When it launched, despite being generally wonderful, Super Mario Maker 2 for Switch had one seemingly glaring issue: online co-op and competitive modes were limited to random players via matchmaking. If you wanted to play with friends, you’d have to be sat close enough together for the Switches to connect locally.
The logic for that, according to a pre-launch piece in Nintendo World Report, was to prevent people gaming the online leaderboards by forming a dream team to crush everyone else.
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It’s not clear why that thinking has changed, but Nintendo has relented. In a tweet posted in the early hours of this morning, the official Nintendo of America account announced that the latest patch for the game would include online multiplayer with friends.
“Call your friends! The Version 1.1.0 update of #SuperMarioMaker2 is available now!,” the tweet reads. “It adds online co-op & versus multiplayer with people on your #NintendoSwitch friends list. You can also choose courses to play from your locally saved list in Coursebot.”
That’s the headline change, but there are a couple of other things worth noting. “Version 1.1.0 adds a list of Official Makers in the Leaderboards section where you can find new courses from them as well as special ones created for collaborations or special events,” the next tweet in the chain continues. “There is now also the ability to use touch-screen & button controls when creating courses in Handheld mode!”
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If your game hasn’t been patched yet, Nintendo says, you can force an update by highlighting the Mario Marker 2 game icon on the home menu, pressing the plus button and selecting “software update.”
You can read a full list of changes on the Super Mario Maker minisite, but perhaps the most encouraging line comes right at the end: “More updates to the game, including new course parts, are planned for the future,” it finishes. We can’t wait.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
