Super Mario Maker 2 is the first Mario game to be released during the Reiwa era – the reign of Naruhito as Emperor of Japan – following the abdication of Akihito on April 30, 2019. To commemorate this, Nintendo of Japan's Instagram account posted a video concurrently with Naruhito's ascension on May 1 where Mario travels through each of Japan's imperial eras since the franchise's inception, with each one being represented by a different style in Super Mario Maker 2. The Super Mario Bros. style represents the Shōwa era (Hirohito's reign), the Super Mario World style represents the Heisei era (Akihito's reign), and the Super Mario 3D World style represents the Reiwa era. Coincidentally, although Super Mario 3D World was released during the Heisei era, it would later be ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2021, two years after the Reiwa era's onset.