When Super Mario Bros. Wonder was revealed at the most recent Nintendo Direct, the one thing everyone was interested in was Elephant Mario. After eating an elephant shaped fruit, Mario transforms into an elephant. In the short gameplay footage we've seen, there's no suggestion as to what Elephant Mario's powers might be, but we can assume it's something to do with increased size or extra strength. We can also assume that other characters turn into elephants too, since we can play as Luigi, Toad, Peach, and for the first time in a mainline Mario game, Daisy. Except, is that assumption really correct?
There are a lot of reasons to expect this to be the case. Firstly, unlike in Mario Kart or the various sport games, characters are mostly mechanically identical in mainline Mario games. If Mario is becoming an elephant, that can't be unique to him as there should be no difference in player-experience whether they choose Mario, Luigi, or Daisy - and remember, all the cool kids use Daisy. Secondly, and perhaps more compellingly, the fruit Mario eats (or at least walks into and absorbs) looks like an elephant. Case closed. But let's imagine it's not.
Part of the reason Elephant Mario has been so fascinating is because Mario actually becomes an elephant. In other Mario transformations, he only puts a suit on. Super Mario Odyssey is an exception to this, which sees Mario embody all sorts of creatures by throwing Cappy at it, but that's the thing - in throwing Cappy there is a sense of magic to the whole affair. Even though the frog or the T-Rex have the Mario moustache, it never feels like it's a 'Mario T-Rex', it's 'Mario as a T-Rex'. Elephant Mario is undeniably Elephant Mario. However, there may be a clue in those old costumes.
When Mario touches a Super Leaf, he becomes a tanuki (or rather, wears a tanuki costume), but Luigi instead becomes a kitsune. Could we see something similar here? The mechanical experience needs to be the same, but an aesthetic difference between each character is commonplace for Mario. If it's strength and size, could we see Rhino Luigi? Hippo Daisy? Walrus Peach? Nintendo clearly sees the marketability in Elephant Mario - why else show it off immediately - so it may have sensed that giving each character a unique variant will help increase the viral potential of this new power.
The kicker would be if we get a look at Elephant Mario and realise that the real power the transformation grants is the trunk. If Mario reaches out to grab boxes, ledges, or handles with the trunk, then that would all but confirm that everyone has to be an elephant. Fanart of Peach and Daisy as elephants (especially the latter who was hit with a particular wave of enthusiasm given her newfound playability) flooded the internet within hours of the Nintendo Direct, so no one would be disappointed with this outcome. The fact the Super Leaf turns Peach into a tanuki (albeit one with oddly inflated thighs) also lends credence to the idea that the elephant fruit makes you into an elephant.
However, Mario games are rarely predictable, so I wouldn't take it as fact when we were deliberately shown so little. Elephant Mario is already the jewel in Super Mario Bros. Wonder's crown, and whatever happens with the other characters, I'm sure it will be a great part of the gameplay evolution beyond the stale New Super Mario era. But my god, do I ever want Hippo Daisy alongside Elephant Mario.