Nintendo Direct opened in an unexpected way, with a well thought out trailer for what looked like it may be a Super Mario Maker port. Luckily for fans it’s not in fact a port, but a fully fledged sequel. Not only that, but the wait for the game isn’t too long either, with the release date being shown as sometime in June.

The first Super Mario Maker game is a side-scrolling platform game, which allows you to create, play and share your own platform courses. It was released for the Wii U back in September of 2015. The concept first came about as an internal project for Nintendo’s development team. However, they soon realized the potential to translate the idea into a fully fledged game.

Courses in the original game are based on the style of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U. The sequel’s trailer appears to show the addition of a Super Mario 3D World style option, as well as the return of some, if not all, of the original modes.

Most notably the trailer also featured the iconic Lucky Bell power-up, which turns Mario into the much loved Cat Mario, allowing him to climb walls. The first game briefly featured Cat Mario, but only as a costume which you had to unlock. Having the Lucky Bell power-up is a nice addition.

Another welcome addition appears to be the ability to add slopes, which was lacking in the first game. The interface also appears to have been changed slightly, with the addition of radial menus which look interesting. Although it’s not obvious from the trailer exactly how they work in relation to the Switch’s touch screen and joy-con controllers.

Another thing which hasn’t been addressed as yet is if there is any compatibility between the two games in terms of downloading and sharing courses. It’s also unclear as to if sharing courses online will be enabled in the sequel.

As the trailer closes it’s great to see a maker Luigi appear, joining his brother. I’m not sure how he fits into things but I’m sure more information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Super Mario Maker 2 will be launching on Nintendo Switch in June 2019.