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  "description": "You'll need pals to make the most of this otherwise stellar upgrade.",
  "path": "/reviews/super-mario-bros-wonder-nintendo-switch-2-edition-meetup-in-bellabel-park-review/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-12T00:43:08.000Z",
  "site": "https://gamingtrend.com",
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    "Review Guidelines"
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  "textContent": "_Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park_ is certainly a mouthful, ain’t it? There’s a whole essay in questioning the verbose branding for Switch 2 upgrades (talk about redundancy with the recent _Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition),_ but for brevity’s sake, we’ll just have a light chuckle and simply refer to this update as _Bellabel Park_ , shall we?\n\nA fitting abridgment, considering _Bellabel Park_ ’s where Mario and friends have their latest adventure. Tucked into a forgotten nook of _Super Mario Bros. Wonder_ ’s Flower Kingdom, these ancient ruins were once host to a grand amusement park—this expansion’s springboard for a multiplayer package complete with single-player challenges. With Rosalina tossed in as a playable character, the new Flower Suit coming packed movement options and projectiles, and the return of the nefarious Koopalings, more platforming wonders ensue.\n\nWonders, I should add, that arrive with a hefty $20 price tag. _Bellabel Park_ ’s announcement had players questioning its multiplayer emphasis, given _Wonder_ ’s more passive direction compared to _New Super Mario Bros. Wii_ and _U_ ’s anarchic hijinks. While _Bellabel Park_ certainly beefs up the overall package with grueling challenges and splendid multiplayer, it comes with the caveat of requiring additional players for its star attraction in the latter—a make-or-break deal for anyone interested in revisiting Mario’s zaniest adventure.\n\nThe titular Bellabel Park is divided into two sections: the challenge-based Camp Central and the mini-game carnivals of Attraction Central. The former’s where the game’s new story unfolds, wherein you assist the not-so-intrepid Captain Toad and his motley crew in recovering the Bellabel Flowers from the Koopalings. As you’re assigned missions in the vein of _New Super Mario Bros. U_ , you’ll tackle repurposed base game levels that represent a broad spectrum of difficulty, aimed at everybody from fledgling players to the decades-old veterans from NES yore.\n\nFor instance, collecting coins is nothing new in the _Mario_ -verse—child’s play for us experts, really—but when they’re wreathed in flame and induce instant-death upon contact, it’s a whole different story. Picking up from where _Wonder_ ’s inspired Wonder effects left off, _Bellabel Park_ turns our _Mario_ muscle-memory inside out as it gleefully reconstructs side-scrolling conventions we’d taken for granted, challenging even the most grizzled _Mario_ veteran with its relentless creativity.\n\nNaturally, _Wonder_ ’s power-granting Badges are fair game in the grounds of _Bellabel Park_. Like the original game, they allow players to bend these missions’ difficulty however they wish, be it Floating High Jump giving an extra spring to your step or Jet Run providing deadly speed runs. Of course, that’s supposing whenever the missions don’t already force badges upon you: with the new Dual Badges combining familiar powers (Invisibility + Spring Jump? Save me!), _Bellabel Park_ isn’t afraid to put the training wheels away for certain challenges, forcing players to grit their teeth and relish in hard-won victory. While _Bellabel Park_ still provides ample room for accommodations, if you thought _Wonder_ was too easy, you can continue concocting all sorts of self-imposed challenges in its Badge lab.\n\nOf course, the challenges introduce new content for returning players to chew on. The adorable Flower Suit adorns _Wonder_ ’s roster with fluttery jumps and flowery projectiles, gracing the Flower Kingdom with combos galore in both Camp Central and the main campaign. (Actually, given _Wonder_ ’s flower motif, why _wasn’t_ there a Flower Suit before? Hmm.) Meanwhile, those colorful Koopalings steal the show with their Wonder transformations, easily surpassing _Wonder_ ’s tired “smack Bowser Jr. three times” shtick with both creativity and variety to match. Naturally, _Bellabel Park_ seizes the opportunity to the ante with _three_ separate versions of each fight, right down to one-hit challenges not meant for the faint of heart. (Supposing you don’t equip any badges, anyway; all that’s at stake is your gaming cred, and what’s that worth at the end of the day?)\n\nTopped off with currency in Bellabel Water, and the expansion offers a constant reward loop to keep players engaged. Granted, it’s not like you really _need_ to spend all that water on decorative flowers, emojis, and instruments—they’re really no different than scoring cosmetics for any of the countless town-building apps on your phone, albeit without the problematic gacha micropayments. But dopamine hits are dopamine hits, and _Bellabel Park_ subtly peppers visual progress to goad us along; for instance, the more instruments you earn, the more Poplin band members march around the park—a sight as adorable as the Poplin language filling the air and Toads breakdancing on the park grounds. The personalized Bellabel Park charms as much as it challenges.\n\nI only wish I could give the Attraction Center the same unanimous praise—and what’s especially frustrating is that _Bellabel Park_ comes _this_ close to providing a compelling multiplayer package. Divided between local and wireless/online play, the host of games all vary from cooperative play (raise the lift by matching each other’s jumping rhythm!) to competitive match-ups (Electrocute the heck outta each other!) I predict the latter will be fan-favorites, what with them channeling the mischievous anarchy players might have missed from the _New Super Mario Bros._ games.\n\nThing is, I walked into _Bellabel Park_ ’s mini-games expecting one-and-dones—satisfactory diversions, but nothing more—only to be pleasantly surprised with how every last one was supplemented with stages of all sorts. Mostly repurposed again from the main game, yes, but that’s _more_ than enough variation to provide some serious staying power. Paired with the same wacky creativity _Wonder_ so commonly provides in roller skate racing, deadly games of Phanto tag, and Donut Block pathmaking, and _Bellabel Park_ is primed as a multiplayer mainstay.\n\nAnd how does it kneecap itself, you ask? By rendering the mini-games _strictly_ multiplayer affairs. Don’t have anyone nearby to play with or any online friends who own the upgrade? Tough, you’re only offered to “check things out”; as in, sulk around the Attraction Central and wistfully observe mini-games I can only play maybe once or twice a year. Oh, and enjoy the scraps that occasionally leak into the Camp Central challenges, I guess. Would it have been that hard to include online matchmaking, or even just CPUs?\n\nThis isn’t the first time Nintendo’s gated off multiplayer ventures with this annoying caveat— _Pikmin 3_ ’s Bingo Battle still stings to this day—and I’m left to reflect on the missed opportunity here. _Wonder_ ’s online has a beautiful passivity with its “ghost” system wherein players don’t directly interact, yet still participate in a thriving, populous environment via Search Party puzzle-solving and life-saving Standee assists. A clever concept, but not one that worked for everybody—leaving ample room for more active multiplayer shenanigans to let _Wonder_ provide more bang for its buck.\n\nBut that’s not the case, and instead, users are left to ponder paying $20 to potentially enjoy only half a package. It’s not that _Bellabel Park_ doesn’t provide some fantastic value in its challenging missions, upgraded visuals, or the Assist Mode accommodations for youngin’s (no deaths), but it’s hard to measure that value in full when _Bellabel Park_ gates off its attractions with the requirement of “you need this many players to ride”.\n\n\n    Review Guidelines\n  \n\n80\n\n### Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park\n\n#### Great\n\nMake no mistake: Bellabel Park is a quality Super Mario Bros. Wonder expansion that’ll squeeze out some fantastic fun, but unnecessarily kneecaps itself with its star attraction. Whether you should cough up $20 to pay depends on your personal mileage.\n\n* * *\n\n##### Pros\n\n  * Captain Toad’s challenges are some of Mario’s hardest.\n  * Koopaling boss fights! Rosalina! Flower Suit!\n  * The new multiplayer games are great!\n\n\n\n##### Cons\n\n  * …supposing you have friends and/or family to play them with.\n  * $20 is a steep price for solo players.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\nThis review is based on a retail Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by the publisher.",
  "title": "Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park Review",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-12T01:15:44.523Z"
}