The Super Mario games are often best experienced in solitude. Pretty much everyone who tried playing Super Mario 3D World with friends has stories about it devolving into chaos. But if you’ve decided that you only want to experience Super Mario Bros. Wonder by yourself, I’m here to recommend you give the new 2D platformer’s online mode a shot before writing it off.
Playing Wonder online lets you play levels alongside other players, but not in a potentially disruptive way. This isn’t going to devolve into Peach yeeting a Toad off the stage. No, Wonder’s online co-op lets you and online randos help each other out by reviving each other if someone dies in a level, rather than having to start back at the last checkpoint.
If you’re playing online, you’ll turn into a ghost for a few seconds after you die. This can be by falling off the level, being on the receiving end of one of Bowser’s flamethrowers, or just accidentally grazing the side of a Goomba’s shoe. Rather than instantly being sent to an early grave, you’re given a short window of time to float around the level as a poltergeist and potentially reach another player or one of their placed standees, who can revive you just by making contact.
On top of saving you the time of being sent back to an earlier point, there’s another hidden perk: if you’re having trouble with a particular section, you can float past obstacles to another player who’s ahead of you, and skip the bit that’s giving you so much grief. Sure, go back and try again if you’d like, but if you’re just trying to get through a level so you can progress through the game, it’s nice to have another online player to help you cheese through it.
For those that want the challenge of getting through the level on your own, you can just “give up” as soon as you’re ghostifed and return to the previous checkpoint. But it’s still worth having other players around, because some secrets are only visible to certain characters. Throughout Super Mario Bros. Wonder, you’ll find blocks labeled for specific characters, with an M for Mario, an L for Luigi, and so on. These are only visible to the applicable character. You can still find them and their secrets as other heroes, but you’ll have to just stumble upon them by chance, jumping and butt-stomping empty space hoping you happen upon them. It works, but it’s not as effective as having others going through the level alongside you and showing you that an invisible item is hiding just beyond what you can see.
To activate online play, you’ll have to stop at one of the stations you’ll find in the overworld map, which are easily recognizable thanks to the satellite dish atop them. You can also turn online play off from these stations, should you decide to start playing alone again. Personally, I think playing through levels online is best for your first runthrough, as it will help familiarize you with a stage before you go back for a completionist run.
So don’t be antisocial. Saving the Flower Kingdom is a team effort.
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