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Nintendo’s $20 Switch 2 Upgrade for Super Mario Wonder Is Worth It for the Extras

Commentary: Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Bellabel Park DLC is here this week, but it’s more about lots of chaotic multiplayer minigames than new courses.

I want a new Super Mario Bros. Switch 2 game as much as anyone, but almost a year into the console’s first year, it hasn’t happened yet. Mario Kart? Mario Tennis? Mario Party? Yes. New Yoshi game? That’s happening soon, too. And now, we have the next closest thing: The wonderful 2023 Super Mario Bros. Wonder has a Switch 2 downloadable-content pack for $20 that’s, well, sort of a new Mario game, just a week before the Super Mario Galaxy movie arrives in theaters.

I’ve been playing it for the past week, and it’s worth the upgrade if you like multiplayer Mario. If not, well, you might consider it anyway.

The awkwardly named “Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park” is an add-on to Wonder, but it’s really just focused on building out a whole bunch of multiplayer party modes. The new course variants and minigame challenges, while welcome, require online multiplayer or local multiplayer play to work. For most of this new Switch 2 update, you can’t play offline on your own.

The multiplayer games cover dozens of challenges and themes — some turning everyone into bouncy balls, others making everyone rush to collect the most coins. You can throw up to four players locally on the Switch 2 at home or up to 12 players online at once, and it gets busy fast. I can see screaming breaking out with kids. 

I played an hour or so of multiplayer sessions, and it was fun. But I haven’t gotten to play with lots of others online yet other than that. Still, it does feel sort of like Mario Party Super Mario Style, as opposed to Super Mario Bros. game extensions.

The DLC does have some extras you can still enjoy on your own. Seven new miniboss stages have been added into the game, featuring all of the Koopalings to take on. They’re the extended universe of Mario enemies, and each of the levels has the miniboss use a strange new power to melt the world in clever ways.

A new Toad Brigade Training Camp mode also offers up dozens of little challenge stages to beat, all remixes of existing Wonder levels. Some involve surviving without touching enemies or coins; some you have to defeat all enemies or collect all coins before time runs out. They’re addictive and hard, and I’m glad for them existing.

Nintendo also tried to add some fun extras: Bellabel park has lots of flowers you can collect by watering plants with “Bellabel water” you collect by completing tasks. And you can decorate parts of the park. It’s sort of neither here nor there for me, though, because I come to Mario platformer games to play fun levels, not decorate gardens. Pokemon Pokopia is the place for that.

Rosalina and a Luma Star are extra characters you can play with, but Rosalina doesn’t do anything truly new and the Luma Star is a co-op option. There’s also a weird Flower power-up now that turns you into a walking flowerpot, throwing flowers upward to attack enemies or hit blocks. It was OK. It’s not my favorite new extra.

Maybe that’s what feels missing here: Wonder threw all sorts of wildcards out into the game, from new enemies to strange Wonder Seeds that transformed levels. Bellabel Park feels more like a multiplayer-focused remix than a bunch of new single-player whimsy. 

I like the multiplayer games on tap more than I liked the Switch 2 add-on for Mario Party Jamboree. They’re probably worth it if you’re a Switch 2 owner with a big family or lots of friends who want to play. 

And even though I appreciate the resolution boost to the graphics, the Switch 2 graphics upgrade is hard to spot since the game’s “older” graphics have a retro look that still looked great before the upgrade (to me, at least).

What I really want, of course, is a truly new Mario game. Who doesn’t? That’s not on the table yet. But maybe, just maybe, Wonder’s Switch 2 pack is a little appetizer before that news eventually comes. But as revamped Switch 2 game editions go, Wonder’s extras are the best yet and turn this game into a truly multiplayer-rich bunch of fun.

Technologies

Trump warns ‘we’re going to hit them hard’ after Iran targets U.S. forces in Jordan: Report

The latest attacks prompted oil prices to climb above $90 a barrel, as energy market participants monitored the prospect of renewed supply risks.

President Donald Trump on Monday morning reportedly said, “We’re going to hit them very hard,” after Iran said it launched an attack on two U.S. bases in Jordan in response to an American strike on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.

“There will be a response,” Trump said on a call to Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, according to Yingst.

The president also reportedly told Fox that U.S. air defense systems intercepted all but one of the missiles launched at the bases by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and that the remaining missile was allowed to pass through after it was determined that it would not strike anything significant.

The Guard said the U.S. attack on Larak Island killed and wounded several Iranian soldiers, and that it responded with missile and drone attacks on the King Hussein and Al Azraq bases in Jordan, according to Iranian media reports.

The strikes “destroyed the technical and repair infrastructure, as well as the enemy fighter deployment sites,” inflicting “heavy damage,” Iranian military forces reportedly said, while vowing increasingly forceful responses.

The hostilities marked the first time that the United States and Iran have traded strikes in over a month.

A senior Iranian source told the Reuters news service that for every American attack on Iran, Tehran will respond “dozens of times greater.”

“No target in the region is beyond Tehran’s reach,” the source told Reuters.

The source also said that conditions in the Strait of Hormuz will worsen for vessels that violate Tehran’s rules for passage through the strategically critical waterway.

American forces hit two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday after the U.S. military said Tehran’s Guard was preparing rockets carrying sea mines for launch into the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command confirmed to MS NOW.

“Earlier today U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, said in a statement to MS NOW.

“Last week, CENTCOM completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes. U.S. forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway,” he said.

Larak, a small Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, has become a key military and shipping control point for Tehran, used by the Guard to monitor vessel traffic through one of the world’s most important maritime routes.

Sunday’s attack was the first publicly acknowledged U.S. strike on Iranian positions since late July.

The back-and-forth strikes come as the U.S. Defense Department on Monday announced that it had reached seven-year procurement contracts with General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin to increase production quantities and speed up delivery schedules for “critical subcomponents” for systems used to intercept ballistic missiles.

The systems are Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement.

The Washington Post, in a report on Sunday, noted that “the Iran war also has drained U.S. supplies of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors — vital not only to the protection of American assets in the Middle East but to regional allies as well — and long-range Tomahawk missiles.”

“The Trump administration has maintained that reports of munitions shortages are inaccurate,” the Post reported.

The war has dragged on for six months and sharply disrupted vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy shipments.

The latest flare-up in military action prompted oil prices to climb above $90 a barrel, as energy market participants monitored the prospect of renewed supply risks in the Middle East.

International benchmark Brent crude

Trump on Monday extended his military threats against Iran to Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export terminal.

Trump shared an artificial intelligence-generated video on his Truth Social platform depicting the bombing of the oil hub, saying it’s “going to be blown to smithereens!”

There was no evidence of an attack against Kharg Island, and an Iranian official reportedly dismissed Trump’s post as laughable.

On Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a supertanker had caught fire and was left disabled in the southern Strait of Hormuz after striking two naval mines, saying they were not complying with Iran’s rules for passage, according to Iranian media reports. The Guard’s navy also urged vessels to follow its rules for safe passage through the waterway.

Separately, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the U.S. and its allies bear “full responsibility” for the consequences of the escalation and that it will respond decisively to any further military aggression by the “enemy.”

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Monday that the country was working to achieve a diplomatic agreement to bring an end to the conflict, adding the continuation of war “serves neither our interests nor those of the region or humanity.”

Speaking alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyrgyzstan, Pezeshkian said Monday that the U.S. side “has not fulfilled its commitments,” state media reported.

The U.S. Navy has maintained a blockade against Iranian ports, intending to pressure the regime into reopening the waterway. Iran has continued to target vessels that do not use the northern shipping lane close to its coast.

Another tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting inbound in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, using the southern lane along the Omani coast, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre. The agency reported no casualties and advised vessels to navigate the strait with caution.

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Technologies

Brent Crude Breaches $90 As U.S.-Iran Hostilities Resume

Oil prices soared to $90.34 per barrel after U.S. forces attacked Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, reigniting tensions between Washington and Tehran.

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Technologies

Brent Crude Surges Beyond $90 Following U.S. Strike on Iranian Launchers

Oil prices surged past $90 after U.S. forces targeted Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, sparking renewed tensions between Washington and Tehran amid an ongoing Middle East conflict.

International crude oil prices surged on Monday following U.S. forces targeting two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, signaling a resumption of hostilities between Washington and Tehran.

Brent crude futures for September delivery rose 3.3% to $90.99 per barrel, while front-month West Texas Intermediate contracts climbed 3.6% to $86.36.

“Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, stated that U.S. forces had indeed struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island earlier that day, noting that IRGC forces appeared preparing to fire rockets equipped with sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz.”

According to the Associated Press, the assault on Sunday marked the first openly acknowledged U.S. operation against Iranian positions since late July.

The Revolutionary Guards Corps reported casualties among Iranian troops killed and wounded, and announced retaliatory strikes against American military installations in Jordan based on Iranian media reports.

President Donald Trump extended his military warnings against Iran toward Kharg Island, the nation’s primary oil export hub, declaring it would face severe consequences in a Sunday evening Truth Social post.

Vessel movement across the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for global energy shipments, has suffered significant disruption due to the ongoing Middle East conflict now entering its sixth month.

“Supply risk will persist and oil inventories will continue to deplete in the coming weeks and months,” said Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil Associates, adding that “the Iranian crisis has likely altered the security landscape in the Middle East.”

Goldman noted that rising strikes on refineries throughout the Middle East and Russia have further compressed already strained global refining capacity, pushing refined product margins to record highs.

—Verum’s Anniek Bao contributed to the report.

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