Super Mario Bros Wonder already has a demo out. But it’s not available on the Switch eShop.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, demos have already spotted out in the wild. And by out in the wild, I mean Nintendo have placed in-store kiosks across different retail outlets around America.
The pictures of the kiosk show that players can see the Switch inside its dock. There is also a readily available Swith Pro controller ready for players who want to try the demo out, as well as a pair of Joy-Cons on the other side. All of these controllers are tethered to the display. We don’t know for now when Nintendo will put up a demo on the Nintendo eShop, or even if they plan to do so.
Of course, placing demos in retail stores is a strong strategy. It’s designed to get visibility for this new Mario game with people who aren’t gamers, or more likely, are lapsed gamers. Some of those gamers may have fond memories of growing up with Mario games, and their interest could have been reactivated by the incredibly successful release of the Super Mario Bros Movie earlier this year.
While the Super Mario Bros Movie has been overtaken by The Barbie Movie as the highest grossing film of the year, it still stands as overwhelmingly the most successful game made by Illumination. Both movies are also overwhelmingly ahead of everything else in the industry that released this year.
If there could be a reason for Nintendo to publish a demo for Super Mario Bros Wonder on the eShop, it would be to encourage the fans to try out its multiplayer features. So maybe has plans to release a demo in such a way that people would contact their friends to get them to download the demo and play together.
Super Mario Bros Wonder is also the initial salvo in a series of Mario franchise video games to release after the Super Mario Bros Movie. As such, Nintendo is clearly pretty confident of their first 2D Mario in years, that they would have launched it first. But then, there is a real timeless appeal to 2D Mario games that sustained it during the New Super Mario Bros era, and will also define this upcoming new generation of 2D Mario platformers.
Super Mario Bros Wonder will be released on October 20, 2023, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
