As senior manager of Nintendo’s third party relations, Damon Baker has lots of experience working with developers on special collaborations. Minecraft: Wii U Edition’s Mario Mash up pack, a free update coming this week, set a new milestone for him. “This is the most IP integration in a third-party game that I can remember,” Baker.

Baker isn’t kidding. A collaboration between Nintendo, Minecraft-maker Mojang, and developer 4J Studios pulled out all the stops to put Mario in this Wii U-exclusive mash-up pack. Gamers will find 40 Mario-themed skins, which they can use to dress up the game’s characters as familiar heroes and villains from the Mushroom Kingdom. All the world and item textures are redone, letting players create their own Super Mario-themed locations. Nintendo also licensed 15 pieces of music from Super Mario 64. Enemies have been re-skinned as well. The update transforms wolves into Poochy and sheep into Koopas. Despite the new look and sound, Baker assures us Minecraft’s base gameplay has not changed.

You could describe the Super Mario Mash-up pack as a skin pack for Minecraft Wii U: Edition but that would be selling it short. The colorful new blocks and skins give players the tools to build whatever they want in Mojang's popular sandbox game. What makes core Minecraft so special is the sheer possibilities of what you can create. As part of this collaboration, developer 4J Studio did just that by building a hub world for Nintendo's popular mascot.“
This is the most IP integration in a third-party game that I can remember

The result of 4J Studio’s effort is a huge, multi-part overworld full of homages to the last three decades of Super Mario. You might recognize parts of it from the announcement trailer for the Mario mash-up pack a week ago, and it's got a bunch plenty of fanservice for Mario diehards. You can explore a re-created version of Peach’s Castle from Super Mario 64, or run through the streets of Delfino Plaza. But that's only the beginning. Nintendo showed us several locations lovingly made in Minecraft. Each individual zone has lovingly re-created art from 8-bit sprites. The Angry Sun from Super Mario Bros. 3 hangs in the desert stage, iconic power-ups like the Super Mushroom or Fire Flower can be seen in the distance. You’ll even see full 3D monuments dedicated to classic characters. It even has Bowser's castle, a large fortress that's tucked away in the Nether.

Baker and representatives for Nintendo took me on a brief tour through Mario’s Minecraft pack and showed off its zany appeal. We started out as Birdo running through the re-made Mushroom Kingdom. Using armor packs players can customize their characters, so we quickly dressed the purple creature in a Frog suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. This combination might sound like heresy to devout fans, but it’s part of the anything-goes charm of Minecraft.


Baker shared a few details about how the partnership between Nintendo, Mojang, and 4J Studio -- the developer that ported Minecraft to video game consoles -- came together. Despite what Baker describes as a long time appreciation of Mojang's wonderful sandbox game, Minecraft: Wii U Edition wasn't green-lit until Fall 2014. Once the partnership was established, all companies involved decided to move quickly and prep Minecraft Wii U for launch in December 2015. The Mario Mash-up Pack is the next step in the collaboration but, because it's a free update, it is unclear what's the metric of success here. Would Nintendo consider another IP for future partnership? It's not hard to see Zelda, Pokemon, or many other characters from Nintendo's stable made in Minecraft. Baker didn't reveal any plans for another partnership, but he told fans should be vocal about what they want to see next.

Time will tell if Nintendo will sign up for another Minecraft collaboration, but the first one hits the idea out of the park. Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker celebrated 30 years of 2D platforming by giving fan a clever level construction kit. Mario’s Mash-up for Minecraft pack feels like a solid after-party, one that lets players build a Mario-themed world using Mojang’s wonderful bricks.