Super Mario Maker 2's Ninji Speedruns, an online mode featuring special courses designed by Nintendo, will soon host its final challenge.
The mode gives players a chance to compete against each other to submit their fastest times on each course; each challenge typically lasts for a week, and old courses remain online so that they're replayable just for fun. Nintendo has confirmed that the 20th course, due to arrive in-game on 14th April, will be the last of the series.
Ending things with a bang, the 20th course will actually go live for double the duration, lasting two weeks in total, and follows the 19th Ninji Speedrun which is live from today. Today's challenge (lasting until 24th March) tasks players with being the fastest to collect 100 coins.
With no future content being publicly announced by Nintendo, this could potentially be the end of new activities for Super Mario Maker 2. Of course, the original game on Wii U, Super Mario Maker, is having its online servers discontinued at the end of this month alongside plenty of other Mario takedowns.
Have you been taking part in the Mario Maker Ninji Speedruns? Will you be sad to see them go? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendo.co.jp, via twitter.com]
Comments 54
watch them reveal mario maker 3 like a month later like they did splatoon 3 lol (jk)
Oof, I play this a lot, and seeing this hurts.
Plot twist: It's next month, not end of this month.
I just realized Ninji looks like fall guys people
If it was ruined for me, it will be ruined for you too
The Super Mario Maker servers aren't going offline, they're just disabling new uploads and bookmark website. The servers are still going to be there to play the levels, I'm not sure why I keep reading that here.
RIP Mario Maker...
It really is a shame that they couldn't keep it as relevant as the first game. I feel like they hurt themselves by removing all the energy and wackiness that the first game had. Perhaps the Wii U really was the perfect system for the game and it was just too difficult to replicate the experience on the switch.
Either way, it sucks to see this even though I didn't play many of the Ninji Speedruns, it just represents Nintendo letting go of what was a great game with a greater community.
Awful support they never bothered to bring back bookmarks or curated lists so it’s utterly dominated by QTE Speedrun levels and those 3D World visual/audio spam levels, the new course elements they added in updates are great but how are you supposed to find quality traditional levels inside the game itself?
The additional content was nice, but playing the levels designed by other users has always been the largest appeal for me.
@SalvorHardin I picked this up just last weekend and yeah, I've been kind of lost finding decent "normal" levels to play.
@SalvorHardin
It's not optimal, but you just need to spend some time in the game playing random endless levels until you find makers you like. Sometimes the trending levels aren't bad. You can easily tell the 3D World spam levels at a glance, so don't play them obviously.
It's not as good as curated lists by a long shot, but there are tons of great levels and makers out there.
I love the Ninji levels, and it just feels sad that there’s only one more after this one
I won't really miss the Ninji levels, they are usually not that good. (compared to community levels) And I mostly create levels in the game, instead of playing them.
@PBandSmelly - No one authorized this abuse of power.
All this game needed was stuff that they took out of the first game. Bring back the flyswatter mini game, the weird powerups, bookmarks and the amiibo costumes!
@PBandSmelly And among us
Also, funny how no one is all that upset for Nintendo ending content.
Not even 2 years after release, what a shame...
It's such a shame Nintendo dropped support for this game so quickly. It could have been so much more relevant for so much longer. They could have brought more characters after Link, more objects, more updates. But they just......stopped, abruptly.
I don’t play this as much as I should. I have a hope that Nintendo will announce Gameboy to Switch Online, and to celebrate give us a Super Mario Land 2 mode in the extra section. Theres still that one spot.
@PBandSmelly Nah, it just makes me want a Ninji costume in fall guys
I have played all of the available ones in the last two weeks or so. I will be all caught up with the release of this one!
I don’t understand why Nintendo don’t treat mario maker as an ongoing evergreen title. The mario community turn to rom hacks to build the content they want and make a better job of it than Nintendo. Its crazy to me that Luna magic has more development than mario maker.
I hate how Nintendo just refuse to support these games for longer. Half their library these days is stuff that’s incomplete at launch and needs to be updated so why can’t Mario maker keep getting updated I just wish they viewed it more like splatoon
Eh, I haven't played this game the day shortly after Version 3.0's launch update, but I'll admit that (especially as a huge Mario fan myself) I'm pretty saddened with this announcement.
@theiRiS Maybe it's not fair to look at it that way, but Nintendo's been pumping out games lately with very few incentive to release downloadable content for those 1st party games, including the payed content that would probably encourage more people to keep playing and net them some more profit, much like how Smash Ultimate is still doing. Who knows, maybe if this whole pandemic didn't happen we'd probably get more content out of this game. As it stands, Nintendo should probably fix their internet infrastructure and do something to give more players a reason to go back to playing their slightly older games like Mario Tennis Aces, Mario Kart 8 DX, Super Mario Party, and other multiplayer games.
@Dizzymario Yep Nintendo refuses to have continued support. How long have games like Minecraft, Overwatch, and Stardew Valley gotten continuous support? We've gotten to the point where games don't really need sequels anymore if they don't make sense. Mario Maker is one of those games that should just get more and more things added to it. Yes Overwatch 2 is happening, but it's more of an expansion pack. I'm pretty sure if you have 1 you can play any new character they plan on adding in Overwatch 2.
@Radbot42 Yep, Minecraft does it right, and Nintendo does it wrong. They greedily grab our money with teased content and then shut off that content. It's an anti-consumer attitude. I remember when I used to be able to buy a PS2 game and play it forever. Now we're renting everything.
@Nintendo_Thumb
Same here. Nintendo was pretty clear in their announcement that they were only removing the ability to upload new levels - existing ones will remain and be playable.
@Radbot42 I think the worst part is there’s a very good chance we never see Mario maker again considering how Nintendo is and I can imagine they’d justify it with the fact it was outsold by a wii u port
@Minecraft_Master Off topic, but, Java or Bedrock?
It sold very badly so it sort of makes sense that they'd discontinue support. Still, wasn't the whole idea of paid online that they'd continue providing additional content? It seems Mario Maker 1 (free online + bookmark site + gamepad) was superior to Mario Maker 2.
@Low_ink Bedrock.
@Minecraft_Master Nice! I must agree, even if only for performance's and ray tracing's sake. If you don't mind, I have a few more questions.
1 bed color
2 creative or survival
3 villagers or, just no
@Euler it really didn’t sell badly it’s still in the top 15 best selling switch games
@Euler
Nintendo never made any promise regarding how long they would support their online games with free content updates.
As long as Nintendo's online games don't have recurrent in-game monetization via MTX/lootboxes/seasonal battle passes to generate additional revenue + profits, don't expect those titles to have unlimited free updates.
Ripperoni in pepperoni
@ian_beale
Check in Reddit - Mario Maker subreddit for courses that people share. I am sure you can find something good.
@Dizzymario And it's in the bottom two or three 2D Mario games.
@westman98 They're not free updates if they're based on a monthly subscription, one that wasn't necessary for Mario Maker 1. It makes sense that they should improve the service (which they haven't) if they're going to raise the price (which they did).
@SalvorHardin I think that Mario Maker 2 should have a possibility for PLAYERS to tag the levels of the creators with a genre (like traditional, puzzle, gimmicky, autoplay) that way it would be easier to find more appealing levels, for example by searching for levels that were tagged "traditional" by the majority of players.
@ian_beale yeah. That was a bummer for me as well. I try to make mine like Mario 1/3 classic levels. Check my levels out! SM4- V43- 023 is one. I assume you can see the others from there as well. . I just got 3 hernias repaired(in recovery room right now). Plan to make more while laying in bed over the next couple weeks. Cheers!
@Euler
A NSO subscription is not a paywall to Mario Maker updates. Many of the updates include new content and features that anyone can access regardless of whether you are playing online or not.
@westman98 The new features being severely limited (you can't play other people's levels or upload your own) if you don't subscribe. You're still paying more for a service that isn't any better.
@Euler
An NSO subscription and Mario Maker updates are still entirely separate things. The same thing applies to updates for other online games such as Splatoon 2 or Animal Crossing.
@Paraka I'm actually severely hurt every time Nintendo and to my knowledge I've made that comment on here every time it's occurred the past few years. The most depressing one for me has been Arms because it's just such a fun, chaotic game that didn't get the love it deserved. Though I also lamented when Splatoon 2 ceased their live events, I never really played aside from those events because I enjoyed hanging in the plaza looking at doodles. Surprisingly... Mario Tennis events are still on-going; however, they're just looping old events at this point, which I appreciate since I missed some by accident during the initial run. I wish they'd continue to loop the old events for people like me who missed events... It wouldn't be so bad if they just looped the events perpetually for those who missed out the first time.
@Wilforce - I get it, but you are not all. People here also think 2 million units sold is an abysmal failure. As long as the argument satisfies the agreeable narrative for the time.
Not a fan of Nintendo canceling a game? It's a declaration of war. Don't like Fortnite news being covered? Declare it the worst affront on the system. A service stops active development to a game you like? Game is officially dead in the water.
The reality is simple; Most games don't even get a year of active post development, but games like Shantae are praised without being dead before launch, you know, because it has no future developments after release. Would it be neat? Sure, but if Nintendo did that, they'd have no teams really developing, well... Anything.
@Paraka I think part of the issue is that Nintendo is positioning many of their titles as if they were live services, but then cutting the cable at some point (usually at a point where only the die hard fans would be affected the most). They likely stop support once games are no longer deemed self-sustaining and profitable. In my eyes, they haven't really found a cadence yet in how much support do their multiplayer games need after launch, how do you fund that content development without causing controversy, and what type of content should be added. We're literally seeing that play out every other month with Smash character announcements, and the arguments are a bit disappointing - I just appreciate the continued support. I still look back on the original Switch ad where they showcased Splatoon OWL style tournaments that never materialized as something that could've been.
@Phenzy don't get me wrong, having tried to make levels that are actually fun, I have every sympathy for why most user generated content is terrible - it's really hard!
I will definitely check your levels out - thanks for the nudge; and for the bonus hernia chat! I'd wish you a speedy recovery, but if your levels are good then it's really in the community's interest that you spend a few more months on your back.
@Euler yeah if a whopping 1 2d Mario game it has to compete against that came out earlier than it the same year. A better comparison would be against all Mario games on switch where it is in the middle, higher selling than aces which got a year of new content rather than 9 months
Guess I should actually try to figure out what those are and try one...
(Nah I’ve dabbled, but don’t know all the details.)
@Wilforce - We claimed Nintendo positioned themselves as services,, not them.. even interviews stated such..
Nintendo isn't fully to blame for tournaments being bunk. Community is what drives the success of those things. Period.
You can say Splatoon 2 had a huge community, but I can name many that did, but the competitive scene wasn't. Why support that bit when next to none really cared beyond the idea? For every successful competitive scene that emerges I can tell you ten that don't.
@chipia you can already do that in the Detailed Search tab, they have Puzzle, Auto-Mario, Traditional, Speedruns, etc., and you can sort by Most Popular levels, so you only play the cream of the crop, recent levels, and sort by your preferred difficulty rating (I prefer Expert). The players can't name the level type, but, the creators do and I think their opinion on their level types is just as valid as a crowd determining it.
@Dizzymario The other 2D Mario game being a Wii U port, of course. But you're correct, it did indeed outsell Mario Tennis.
@NikHogan I would actually be happy about a Mario Maker 3 because there was a lot left out like a ton of stuff they need to add, but namely water tiles so you can have water anywhere on any stage type.
I think that the problem of the game's relatively low popularity (for a mario game) is that the VERY generous updates were released way too late. Hence the original release was mostly a port of the original Mario Maker.
If World Maker, Koopalings, Link and SMB2-Mushroom were there from the beginning, I'm sure the game would have caused much more of a stir.
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