It’s a-me and you! Super Mario Maker 2 now lets you play online with friends

By Gabe Gurwin October 2, 2019

Super Mario Maker 2 is an exceptional sequel in many respects, but the game originally launched without a way to enjoy the game online with your friends. Instead, you were matched up with random players, but the game’s most recent update has fixed this shortcoming.

Available today, the latest Super Mario Maker 2 update adds a new “Play with friends” button in the network play section. Through this option, you can play the versus multiplayer mode, or jump into a cooperative game. The option supports courses you have uploaded to the Course World or saved on your Coursebot, and you can use the Nintendo Switch Online app to voice chat during gameplay. Because this still requires a phone, however, we recommend something like Discord or Skype, instead.

Just like with the first game, there is plenty of garbage you have to sift through in Super Mario Maker 2‘s user-created levels, and the update also added an “Official Makers List” in the leaderboards, which lets you easily find courses made by Nintendo itself.

Other smaller quality-of-life changes were added to the game in the update, as well, so you’ll want to hop back on and start falling into pits of death all over again. A “Play Together” button is visible directly on players’ profiles, and all modes support horizontal Joy-Con play. This won’t apply to those with the new Switch Lite, but it does mean that a regular Switch with its attached controllers will be enough for two players to enjoy every mode while on the go.

Super Mario Maker 2 has shown just how immensely creative and talented the Nintendo community can be. We’ve played levels that riff on series like Contra and Pokémon, complete with gameplay mechanics that Nintendo never could have anticipated working in a Mario game. The additions of switches and sloped platforms in the Switch game might seem small, but they’ve allowed for more complex and ambitious course designs. If you haven’t picked the game up yet, now is the perfect time to jump in.

Super Mario Maker 2 is available now exclusively for Nintendo Switch. Online play requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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