Super Mario Maker 2 Direct Reveals New Parts, Tools, and More

Nintendo recently broadcast a special Nintendo Direct centered around Super Mario Maker 2.

The new content listed was extensive:

New Objects & Power-Ups:


  • Slopes. We already know this from past trailers, and slopes allow you to slide into enemies.
  • Snake Blocks. You can control the path they travel along. The blue ones are a little faster.
  • On/Off Switches. These can be used to toggle red and blue blocks, change tracks on a rail, the direction of a convener belt and more.
  • Seesaw Platforms. These tilt based on where Mario is standing, though we suspect this may apply to enemies as well.
  • Swinging Claw. Jumping at the claw causes it to grab Mario. Players can then swing back and fourth to build up momentum before flinging themselves. It can also grab enemies.
  • Dry Bones Shell. Mario can ride in this to make him immune to lava. He can even become briefly invincible by pretending to be a collapsed Dry Bones.
  • Big Coins. You can place Big Coins with values of 10, 30 and 50.
  • Icicles. When players walk under them, they suddenly drop.
  • Diagonal Conveyor Belts. Just like slopes, diagonal conveyor belts can now be used.
  • Red Yoshi. Red Yoshis can breath fire.
  • Parachutes. These can be attached to enemies and object to have them slowly float downwards.

New Enemies:

  • The Angry Sun from Super Mario Bros. 3 has been added. This sun will relentlessly chase you.
  • Banzai Bills. These giant Bullet Bills can break through certain blocks. The red ones can home in on you.
  • Twisters. They hurl pretty much everything upwards, including enemies.
  • Boom Boom. The mini-boss that first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 is now available.

New Stage Themes:

  • Desert.
  • Snow.
  • Forest.
  • Sky.

Koji Kondo created music for each of these stages. Fitting as he did the music for the original Super Mario Bros. and many other Mario games. 

New Mechanics:

  • Water Levels. The water level on stages can be changed, and can even change during gameplay. The features for it also apply to lava.
  • Custom Scroll Speed and Direction. Players can change how fast a stage scrolls, and even its direction. You can even have no scrolling to hide secret areas.
  • Vertical Sub-Areas. Sub areas can now be vertical. Scrolling in these rooms can be controlled the same way as normal.
  • New Sound Effects.
  • Co-Op Creation. A second local player can create stages along-side you.
  • Clear Conditions. You can add new clear conditions for stages, such as beating all specific types of enemies on the stage, having enough coins, or reach the goal while under the effects of a particular power-up.
  • Moon and Night Stages. While technically an object, it unlocks much more. As a variant of the Angry Sun, it behaves in a similar way. Touching it however will wipe-out all enemies on screen. Placing it will also turn a stage into night. Once a night-theme for a stage has been unlocked, you do not need to place the Moon. Night Stages also have unique effects based on the theme.
    • Ground. Goombas will float. It is unknown if other small enemies are affected like this.
    • Underground. The entire stage will be upside-down!
    • Ghost Houses. There is limited lighting around Mario.
    • Sky. The entire stage is under low-gravity.
    • Desert. A sandstorm will push the player back.
    • Snow. The platforms and ground become slippery.
    • Forest. The water becomes poisonous.
    • Some power-ups may also change, such as the 1-Up becoming a Rotten Mushroom.

Super Mario 3D World Game Style:

This style cannot be easily flipped to and will wipe what you have put down already. This is because the stage has some assets exclusive to it. We have our doubts about certain assets being exclusive to this mode, but we shall list them all nonetheless.

  • Cat Mario. Mario can turn into Cat Mario presumably via the Super Bell. This lets him slide, climb up walls in the background and foreground, and perform a diving pounce. He can even climb to the top of the flag-pole.
  • Clear Pipes. These allow Mario to quickly move around the stage, but so can enemies.
  • Crates. These don’t break apart in water or even lava, so Mario can throw them to make platforms.
  • Warp Boxes. Much like Warp Pipes, touching these will take you to a sub-area.
  • Spike Blocks. These blocks can turn spiky based on a timer, or with a switch.
  • ! Blocks. Bashing these causes a path of blocks to come out one-by-one. Ground-Pounding them causes them all to come out.
  • Blinking Blocks. For those who remember Beat-Block Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Beep Block Skyway in Super Mario 3D World– the blocks are back here. They alternate between being solid and gone, telegraphed by a rhythmic beep just before they switch.
  • Track Blocks. These blocks follow a path. The red one constantly moves, while the blue one only responds once you step on it.
  • Mushroom Trampolines. These platforms are bouncy, and can give extra height with a well-timed jump.
  • Piranha Creepers. These giant Piranha Plants follow a path- though you can jump on blue ones to push them back into their pipe.
  • Skipsqueaks. While they usually stay in place, they will jump when Mario does.
  • Koopa Troopa Car. Hop into this car and zip through the course, running down enemies in your way!
  • Charvaargh. These giant lava-dragons jump through the air in a large arc.
  • Pom Pom. A miniboss introduced in Super Mario 3D World. Unlike Boom Boom, Pom Pom is less brute-force, utilizing fake duplicates and shurikens.
  • Banzai Bills. Banzai Bills can rocket towards the screen from the background.
  • More enemies were hinted at, particularly the Super Bell powered-up Bowser, “Meowzer”.

Online:

  • Online World. This is where all online features can be found. You can search for uploaded courses based on tags and the assets they use. Courses can be download to play when you are not connected. There is no confirmation if this will still function without a Nintendo Online Subscription.
  • Comments. Comments return even with Miiverse gone. A message can be placed where you died. From what we saw, they appear to be simple pre-made messages with Mario characters. However, it does seem you can add your own text, drawing, and stamps to them.
  • Maker Profiles. Along with showing off achievements and milestones, players can earn Maker Points from the likes they get from players who play their stages. These points can then be spent on costume pieces.
  • Endless Challenge. Endless Challenge returns, selecting random uploaded stages. Seeing how far you can go until you game-over. This can earn you a spot on global ranking boards.

Network Play:

  • Up to four players can play online. These can be done with Multiplayer Versus, where players race to the goal, or co-operative courses where at least one player has to make it. Courses are chosen at random. The four characters players are randomly assigned to include Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Toadette. A players win:loss ratio affects how quickly their ranking increases.
  • Local Multiplayer. Up to four players each with a Nintendo Switch and a copy of the game can play locally. Only one player needs to have a “consistent online connection” as they make the virtual room however.

Story Mode:

Mario must rebuild Princess Peach’s castle. To do so, he earns coins by completing stages set by the foreman and other NPCs. These coins then go toward rebuilding the castle, which in turn unlocks more stages and NPCs. The stages have been designed by Nintendo staff and developers to “show off” the best features of the new game, and interesting course design.

Bundle:

Players can buy the game with a 12 month online subscription for $69.99. Those who already have an online subscription will have the additional months added onto their current subscription.

Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational 2019

Finally, Nintendo confirmed there will be a competitive Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational 2019. The event will take place on June 8th, but no other details are available now.

What did you think of what was revealed? Sound off in the comments below!

Super Mario Maker 2 is launching for Switch on June 28th.

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About

Ryan was a former Niche Gamer contributor.


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