Nintendo’s 2019 line-up is getting stronger with ever new announcement they make, and Super Mario Maker 2 is arguably one of their most ambitious projects this year.
For those of you who’ve never played the original Super Mario Maker for the Wii U (you ought to be ashamed of yourselves), it’s basically Nintendo’s first game in the “FINE IF YOU’RE SO SMART, YOU MAKE IT ™” series. You’re literally given hundreds really neat tools to create your very own 2D Mario experience. And man, have players created some amazing levels in the first game. Super Mario Maker 2 is that and so much more. If you haven’t checked out the Direct, please bless your eyeballs here:
Done watching? Sweet. Was your mind not blown by all the cool stuff you can do? Here’s some of my favorite additions to the newest installment:
Slopes And Cameras
(Nintendo)
Look, I never thought I’d be excited for this feature, but building specific kinds of levels in the first game was surprisingly awkward without having slope options. A lot of avid Super Mario Maker players were screaming for this if there was ever a sequel, and here we are! Not only do we have a slope option, but we also have the option to toggle how steep it is. Thanks, Nintendo!
The other tool fans were crying for is the ability to make your level auto scroll, much like some levels from Super Mario World. Placing cameras on your grid will automatically add a path for it to follow. The neat part is you can control the speed of the camera, as well. This forces players who play your level creation to move through it faster than they usually might, upping the challenge. But you can only upload it if you can beat it first! *wink*
New Course Themes + Night Mode
(Nintendo)
While the original Super Mario Maker allowed you to use backgrounds from Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros., players were limited to only the main overworld, underground, and fortress/castle course themes. For the first time, players will now be able to change from the traditional overworld themes to Desert, Snow, Forest, and Sky themes.
With the addition of the Angry Sun from Super Mario Bros. 3, you can now toggle the Sun into the Moon! Doing so will turn day to night! Typically, touching the Angry Sun will hurt you, but touching the moon eliminates all of the enemies on screen. Also, at night, different things will happen to your levels! Overworld themes cause enemies to float, in the underground, everything is upside down, lights dim in the ghost house, gravity reduces in the sky, a sandstorm hits the desert, the water becomes poisonous in the forest and the ground becomes slippery in snow!
Story Mode
(Nintendo)
In story mode, you have been tasked to rebuild Princess Peach’s Castle by collecting coins from pre-made levels. You can’t just build castles on empty bank accounts! The more tasks you complete, the further along the castle building gets! Eventually you can even go up Princess Peach’s Castle and get even more tasks from there! There are more than 100 different levels designed by Nintendo showing off all of the neat tools you can use in your own levels, so this is an excellent place to do some research!
Network Play
(Nintendo)
finally, my favorite addition is the ability to play online and local multiplayer! You can play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, or Toadette and race through each level to compete for the best time. Sabatage is my specialty, and I loved messing with my friends like this in New Super Mario Bros. Wii… even though that was supposed to be co-op. But I digress, you have a grade score that goes up and down depending on your win/loss ratio, so you better brush up on your 2D platforming game!
