SuperMario Maker is a series of games that seemingly provide endless fun and
engagement to fans of the Super Mario franchise. With the comparatively
miserable performance in terms installs base of the WiiU, Mario Maker’s sequel
is a very welcome addition to the Switch’s library, enabling thousands of new
players to discover the joys of level design, new challenges and ways to play
one of the most enduring franchises in the world. Now, Nintendo released Super
Mario Maker 2 introducing new mechanics and seemingly endless possibilities to
its level designing antics. Two state blocks, slopes, claws, snake blocks,
autoscrolling, and even clear conditions just to name a few. This powerful
toolset allows players and budding level designers from all over the world to
create, play and share new Mario levels rightfully earning the title of “The
Mario game to end all Mario games”. This review will take a look at Mario Maker
2’s Story Mode, Level Builder, an online mode, dubbed “Course World”. Without
further ado, let's get right into the former.
Story Mode
Mario and various
Toads of the Mushroom Kingdom have been hard at work to build a castle for
Princess Peach. The story begins just as they completed the arduous project
when suddenly the Undo-Dog pounced on a stray reset rocket, deleting their
progress prompting Mario and the Toads to start over. Here your adventure of
collecting coins by playing through levels begins as you slowly but surely
complete the castle. Various characters will set you up with challenges which
range from lighthearted fun to soul-crushingly difficult. Mario Maker 2’s story
mode is a good place to start off your journey as a budding level designer.
Since its featured levels are designed by Nintendo which showcases what is
possible in Mario Maker and the power of its new tools available in the Builder
Mode. The new themes, clear conditions, auto-scrolling and so much more are
highlighted and well-implemented providing hours of new and fun ways to play
Mario. What better way to learn how to make a level than to learn from those
that do it for a living. Although it sadly is not possible to actually edit a
level from the Story Mode, allowing a peek behind the curtain and see how it
works, it still provides ample inspiration to get you started. Once you feel
confident enough and have been able to consistently clear levels it is time to
tackle the meat of the game.
Builder Mode
Builder mode features
a wide breadth of tools aptly named “parts” that let you build all sorts of
contraptions, traps, challenges, and art. Building a level is as easy as
selecting a part, placing it in the level, and then playtesting your creation
at the press of a button. The layout in TV mode might seem a bit counter-intuitive at first but once you get used to it the navigation of it becomes
second nature. At the top, you have your recently selected parts, a search
wheel, and a switch for sound effects. On the left, you have your styles and
themes, auto-scrolling options, level timer settings, clear conditions, co-op the building, and player trails. On the bottom, there is a level scroll bar and a
switch for the sub-area. On the right, you have the reset rocket, undo-dog,
eraser, save options, and the main menu. All of these options can be accessed
with either the D-Pad or a button shortcut in TV mode and in handheld, the
Switch’s touch screen can be utilized to simply select and draw with your
fingers (In this video only footage of TV mode will be used). The menu
navigation in TV mode is a bit cumbersome but makes sense once you become accustomed
to it. Even if the navigation is clunky you can always unlock the switch and
use the touchscreen. A simple way to characterize Builder mode would be to call
it “A process of trial and error”. Figuring out what works and what doesn’t can
be an arduous process, making you replay levels over and over as you
refamiliarize yourself with your own creation, one play at a time. Once you
find something that works you move on to the next section until you have
completed your magnum opus. In order to upload the course to the course world,
the creator has to be able to beat his own level without using any checkpoints,
and once more from each checkpoint as a way to ensure the level is beatable.
One is thus limited by one’s own skill, however, practicing and testing their
level makes it appear a lot easier than it actually is. It is always good
practice to have a few friends try the level before it is uploaded. And thus it
is time to talk about Course World.
Course World
Course world is the
online hub for creators and players in Mario Maker 2. Here, all the wonderful
creations and various torture devices disguised as levels can be played and
uploaded. It's always astounding to see the wide variety and clever ingenuity
of builders from around the world. Some levels brought me to the brink of
insanity with its difficulty, some were a joyous romp, and some just made you
appreciate the art. Course World allows you to play single courses sorted by
various categories such as “New Courses” “Popular” and “Hot”, play the endless
challenge or the new versus mode featuring levels from course world. The
addition of Co-Op adds new spice and sometimes difficulty to a level. Despite
the game being out for a very short time, there is certainly no shortage of
levels and talented designers to be found. A few things stand out though. In
order to play a friends level directly a nine-digit level code is required to
find it. The same is true for someone’s maker profile. This system is a bit
antiquated as keyword searches aren’t too uncommon in these types of games and
it would have been a sensible addition to an otherwise excellent experience. A
tag filtering search in the “Detailed Search” tab isn’t powerful enough to look
for one exact level. Furthermore, in order to truly completely enjoy Course
World’s offerings, a Nintendo Online Membership is a must. 20$ a year might not
seem like much and to the most dedicated Nintendo fan this is a very fair
compromise, however, for some this premium fee on top of a 60$ game might not be
something casual players are willing to pay.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SuperMario Maker 2 is an excellent addition to the Switch’s library, a must-have for
any Mario fan. It provides endless challenges and relaxing casual levels. It
allows your creativity to be the limit on what you can build with the powerful
tools available to you. The story mode is a fleshed-out enjoyable experience
and provides ample challenges to be mastered and inspired by. Course world may
be unfriendly to those looking for specific levels but the absolute treasure
trove of levels to be found there completely outweighs this fact. Simply put,
Mario Maker 2 is the ultimate Mario game in the Switches library to date, a
must-play and create.
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