Super Mario Maker Update Adds Checkpoints and Conditional Power-Ups
A free update coming on November 4 adds features the community has been looking for.
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Today, Nintendo detailed an upcoming free update for Super Mario Maker. The update will add a few new features to the game, two of which have been in high demand from the level-creating community.
The first major feature is the addition of mid-level checkpoints. Creators can now add flags to their levels, letting players restart at specific points in the level instead of back at the beginning. If you've already got an existing level out there, you can also edit it to add checkpoints. To add a checkpoint flag, players just have to shake the arrow sign item from the course part palette. There's no word on how many checkpoint flags can be added, but I can definitely see level creators adding checkpoints to some of the painfully-hard levels available right now.
The second feature allows for conditional power-ups, meaning a power-up block will spit out a different item depending on whether you are regular or Super Mario. Like the video shows, you attached one power-up item to another in order to set the conditional status.
Both features have long been a part of the Mario series, but were missing from level creation up until now. I applaud Nintendo's ongoing commitment to Super Mario Maker, with the company adding more features to make the game a more robust level-creation tool.
The update also adds brand-new Event Courses. These courses are from Nintendo and Nintendo's partner creators, intended for distribution worldwide. The first Event Course will be "Ship Love", a level created at a Facebook hackathon event earlier this year. Nintendo will also be releasing the level used in the final round of the Omegathon event at PAX Prime 2015. The addition of Event Course comes alongside a new category in the Course World, covering Official Makers. These levels will be like some of the Event Courses, either made by Nintendo or officially sanctioned by the company.
If you're wondering, our staff are still playing all those contest levels you folks sent over. I think they might be going crazy. Pray for them.