You Have to Unlock the Night Theme in Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 expands on everything that was in the previous two Mario Maker titles. This includes the various styles and themes available in the Course Maker. There are five game styles available when you boot up Super Mario Maker 2: Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros U, and Super Mario 3D World. There are also ten course themes-Ground, Sky, Underground, Forest, Underwater, Ghost House, Desert, Airship, Snow, and Castle-compared to the six in previous games.

There's another new twist on the formula though. Nintendo has added day and night versions for every theme, even going so far as to include new soundtracks for the night themes. Night Mode courses also alter the world's properties, like making 1-Up Mushrooms into Rotten Mushrooms, or making the Castle theme operate like you're underwater. Unfortunately, the night themes aren't available under the Super Mario 3D World style.

Unlike Super Mario Maker, most of the items for building are unlocked and available when you first open up the game. Night themes are one of the exceptions. But worry not, because they're pretty easy to unlock.

If you're ready to play around with the Night theme, let me be your guide. Just go into Course Maker, and drop the new Angry Sun in your level. Move the cursor over your new sun, then press and hold A. This should bring up the options menu for the sun. Switch it over to the Moon and voila, Night themes are unlocked. Have fun switching up the action on players of your likely fiendish levels!

Super Mario Maker 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch on June 28, 2019. We've got a detailed look at how Super Mario Maker 2's Story Mode is a great way to learn how to use the Course Creator.