So for the sake of argument let's say that Super Mario Maker sells quite well for Nintendo. It appears to be so far! That's rad.

If they were going to do DLC for the game, I sorta expect it would've been announced, since they were pretty up front about the DLC for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon. So that leaves a sequel possibility. Which is tricky, because their options are weird.

If Nintendo carried on with this Super Mario Maker idea, where do they go?

Rerelease almost the same game but with... (Game Boy like) Mario Land and Wario Land levels? Include the ability to make levels based on the (not universally liked or remembered) Super Mario Bros. 2/Super Mario Bros. USA? Or craziest of all, 3D Mario Maker, allowing you to make levels based on the polygonal Mario games, which would be an absolute nightmare to make the user experience reasonable for? Alternately, will they move on to Zelda Maker, or Metroid Maker, game franchises that aren't universally beloved, where the game design needs to have a little more complexity and sequencing to it, instead of just being "platform around until you reach the end"?

I don't think they need to particularly go anywhere. They've put out a pretty complete version aside from missing a few assets from the games.

When I think of a Metroid Maker as you proposed; people would want to make a full game. It would be tough to make a little Metroid section compelling. You'd want to design an entire map and flow. Unlocking abilities and all that jazz. I don't think it would hold much entertainment if you could just select the available power-ups for your section and have it be much fun.

Making dungeons in a Zelda game could be alright but they'd have to really work on boss options. Also Zelda games are pretty meticulously crafted where you can't use a key on the wrong door. I feel a lot of dungeons would be near unbeatable because you don't know the order of operations even if it wasn't intentional.

Complexity is what could really ruin the whole prospect. People already complain about complicated and trolly Mario Maker courses. I'd be 100% interested in whatever they came up with for this kind of thing in the future but for now I feel it's best left the way it is. A fun little one off.

I would imagine the next step is Super Mario Land Maker or a companion app for the 3DS. I would gladly pay $10-$15 if they offered a Course World app for 3DS that lets you access and play uploaded courses.

DLC is a possibility but adding something such as Super Mario Bros 2 seems like a lot of work considering how different it is from the other games. Part of the beauty of Mario Maker is that you can transition (relatively) smoothly between games as you are making a level and Super Mario Bros 2 wouldn't easily fit into that. What seems more likely, especially with that empty mystery bar, are additional elements to place in courses. It also makes sense that they haven't announced it yet. Even a month later Mario Maker is still on a lot of peoples minds (look at the viewers for The Ryckoning last night). For Nintendo its probably best to ride this free publicity out and then announce your DLC (if you have any) when it starts to fade a bit to drum up interest again.

I think the companion app would be a good call, as would extra level elements and allowing players to create worlds or chains of levels that they can export together.

I also think they could work SMB2 in there if they wanted to. You can already break a level by transitioning to a different game template (i.e. picking up objects, spin jump, etc.) and while SMB2 is a more significant change, I don't think it would be a huge problem. Would be cool to see SMB levels remixed in the SMB2 template.

I dunno, the ability to change the music would be nice. And obviously just adding in the stuff it doesn't have already, like a Desert pack. Or even just some different backgrounds with new music.

Having level links like LBP3 would be cool, too (or even just a proper search/tag system).

Have there been a lot of game specific news out of them since Iwata passed? I feel like there being no Nintendo Directs could be contributing to the lack of updates on dlc or such. Or maybe it's just that I don't follow Nintendo news any other way.

Personally, I'd want some DLC with new background themes, like one with water at the bottom, water rising & sinking, cloud theme and snow/ice. Checkpoint implementation would also be nice, and a few more enemies.

For a sequel I'd take more of everything, with a focus on things that would be unlikely to be implemented in the form of dlc. More options to make vertical levels, looping levels, pipes that start and end on the same screen and a way to direct the autoscrolling a little more. Throw Mario 2 enemies in there and make them usable in any theme.

I also feel like the NSMB theme is actually limiting what's implemented, since their sprites are probably the hardest to produce new stuff for. With a second game, maybe some work could go into producing all new stuff even for that.

As far as sharing features go, I'm mostly fine with how it is, but I guess a tagging system you could search by wouldn't hurt.

I kinda wish they did some big addition pack as DLC for Super Mario maker.

That allows more tools, checkpoints, bigger levels and being able to create a world that goes from level to level.

Checkpoints would be great for some of the longer levels, do you think they should save the world state when you go through them? Or just reset everything when you die?

Some way of making the hills & slopes from SMB3 would be cool. I don't know that I would want them to add too much though, I feel like the simplicity of the tool set is a lot of what makes the game so enjoyable.

Super Mario Maker Maker

Design your own Super Mario Maker with adjustable gating of features, variable maximum memory capacity, multiple methods of browsing existing levels and more!

Mario 2 dlc would be neat. I hate that game, but it would still be neat.

Just port it to 3ds entirely, job done. And remove the NSMB assets entirely.

Yoshi's Island Maker?

Phanto

I'd say add new environments and enemies in those styles. Hearing ghost music in a game without ghost houses is fucking nuts. Just imagine adding more stuff that didn't exist in those games, but with the same type of art.

We'd get a Super Mario Super World, or Mario 3-2. I suppose Lost Levels is kind of what I'm getting at, with that poison mushroom as an example.

Also, hills. And abilites to make an expanded game with linked stages. Not necessarily a full game, but 8 stages or so with your own custom world map.

3DS would be nice, replays would be nice, but the thing that it desperately needs right now is a better way to filter and share levels. And challenges would be nice. Hey, I found this neat level! What would my friend think about this, oh, I need to write down the code, go to social media or miiverse and type it out and hope he notices. I made a level and beat it super fast/ with a great score, try to beat me! No way to do that unless you leave a comment and hope people notice. Those wouldn't be hard things to do, but they would make a world of difference and add a lot of longevity.

I think they need a way to link different levels you have made, so that you can carry over lives and collectable. Make you own 10 level challenge and other things like that. A few new "texture" packs that changed the textures on basic elements would also be nice. It woudl be nice if you could have 700 characters of text move with the level so you could add signs, and instructions inside the levels, maybe even tell a tiny story.

@monkeyking1969: Allowing you to easily put text in levels won't happen because it's a moderating nightmare for Nintendo.

Since the Game Boy games are the ones I have the most personal reverence for, that's what I'd love to see happen. I haven't even played Super Mario Land in over 20 years, but the level 1 music is still playing on repeat in my head.

@fisk0: Super Mario Land 2 has some especially dope music. I played through it recently on the 3DS, and wow, does that game ever hold up. Also I think I just really have a lot of nostalgia for the Game Boy sound chip.

Zelda maker.

Add slopes, pools of water in non-water environments, enemies items and hazards that are missing, better functionality on the search and organization frontends.

Also a way to have a graduated item box. Something that pops out a mushroom when you're small and a fire flower when you're big, etc.

The creation of worlds would be a huge boost, so that coins had any sort of discernible meaning, I'd also allow some of the current tools to be expanded, i.e. there's no reason to not allow Yoshi in SMB or SMB3, or allow the various "flight" power ups into all the games eg the cape in SMB3 or the feather in NSMB

Super Mario Maker 64

Can't you make your own tracks in Mario Kart 8? I think that would be a neat idea to use the Gamepad. It would make it incredibly easy to sketch out your own track. I know it isn't specifically related to Super Mario, but I was thinking about other franchises that Nintendo could do a Maker type game. Mario Kart Maker.

Probably right...would be nice however. That would allow Jeff/Dan to write Police State more often.

Creation of worlds seems like the next big step. Especially if it means power ups carry through from one level to the next. Which means that you can't just slot in existing levels from SMM, as you don't have that guarantee that players always start as small Mario. (Ex. Someone could start with a cape and bypass your whole level.)

I'd also like some quality of life features like being able to watch playthroughs of users who finished or attempted your levels, and being able to get a more useful view of all user deaths. This would give you more feedback on where users had problems and why they abandoned a level.

And a SMM web portal, where you can review and share all your levels, or find others' levels, would be great. But that's something they could do for the current game, too.

Bring in some characters and maybe even some mechanics from the 3D games like F.L.U.D.D. (could be brought in as a powerup perhaps) retrofitted into a 2d sidescrolling view .

Maybe mash Sunshine/64/Galaxy1&2/3DWorld&3DLand aspects into a new tileset called 2D world or some such.

I guess I hadn't really thought of making another Mario Maker but it does make sense, I suppose they could always fill in some of the pieces from world they had left out.

I'd sorta like to see maybe some stuff from the GB Mario Land games, also the ability to basically make like your own worlds with connected levels would be nice.

I think they'll start with DLC packs containing a few new objects / soundeffects / costumes / backgrounds.

Maybe a hot Mercedes-Benz deal

After that, i could see Mario Kart Maker being a thing.

I just want more objects and enemies for Mario Maker as well as being able to make slopes and vertical levels. Expand Mario Maker.

ADD THOSE SICK FENCES YOU HAD TO PUNCH TO FLIP

I want it to just go on indefinitely.Bring it forward with every new console Nx and beyond.

I want those terrifying blenders from Cheese Bridge

Also this. I can see people getting horribly devious with those.

Desert Environment and Super Mario All-Stars tileset.

ALSO: THOSE HILLS YOU COULD BUTT-SLIDE DOWN. IMAGINE THE LINE-RIDER-ESQUE LEVELS.

Allow us to delete bookmarks in-game or have levels removed from the queue upon completion? Or did I miss something?

More music options for levels.

More level templates (desert world, specifically)

A more complete enemy set. I want EVERYTHING.

Being able to create series of worlds (ie 1-1, 1-2, 1-3., etc).

A more robust search/bookmarking tool that isn't tied to a browser.

Being able to include your audio samples in uploaded levels, not just local ones (I know this isn't happening, just really would be awesome if they did it)

Put it on a platform that people actually own.

No sequels, they'll Street Fighter it and just release Super Mario Maker Ultra, Super Mario Maker Super Turbo, Super Mario Maker vs. Tekken, etc.

I don't know if it will ever happen, but if they added Super Mario Bros 2 (USA) stuff to Super Mario Maker that would be rad. But if they were going to do the Mario Maker treatment to another game, Castlevania or Metroid would be great!