Super Mario Bros. Wonder will seemingly allow players to mute the strange new Talking Flowers characters, which is good news for those of us who don’t want to think about what Goombas taste like.
Ever since Super Mario Bros. Wonder was first revealed, it’s been made clear by Nintendo that it’s not like any other 2D Mario game. From its more colourful visuals to its trippy Wonder Seeds that change levels up considerably when collected, Wonder is already shaping up to be one of the most distinct Mario games of all time. As strange as Elephant Mario is, though, there’s one new feature that stands out as the weirdest of them all.
I’m of course referencing the Talking Flowers that were first shown off in Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s reveal trailer, before being detailed further in a dedicated Direct for the game. Although it seems that Nintendo added the chatty plants to liven up the world, reactions to them have been pretty mixed, with some finding them charming and others thinking that they’re flat-out annoying.
For a series that typically strays away from dialogue as much as it can, these chatty little plants stick out like a sore thumb, especially when they’re saying things like “I wonder what Goombas taste like” and “That trunk sure is useful, huh?”, which has made them a pretty divisive topic among Mario fans.
If, like me, you find them to be a little much for a Mario game then don’t worry, as it seems that Wonder includes an option to mute the Talking Flowers altogether. As reported by Nintendo Everything, a screenshot featured on Nintendo’s Japanese website gives us a glimpse at some of Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s settings. Within these settings are two options for the Talking Flowers, with one letting you choose the language that they speak in and another seemingly turning off their speech altogether.
If you’re hoping to outright remove the Talking Flowers from the game, then it looks like you might be out of luck as the option seems to simply remove their voice lines. It seems that, even if you choose to turn them off in the settings, they’ll still be featured in levels and making comments towards Mario, just without any spoken dialogue.
So far, it’s not been made entirely clear by Nintendo what the purpose of the Talking Flowers actually is, beyond making jokes and commenting on what’s going on around them. A recent tweet from Nintendo of America even seems to acknowledge this, saying, “You’ll find Talking Flowers all over the Flower Kingdom. They talk a lot, but we promise they’ve got helpful info to share…most of the time”.
