Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s DLC could be the Switch 2’s best party game yet

Chaos reigns in Bellabel Park

Ever since Super Mario Bros. Wonder launched in 2023, I’ve been dying to see how Nintendo would follow up one of its most inventive platformers. Surely there were enough unused Wonder Effects in the tank to give us a generational sequel akin to Super Mario Galaxy 2? Or at least a great DLC. Nothing I imagined comes close to Nintendo's actual plan for Wonder’s big Switch 2 add-on: a new Mario Party, minus the board game.

Ahead of its March 26 release date, Polygon went hands-on with Super Mario Bros. Wonder — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park. (Try saying that three times fast!) While I went in expecting to play through some more platforming levels with wacky twists, I was surprised to discover a robust minigame collection built with multiplayer mayhem in mind. Even if that’s bound to leave some Wonder fans scratching their heads, it’s yet another tantalizing tease of what a full-scale Nintendo party game could look like on Switch 2.

Meetup in Bellabel Park adds a new location to the Flower Kingdom (the titular Bellabel Park), which is made up of a few areas. The demo sent me and three other players to Attraction Central: a sort of overworld amusement park dotted with carnival booths. Each one holds a minigame, containing multiple variations of that game with different difficulty levels. It’s less like Super Mario Bros. Wonder and more like Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour — especially considering that some of the minigames show off some of the Switch 2’s unique features.

Some of those minigames I tried put a slight twist on Wonder’s standard 2D platforming. One cooperative game took the form of a relay race, where players passed a bomb back and forth while making it to the end of a level. That led to some good “yell at your friends” chaos when a teammate accidentally tossed a bomb on a moving platform instead of to me, forcing me to scramble for it before it exploded. A competitive game simply had us fighting to collect as many coins as possible, all while playing Red Light, Green Light with a Boo. I won that by tailing a player who kept screwing up, nabbing the coins that popped out when Boo spotted him. A similar game had us scrambling to see who could feed the most apples to Baby Yoshi. None of those are particularly inventive, but they still have some hectic fun going for them.

Other minigames would feel right at home in Mario Party. In one battle game, we were given lightning rods and dropped in an arena made up of columns that would rise and fall. To win, I had to throw rods at my opponent to electrify them and become the last man standing — a feat I pulled off by gaining the higher ground on a raised column. We also competed in a few short races. One had us flying through the air with a propeller and dodging enemies, while another turned us into balls and had us bouncing towards a goal. Again, nothing new here, but enjoyable party fodder nonetheless.

It’s no surprise that the best minigame I tried was the most experimental one. One co-op game tasks players with getting to the end of a level that has very few platforms. The other players have to create those platforms by using the Joy-Cons’ mouse controls to draw paths of falling donut blocks. The level I tried even had some puzzling to it: Those using mouse controls had to guide spike balls toward boxes, breaking them to clear a path forward. Total communication chaos ensued, of course, as the panicked runners pleaded with the mousers to draw platforms for them.

If Meetup in Bellabel Park has more unique games like that in the final package, it could be the Switch 2’s best party option to date... but I also hope it’s the last tease we get in the system’s launch year. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Jamboree TV, and Meetup in Bellabel Park all serve similar purposes: They show what kind of play is possible with Switch 2 and leave you excited to see what Nintendo can do in a full Mario Party or WarioWare game. The novelty factor that currently makes add-ons like this fun to toy around with is bound to wear off before the console’s one-year anniversary. If mouse controls are going to be more than a bonus gimmick, we’re going to need some more substantial games that make use of the feature soon.

Until then, Meetup in Bellabel Park seems like it will be a clever enough transformation for Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I can’t imagine that it will be too appealing for people who only experienced that game solo, but the Switch 2 add-on does a lot to make it more robust for families looking for new ways to enjoy one of Nintendo’s most playful games. Hopefully it's just one final prelude to the main attraction.