Skip to main content

Learn about the beautiful chaos of Super Mario Maker

Nintendo has released an overview video for Super Mario Maker, the toolkit for creating, sharing, and playing remixed 2D Mario levels that is coming to Wii U on September 11, 2015. The video nicely sums up all the main features of Nintendo’s unique, upcoming game.

Super Mario Maker gives you a level-design toolkit stocked with all of the familiar elements that have accrued over three decades of Mario games, such as pipes, blocks, goombas, and coins. Shaking elements with the stylus as you place them switches them to a variant, such as from a green-shelled koopa to red, or from a note block to a music block that makes a sound that, when hit, corresponds to its height (reminiscent of the music composition in Mario Paint for the SNES).

Related Videos

These can all be combined in unexpected ways, such as by sticking enemies in question mark blocks, or by making cannons that shoot coins instead of Bullet Bills. A big part of the game’s initial fun will be exploring these combinations and encountering old friends in new contexts.

mario maker palette

The demo we played around with at E3 offered only a limited selection of elements to play with, but the final game promises many more. In order to avoid presenting players with an overwhelming slate of options all at once, Super Mario Maker doles them out over time. The video explains that using the editor for at least five minutes unlocks a new selection of elements that will become available on the following day. The options are spread out over nine days, giving you plenty of time to assimilate them. The empty space at the bottom is a custom palette, so you can have your favorite elements readily accessible.

In addition to gameplay elements, the editor also allows players to insert sound effects that are triggered on particular tiles. Some of these include animations, such as fireworks. Players can also record their own sound effects. The example provided is a “Happy Birthday!” message, but expect lots of farts as well. And unless someone is going to be diligently vetting every shared level, this seems like an area where Nintendo could end up in hot water with parents if Mario suddenly starts cursing at their children.

The video also offers some details on how actually playing the game, rather than just creating levels, will be structured. In order to share a level with the world, you must first be able to beat it yourself, ensuring that it is at least theoretically possible to beat every level posted. The 100 Mario Challenge gives you 100 lives to beat a selection of levels taken from the community. If that sounds a little overwhelming, there is also a 10 Mario version of the challenge.

Super Mario Maker arrives exclusively on Wii U on September 11, 2015.

Editors' Recommendations

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope: best skills and how to level them up
Mario shooting two blasters.

Mario is no stranger to RPGs. He's been leveling up and adventuring in turn-based worlds ever since the SNES, and yet never quite in the way we get in the two Mario + Rabbids games. While the tactical style of the gameplay is still novel and by far the most approachable game in the genre for newcomers, there is still a robust RPG leveling system under the hood as well. While the skill trees themselves won't be too intimidating on the surface, the number of different skill types, plus having them for each character, can easily get overwhelming.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope breaks down skills into four different categories: Health Skills, Movement Skills, Weapon Skills, and Technique Skills. There are a ton of skills among them, some of which only one character can get, while others can be learned by many. Having a good spread of skills among your team, and focusing your characters on skills that improve their natural abilities, will make the tougher boss fights that much easier. Here are all the best skills you should go for, plus how to level them up, in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

Read more
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope beginner’s guide: 7 tips and tricks to get started
Mario and company in Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

No one expected the first game to work, and yet somehow, the mixing of three unlikely unions -- Ubisoft and Nintendo, Mario and Rabbids, and Mario and a turn-based tactics game -- resulted in one of the best Mario spinoff games for the Switch. Even those who had no love for the Rabbids found the game a breath of fresh air for the franchise, as well as a perfect introduction into the tactics genre that is usually seen as overly punishing and complex.

With Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom, along with their Rabbid counterparts, are all back on a new quest to save the Sparks from the mysterious Cursa. Even if you played the first one, this sequel does a lot to the formula, both in battle and outside of it, to create another amazing adventure. Just because it's a Mario game doesn't mean this journey will be a walk in the park. It's time to grab your blasters, plan your moves, and execute these tips and tricks when first starting out in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

Read more
Bowser attacks in The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s first trailer
super mario bros movie first trailer bowser

Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment finally gave us our first glimpse at the animated Mario movie, which is officially titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The trailer reveal came during New York Comic Con and got a special Nintendo Direct of its own. 
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Nintendo Direct kicks off with an introduction from Shigeru Miyamoto, Chris Meledandri, Chris Pratt, and Jack Black, who confirmed that the animation will be complete next week, although there are still other things to do, and hyped up the trailer. The trailer itself begins with Bowser attacking a city of Penguins before cutting to Mario finding himself in the Mushroom Kingdom and going on an adventure with Toad. We even see a little bit of Luigi at the end.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Official Teaser Trailer
Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment -- the Universal Pictures animation studio known for creating Despicable Me, Sing, and The Secret Life of Pets -- first announced a movie based on the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game series in 2018. While series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was a producer on the film from the start and Nintendo acquired a film studio during this movie's production, the announcement that really turned heads was the September 2021 Nintendo Direct, where its shocking all-star cast was revealed. 
During its segment in that Direct, we learned that Chris Pratt is Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, Charlie Day is Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, Seth Rogan is Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen is Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson is Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco is Foreman Spike, and Jack Black is Bowser. They all felt like odd choices at the time of the announcement, and from this trailer, we learned what Kamek, Bowser, Mario, Toad, and Luigi will all sound like. 
While The Super Mario Bros. Movie was originally going to come out this year, you can now expect the animated feature to hit theaters on April 7, 2023 in the United States and April 28, 2023 in Japan. 

Read more