Super Mario Maker 2

Lore & Background

Super Mario Maker 2 is a side-scrolling platform game in which players create their own courses using assets from across the Super Mario series and publish them online. Players can choose from visual styles based on Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros. U, and the newly introduced Super Mario 3D World theme, which has been retooled to 2.5D. The sequel adds various assets and tools, including a vertical course feature that raises the vertical height limit, and local and online multiplayer modes including co-op course creation for up to two players locally and up to four online players cooperatively or competitively.

The game features a World Maker mode where players create their own overworld maps, called a Super World, locked to the Super Mario World style. Up to six Super Worlds can be saved but only one can be uploaded, with each world containing up to five levels and a single Super World having up to eight separate worlds. A new single-player campaign, Story Mode, follows Mario, Toadette, and several Toads helping to rebuild Princess Peach's castle after it was accidentally reset by Undodog. Players traverse over 100 Nintendo-created courses to collect coins for the rebuild.

Development began alongside the Nintendo Switch hardware itself, with most of the original development team reprising their roles. Producer Takashi Tezuka stated the theme was to expand on what could be done compared to its predecessor. Longtime composer Koji Kondo served as sound director, with additional music by Atsuko Asahi, Toru Minegishi, and Sayako Doi. The game was revealed on February 13, 2019, and released worldwide on June 28, 2019. A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is required for online functionality.

Reader's Guide

Super Mario Maker 2 received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its user interface, course editing tools, and music, though the online multiplayer mode was criticized for performance issues. GameSpot gave the game an 8/10, stating that online lag frequently ruined the experience. As of December 31, 2022, the game shipped over 8.42 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch. It was the best-selling game in Japan during its first two weeks of release, selling 279,357 physical copies.

The game received three major free content updates. The first, on October 2, 2019, added more multiplayer options including local area network play. The second, on December 5, 2019, added Ninji Speedruns and new parts like the Master Sword power-up and Dash Blocks. The third and final update on April 22, 2020, added the World Maker mode and numerous new power-ups and enemies. The game's content moderation drew criticism for frequent level deletions with vague reasoning, including a notable incident in June 2019 where streamer GrandPooBear's level was removed, and a large deletion wave in April 2026 that removed thousands of levels.

Did You Know?

• The game includes a Super Mario 3D World theme that is labeled as an 'extra' game style and requires resetting the course to switch to it.
• A capacitive stylus was included as part of the limited edition bundle for pre-orders in Europe.
• The third free update added the ability to compose Super Worlds with up to eight worlds and forty levels.
• The game's Story Mode features over 100 Nintendo-created courses to collect coins for rebuilding Princess Peach's castle.