Nintendo’s next big Wii U release is Super Mario Maker, a game that enables players to make their own Mario levels. And the publisher has a plan to ensure you don’t freak out from too many choices when you start building.
When you first boot up Super Mario Maker and go into making your first stage, you will only have access to basic tools. Nintendo released a new video today that gives a rather thorough overview of its upcoming Wii U release (due out September 11), and the company revealed that it will slowly dole out creation tools over the course of several days. The publisher very specifically said this is to avoid making the act of creation feel daunting.
The essentials — as the video refers to them — include a few standard blocks, pipes, goombas, and more. If you spend more than five minutes building a stage with these items, the game will then deliver a new suite of items and tools … the following day.
In a notification that pops up in Super Mario Maker, Nintendo explains that it wants you to get comfortable and confident with the tools you already have before moving on to making more complex stages.
Check the video out below for more:
For me, this deliberate pace of unlocking items is a welcome limitation. From the little I played of Super Mario Maker, I already know that my brain is going to freeze up from having too many choices, so I love that the game is going to force me into a situation where I can only use certain items for an entire day.
Making cool levels is already going to take a lot of time, and Nintendo could potentially prevent a scenario where someone goes to make a level and gives up after a day because they think they’ll never fully understand all the options available to them.