Super Mario Maker : Who owns Mario? The People!
Super Mario Maker is a genius throwback to the glory days of sidescrolling Mario, but with a twist. As the name would imply this is a game where you don’t just play the levels, you make them. For the plethora of fans out there who basically worship the older style Mario games, this is an instant classic. Waves of nostalgia are likely rolling over the collective gaming community as they digest this expert creation and play Mario in ways they never have before.
Building isn’t all this game offers though. There is a 10 Mario Challenge, a 68 stage suite of courses that pay great homage to Mario’s impressive past. The stages vary wildly in how they’re crafted, the challenges you encounter and the overall setup. The best of this aspect is that after you complete each one, they become available to dismantle and reconstruct at will in the level construction tool. This provides gamers with some awesome setups with which to work with. This can make it easier for someone learning the game to come out with a level of their own to put online.
The course maker itself on its face, looks intimidating. It offers 60 different building blocks, but their accessibility is staggered. While this might be frustrating for someone who can grab the details on concepts quickly, overall it’s a smart move by Nintendo. The slower rollout of options makes it less daunting on the gamers and gives people some breathing room to tinker with new options and become familiar with them.
The control scheme for the course maker is pretty simple, with easy to use drag and drop capabilities. This makes it a cinch to simply select the type of block you want and place it on the landscape. There are four games you can pull the environments from, ranging from Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. Each one has its own unique features based on the game itself.
Once you create a level, there is literally no time at all between the finishing touches and being able to play it yourself. It can also be uploaded to Nintendo’s online servers quickly and stats and feedback can be tracked quite easily when others play your level. If players want to access the levels themselves from the servers, there are various categories and lists that let users find popular or challenging levels and test their mettle. The only gripe is that you can actually search for a stage online that was made by a friend. This would have been some nice functionality; it’s possible we’ll even see Nintendo add this on at a later date.
Super Mario Maker is an excellent tribute to the past and a creative step forward. The Mario player community is taking these tools and making some of the most ridiculously creative ideas to grace gaming in a while. The platform has undeniable popularity, the potential is limitless and the desire to create the most difficulty level is persistent. This one is an instant classic.
