Super Mario Bros. Wonder local multiplayer initially had collision

Nintendo has shared a little nugget of information about Super Mario Bros. Wonder‘s development, revealing that the game initially included player collision in local multiplayer, though it was ultimately taken out.

This is a small but notable change from the New Super Mario Bros. series. Previously, collision meant being able to do certain things like jumping off another player’s head while playing with friends. However, it could also make things quite chaotic – something that Nintendo seemed to take notice of. Now you won’t touch or bump into other players.

Director Shiro Mouri shared the following with Rolling Stone about removing player collision from Super Mario Bros. Wonder during development:

“When we took the leap of faith and removed collision, we realized that it removes a lot of the stress. For example, when you have a narrow platform that you to jump to, when somebody is there they just get in the way.”

It’ll still be possible to interact with players directly in a couple of ways in co-op. First, you can save a friend who’s been defeated by reaching their ghost form before time runs out. Also, if someone is playing as a Yoshi, you can jump on their back and ride them.

Do you think removing collision is the right move? Let us know in the comments below.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches for Switch on October 20, 2023.