Super Mario Maker 2: how Nintendo's switching up its DIY platformer

Super Mario Maker 2 is shaping up as an excellent sequel that's a perfect match for Switch's unique hardware. Based on my time playing it at a recent Nintendo press event, the template of its Wii U and 3DS predecessor carries over with a few on-point additions. Not least, there's a tantalising hint of just how a Super Mario 3D World port could manifest on the hybrid console. On top of gifting players an overwhelming wealth of tools for creating their own platforming epics, there's a story mode too, offering a stream of brilliant new levels from Nintendo's own master designers.

The story mode does a surprising amount to tie everything together. I was surprised by how much it gives Mario Maker 2 a focal point once you boot it up - a backbone, if you will - supposing you'd rather let Nintendo shows off the game's tools in the best case. Of course, it's the improved course maker mode - the bit you get to tinker with yourself - that remains the real attraction. On top of its all new items, sounds, bosses and level assets (including sloped surfaces, as a series first) there's now a brand new play style. Mario Maker 2 lets you build levels with visuals based on the Wii U's much-loved Super Mario 3D World, showing what might even be a new engine for the series, with its own unique mechanics and demands.

There are a lot of new features to enjoy over and above this. The expanded online multiplayer lets you jump into an ocean of user-made levels with up to four players, while you can actually build levels in groups of two. But Switch's biggest advance over Wii U is easily in the course maker mode. The 3D World style is in the extra styles section, and while mechanically it's still a 2D side-scroller - unlike the actual game - it comes with a host of visual upgrades over the preceding New Super Mario Bros U style. The fact is that Mario 3D World is one of a handful of Wii U titles to still not get a Switch conversion of some kind, and Mario Maker 2 gives us the ability to see how a port might turn out.

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