Another big Nintendo Switch exclusive has leaked way ahead of schedule. With early copies of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the handheld hybrid console’s big holiday 2023 release, already making the rounds online, modders have taken it upon themselves to make the new talking Talking Flowers in the game curse Mario off.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn’t officially out until October 20, but like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before it, physical copies appear to have made their way into the wild late last week, at which point it was only a matter of time before the ROM got dumped online. While Nintendo is no doubt worried about piracy, fans have been trying to avoid spoilers for the first new 2D Mario platformer since 2012’s New Super Mario Bros. U.
Emulation enthusiasts and modders, on the other hand, are already finding ways to improve or alter the game. DSOGaming reports that Super Mario Bros. Wonder already runs in 4K at 60fps on PC, while clips circulating on social media show the game’s serene, trippy levels defiled by foul language. As previously revealed in trailers and gameplay videos, Super Mario Bros. Wonder revolves around a new Wonder Flower power-up that turns levels into Yellow Submarine-like psychedelic sequences. It also features Talking Flowers that shout at Mario and his friends as they walk by.
Normally they say inoffensive things like, “Heya!” and, “Onward and upward!” But a recent update to the Switch toolbox mod kit has seemingly made it easier than ever to edit the onscreen text. Insert a new audio file or two and you end up with a very different version of the game than Nintendo intended.
Modder ContendoYT shared a clip on Twitter showing the Talking Flower saying “Fuck you!” as Mario ran by. User AndratVA shared another where the plant shouts, “That Goomba looks so fucking serene!” But my favorite clip doesn’t involve any F-bombs at all; it simply shows the Talking Flower gloating before dropping into a pit of lava and screaming.
“The [Talking Flowers] are scripted to talk as you approach,” AndratVA, maker of the Mario Kart 64HD texture pack, told Kotaku in a Twitter DM. “Their text and voices are all stored in the files, so changing them is easy if you have the proper tools.” Instead of just editing the text, they went the extra mile of recording their own voice-over lines. Nintendo fans are a special breed.
Of course, modded versions of Wonder can only be played on hacked Switches or PC (which also involves hacking a Switch). The overwhelming majority of actual players will only be able to experience the game as the original creators intended. Even Nintendo recognized the Talking Flowers might get annoying after a while, however: The game has options in the settings menu to mute the plants entirely.
I’d like to predict that Nintendo might eventually add official voice and script editing for the Talking Flower into an inevitable Super Mario Maker 3, but I think we all know that would be a moderation nightmare. The existing list of banned words on Switch continues to grow with every big firmware update.
