With how much more surreal this entry in an already memetic franchise is, it should be no surprise that the internet took many things from this game and ran with them.
Please add entries in the following format:
- The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ExplanationLike this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
- Daisy and the Ferocious BeastExplanationIn the days just before the game's reveal in the June 2023 Nintendo Direct, rumors began circulating about a new 2D Mario being shown, with the only details given being that it'll have Princess Daisy and involve elephants. After these details turned out to be true, the idea of a Genki Girl and a gigantic, heroic animal in the same game led to comparisons
◊ between the two and the titular characters from Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. - "Well then."ExplanationThe last words of the trailer has a Talking Flower remark this after Elephant Mario knocks a Goomba into the sky. It's become a popular comment to make over the surrealness of the game itself.
- "Welcome to the Flower Kingdom!"/NOT THIS GUY AGAIN!ExplanationFans took notice of the title for the starting level, and even more noticed the green Wiggler wearing a crown traveling alongside Mario and co. Fans were quick to remember Kibidango/Prince Haru from The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach!, who was turned into a caterpillar-like dog by Bowser, presides over the Flower Kingdom, and is revealed at the end to be Peach's fiancé. Due to that last fact in particular robbing Mario of a happy ending at the last possible minute, Haru has garnered quite the negative reception, leading many to dread the possibility of history repeating itself and declaring Haru as the game's real villain. The prince's name later turned out to be Florian, and is naturally a Wiggler as opposed to being transformed into one, meaning that romance between the two is unlikely.
- "Heeeeey!" "Hiiiii!"ExplanationThere's a moment in the June 2023 trailer in which Mario passes one Talking Flower while entering a pipe and encounters a second one at the exit of said pipe. Fans have taken to editing the pipe exit with things such as the Dud from The Simpsons, Flowey from Undertale, or a Five Nights at Freddy's Jump Scare.
- Naturally, the Elephant power-up has spawned several memes:
- "Wowie zowie!"ExplanationThe playable cast's exclamations when grabbing the Elephant Fruit often get used to describe the game's weirdness, similarly to "Well then" above.
- Republican MarioExplanationAfter the reveal of Mario's elephant form, fans joked that Mario had come out as a supporter of the US Republican Party, whose mascot is a red and blue elephant. It also helps that one of his rivals in the broader Mario universe is Donkey Kong, whose own name derives from the animal used as the mascot for the Democratic Party.
- Mario is a furry.ExplanationMario has often been called a furry by fans prior to this game, due to several of the power-ups being animal suits. Upon the reveal that the elephant power-up turns him into an elephant rather than giving him a new suit, people began joking that Mario's fursona is an elephant.
- Mario Hears a Who!Explanation Also following the reveal of Elephant Mario, fans have noticed the comparison between Mario's form and the titular character of Horton Hears a Who!
- The unspeakable consequences of the princesses touching the elephant power-up.ExplanationPredictably, the elephant power-up became Popular with Furries with terrifying speed. Consequently, many people who remembered Bowsette's explosion in popularity several years prior joked about the princesses touching the power-up as if it were Sealed Evil in a Can, alluding to how badly the internet, particularly its raunchier side, would be broken by the designs. Come August 31st, and not only was Elephant Peach revealed, but also Elephant Daisy and Elephant Toadette.
- "Inflation is now canon to Mario."ExplanationThe August 31st Direct, which revealed the Elephant power-up would be used by the Princesses, also revealed that one of the Wonder Flower's effects would cause Mario and the gang to swell up like balloons just like the P-Balloon item from Super Mario World, including Peach, Daisy, and Toadette, the former two being notoriously common in the inflation community for decades. Naturally, inflation fanart of the Princesses and Toadette quickly blew up upon the effect being revealed, with many hoping that Rosalina (another popular character in the inflation community, who's also gotten just as much fanart herself despite not being playable) becomes playable to complete the trio if the game gets DLC.
- Elephant Mario riding Yoshi/Yoshi's poor backExplanationThe shot of Elephant Mario riding Yoshi immediately spawned many jokes about his back, ranging from experiencing back pain to even having his spine crushed by Elephant Mario's weight. Yoshi's visible discomfort also led to jokes about him not wanting Mario to ride him anymore.
- Elephant YoshiExplanationUpon the game's reveal, people began worrying (somewhat jokingly, though) about Yoshi being playable in the same game as the Elephant power-up, fearing Yoshi's Elephant form would look disturbing due to Yoshi already being an animal. That said, these jokes became dated as of the August Direct, where it was revealed that Yoshi can't use power-ups.
- Dendy MarioExplanationThe most popular Famiclone in the post-Soviet states was the Dendy, whose mascot was a gray elephant wearing a blue baseball cap, a red shirt, and yellow overalls. Since Elephant Mario coincidentally bore similarities to this mascot's design, and since Nintendo is notorious for overlooking foreign bootlegs despite cracking down on fan works in the west (mainly due to differences in copyright law between countries), many people began jokingly treating the power-up as a tribute to the system.
- Goomba Blue Toad/You didn't watch The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!ExplanationThe game's key artwork features a Goomba with a Blue Toad cap. Since Blue Toad wasn't showcased in the June 2023 reveal trailer, an (already memetic) advertisement for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in which Captain Lou Albano claims that if you don't watch the show, you're gonna turn into a Goomba sprung to mind, and many began jokingly using this as an explanation for the discrepancy. Come the August 2023 Direct, and it's revealed that a Wonder Flower's effect turns all of the playable cast into Goombas, leading to further jokes such as Mario himself not watching the show.
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder why [X]ExplanationIn a similar vein to the 'Sonic Forces you to do [X]' meme, people have taken the game's title, and incorporated it into a sentence to make it look like the Super Mario Bros. are wondering something.
- Ugly YoshiExplanationAfter Yoshi's gameplay was revealed in the August direct, people noted that while Yoshi is carrying an enemy in his mouth, his mouth overlaps his nose, making him look extremely ugly. This caused people to joke online about his "ugliness".
- Hot Yoshi-on-Yoshi ActionExplanationWhen it was revealed that a Yoshi is able to ride atop another Yoshi, fans immediately took to making it come across as kinky, going so far as to borrow Pokémon's Fanspeak for bizarre, yet compatible pairings to describe the phenomenon.
- Wonder is a strand-type game.ExplanationThe announcement of a mechanic that allows players to leave behind Standees to help other online players and which can be given "likes", similar to one of Death Stranding's most prominent mechanics, led to many jokes about the otherwise extremely dissimilar games technically belonging to the same genre.
- The Official Mario MMOExplanationThe announcement that the game's live player shadows system allowed for a humongous amount of players to play simultaneously caused many to joke that this meant that Wonder is the first official Mario MMO.
- Yoshi StackExplanationUpon the reveal that a Yoshi can ride another Yoshi, people began joking that this meant that it's possible for a Yoshi to ride a Yoshi riding a Yoshi riding a Yoshi et cetera. Come the final release, and this is unfortunately not possible to do in gameplay.
- Spider-MarioExplanationUpon the reveal of the grappling hook vine badge, people began joking about Mario being Spider-Man. It helps that Wonder was released on the exact same day as Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Bowser: "Joke's on you, I'm into that shit!"ExplanationAn official promotional short has Bowser offering Peach a flower, only for an Elephant Fruit to come by which Peach takes to turn into Elephant Peach. Bowser is briefly shocked, but puts the flower away to instead show her a bouquet. Cue jokes about Bowser being into chubby/thicc women and having a body-positive attitude, especially images/gifs of Skeletor saying "Joke's on you, I'm into that shit!"
- Bowser ripping oneExplanationAn uncommon one, but a handful of YouTube streamers who played the game have considered Castle Bowser summoning his Giant Piranha Plants, creating the Fog of Doom that corrupts the environment or charging up his Big Wonder to be him having a SERIOUS gas problem.
- The Trans Mario GameExplanationDue to the logo of Wonder having similar colors to that of the trans flag, many LGBTQ+ fans started jokingly calling this game to be about/featuring trans people. It helps that Daisy's voice actor in this game is nonbinary.
- Drill Peach/Daisy/Toadette (That's the idea!)ExplanationThe name of the forms granted by the Drill Mushroom has commonly resulted in people joking about the Accidental Innuendo with the female characters.
- Realistic death voice clipsExplanationFor some reason, after the game's release, it became popular on YouTube to post gameplay footage of the game with the Player Character dying at the end, except that the death voice clips have been replaced with realistic screaming.
- "You might notice some talking flowers..."ExplanationA clip from the official Wonder overview that introduces Talking Flowers, which was rife for all sorts of edits for what the Talking Flower had to say.
- "WAHOO!!! THE LEAPING SMACKEREL! LET'S DO THIS! LET'S GOOOO!!!"ExplanationA let's play by YouTube channel Game on Ghost that garnered attention after being reposted on Twitter for their hilariously enthusiastic commentary, screaming said quote upon beginning the stage.
- "Love that smell!"ExplanationA corruption/mishearing of the Talking Flowers' quote "Love that sound!" People began attributing it to the Flowers once their status as a Memetic Psychopath developed into that of a Nightmare Fetishist.
