Whether you had previously touted that you could have made Mario levels far more interesting and challenging than Nintendo, or you simply want a buffet of community created levels served to you on a platter, Super Mario Maker satisfies both of those scenarios.
It's accessible yet deep, allowing you to create some truly insane levels, as we've already seen through the review period, like with the Metroid level. Of course it's tough to determine whether the community will stay strong throughout Super Mario Maker's lifespan, but I have a feeling given the franchise, and the accessibility of all the creation tools, that Mario fans will find simply eat this game up.
I wouldn't call a game like Super Mario Maker a system seller by any means, so if you don't own a Wii U yet, I'm not sure that this game will make you change your mind, however for those that love Mario's 2D adventures and always wished they could create their own level creations that could potentially outshine Miyamoto-san himself, then this game was literally made for them.
And hey, if you don't feel like waiting that 9 day period, set your Wii U's clock 9 days behind, and then simply keep changing it until you get to the current day. Don't say I never helped you out!
The Positives
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Nintendo has really outdone themselves with making the creation tools as accessible as possible. Everything from placing objects, changing their function, and connecting them to one another is so simple, that all you really ever need is your stylus.
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There are also extremely helpful shortcuts on the gamepad that allow quick fixes, copy and pasting and selecting multiple objects all at once.
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You can change up each stage with one of four themes, making the game look like the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U. Each one also alters the game's physics a bit, since each Mario game controls quite differently. Each one also comes with their own specialized power-ups.
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You can then also further customize the look of each stage by setting a different level layout, such as overworld, underwater, castle, airship and even haunted house.
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Since Super Mario Bros. never had an airship or haunted level, Nintendo created completely new tilesets as well as background music specifically for those two themes.
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The presentation of the game is absolutely outstanding. From the various interactive menus, the little nods and sound cues to Mario Paint, and to the layout of the creation suite, everything is just so purely Mario, and it shows that Nintendo put a lot of care and attention to make sure that the platforming gameplay isn't the only thing that shines in this package, but that the menus and UI are just as awesome.
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On the same note, play around with the game's Title Screen, it's full of interactive little easter eggs.
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You can save your level creations in sets of four, that you can then play in succession, like a mini Mario game. You can also save other people's creations in this way and create your own four-level challenges simply based off of their levels.
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All of the game's graphics were kept identical to their originals, with the exception of the older games getting the widescreen treatment. There is something surreal about playing the original Super Mario Bros. in widescreen, with none of the in-game graphics stretched out.
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Rejoice, because all of the various Mario costumes which can be unlocked using your amiibo, can also be unlocked using in-game methods by completing the 100 Mario Challenge. Keep in mind though, you have to play through at least eight levels to unlock just one costume. Though time consuming, it's nice that Nintendo didn't simply lock that behind amiibo purchases.
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Just because you're creating old-school Mario games, doesn't mean there aren't some cool new and creative things you can do with the game's tools. For example, you can stack enemies on top of one another to create a tower of different enemies. Or you could make one enemy huge and put a small one on top of it. You can add any item into a pipe, so you could essentially make a pipe spew coins or trampolines. Tracks don't just have to hold moveable platforms, they can hold enemies as well. You can really get creative with how you mix and match various tools and items to something completely unique.
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Outside of simply creating levels, you can also partake in the game's 10 Mario Challenge and the 100 Mario Challenge. The former will put you through 8 pre-made created by Nintendo, that are meant to inspire and spark your creativity. The latter will put you through either 8 or 16 levels pulled from online uploads, and give you a 100 lives to try and complete them all. Both are great modes that can showcase just how versatile the creation tools are. The 100 Mario Challenge specifically is great because it randomly cycles through uploads, which gives everyone a chance to have their level played at some point.
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You can easily browse through popular levels or popular creators, though in order to find certain levels, you'll need the level ID tag, as you can't search by name.
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And if creating levels isn't your thing, you can still get a whole lot of mileage out of Super Mario Maker. Since there will undoubtedly be an amazing stream of levels coming from the community, you could spend most of your time simply playing other people's creations and never get bored. However, you will definitely be missing out on some of the best level creation tools ever implemented in a video game.
The Negatives
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While there isn't a whole to complain about, Super Mario Maker does employ some tedious ways to unlock all the tools in the game. Nintendo has decided to limit the amount of tools it gives you on a daily basis, as to not overwhelm you. That means in the very beginning, you'll only start off with just the most basic of tools. Over the course of 9 days, you'll gradually unlock more and more tools. While I understand Nintendo's choice to let players familiarize themselves with all the tools over time, keeping it locked to a whole day means you only have so much to do for the entirety of that day. Case in point, I wasn't really able to make a level that I was personally proud of until day 8. Over a week with Super Mario Maker and it wasn't until then that the game gave me tools that I really had fun utilizing to create something that was equally fun and difficult.
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Another annoying aspect of unlocking new tools is that you're required to play around with the level creation tools each day for at least five minutes. That wouldn't be so bad, if the game would make it clear it wants you to erase the already premade level the game boots up with. I would spend 10-15 minutes messing with the game creation tools, altering the already pre-made level to make it my own, only to never get the message that I'll be unlocking something new the next day. So pro-tip: Always clear the entire stage each day and make something from scratch.
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I found a minor flaw in how the game determines the number of uploads a user gets. Initially, everyone can upload 10 stages. As those stages get starred, it will level up that creator's profile, continually adding in more upload slots. However, that means that some unlucky individuals might never have a shot at uploading more than 10 stages at a time, due to simply having no one star their levels. You could argue that some people just need to get better at designing levels, but it's still a flawed system for those that might not have the flow of creativity coursing through them.
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Don't expect the various amiibo costumes to change up the gameplay in any way. You still only run and jump. While there are unique animations to some of the costumes such as Sonic rolling when running fast, you don't get to utilize any of their natural skillsets. While this could have been potentially game breaking, I would have loved to play a Mario level as Link or Kirby, and actually utilizing their original style of gameplay.
The Since Changed
- It certainly seems like Nintendo took a lot of the criticism over unlocking items to heart, and has since then issued an update which doesn't remove it altogether, but makes unlocking new tools much quicker. Instead of a daily unlock, players now only have to wait 15 minutes between tool deliveries, which means after two hours and fifteen minutes of level building, you'll have everything you need to create crazy levels.
Nintendo is certainly no stranger to games where the creativity is left up to ther player. Dating all the way back to 1992, Mario Paint gave gamers the freedom of creativity to create artwork, music, and even animations with the Super Nintendo. That's right, Nintendo's 16-bit machine was already powerful enough to do that sort of thing. This do-it-yourself approach was later seen in WarioWare DIY, a game where player's imaginations could run wild and create their own micro-games, allowing the creation of everything from the artwork, animations and even sounds.
Super Mario Maker, however, is a different beast altogether. This time, you're actively taking part in creating what is easily Nintendo's best selling genre; 2D Mario Platformers. Granted, it's not the first game to allow unfettered creativity in 2D platforming, as Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet certainly accomplished the same thing and quite possibly with much more customization back in 2008. However this time you're creating an actual Mario game, not a Mario clone. That means you not only get the top notch level design tools that make Mario platforming so great, but you also get the amazing Mario physics.
It's a game that opens up over time with more and more tools, letting you build levels that you've previously experienced in past Mario games, or make up something totally unique. It's one of those instances where I found myself asking, "Is it really this easy?" Granted, I know that there's a lot more when it comes to creating a game, and Nintendo really put all the tools together in an easy to use package, that allows you to construct pretty much anything with just the help of your stylus. Whether it's a straightforward level like 1-1, or an auto-scrolling level with falling platforms, pitfalls, flying Goombas and Bullet Bills whizzing past at every jump.
It's a nearly endless Mario experience when you think about it considering you not only have your own creativity to go by, but the rest of the world's as well. You can download any level that was shared by any other player, giving you an endless supply of levels, provided the community stays strong. But this is Mario we're talking about, and judging from what I've already experienced during the review period, I can't wait to see what the rest of the world will come up with.
So let's look at what Nintendo did right, what wasn't very good, and what our final verdict is.
