Confirming last week’s leak, Nintendo today announced Mario Maker for Wii U, a level editor of sorts allowing players to design and play their own retro and modern Super Mario levels.
The reveal trailer shows an extensive palette of editing tools, all accessed through the Wii U gamepad’s touch interface. Warp pipes, block placement, ground level, enemy and obstacle locations and more is at your fingertips as you craft your level. New items have also been added, the most obvious being a Thin Mushroom of some description, upgrading Mario’s power but turning him awfully spindly.
The elephant question here is whether Mario Maker will feature a LittleBigPlanet-esque multiplayer system, allowing users to share and play created levels. Nintendo has neither confirmed nor denied the possibility, but it’s certainly a likely one.
Mario Maker is up for pre-order but has not yet been given a hard release date. Expect 2015, though. We’ll update you with more information as it surfaces.
