisible, preventing enemies from noticing them. Unlike most badges though, the Invisibility badge has a significant downside, because the player cannot see their character’s position either. They will have to rely on cues like screen scrolling and dust clouds to know where they are in the game.
Challenge runs are a common sight in theSuper Mariofandom, best demonstrated by thedeterminedSuper Mariospeedrunning community. Players have given themselves all sorts of challenges, such as deathless runs, coinless runs, and pacifist runs. An invisible run feels like the logical next step, because it fits right in among the existing categories. If the option is there, then someone will inevitably try it. In fact, with the way that it was introduced, it only seems natural that people would get curious and want to see how much of the game they could complete while invisible. Almost all challenge runs are born from that kind of curiosity.
It’s worth mentioning that an invisible run of the game should be perfectly feasible. All ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonder’s new power-upsshould still be usable while Mario is invisible, and even if they aren’t,Super Mario Bros.stages can traditionally be beaten with no power-ups as well. The trailer showed how Mario can still interact with stages while invisible, which would be the beginning of strategies for an invisible run. Eventually, a combination of visual cues and level memorization would lead to optimized playthroughs. Not to mention, many players will seek new challenges after beating the game anyway, which could very well include invisible runs.
The Invisibility Badge should be one of the more interesting new abilities to test out upon the game’s release. Thedifficulty ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonderis said to be high, and making Mario invisible for the whole game would only make it higher. While the badges all affect the game in some way, the Invisibility Badge is the only one shown that has a downside, which makes it sound the most interesting to play with. Invisible runs could easily end up being played alongside speedruns ofSuper Mario Bros. Wonderin the near future.
Super Mario Bros. Wonderwill be released on October 20 for the Nintendo Switch.
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