Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup in Bellabel Park review for Nintendo Switch 2

As I noted back in the fall, a lot of the “Switch 2 editions” that Nintendo has been putting out since the console’s release haven’t exactly been must-have upgrades. While the base games themselves have all been classics, for the most part it’s been hard to see the value added by what amounts to new DLC. We’ve had the odd game where the upgrade is totally worth it, but others where you’re just getting basic quality of life upgrades.

The obvious question, then, for Super Mario Bros. Wonder is: where does Meetup in Bellabel Park fit in? Is it an upgrade you need to play even if you’ve already explored every inch of the Flower Kingdom, or is it a skippable attempt to grab people who missed out on the game the first time around?

The answer lies somewhere in the middle. It’s got some interesting new features, but nothing that makes the game even better. Though seeing as Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the best 2D Mario games ever, the phrase “gilding the lily” seems fairly appropriate.

There are a few problems with Meetup in Bellabel Park. The first, and most obvious, is that it hardly seems worth it if you’re just looking for single-player content. It has some of that, but nothing that feels essential the way that Super Mario Bros. Wonder did. You get nicer-looking visuals and a few more playable characters, but neither of those things feel like they’re worth the money to upgrade. The Toad Brigade Training Camp is a little more interesting, with Captain Toad offering a few challenges – along the lines of grab X coins, or defeat X enemies – that are based on the core game, but they don’t add all that much.

The other problem with Meetup in Bellabel Park is that the multiplayer content also doesn’t feel very essential – or, at least it doesn’t in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Assuming you’ve got some friends (either nearby or with whom you’ve exchanged friend codes), the new DLC opens up Attraction Central, which is essentially a collection of minigames. They, too, are based on mostly based on what you’ll find in Super Mario Bros. Wonder…but, at the same time, they don’t feel like they belong in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Rather, Attraction Central feels like a pared-down, more frantic version of Mario Party. You can do things like run around the screen grabbing coins, try to knock your friends off the screen, or grab fruit with your own Yoshi. It’s fun in small doses – though, as I played it with a friend and his kids, I got the best summary of Attraction Central possible from one of the friend’s sons, who said something along the lines of, “Why would I want to play this when we could just play Mario Party instead?”

(In this respect, it’s kind of ironic that the actual Switch 2 DLC for Super Mario Party Jamboree, Jamboree TV, was was pretty mediocre. If Jamboree had gotten Meetup in Bellabel Park for its Switch 2 edition, it would’ve made that game even more must-play than it already was.)

In other words, it’s hard to say that Meetup in Bellabel Park makes Super Mario Bros. Wonder any better than it already was. To be sure, “what it already was” is a must-play game, so if you missed out on it a few years ago, now is definitely the time to play it again – but unless you really like moderately enjoyable minigames, you can stick with the base game and get the most important experience.

Nintendo provided us with a Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup in Bellabel Park Nintendo Switch 2 code for review purposes.