I had a chance to participate in a special event in Nintendo UK HQ. This is where I had the opportunity to learn more about the upcoming Super Mario Maker 2, but this is not everything.
Finally, Super Mario Maker 2 ended up in my hands and for the past few days, I had a chance to dig more into it.
What I found, what I learned, is available in this preview – please enjoy!
Super Mario Maker 2 – you know that game, you heard about it, maybe you’ve seen someone playing it on Twitch [wait for me…].
A new title, compared to its predecessor got a lot of upgrades, new features, as well as some changes – but more about them in an upcoming game review. Today, let’s focus on some new stuff and basics.
Story Mode
It is a new feature, which allows you to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle.
You have to undertake the task of rebuilding it. How? Simply check Taskmaster Toad jobs list and take on some ready challenges.
Rebuilding Princess Peach’s castle is a difficult task, you need a lot of coins to finish each of its parts, you can not build everything at one time, which means – part by part and you have to wait when the last one will be ready, so you can start next step. You need to earn coins, a lot of them, and you can earn them after you complete each available job task. Your job tasks are just levels consisting of different elements from Super Mario game series.
Don’t worry, “Story Mode” will keep you busy for some time because developers prepared over 100 original levels.
– You have to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle
– Over 100 original levels are available in this mode
– Encounter new characters, that will give you new job tasks
– Collect coins and help rebuild castle
Levels available in story mode looks incredibly good. They are not easy and not extremely hard, I would rather say some of them have middle difficulties level and some of them are hard. Of course, still, you have these puzzle elements and more Super Mario like style courses.
Don’t expect here any sort of “User levels” like those crazy from YouTube/Twitch. Although some of them can surprise you – positively!
There is one but – some of the levels cannot be recreated in a “Course Maker” mode.
Of course, this does not work against the whole game, because it looks like developers decided to do something unique only for the “Story Mode”, which I think is fair play. There are small elements like holding some items and delivering it as an objective to a specific point.
I can not tell you a lot at this stage, but I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed with this mode.
Course Maker
This is the most anticipated mode in this game. If you like to Create levels, then this is the obvious choice for you.
“Course Maker” is a powerful mode. There is no way to describe everything but you can clearly say that Super Mario Maker changed a lot since his predecessor, all for good, some of you may be missing a few items.
Referring to the information about the requirement of using the stylus in handheld mode.
Yes, the stylus will benefit your game experience, although it isn’t required. This is good only for you and what you feel is best.
Like for me, I’m confident in using touch screen elements without any issue, few second and you can use it quickly – definitely, this is better than using a game in a dock mode. Selecting elements and operating game in this mode is ok and works fine, but isn’t perfect. Handheld model is your best friend. But if you decide to use stylus, then you can freely navigate on your screen. Using stylus can give you more freedom and especially if you have bigger hands/fingers, this allows you to be more precise. I have normal hands size, but still prefer stylus over using my finger, mainly for aesthetic reasons – finger marks on the screen or screen protector. So this is your choice.
Handheld Mode vs Dock Mode?
Of course, a handheld mode is your best friend – this is easy to navigate like that. Plus if you prefer to add stylus to your game experience, you’re set for fun.
But Dock Mode is a completely different thing… I’m not saying something is broken, this is nice experience but you need some time to learn it. It isn’t that quick like touching your screen – which is perfect for Super Mario Maker 2.
Some of the controls are not that intuitive and you have to do a lot of complex things. Maybe this is just me and you’ll find your way in a dock mode.
Ok, move to some elements and summarize “Course Maker”
A big change in Super Mario Maker 2 is a set of new elements like:
– slopes: you can easily create slopes, by setting start point and making it big by dragging, swinging claw, angry sun [first appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3]
– day/night mechanic
– clear conditions
– new themes
– Super Mario 3D World
Of course, there are some limits. When you start creating 2D level and decide to transform it into 3D World level – this won’t happen. You can not transform 2D into 3D level. Everything will be erased and you have to start from scratch.
Did you know Super Mario Maker 2 has amazing Vertical and Horizontal auto scroll? There are few nice bits in that and you can use them in a clever way to achieve some really cool experience – but I will leave that to you or please wait till my review will go live.
If you’re a beginner in Super Mario Maker 2, you can use “Yamamura’s Dojo”, this friendly pigeon is always happy to help you and show some basics or teach you how to control Mario. This is a nice touch and definitely will help newcomers.
But if you already played Super Mario Maker, I don’t think you’ll found something for yourself here.
Did you know you can co-create your with someone else, on the same console?
If you want to create a level with your friend, you can try this one. One of you will be playing as Mario and second one as Luigi.
This is a funny element, good for friends and families.
Course World
You can create your Maker character, change outfit – when you unlock a new outfit while playing someone else level, you can change it here.
– Leaderboards allows you to check how you compare against other players and check whoever you want.
– Network play: I believe that I don’t need to explain this one. Shortly: multiplayer co-op/versus, Nearby play.
– Endless challenge: I really like this one. Clear as many courses as possible before you run out of lives! Classic! Sounds good and like a lot of fun!
– Courses: this is the part you will be using most of your time if you like to play levels created by other creators.
You can check hot courses, a popular one, a new one, from your followed creators and use detailed search to find what you’re looking for.
Notifications
If you upload your own level, and someone else will play it then you will receive a notification. Notification will popup anytime when you’re not creating or playing a game. You can check detailed information here.
Available details like Course info – everything related to your levels, Achievement Info – all about you like when you upload your first course or clear first one and News [not sure what is that one for, but I assume game information like Switch, News section available from Home Screen]
Settings
Simple settings, with options that allows you to change controls, switch between available characters like Mario, Luigi, Toad and Toadette.
Plus notification settings, you can choose when if you want to be notified about specific notification type.
Basically, this is everything for now.
There is a lot to cover and I want to tell you, but you have to wait till review time.
Super Mario Maker 2 has a big potential, we can expect again many streams with this game and videos from many creators. But what about you? Are you planning to get Super Mario Maker 2? What you think about it. Let me know in a comments section, below.
