Super Mario Maker Online Services To Be Terminated, Will Soon Be Removed From Sale

It is a bit sad as I think there's an argument to be made that it's better than SMM2.

Must be costing them more to keep it running than the game is making them? Perhaps they're trying to push those last few people to get a Switch?

I've got it physically anyway.

The perpetual problem with games of this type. At least a sequel is available I guess...

Despite the second game being pretty much the massively updated version with extra modes, this is certainly a bummer. At least Nintendo has broken the trends again and set the purchase deadline to the time when I should have enough mo-...........

Oh right. I can't buy digital Wii U games without getting a Wii U to tie to the account first. Never mind.🙄

I know it's not the ideal solution but they should make an effort to make future games capable of importing older levels. If that were to happen you could have a situation where a new game releases with over X million levels already playable.

Okay, that scared me for a moment. I was thinking MM2, which I love. However, that said, I haven't played MM2 in many months, playing other games and platformers.

How long has online been supported for MM? And, with that in mind, how long do we think online will be supported for MM2?

@MS7000 maybe why there’s more single player stuff in the second one 🤷🏻‍♂️

This happens to all "live service" games at some point. It's sad to see it happen, but you can't expect Nintendo to keep these servers running.

@dugan I wouldn’t worry about mm2 the switch is way more popular

I would have loved to have been able to get all the SMM medals but that's never going to happen for a lot of us. Oh well. I'm going to aim to get all the Super Hard mode costumes at least after all this time, even if that side of the game will be safe after March.

I put a lot of hours in Mario maker, I just prefer the controls over 2 when making levels. Nintendo being Nintendo.

@dugan To compare it to SMM, it's going to be years into the release of SMM3 before SMM2 will be shut down.

I'm just here for the "Nintendo is being AnTi-Conshumer" posts. 😃

Hopefully someone'll get RiiConnect24 running on the U, and eventually Switch.

Well that’s fair. The sequel is out and the wiiu is an old and unpopular system. Hopefully by now anyone that wanted the game would have bought it by now. I still play for the amiibo functionality.

Wasn't expecting this. At least I can still play courses others have uploaded.
I enjoyed SMM1 far more than I did 2. I've yet to make a course on switch.

Wondering why they're only pulling the Wii U version from sale, but leaving the 3DS version alone

It....has begun. What will follow will be a purge of the WiiU online service. Next to follow could be Splatoon, could be Mario Kart 8. All we know is that this is the beginning of the end for the WiiU. Soon, it will go the way of the Wii.

@UltraLaserTen The 3DS version is more an offline experience.

@patbacknitro18 Yep. Online services end. Servers cost money to keep running, and I don't see many people still player games like Mario Kart 8 or Splatoon 1, when better versions / sequels are available.

@Moon just curious, in what ways do you think 1 is better than 2?

If they know they are not supporting it, it should be taken down now.

March 31st 2021 is a sad day for Mario fans. 4 things saying goodbye. At least we have the Super Mario 3D World arriving shortly before though to distract us on this sad day.

At least you can get part 2. But I have never gotten the first or 2 but I should pick it up on a sale.

So 2 years of NSO subscriptions from millions of people and Nintendo can't afford to keep the servers going for a classic game.
To be fair I'm sure they are putting all of their revenue into R&D to fix the joycon drift that has plagued the current system since launch - oh, wait a sec!
I suppose they need to pay the legal team for all of the ceast and desist orders required to shut down fan tourneys!

Unsurprising but still a shame. Nintendo's been shutting down Wii U stuff since 2017 (Miiverse shut down was the first major thing to go). I'd guess the MK8, Splatoon and Smash servers will be next to go.

Super Mario Maker is a game that was released on Wii U on 2015. Nintendo terminates online support for it just after 5 years. Sony and Microsoft keep supporting their games and services online even with patches many more years after that. Just saying, Nintendo could do much better than that. Sad

So you can still download the currently uploaded courses from the net? Or can you just play the ones you have downloaded already?

This is the beginning of the end for the Wii U's online services.

@Moon I honestly think SMM is better than SMM2, at least the courses I found on the WiiU game are superior in every way.

Will the shut down impact in any form Super Mario Maker for 3DS?

Play Goodbye by Spice Girls here.

Goodbye my friend
I know you're gone, you said you're gone
But I can still feel you here
It's not the end
Gotta keep it strong
Before the pain turns into fear
So glad we made it
Time will never change it, no no no
No no no no

5 and a half years is a decent amount of support. I played this a lot, and it has the honour of being both my children's introduction to gaming. We still have it and it goes in now and again, but the sequel has more for if/when we want to play on Mario Maker. I imagine the number of active users has shrunk significantly over the last few years, so this isn't a surprise. Never managed to get all those costumes though, but gave up on trying a long time ago.

So is there any point in keeping my copy of the game? Can I still download levels?

I still occasionally have a bash on some of the uploaded courses from time to time. There is a huge amount that will still be available. It makes sense to close the upload feature and it was great while it lasted.

But the switch still has no amiibo support

That's stupid, because whenever I boot it up I still see people is playing online despite part 2 existing and in a much more successful system.

They talk about not being able to upload more courses, but what about downloading them?

I guess I'll just play the levels I've downloaded and make my own ones just for fun, as a training for when I move to Super Mario Maker 2 (which I got day one, still unused).

I hate this kind of thing.

It would be cool if they add all the Mario maker 1 Wi U and 3ds levels to the switch one as an update.

@UltraLaserTen 3ds one didn't share the same way. It had a bunch of courses on the cart and allowed street pass sharing.

That would not have happen with ability to put on dedicated servers.
I'm still playing Doom, Quake 3 and UT2k4 online.

This is why I hate Nintendo. Soon it will be the time for Splatoon to be retired for no reason.

@SegaSonicFan It never had online to begin with...

I was thinking the other day that it would be smart to go ahead amd download tons o the greatest courses so I could have them forever

@Gwynbleidd doubt it since it sold so poorly it cant be that big of a problem 3 years later

Always a shame to see this happen, but it's an inevitable part of the video game cycle these days. Servers cost money to run and maintain, after all. Wonder which online Wii U service is next?

@rushiosan I can think of a good reason: The Wii U is irrelevant. Keeping the servers up is pointless now

This situation is alway tough- on one hand, I haven’t played my WiiU copy of this game in a couple of years. But on the other, it still feels premature to kill the servers of a Mario game that’s 5 years old. I’m not sure how much it could cost, but it’s can’t be too much, right? Look at games like Diablo 2 in the pc space that I still play with friends, and that game is 20 years old! In general, I think this is not consumer friendly and video game companies should try to keep these online as long as possible.

@Noid agreed. Especially for splatoon 1

The date makes sense - March 31st 2021 is the end of the financial year, so the costs won't be carried into the next year. Maybe this is why a few other things are ending on this date. Nintendo cutting a few costs?

@Moroboshi876 @Alexface All the uploaded levels before the shutdown will still be available for downloading and playing, so basically there will still be millions of levels available to play after the service is terminated.

But for how long will they be available I wonder...?

@Moon It is in no way better than SMM2, there is just too much missing from the first game, I did thoroughly enjoy my time with it though.

@gaga64 The gamepad mostly

@Moon This is the Mario game that lets you play as Sonic and Babymetal, so yeah it is better.

If a game is online it is always temporary. 😥

@Moroboshi876 You'll still be able to play already created courses online. Online play will remain, they're only getting rid of the ability to upload new courses.

Probably because pretty much all creators have moved onto SMM2 with it having double the tools.

@Moon ha! Yes, that and the 8-bit costume mushrooms.

@Chibi_Manny So that's just people won't be able to upload courses, right? Well, as you say, it's just a matter of time.

Nintendo hates supporting legacy online interaction. I'm still mad about Wii and DS online play early demise.

@gaga64 2 doesn’t have Weird Mario or Mystery Mushroom costumes, you can’t edit levels you’ve downloaded, and the Wii U gamepad is better for editing than any mode of playing on Switch.

Wow, that's completely awful, since Mario Maker 1 is still better than SMM2 in...well, a whole bunch of areas. Time to never touch another game in this Maker series I guess... 💁

@Gwynbleidd my guess is that it’s the opposite.... really not enough people on the system to make it worth while. Can’t imagine there being more than a hundred thousand people still using the original MM.

That said, I am not buying games like this anymore, regardless of platform. I don’t have many to begin with, but still a bummer. Splatoon will be next. At least Splatoon 2 has some off line stuff.

@rockodoodle SMM has PLENTY of offline stuff. It’s not going completely offline, just the new level upload part.

@EmmatheBest That’s a bit harsh. They’re only killing the ability to upload new courses, and there are millions of courses already online that you’ll still be able to download.

The game will remain playable......so unless you thrived uploading courses continuously, your post-March experience won’t change much. I agree that Nintendo should transfer the courses to the Switch server.

Is Nintendo still assigning human level moderators to the game? That is probably a good reason for them to cut off uploads, even if the downloads would continue.

@Moistnado That would be rude, like if Doug Bowser just suddenly walked into the room and ripped the controller out of your hands and said "No more!"

@gaga64 It's better in a lot of ways. It's a different game so it has it's own rules, like you can't duck in SMB 1 or 3, there's like 100 challenge events that unlock mystery mushroom costumes, giant Mario (there were 2 color variants) could walk straight into a a pile of bricks to smash them, you could enter a pipe if it had 1 block over top of it, 100 Mario Challenge was more focused and more fun than SMM2's Endless mode. Duck swimming with a costume would give you a speed advantage in 1 gap underwater passageways. Holding up as a costume makes your character do something cool. Weird Mario was really fun. I liked the crazy goofy death sounds that would happen occasionally with Mario falling into a pit and Peach says "Mario?" and Mario's screaming and stuff.

And how about the Fly Swatter game, it's hard but it's still a cool bonus to have it there. On the title screen, you can click "SUPER" or each letter of "MARIO MAKER" to do something fun and interesting, like the M turns upside down and Wario says Yahoo! or the 2nd A is a rocket ship. The physical code book came with it and with the codes that show all kinds of fun stuff like a video of Koji Kondo playing Super Mario Bros. music on a big piano keyboard and tips from Marie-O with cute artwork. The Mario Maker Bookmark website, it's completely invaluable to me as a Youtuber as I could just type in a code and copy and paste any foreign text and I could save the creator's level artwork thumbnail directly and they got rid of it in SMM2 so now I had to learn Japanese and get a Japanese keyboard and I've gotta crop my own pictures now and deal with an online OCR, which is all very time consuming and scrolling through the levels is just faster with the web site where I can quickly see clear percentages and like ratios and clear times to determine the best levels to bookmark, which allows you 100 at a time (I like to open 10 tabs at once so I don't need to wait to open each web page).

They had overlapping pipes, sometimes a tricky level you wouldn't know where to go but there's a pipe hiding behind another pipe so you duck in just the right place and there you go. The randomization was different as well for things like Magikoopas and such. In SMM1 it's truly random so you could have levels where you leave the controller on the ground and die every few seconds but 1 in 1000 tries you might get lucky, but that doesn't happen in SMM2 since the randomization is tied to what button inputs you do on the controller, so it's not really random anymore.

In the era of server virtualization, I struggle with the 'cost of servers' argument. Just scale the VS down and shift the resources to a different VS for a newer game. The profits generated by the sale of AC Amiibo cards alone should feed all the server hamsters.

@Moon

Curious to hear your argument as to why SMM1 is better than SMM2.

Jesus, I thought it was for Mario Maker 2! I thought, already?!?! Lol

@Gwynbleidd then 3ds version can share levels locally at least!

I don't think the WiiU version has any other ways to share your levels.

Not too surprising as I can't imagine there are more than a few thousand (or even hundred) people actively designing courses in Mario Maker 1 at this point.

Mario Maker 2 is a sales underperformer, but it has still greatly outsold its predecessor and is straight-up a better level designer than the first.

@RushDawg
The one thing that Mario Maker 1 does better than Mario Maker 2 is the consmetic quirks, from the Amiibo costumes and Skinny Mario, to the fact that you can interact with the SUPER MARIO MAKER letters in the title screen.

@dugan MM2 Won't be in danger anytime soon. Maybe 4-5 years down the line, when the game stops generating money but still costs them money to keep online.

Kind of like how I would imagine MM is now anyway, hence why their dropping it.

It was bound to happen eventually, and I am thankfully much like with Disney Infinity 3.0 that I already downloaded the levels I was most interested in.

@dugan they supported MM1 for about 5 years. I personally think they’ll support MM2 and all of the popular 1st party multiplayer games that may or may not use NSO, like MM2, Splatoon 2, and Smash at least until the new console and/or the Switch dies. Maybe (and hopefully) even longer than that! I think it’s better to look at how long the Switch will last, instead of older games, because the Switch may outlast even how long the Wii lived, and also because most of these games are sequels to games on the Wii U or 3DS, and basing these new games off of older ones that were on a console that lasted for 5 years tops, I don’t think is fair. Unless they make a new game on the Switch, I see it lasting until the Switch dies. But even then, they may still support them.

I have one question though: Why did MM2 get so few content updates, even compared to the original? And why is it not as widely talked about as the original? I mean, after it came out (like after the first month or two), no one really talked about it all that much. Heck, I didn’t even know about the Link update until like March (then again, I may not have been paying attention, but usually I do for that kind of thing)! Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks this is weird, right?

@westman98 what happened that made MM2 “underperform”? Everyone was talking about it up until a month or two after it came out, but not that much after that. Now that I think of it, I think I’ve only seen one or two ads on Youtube about MM2. Maybe it was because of that?

@TG16_IS_BAE Same here! I was almost outraged, but thankfully I eventually read everything correctly, and now it all makes sense.

@AndyC_MK84 I see lots of classic style Mario stages all the time! Sure, it’s not as common as troll levels, music levels, or speed run levels, but I still see a ton of them! Just go into “Detailed Search” in Course World, and go to one of the tabs on the left, scroll all the way down until you see tags, and click on “All” to get rid of all of the tabs, and tap “Classic” and then search, and there you go! Btw, if the names aren’t exactly correct, I’m sorry, haven’t played MM2 in like a month because of school, but you should be able to get the gist of what I mean by them.

@AndyC_MK84 I kind of like MM2’s building UI, even in docked. MM1’s was better, but I think the part that 2 lacks is the charm and experimenting to see what you can combine with what to get new creations. For the most part, the only thing I can think of that MM2 even does close to this is unlocking the moon. Also, another thing 1 has over 2 imo is having a way to try to get the player back in by having you unlock new items to mess around with every day. Doing the way they did it in MM2 is like if you unlocked every character from the start in Smash Ultimate. And the Amiibo costumes too. MM2 streamlined everything both for the better and for the worse. It makes it simpler and easier to build levels for new players, but it takes away some, if not most, of the charm and fun experimentation that the first game had. If they just didn’t let you unlock next to everything when you bought the game, and got rid of the quick select thing when you hold on an item or something or a second or two, then it would be much better imo. I played the first game much more than the second mainly because of this. Half of the fun was experimenting for me! MM2 isn’t bad, I just feel like for every step forward Nintendo took with 2, they took 3 steps back from 1.

@AndyC_MK84 it’s actually the top 35 people, and I think it either ends today, or ended yesterday iirc. I’m not sure though I’ll double check.

Edit: Yeah, it ended yesterday. I believe you can still play it, but you can’t get the gold coin sadly. I wasn’t able to participate because of school, but at least we still have 2 more chances with the Smash Ultimate one and the Splatoon 2 splatfest one!

@BeastMode44
The game only ever recieved 2 or 3 major updates when it should have been getting updates every month or so.

NSMBU DX has been the clear 2D Mario game of choice for the general Switch audience as it has been outselling Mario Maker 2 since Holiday 2019.

@nab1 I should have realized the website is blue, and not red lol

@westman98 that brings me to another question: why is NSMBUD selling more than MM2, when MM2 has basically endless content?

@sanderev there is still actually a playerbase for Splatoon 1 still. MK8, though, idk.

@patbacknitro18 I don´t think splatoon 1 will close, a lot of people still play, and the whole experience is online.

@BeastMode44
The New Super Mario Bros brand is familiar and massive - the NDS and Wii entries each sold 30 million copies.

Much like with Mario Kart 8 DX, NSMBU DX is a new game to millions of people.

@BeastMode44 Yes, i agree it will be supported, the headline threw me off.

And, i totally agree that MM2 was not given enough support and publicity. I put more hours in MM2 than Odyssey. And, I would have bought DLC in a heartbeat. I play a lot of platformers and I would put MM2 in my top 3 platformers.

All the bad things happen on March 31st

@LzWinky Because they forced things to make it look like so. The entire Virtual Console library has no replacement in any of their systems, many first party games were 50% cheaper in the Nintendo Selects label, you didn’t need a subscription service to play online etc etc.

It made more sense for them to kill the system as soon as the replacement came out, and then offer more expensive alternatives on Switch. They don’t want you to come back and purchase an used Wii U.

Funny thing is - Sony didn’t do the same with the PS3. Microsoft didn’t do the same with the 360.

Nintendo should at least make MM1 courses available to play in MM2 to compensate, or add a MM1 engine to MM2.

Apolgy for bad english

Where were you wen Mario Maker for Wii U die

I was at house eating dorito when phone ring

"Mario Maker for Wii U is kil"

"no"

@Nintendo_Thumb cheers, that’s a lot more than I was aware of

It still annoys me that Nintendo stopped supporting SMM2 with new content so quickly. We never even got a single additional theme or playable character...

But I wont be surprised if the Wii U's overall online is gone within the next year or two.

Sad to hear, as I put more time into this game than probably any other game ever. But it was bound to happen some day.

Long live the U King.

I need a list of the best courses to download before the purge.

@Heavyarms55 didn’t the Wii stay online for about six years? So guessing about 2023....

@rockodoodle The Wii sold a LOT more units. Its online services brought in a lot more traffic and purchases.

I guess that means if you pick up a used Wii U and a copy of the game disc, you won’t have any of the course parts added through updates, or any of the costumes added.

As the systems and games from the age of online content start getting old enough to enter the “retro domain”, they may not be as collectible as old NES & SNES systems and games. Physical copies won’t let you keep the entire game anymore.

At least Mario Maker lives on for now with 2, which fortunately was a “sequel” that basically contained the game it was a sequel of (minus the dropped features like costumes). Now the question is how long will NIntendo support the Mario Maker concept? Will there be a future sequel to keep it in the library of whatever might replace the Switch one day, or will the whole idea phase out by then.

@Magrane fair enough... As mentioned above, there is going to be a missing component from a lot of games, lessening the value for collectors and otherwise....

@dimi I love how you ignore Gravity Rush 2 for Sony and the tons of Vita games that they stopped to support online. The reality, smart, is that those companies won't give resources to a dead failure console.

@rushiosan It's as if PS3 and 360 were successful and not a failure huh? Why the hell are you comparing it like this? Compare with the vita, which Sony literally did the same even before Nintendo.

Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, and Splatoon were the only online-oriented Wii U games to sell more than Mario Maker. Once those games lose their online component, online access for the Wii U as a whole is likely to get axed. I suspect that will happen by March 2022.

They should just turn off the wii u online support for everything in 2021 and let it finally die.

By the way, what’s up with all the discontinuation of Mario on March 31st? 3D All Stars, Mario 35, now this. Are they going to take the old games off the Switch online service next? Maybe on midnight April 1st everyone playing a Mario game will suddenly get a big “Time’s Up!” on the screen as Mario drops into the void...

@Jimsbo End of the Fiscal year. They don’t wanna carry the expense to the next FY.

@dazzleshell I probably still play my Wii U more than my Switch, so I hope they don't. Although to be honest, I was expecting Nintendo to be absolutely brutal and shut down the Wii U's online services within a year of the Switch's launch. So knowing how bad the system failed and that Nintendo probably wants to forget it ever happened, if it gets shut down soon, I can't complain.

@KingMike yes, he would rip it from your hands and say "no more" and I would say "thanks for preventing me from paying cold hard cash for a soon be unsupported game" . I hope that, at the very least they have a warning of imminent end to shelf life and a heavy discount.

I know the sequel is out and they want to push fans onto it, but these server shutdowns are a little early for a big publisher like Nintendo. It always sucks to be reminded that the games we love now like Splatoon 2 or SMM will be nuked as soon as they stop selling copies.

I enjoyed Mario Maker 1 but I haven't played it in years, and probably won't again. Maybe I will check my notifications sometime next year just for the heck of it.

I felt like by the time I was getting done with the game I would work really hard on fine tuning a level idea only to have it taken down shortly after because it wouldn't get likes.

I like Mario Maker 2 better for the most part but I played it less than MM1 so far. It's a shame that more free DLC wasn't added. Super Mario 3d world sure looks lonely in the extra play styles section.

@Noid @PickledKong64 Have I got news for you!

https://pretendo.network/

(It's still being worked on, though.)

no, not the good one

I barely touched SMM 2 on Switch, but on Wii U i made 14 levels.

I recently recorded 13 of my levels on Wii U with Elgato and uploaded them. Bruce Lee Remake, Bomb Jack Remake, Titanic, Wario's Train Adventure etc. My largest level is SMW Adventure.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJsEClpqaJIiuTVk8PziO3A/videos