Super Mario Maker at 10: Nintendo’s Shutdown Turned Millions of Fan Levels Into Lost History
Super Mario Maker turned ten this year, and its online life is already partly gone: Nintendo shut down online services for the Wii U version in 2024, and that change removed the game’s core sharing features. Players can still use the level editor locally, but they can no longer upload or browse community levels on the original Wii U release.
- Online shutdown and what it removed
- Legacy and differences between the two games
- How the community used Mario Maker
- Why Nintendo hasn’t repeated the experiment
Online shutdown and what it removed
In 2024, Nintendo ended online services for Super Mario Maker on Wii U. Consequently, players lost the ability to share and download user-created courses on that version. Locally, the course editor still works, so creating and testing levels remains possible, but the social features that powered discovery and viral content are no longer available.
Legacy and differences between the two games
Mario Maker 2 on Nintendo Switch remains online and active in 2025, and it sold more copies than the original Wii U release. The Switch version also benefited from launching on a far more successful console. However, many observers note that the first game had a distinct cultural impact when it launched in 2015, because it introduced Nintendo’s core characters to a broad, user-driven creation tool for the first time.
How the community used Mario Maker
The 2015 release let creators build and share levels across a wide audience. As a result, niche communities—such as Kaizo creators who had previously used fan tools—reached more players through mainstream visibility. Streamers and YouTubers popularized extremely difficult “impossible” levels and viral reinterpretations of classic stages, which were often played and discussed broadly during the pandemic era.
At the same time, Nintendo enforced content rules. Some players made glitch-heavy or rule-breaking courses, and a small number of creators continued to try sharing such content despite enforcement actions. For an example, see reporting on players risking bans, according to this Kotaku article.
Literally WTF pic.twitter.com/IluVgysIpm
— SuperSisi (@supersisi_) September 15, 2025
Some iconic community levels have been delisted or are otherwise inaccessible now that the Wii U online services are gone. Therefore, specific viral courses from the original Mario Maker era can no longer be experienced through Nintendo’s servers.
Why Nintendo hasn’t repeated the experiment
Nintendo has not released a comparable maker toolkit for other major series such as The Legend of Zelda or Pokémon. The company has kept smaller creative tools in some titles; for instance, Nintendo included a sculpting mode in Donkey Kong Bananza. According to Nintendo, finding staff with experience in pixel art and limited palettes was a “challenge” during development of the original Mario Maker. Thus, developing other 2D toolkits could require specific skills that are less common inside a company focused on 3D projects.
In summary, the Wii U shutdown removed the social spine of the original Mario Maker, the Switch sequel remains active, and Nintendo has not issued an equivalent creation toolkit for its other flagship franchises. These are the confirmed facts about the ten-year history and current status of the series.
