As usual I was wrong about one prediction, which is that this Direct did NOT end with that "message from Miyamoto and Martinet" like I thought, but to be fair now I'm wondering why I assumed it'd be part of a Direct specifically about marketing a game towards customers, it makes more sense Martinet deserves a standalone video on Nintendo's YouTube.
The Direct was pretty good, got pretty much all the information I was looking for.
-Mario, Luigi, the Toads, Peach, Daisy, and Toadette will all play the same
-The Yoshis and Nabbit will be the "easy mode" characters as they won't die from normal enemy hits, spikes, or lava, but will still die from bottomless pits
-When playing local co-op, if one player is a Yoshi then another character can ride them, even other Yoshis, and the ride ability isn't restricted by powerups
-Everyone who's not a Yoshi or Nabbit will have an elephant form
-7 total worlds, though I assume it'll likely have a bonus world like most Mario games do.
-The talking flowers found in the stages can either act as hints towards secrets or can help the player if the player helps them first (like giving a flower water in a lava level)
-Bubble power up, lets you shoot bubbles that can encase enemies and also use the bubbles as platforms, can go through the environment so can be useful against enemies waiting for a player to jump above a pit
-Drill powerup is basically a proper powerup version of the Spin Drill from Mario Galaxy 2, can be used on both the ground and ceilings
-Wonder flowers can change the environment and gameplay in drastic ways, such as turning the player into a defenseless goomba, messing with gravity, or changing controls like making it so you control your character as if the game was suddenly a top-down game akin to 2D Zelda
-Game is also a collectathon as Wonder Seeds are necessary for being able to open stages that lead to progression. You'll always get one seed for simply finishing a stage, while the other seed in a level is tied to that level's Wonder Flower gimmick
-Some stages can be completed in any order the player feels like, namely stages found in "open zone" areas of the world map (other parts of the world map follow a linear line like Mario 3)
-Lots of old and brand new enemies to see, like an enemy called "hoppycat" which will jump when the player does.
-The game brings in the Badge system from the older Paper Mario games, surprisingly, with the main thing with the badges being you can only equip one at a time, but they all alter gameplay in some fashion. Like one can change the wall kick ability to be more of a wall climb, another brings back the charged crouch jump from Super Mario Bros. 2, and another gives you a "dolphin kick" to make moving through water levels faster. Others seem to be badges that act more as self imposed challenges, like an invisibility badge that makes it so that not only can enemies not see the player, but the player can't see their character, adding a new level of trickiness to platforming, and another makes your character auto run at top speed constantly so player control is limited. Some might also act as "semi easy mode" helpers like a badge with allows the player to touch lava once without dying.
-Online functionality with friends is mainly competitive rather than co-operative like racing your friends to the end of stages. Online with non-friend players is rather interesting as, and I'm not joking when I say this, it 100% reminds me of friggin' Dark Souls of all things. You'll see ghosts of other players on the world map and playing levels, and if you die when connected online you'll turn into a timed ghost who can be revived if you touch another player's ghost. Players can also leave sign posts to assist other players if they want, and said help will be tracked as "helpfulness points." This truly is the Dark Souls of Mario games, lol.
