The Mario Maker trailer, which was featured at the Game Awards 2014 via satellite feed with Shigeru Miyamoto, showed a totally new perspective on the game. The game allows players to explore their imaginative side by enabling them to customize their own Mario courses.
There is a wide variety of graphical styles that players can choose from. The styles range from the classic Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros 3, New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World. Players are given the freedom to customize their own obstacles, enemies, and more. They can even edit the level properties by placing pipes at a lower level, removing floors or placing stairs.
"For the first time ever, anyone can create 2D Mario levels using Wii U GamePad controller," said Nintendo. "Making courses is easy. Players use the GamePad touch screen to easily drag and drop elements they want in their levels. Place blocks, pipes, lifts and enemies anywhere and play through the level. Want a Goomba to wear a Piranha Plant on its head, build a tower 10 Goombas tall or make a Piranha Plant fly by giving it wings."
Mario Maker will also feature the work of Nintendo composer Koji Kondo who will be the music director and sound composer of the game. When the awards night was about to begin, Kondo opened it with none other than the classic Mario Bros. tune on the piano.
Nintendo's internal development team originally conceived the game as a tool to be used only for company-based purposes. However, it dawned on the team that the tool had a gaming potential. They immediately shared the idea to senior game designer Takashi Tezuka.
Tezuka, for his part, had been planning to create a followup to Wii U's Mario Paint, which uses the Wii U GamePad. After hearing about the Mario Maker tool, he realized that the tool's ability to customize game levels has more marketing appeal compared to a tool that simply allows players to draw. He felt inspired by the fun possibilities that can be created through the integration of Mario Paint with the course editor.
The game is under the direction of Yosuke Oshino, whose past credits include doing the programming works on New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Pikmin, and Pikmin 2.
Mario Maker is slated to launch in 2015 perhaps in time for the 30th anniversary celebration of the Super Mario series. Pre-order is now available through Amazon.
