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All Articles: Super Mario Maker
Mario Maker may be delayed as Wii U reaches 9.2 million in sales
Nintendo updated investors on the Wii U’s life-to-date sales performance yesterday and, as of December 31, 2014, 9.2 million Wii U consoles have been sold. This is well behind the sales curve of the Wii, which had sold close to 45 million consoles during this point in its life cycle.
In other bad news, it looks like Mario Maker, a game that lets players create their own Mario courses inspired by Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, has been delayed. Originally pegged for a “1st Half of 2015” release, the game is now listed in Nintendo’s release calendar as “TBA 2015.”
However, it’s not all bad news. The company posted a 59.5 billion yen ($504 million) profit for their fiscal year to date and a number of games are selling really well including Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby (a lifetime total of 9.35 million copies sold), Super Smash Bros. For 3DS (6.19 million copies sold), Mario Kart 8 (4.77 million copies sold), and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U (3.39 million copies sold).
Nintendo: Mario Maker may lead to more Maker games but no new Mario game in 2015
Bill Trinen, the Director of Product Marketing at Nintendo of America, recently sat down with the Reno Gazette-Journal to discuss the company’s plans for 2015 and their commitment to retro-styled gaming. During the course of the conversation, Trinen revealed that development on Mario Maker is going well and reveals that other Nintendo franchises could receive the Maker treatment if it sells enough copies:
Mr. (Takashi) Tezuka is working hard on Mario Maker and the game is progressing really nicely. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing what people are able to do with the game when it comes out. During E3, we had everyone from moms and kids to longtime Nintendo fans and newer folks who just got into gaming lately just having tons of fun with the way they’re able to create stages. Depending on how people react, we’ll see if the teams take a similar approach with other franchises.
The marketer also confirmed that Mario Maker is the only Mario game we’ll get in 2015 as Nintendo won’t have the next game in the series ready this year:
We don’t always put out a new version of an existing series on an annual basis, there’s always a big gap. You see that with Super Smash Bros., which has been seven years since it last came out. With Pikmin 3, you saw a big gap as well. Mario games release more frequently but we don’t have a new Mario game this year so it’s not an annual event.
I can just imagine how great a “Legend of Zelda Maker” could be, so I sincerely hope that Trinen isn’t toying with us. Make it happen, Nintendo!
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Insert Quarter: A History of Fan-Made Mario Games
Insert Quarter is our showcase for some of the best and most interesting writing about video games on the Internet.
There’s no reason to hide it, Mario Maker is one of my most anticipated games for 2015. The ability to create my own Mario courses (and play courses created by others) has got me giddy with excitement. Writing for Joystiq, Lawrence Bonk has revealed that he’s just as giddy as I am. He is so giddy that he dove into the shadowy world of unauthorized ROM hacks of Super Mario Bros. and other games in the series. These fan-made creations are sometimes scary, but they’re always interesting:
Of course, long before there were dedicated toolsets, there was the humble game ROM. In addition to allowing people to finally brag about beating Ghosts N’ Goblins, NES game ROMs had/have the added bonus of being fairly easy to manipulate. What better title to screw around with than the original Super Mario Bros.? It didn’t have too many sprites and, oh yeah, there’s that whole “pretty much defined video games for an entire generation” thing.
The full article is available for your perusal at Joystiq.
Posted in Insert Quarter, Retro, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Maker
The world rejoices… Mario Maker will let players share their levels online
When Nintendo unveiled Mario Maker during this year’s E3 Expo, everyone wondered if the slightly Internet-averse company would allow players to share their creations online. Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, recently sat down for an interview with iJustine (embedded above), and it looks like we finally have our answer. It looks like Nintendo has listened to our pleas and will allow online sharing of player-created levels:
Miyamoto: “You’ll be able to see what happens when other people play your course. Or when you play other people’s courses there will be some popularity rankings for the most popular courses. Things like that. There’s a lot on the community side you can do.”
In case we didn’t get it, Miyamoto later added: “Yes, we will have the Internet ability to exchange courses as well.”
Mario Maker will be released sometime in the first half of 2015 exclusively for the Wii U. It will be the first salvo in what will surely be a big year for the Italian plumber as the original Super Mario Bros. will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2015.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker
Mario Maker adds Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World styles
Nintendo made a big splash at last night’s Game Awards with four wins and a bunch of new trailers including a new look at Mario Maker.
Mario Maker allows players to use the Wii U GamePad to create their own courses and some of the examples featured in the trailer above are phenomenal. The consolemaker has also confirmed that players will be able to choose from two additional graphical styles in the game based on Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. These two palettes join the Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. U styles revealed during the game’s initial announcement at E3.
Mario Maker will be available exclusively for the Wii U in 2015.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Game Awards 2014, Super Mario Maker
Mario Maker lets you become Shigeru Miyamoto in 2015
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has created a lot of games over the last three decades. Some of them have been forgotten, but a lot of them will go down in history as some of the greatest game ideas of all time. After being in the game development game for so long, Mr. Miyamoto’s next idea was probably inevitable… he wants the players themselves to design the next great Mario game.
In Mario Maker, players will be able to create and edit their own Mario courses. And with the flick of an icon, would-be game designers will be able to toggle their course’s graphical style from Super Mario Bros. to New Super Mario Bros. U and back again:
Mario Maker offers up a Super Mario Bros. dream: the ability for players to use the Wii U GamePad to design levels from scratch. Place blocks and enemies anywhere and play through the level. With the tap of an icon, users can even switch the visual style between a classic 8-bit Super Mario Bros. look and the world of New Super Mario Bros. U in the E3 version.
Mario Maker is currently just a working title, but it’ll be available for the Wii U sometime in the first half of 2015.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2014, Super Mario Maker
Continue Countdown #2 – The Evil Within, Borderlands: Pre-Sequel, Super Mario 20, More
The second episode of Warp Zoned’s “Continue Countdown” is now available to watch through our YouTube channel. It’s a PAX East kind of show as Editor-In-Chief John Scalzo, Staff Writer Mike Ryan, and special guest Adam Woolcott discuss the blandness of The Evil Within, the bizarreness of The Behemoth’s Game 4, and the baffling choice to put Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
The trio also delves into the Console War Between the PS4 and Xbox One, next-gen remakes like The Last of Us Remastered, and whether the inclusion of Marvel characters will affect our decision to purchase Disney Infinity 2.0. Finally, they looked at yet another piece of Beyond Good & Evil 2 concept art, the release date gap between the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. 4, and the quasi-announcement of Super Mario Bros. 20.
9 Topics… 30 Minutes… And Go!
Posted in 3DS, PC, Podcast, PS3, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Beyond Good and Evil 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, PAX East 2014, Pit People, Super Mario Maker, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, The Evil Within, The Last of Us
Nintendo has another Mario game in development
Are you sitting down? You might want to sit down because Nintendo has confirmed that another Super Mario game is in development. Take a moment to compose yourself, this is a completely unprecedented and unexpected announcement.
OK, I kid because I love.
Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura of EAD Tokyo recently spoke to Edge, and confirmed the news that Mario will return. The pair was asked if the game would be released for the 3DS or the Wii U, but Koizumi shut that line of questioning down by saying, “That’s still a secret!” However, he did reveal that the team isn’t afraid to possibly shake things up: “There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.”
On that note, Motokura added that if the game is in development for the Wii U, it “might need to make even more use of the [Wii U] GamePad.” Interesting.
So we still don’t know much about the next Mario game, but we do know that it’ll be the 20th game in the long-running franchise. Can you imagine if Nintendo stuck with the Super Mario Bros. title scheme after all these years? The fact that this is technically the announcement of Super Mario Bros. 20 utterly amazes me. And hopefully we’ll find out more about it soon.
Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U
Tagged Super Mario Maker