All Articles: Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Maker update adds Checkpoint Flag, context-sensitive powerups, Event Courses, and Nintendo Course World
A new update to Super Mario Maker, which is available starting today, will add a handful of oft-requested features to the game creation tool (and its 3.3 million uploaded courses)…
- Checkpoint Flag – By shaking an Arrow, creators will now be able to place a mid-level Checkpoint Flag on their course. Instead of starting over at the beginning, players will be able to restart a course at the Checkpoint Flag.
- Context-Sensitive Powerups – Creators will be now have the chance to add a Super Mushroom and a Fire Flower to a Question Block. If Mario is small, he’ll get a Super Mushroom, but if he’s big, he’ll get the Fire Flower.
- Event Courses – Event Courses are specially-designed levels created as part of a worldwide event. The first Event Courses will be “Ship Love,” the winning course from the Facebook Hackathon earlier this Summer, and the Omegathon course from PAX Prime.
- Nintendo Course World – Nintendo is adding a new tab to the Makers page and “Official” Nintendo-created courses will soon be available in their own area.
- Finally, shaking a Muncher will open up a more advanced version of the Gnat Attack minigame.
Check out the trailer embedded above for an in-depth look at these new features and happy Mario Making!
Worldwide sales of Super Mario Maker have surpassed one million copies
According to Nintendo, games from the Super Mario franchise have sold more than 310 million copies since Mario stomped his first Goomba back in 1983. Today, they can add another million to that total as Super Mario Maker has become the latest entry in the series to reach platinum status.
“For Mario fans around the world, including myself, Super Mario Maker was a dream 30 years in the making,” said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime. “The game has captured and unlocked the imaginations of gaming fans of all ages and brought their dedication to Nintendo to a whole new level.”
Super Mario Maker’s million-selling milestone is based on worldwide sales of the game through the Wii U eShop and retail outlets (including the various Super Mario Maker bundles) since its release in mid-September. In that time, the average Super Mario Maker player has created at least two levels as more than 2.2 million levels have been uploaded to the game’s servers.
Nintendo Download: Super Mario Maker, Tecmo Bowl, Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, more
You couldn’t design a better Nintendo Download this week if you tried. But then, any designers in the audience will be quite busy beginning tomorrow when Super Mario Maker is added to the Wii U eShop. More than a mere Mario level editor, Super Mario Maker will include dozens of pre-built courses and the option to download an unlimited number of levels from the Wii U community. Also, you can use an Amiibo figure to drop Link (and many other characters) into a Mario game for the first time.
The Wii U eShop received a bounty of new releases this week in addition to Super Mario Maker. For starters, Tecmo’s famous football sim for the NES, Tecmo Bowl, is now available through the Virtual Console. Seems appropriate on Kickoff Thursday. Also available to download today are a pair of puzzling adventures including steampunk caper The Swindle and the first-person environmental brain-twister QUBE: Director’s Cut.
Finally this week, Sega will bring Japan’s most famous blue-haired idol, Hatsune Miku, to the 3DS in the rhythm action game Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX.
More information on all of these titles (and a few others) can be found after the break. (more…)
New Releases: Super Mario Maker, Tearaway Unfolded, Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX, More
Nintendo is finally ready to let fans unleash their inner Miyamoto this week with the release of Super Mario Maker for the Wii U. The course creator will let players design and upload a neverending stream of Mario levels, along with being able to play the dozens of courses already on the disc. Players will even have the ability to bring characters like Link and Samus Aran into a Mario game for the first time through an Amiibo tap or by unlocking the character through the Challenge Mode. Super Mario Maker may be the last video game we ever need.
However, if the idea of Super Mario Maker as the last video game you’ll ever play isn’t appealing, there are a few other new releases this week. Chief among them is Tearaway Unfolded, Media Molecule’s PS4 adaptation of their puzzle platformer, which was originally released for the Vita in 2013. Players can jump back into Atoi’s papercraft world to solve puzzles using the unique features of the DualShock 4 such as illuminating a dark room with the Light Bar or whipping up a windy storm with the controller’s built-in motion sensor.
Finally this week, we have a pair of brand new 3DS games… Sega plans to release Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, an idol/maker/rhythm game, for the handheld. Meanwhile, Jeff Foxworthy will host another interactive adaptation of his game show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?