If you're still using your Nintendo Wii U, a major title is about to be removed from the console's online storefront. Nintendo has announced that it will be delisting the original Super Mario Maker early next year, on January 13th, 2021. The game will be permanently removed from the Wii U eShop, and will no longer be available for purchase. That's not all, either--the game's online functionality will also be shut down a couple of months later on March 31st, 2021. After this date, you will no longer be able to upload courses to the game, look up your bookmarked courses, or rank others' courses.

Super Mario Maker originally released in 2015 for the Nintendo Wii U, and received a port to the Nintendo 3DS, with the latter lacking certain features from the console release. The game was suceeded by its sequel, Super Mario Maker 2, which released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.

Discontinuation of certain services

From March 31st 2021, it will no longer be possible to upload courses in Super Mario Maker for Wii U. On the same day, the Super Mario Maker Bookmark website will also close.

It will still be possible to play courses uploaded before the service discontinuation.

In preparation for the discontinuation of these online services, Super Mario Maker for Wii U will be removed from sale on Nintendo eShop on January 13th 2021. It will still be possible to redownload the game after this date.

There is no impact on Super Mario Maker 2 for Nintendo Switch.

We would like to thank all players for supporting Super Mario Maker for Wii U over the past five years.

Planned service end date: March 31st 2021

Please note that depending on the circumstances, these services may be discontinued earlier than the above-mentioned date.

Services that will end

• The ability to upload courses in Super Mario Maker for Wii U
• The Super Mario Maker Bookmark website
  Due to this, the following features within the software’s Course World will also become unavailable:
  
  • Updating the ranking of liked courses
  • Looking up your bookmarked courses

An error message will be displayed when trying to access these discontinued services after their end date.

Source

 

[robman62]

Don’t buy digital from Nintendo...I broke this rule with a few switch games hoping it will be different

 

[tfocosta]

That's a shame! But what is Nintendo not taking from us? They've decided to wipe out all the stuff we enjoyed in Wii U and 3DS systems. Oh well...

 

[Nomado]

So what is the course of action for my WiiU? Should I try to download as much as community created levels?

 

[tfocosta]

So what is the course of action for my WiiU? Should I try to download as much as community created levels?

You can either try that or create more of your own.

 

[MiiJack]

Is the 3ds ver. still alive? Or will it die with that?

 

[lordelan]

Thank god there's the DB: https://smmdb.net/

Still I f*cking hate such things.
Not everyone has a hacked console. Games that rely on online functionality are kind of dead if the servers are shut down.
You're not getting "forever" what you bought for 50 bucks back then.
It's more like a paid subscription for 5 years that I paid for.
Don't tell me I can still create my own courses. These games are so great because of the community and their creative levels.
Yes, I can (and I do) play SMM2 instead which is superior in every aspect but that's dying in 5 years as well and I'm glad my Switch has Atmosphère but still the majority of level creators will be gone if the circle of users will be limited to owners of hacked consoles.

Publishers should release the server application if they decide to kill it and update the game to give users the ability to input an IP.
We will always be able to play Counter Strike because anyone can host a server. That's the way.

So what is the course of action for my WiiU? Should I try to download as much as community created levels?

Since slots for downloading courses are limited your best bet is to hack your Wii U to be able to inject courses anytime from the DB I linked above.

 

[Deleted User]

F*** you nintendo. I'm still playing this game.

 

[Naendow]

It's time for a Wii U custom server. :/

 

[PatrickD85]

Hmmm not your best move Nintendo ... not your best move.

 

[Chary]

And Nintendo wonders why people hack their consoles so frequently...

 

[Stealphie]

Time to download a lot of levels then, I guess.
... and why? I don't think this game is negatively impacting MM2 in any way. Anyway, If this game is shutting down in 2021, My guess is WiiU online as a whole is shutting down in 2022... So if anyone knows how to do that shit, it's time for a custom server.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Bought it digitally. This sucks. It reminds me of Mario vs DK Tipping Stars.
Many great (Nintendo made!) levels were gone and I hadn´t played them yet.
In order to unlock all items (for the map editor) the community rushed to make "automatic win" levels and I also did so. But after the shutdown I could no longer delete these pointless levels (and they take up slots)!

 

[loler55]

Nintendo deleted all My 100 level deleted My 5000 Stars since then i waiting for Server shut down
Now i now thats all My hard Work died anyway
Have buyed mariomaker 2 and online description only for Play a few days ....
After playing IT a while without Stars i learned that mariomaker 2 become boring fast ...
Without Miiverse without Stars it dient make fun

Hope Mario maker 3 Go to the roots otherwise i dont now If i would buy it

 

[Ev1lbl0w]

Nintendo sold Super Mario Maker for 3DS with basically no online functionality, and didn't see any problem with that; why the hell is Wii U different then?

They better stop with this bullshit attitude of "you have a limited time to buy our game", I still can't believe Super Mario 3D All Stars is time-exclusive.

 

[Tweaker_Modding]

nintendo has been really anti consumer recently

 

[loler55]

nintendo has been really anti consumer recently

Cant get These Mario Pins in germany ist really anti consumer

 

[raxadian]

So the Wii U dies a year later than the 3DS then? Pokemon services for the 3DS died this year.

Ah well, Mario Maker 2 is better, a shame for all those fan made levels.

 

[MochaMilk]

As a gamer who struggles to afford the latest gaming consoles a lot of the time, I found it pleasant that I could at least play something similar to the new titles out there, as well as functional. Nice to see Nintendo taking away yet another nice thing from their fans...
What a bummer, are they going to discontinue the original Splatoon next? Or the original Mario Kart 8? This company has been a complete dumpster fire of a mess these last few months...

 

[tfocosta]

Thank god there's the DB: https://smmdb.net/

Still I f*cking hate such things.
Not everyone has a hacked console. Games that rely on online functionality are kind of dead if the servers are shut down.
You're not getting "forever" what you bought for 50 bucks back then.
It's more like a paid subscription for 5 years that I paid for.
Don't tell me I can still create my own courses. These games are so great because of the community and their creative levels.
Yes, I can (and I do) play SMM2 instead which is superior in every aspect but that's dying in 5 years as well and I'm glad my Switch has Atmosphère but still the majority of level creators will be gone if the circle of users will be limited to owners of hacked consoles.

Publishers should release the server application if they decide to kill it and update the game to give users the ability to input an IP.
We will always be able to play Counter Strike because anyone can host a server. That's the way.


Since slots for downloading courses are limited your best bet is to hack your Wii U to be able to inject courses anytime from the DB I linked above.

Thanks for sharing the DB. It's great to know that this exists and it's still running. Nowadays, we don't buy full games like we used to do back in the day before online gaming in consoles. What Nintendo is doing is such a bad thing in terms of customer service and support. They are letting their customers down. If they offered a service (in this case a server) few years ago that still has a lot of users interested today, it shouldn't matter how old it is, this on its own is supposed to be enough to keep that server alive. Same applies for the eShop, that could still give them a lot of money and would have low maintenance from their part.

It would be like buying a car - let's say a Mercedes-Benz - and stop having access to maintenance/repair assistance from Mercedes-Benz as the brand just because you own a car from the 80's that still works well and that you want to keep. It's disappointing and unfair.