Over 100 Facebook employees flew to Silicon Valley, California last weekend, where they were invited by Nintendo to participate in a two-day “hackathon”— a level designing competition for the upcoming video game Super Mario Maker. Ok, so we’re not talking about the usual “hacking” that requires advanced coding skills. Instead, Nintendo hosted the competition as a fun way to hype up Mario’s upcoming 30th birthday party.
Hacking Super Mario
Facebook employees who grew up carrying the mustachioed plumber in red through level after increasingly-difficult level, across a myriad of different games spanning every Nintendo console since the original Nintendo Entertainment System had the chance to design their own levels, with Super Mario Maker. The 100 contestants had two days to finish designing a level however they pleased.
The reward? Besides the chance to play with the upcoming Super Mario Maker’s new features, the winning contestant would have their created level included with each sold copy of Super Mario Maker as an available download.
After two days of hard work, making sure every detail was perfect down to the last Goomba and POW block, Facebook employees Roy McElmurry and Doug Strait won the grand prize for their level, called Ship Love. The level will take place on a pirate ship, and includes a wide arrange of tricky obstacles and enemies to conquer, including abysmal gaps and hungry Chain-Chomps. Ship Love will be available for download with the game’s release on September 11th.
Bring in the New!
Nintendo is ready to break new ground (literally) with their upcoming Super Mario Maker: an upcoming download for the Wii U which allows players the chance to reminisce in the nostalgia of playing old Super Mario games, while using their own creativity to design new and interesting worlds to navigate Mario and his friends through.
Players will be given the option of creating levels from four different 2D Mario game formats: the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U.
While the physics of each format will stay true to their original games, items such as the Koopa Clown Car—an item exclusive to very few Mario games—will be available to use across all formats. Players can also summon an army of Mario’s enemies, placing hordes of short-tempered Bomb-ombs and and bone-crushing Thwomps on and around carefully placed blocks and other Mario scenery.
The First Crowdsourced Video Game Maker
Far from just a normal level-designer, Nintendo has decided to pull out all the stops, letting players upload their own levels onto their Wii U profile, where others who own the game can download and/or recommend them to other players. While starts with a 10-level upload limit, the more popular your games become online, the more you will be allowed to show off your creative genius.
Super Mario Maker has already been receiving rave-reviews from gaming giant IGN, praising its user-friendly format, while also presenting players with a limitless world in which creative juices can flow freely, without ever feeling restricted.
One of the most anticipated games to be released in 2015, Super Mario Maker will hit the shelves on September 11th, giving Mario a birthday we’ll never forget.
Don’t forget your past, but don’t forget to embrace the VR:
