No More Squad Goals
Nintendo showed off Super Mario Maker 2’s new four-player competitive and co-op online modes earlier this month. While fans are getting excited by the news, Nintendo has also confirmed that players will not only be able to play with their friends but can only get matched up with random people on the Internet.
According to Nintendo World Report, a Nintendo Treehouse representative had announced in a press event last week that the game will not allow players to matchmake with friends online. The only way to play with friends is to do so locally.
Nintendo’s Statement
The YouTube channel GameXplain asked Nintendo about NWR’s report, and was given the following statement:
“This is true. As the game is now, you cannot create friend lobbies online. You can only play online with randoms. You can still get friends together and play with local play, and you’re free to play with four players on one Nintendo Switch system. You can also still challenge your friends to your creations and take on their designs through Course IDs and having them follow your Maker profile.”
GameXplain also added that while friends can play online courses together locally on the same Switch, they can’t matchmake with other people online. So, if you and your buddy want to play in an online course together, you can’t matchmake to backfill the other two slots.
Unusual Restrictions
Many people found it a weird restriction considering that several of Nintendo’s other multiplayer games on the Switch have ways of playing online with your friends. Examples of this are Splatoon 2, in which you can join friends’ matches or set up private online battles. Also, in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you simply select someone who’s racing online to join them. Even in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in which you can create exclusive arenas online that friends can then join.
We can remember that Nintendo has also gone to great lengths to emphasize Mario Marker 2’s multiplayer potential. Earlier this month, the company announced the Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational 2019 where a group of players will battle at E3 in the game’s multiplayer competitive mode.
The NWR also said that the reason why Nintendo did not allow matchmaking online with friends is that it would provide a way for players to potentially work together to boost one another’s rankings on the game’s competitive leaderboards. However, as NWR emphasized, the game’s online cooperative mode doesn’t have leaderboards, and matchmaking with friends isn’t allowed in that mode either.
