If by chance you missed out on the first Super Mario Maker on the Wii U, it was an amazing showcase of off-the-wall creativity and mayhem from what was one of the console's most popular games. A follow-up was almost guaranteed, and some of the new features revealed in the Nintendo Direct look very promising. Here's a brief rundown of some key new characteristics that will enrich gameplay:
Slopes
Slopes make their debut. As expected, it looks as if they will only be for SMB3, World, and the New style of Mario templates.
The Angry Sun
My favorite Mario enemy of all time. I missed him from the last one and I halfway expect designers to spam him all over the place.
See Saws
Now this looks fascinating. A couple of new momentum based obstacles are included, one of them being the See Saw. This new hazard can help build an interesting relationship with the player and environment.
On/Off Switches
The ON/Off Switches activate a sequence of colored blocks that can be used to create some hazardous puzzles and structures.
Water Levels were not a favorite of many Mario Maker players in the last game. The sequel now has water levels that can be accommodated with the stages. Set the water level, and dictate how fast you wish to have the water rise and sink. This also works with lava.
Custom Scrolling
Custom scrolling was in the previous game, but only from left to right. Mario Maker 2 Will now allow vertically scrolling sub levels, along with the path being dictated to the creator's content. So the direction of the screen tracking can turn on a dime. It looks like the maximum default height is two still screens overall for horizontally themed levels.
Clear Conditions
Coins were used in the first Mario Maker as guides locating secret doors or indicators for jump measurements. Now thanks to clear conditions, they can have designated purpose. I suppose this will be the closest the Nintendo Switch will get to having some form of built-in accomplishments. It also opens up more creativity and a different degree of challenge. I'm starting to think those NES Remix games were the precursor to Mario Maker...
Story Mode
A story mode has been added, but it's more or less stacking some incentives on top of the first Mario Maker's 100+ Levels mode, which I think is kinda cute. Complete levels, earn coins, and that goes to funding the rebuilding of Princess Peach's castle.
3D World Mode
The 3D Worlds feature is its own separate entity from the other course designer templates. The 3D World will boast enemies, obstacle features, and hazards exclusively from the series. Like the Cat Suit and the Koopa Kart
Online Multiplayer
Up to four players can go head to head in a race to the finish. I personally had my fill of allies murdering me in the New Super Mario Bros games, so I'm a little apprehensive about diving head first into this feature. It might a challenge for the peer to peer nature of Nintendo's online infrastructure to combat latency issues of poor connections around the world. Smash and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are occasionally prone to that.
There's a plethora of features added to the game, and breaking down all of it would cause this article to go on longer. So for the sake of brevity, I'd say it's worth checking out the Super Mario Maker 2 Nintendo Direct for all of the additions announced thus far. Before wrapping up, I would like to talk about the Nintendo Switch Online Service Bundle. I haven't been positive on the Online Service since its rollout, but this is the first legitimately great idea I've seen done with it so far. Like Smash Bros Ultimate, Super Mario Maker will be a selling point for the service, and digital pre-orders for it will have a year's long membership bundled with it for only an additional $10. If you already have any online membership service subscription, the year will be added to your existing tenure. Being the fair man that I am, I'll call something when I think it does something right, and I think that's a fantastic idea.........now bring back Virtual Console and WiiWare games.
Super Mario Maker hits stores June 28th exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
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