Nintendo has announced that Super Mario Maker, its extensive Mario-themed level creator software for Wii U, will go on sale from September 11 this year. A new Amiibo figure and level designer’s guide book are also scheduled for release.
Super Mario Maker, which allows players to make use of the Wii U’s touchscreen controller to design levels in and using a variety of visual styles from past Mario games, is an evolution of Nintendo’s own in-house design tools.
Would-be level designers will also be able to combine elements from various Mario games, from the NES’s Super Mario Bros. all the way up to Wii U’s New Super Mario Bros, resulting in all kinds of madcap combinations and game mechanics.
▼ Chaos. Glorious Mario chaos.
▼ Goombas don’t really swim, but you can put them in your underwater level anyway if you like.
▼ Want to stack bad guys on top of each other to create horrible weapons of Mushroom Kingdom war? Go nuts!
While discussing the game, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto shared images of his paper level designs for the original Super Mario Bros. game. Many of the team’s ideas, he noted, weren’t achievable back then but could now be realised with Super Mario Maker, and he challenged players to find their inner level designer.
▼ Players can now do what the original game’s designers wished they could – have Mario pilot clouds and rain fireballs down on unsuspecting enemies.
Nintendo later announced that a special, large-size 8-bit Mario Amiibo figure will be released to coincide with Super Mario Maker‘s launch. A special book containing level design ideas and techniques will also go on sale.
Finally, Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime announced to viewers of the E3 live-stream that those in the US who simply couldn’t wait until September 11 to play Super Mario Maker would be able to trial the game at selected Best Buy stores across the country this Wednesday and Saturday. You can find out more by visiting e3.Nintendo.com. Happy level building!
Source and images: Nintendo E3 livestream