Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Super Mario Maker 2 is a side-scrolling platform game in which players create their own courses using assets from across the Super Mario series and publish them onto the internet for others to play. Players can choose from a selection of prior Super Mario games to base their courses' visual style and gameplay on, including Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World , New Super Mario Bros. U , and the newly introduced Super Mario 3D World theme, which has been retooled to 2.5D to fit with the game's platforming style. Gameplay mechanics and enemy behaviors can vary between the styles, with some elements being limited to specific styles. [1] [2] [3]
The sequel adds various assets and tools, including assets and a course theme based on Super Mario 3D World. This theme is especially different from the four others, with many features and gameplay mechanics unique to it. Due to the difference from this style to the others, the course has to be reset in order to switch to this style. [4] This sequel also brings along the new vertical course feature giving creators the ability to raise the vertical height limit. It also introduces local and online multiplayer modes including co-op course creation, where up to 2 players can locally create stages together at the same time; as well as allowing up to 4 online players to complete user-made courses, cooperatively or competitively. [lower-alpha 2] [7]
The game also features a World Maker mode, where players create their own overworld maps, creating the equivalent of their own Super Mario game, called a Super World. The world style is locked as Super Mario World, but the courses themselves can be any style. Up to six Super Worlds can be saved but only one can be uploaded. One world can have up to five levels, including a castle, and a single Super World can have up to eight separate worlds. A world can also feature Toad houses, where the player plays minigames for extra lives, and Warp Pipes to get around the world quickly.
Super Mario Maker 2 also features a new single player campaign known as Story Mode. The story follows Mario, Toadette, and several other Toads helping to rebuild Princess Peach's Castle, which had accidentally been reset by Undodog, a non-playable character. Players must traverse through over 100 Nintendo-created courses in order to collect enough coins to rebuild the castle. Non-player characters also offer players extra tasks and jobs throughout the mode. [8]
A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is required in order to access any online functionality in the game, including accessing player-created levels. [9] [10]
Development and release
Developed inhouse at Nintendo's Kyoto Development Center, planning for Super Mario Maker 2 began alongside development of the Nintendo Switch hardware itself. Most of the original development team reprised their roles for this sequel, including producer Hiroyuki Kimura, director Yosuke Oshino, and planner/game designer Shigefumi Hino. Nintendo's producer Takashi Tezuka stated that the theme for the sequel was to expand on what could be done compared to its predecessor and try new things, which took the form of new course elements and new side content in the form of a full-fledged single player campaign. Tezuka also stated that as players continue to upload levels, he and the development staff would use these creations as a reference for adding content after launch, viewing the dynamic as a give-and-take between developers and consumers. Longtime Super Mario series composer Koji Kondo served as the game's sound director and composed some music. [11] Additional music was composed by Atsuko Asahi, Toru Minegishi, and Sayako Doi. [12]
Super Mario Maker 2 was revealed during a Nintendo Direct presentation on February 13, 2019. It was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on June 28, 2019. [13] [14] [15] Another Nintendo Direct was broadcast on May 15, 2019, which provided more information about new and returning features, gameplay modes, and pre-orders. [16]
In Europe, a capacitive stylus was included as part of the limited edition bundle of the game for customers who pre-ordered. [17]
Three major content updates were released for the game:
- The first update, released on October 2, 2019, added more multiplayer options, including playing with friends on local area networks or nearby networks. [18]
- The second update, released on December 5, 2019, added an extra mode themed around speedrunning Nintendo-created courses, with ghosts called Ninjis to show the best timed performances shown for the player to know how well they compare against. Additional parts were added, such as a Master Sword power-up that Mario can pick up to become Link and gain a different set of moves, ice-encased coin blocks, platforms that greatly increase the player's speed, and invisible "P" blocks that are triggered by a "P" switch. Spikes and Pokeys were also added as new enemies. [19]
- The third and final update, released on April 22, 2020, added the ability to compose worlds to hold multiple courses, akin to the presentation of Super Mario World with up to eight different worlds and up to forty levels. A new power-up gives Mario the ability to pick up and throw objects as in Super Mario Bros. 2 . Additional power-ups added in this update include the Frog Suit for the Super Mario Bros. 3 style, the Power Balloon for Super Mario World , the Super Acorn in the New Super Mario Bros. U style, and the boomerang flower for the Super Mario 3D World game style. Five other new power-ups were added to the Super Mario 3D World style as well, including the Propeller Box, the Bullet Bill Mask, the Goomba Mask, the Red POW Box, and the Cannon Box. The Koopalings and Mechakoopas were added as new enemies, along with red-colored keys guarded by Phanto (an enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2) and new ON/OFF Switch-triggered blocks and mushroom trampolines in the Super Mario 3D World game style. [20]
Mario Kart is a series of kart racing games and a spin-off Mario franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses mostly from the Mario series as well as other gaming franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, F-Zero, Excitebike, and Splatoon.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit is a 2001 kart racing game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). It is the third Mario Kart game and retains its predecessors' gameplay: as a Mario franchise character, the player races opponents around tracks based on locales from the Super Mario platform games. Tracks contain obstacles and power-ups that respectively hamper and aid the player's progress. Super Circuit includes various single-player and multiplayer game modes, including a Grand Prix racing mode and a last man standing battle mode.
Dr. Mario is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, and Game Boy. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka.
Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo as an arcade video game in 1983. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's chief engineer. Italian twin brother plumbers Mario and Luigi exterminate creatures, like turtles (Koopas) and crabs emerging from the sewers by knocking them upside-down and kicking them away. The Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System version is the first game produced by Intelligent Systems. It is part of the Mario franchise, but originally began as a spin-off from the Donkey Kong series.
Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first Super Mario game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional Super Mario gameplay, visual style, and characters in a large open world. In the game, Bowser, the primary antagonist of the Super Mario franchise, invades Princess Peach's castle and hides the castle's sources of protection, the Power Stars, in many different worlds inside magical paintings. As Mario, the player collects Power Stars to unlock enough of Princess Peach's castle to get to Bowser and rescue Princess Peach.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is a 1986 platform game developed by Nintendo R&D4 and published by Nintendo. A sequel to Super Mario Bros. (1985), the game was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System as Super Mario Bros. 2 on June 3, 1986. Nintendo of America deemed it too difficult for its North American audience and instead released an alternative sequel, also titled Super Mario Bros. 2, in 1988. The game was renamed The Lost Levels and first released internationally in the 1993 Super Nintendo Entertainment System compilation Super Mario All-Stars. The game has since been ported to the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, along with being re-released through emulation for the Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch.
Star Fox is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagonist Fox McCloud. Gameplay involves many adventures around the Lylat planetary system in the futuristic Arwing fighter aircraft, in other vehicles, and on foot. The original Star Fox (1993) is a forward-scrolling 3D rail shooter, but later games add more directional freedom.
Super Mario is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario franchise. At least one Super Mario game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console. However, there have also been a number of Super Mario video games released on non-Nintendo gaming platforms. There are more than 20 games in the series.
Mario is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for video game company Nintendo which produces and publishes its installments. Starring the titular Italian plumber Mario, it is primarily a video game franchise, but has extended to other forms of media, including television series, comic books, a 1993 feature film, a 2023 animated film and theme park attractions. The series' first installment was 1983's Mario Bros., although Mario had made his first appearance in 1981's arcade game Donkey Kong, and had already been featured in several games of the Donkey Kong and Game & Watch series. The Mario games have been developed by a wide variety of developers including Nintendo, Hudson Soft, and AlphaDream. Mario games have been released almost exclusively for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onward.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a 2009 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A follow-up to New Super Mario Bros., it was first released in Australia, North America, and Europe in November 2009, followed by Japan a month later. A high-definition port for the Nvidia Shield TV was released in China in December 2017. Like other side-scrolling Super Mario games, the player controls Mario as he travels eight worlds and fights Bowser's henchmen to rescue Princess Peach. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was the first Super Mario game to feature simultaneous cooperative multiplayer gameplay; up to four people can play in cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, taking control of Mario as well as Luigi and one of two multicolored Toads. The game also introduces "Super Guide", which allows the player to watch a computer-controlled character complete a level.
Mario Kart 7 is a 2011 kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD in cooperation with Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. As with the previous games in the Mario Kart series, players participate in racing on various Mario-themed tracks, playing as one of seventeen different Mario characters. While racing, the players make use of power-up items that either assist their character or hinder opposing characters. New additions to the game include hang-gliding attachments for karts, the ability to drive underwater, the ability to drive in first person, and the ability to fully customize the vehicles' builds. The game supports both local and online multiplayer for up to eight players. The game was a critical and commercial success, with it going on to be the best-selling game on the Nintendo 3DS, with over 18.98 million copies sold worldwide.
Star Fox 64 3D is a 3D rail shooter video game co-developed by Nintendo EAD and Q-Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a remake of the 1997 video game Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64. It was released on July 14, 2011 in Japan, followed by other markets in September.
New Super Mario Bros. U is a 2012 platform game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii U. The game is a sequel to New Super Mario Bros. Wii and is the first entry in the Super Mario series to feature high-definition graphics.
Super Mario 3D World is a 2013 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It is the sixth original 3D platform game in the Super Mario series and the sequel to Super Mario 3D Land (2011) for the Nintendo 3DS.
Super Mario Maker is a 2015 platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U, released worldwide in September 2015. Players can create, play, and share courses online, free of charge, based on the styles of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U. The game was revealed as the final challenge of Nintendo World Championships 2015.
Arms is a 2017 fighting game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game differentiates itself from standard fighting games with its unconventional fighting system where every playable character fights with long range attacks and up to four players can choose a fighter and battle using a variety of extendable, weaponized arms to knock out opponents in a three-dimensional arena. Arms received generally favorable reviews from critics and sold over two million copies as of July 2018, making it one of the best-selling games on the Switch.
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers is a fighting game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Switch video game console, which released worldwide on 26 May 2017 to celebrate the Street Fighter series' 30th anniversary. It is an updated version of 1994's Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The game features two graphical styles—classic pixel art and updated high-definition art. New gameplay mechanics and modes were also introduced, with minor changes being made to the game's balance. The game garnered mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised its updated visuals, but criticized the $40 price, the Way of the Hado mode, and control problems.
Super Mario Party is a party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The eleventh main entry in the Mario Party series, the game was described as a "complete refresh" of the franchise, bringing back and revitalizing gameplay elements from older titles while also introducing new ones to go along with them. It was released worldwide on 5 October 2018 and sold 1.5 million copies by the end of the month. As of December 31, 2023, the game has sold more than 20.34 million copies worldwide, making it one of the top ten best-selling games on the system. Mario Party Superstars, a game featuring maps remastered from earlier entries and a return to the original formula, was released in 2021.
The Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary was a celebration of the Super Mario video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. The series began with the release of Super Mario Bros. on September 13, 1985, and has since spanned over twenty games appearing on every major Nintendo video game console. Through a series of leaks initially reported by Video Games Chronicle in March 2020, plans revealed that Nintendo originally planned to celebrate the anniversary earlier in 2020; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the anniversary was postponed to September that same year. The anniversary was announced in a Nintendo Direct on September 3, 2020, and ran until March 31, 2021.
