The long-awaited New Super Mario Bros. Wii stage editor, Reggie!, has been released today, along with the first release of the homebrew game-patching tool, Riivolution.
Many groups and individuals have already released stages, and several are planning on remaking classic Mario titles through Reggie! In addition, a fan project titled "Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii" is already underway, having built content while beta testing Reggie! in cooperation with its developers
Like with Fatal Frame 4, gamers wishing to take full advantage of both Reggie and Riivolution will need a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, an SD card, and the Homebrew channel installed on their Wii.
I have been entirely too excited about Reggie! The opportunity to play more Super Mario Bros. stages, co-op, on the Wii is an exciting idea, and at this point, I fully intend to review complete Reggie!-made stage compilations on PixlBit. I also plan to write a simple step-by-step guide to installing the HomeBrew Channel, Riivolution, and the stage patch files to make the process a bit more simple for anyone interested in playing these stages, as well.
For those looking to see a sample of what can be done with Reggie! check out the youtube channel of the "Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii" team, here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NSMBWHacks#p/
Sweeet. Wish I had homebrew
I'll bet Nintendo could make a fortune if they were to offer new levels through DLC. Seems like kind of a missed opportunity for them.
I think Nintendo would rather do another full retail release for most of their Mario properties, even if it's the same game engine. While I'd like NSMBWii DLC from Nintendo, I'd rather not see a trickle of stages, as I think an entire world or two at a time would be a lot more fun.