This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Super Mario Brothers franchise. To celebrate this milestone, Nintendo has released Super Mario Maker for the Wii U.
If you have seen my top 10 SNES Games video, you already know that Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo was one of my favorites. Nintendo initially had started with plans to create a Mario Paint game for the Wii U, as the game pad and stylus would’ve been an ideal interface. Eventually, as the project progressed, that game evolved into something much more.
The game designers brought the tool sets used to create levels into play. While they aren’t the exact tools that the developers use when creating a Super Mario game, they are a simpler, user friendly version that works extremely well with the Wii U gamepad.
Even though it turned into something much more than Mario Paint, you will still see and hear tributes to its roots. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo started doing DLC that added Mario Paint features, like a music creator, mini games, and custom color sets.
Super Mario Maker falls into two game genres. Level creator and Platformer. Some hardcore fans will buy this game simply for playing the custom, near impossible level designs that require precise button presses. Others will pick it up to try their hand at creating the Mario levels of their dreams.
The interface is intuitive and simple. Drag and drop, tap to place and button shortcuts make creating levels simple and fun. There are 60 building blocks to use. Some of those blocks actually change into a new block when shaken with the stylus, like a Bowser turning into Bowser Jr. You can also combine blocks together resulting in much more than 60 blocks to use. Adding wings to nearly everything, putting enemies inside of the question blocks, stacking enemies on each other’s shoulders, the possibilities seem limitless.
Starting out, only a few tool blocks are made available to you. More tools and skins unlock over the course of a 9 day period. All you have to do is play with the elements provided for 5 minutes and you will receive a notification that your new set will arrive the next day. I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about this, but from a learning standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to me. This approach keeps most from feeling overwhelmed and gives you time to really learn, use and experiment with everything in strides.
For the quick learners, Nintendo pushed out a Day-1 patch that speeds the unlock process up. While the criteria isn’t exactly known, I found the best and fastest way to unlock everything was to use each of the new items unlocked at least once. Multiple times never hurts though. Then, lay blocks or ground tiles. Fill the grid with them. You can even use the select/copy/paste function to really speed this up. Eventually, within a few minutes you will get a second notification saying your shipment arrived early. Rinse, and repeat. I had all of the tools unlocked in one night of playing.
The unlock process doesn’t just unlock items to place either. You eventually will receive the Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World skins, as well as Underground, Water, Ghost House, Airship and Castle themes. There is even custom sounds and special effects that will eventually unlock, as well as the ability to create sub-zones in a stage using pipes.
There are a few level design elements that I really wish existed. Checkpoint flags, the ability to have more than 4 sets of doors, and custom level endings. I created a really cool airship level, that involved fighting Bowser JR in his room, only to learn that I still had to make an exit that lead to the flag pole. Which meant, anyone playing simply had to get by Bowser JR and hit the exit. Having boss room elements could be a good DLC option.
Other elements include special power ups like Skinny Mario, Helmets, Mega Mario, and costumes. There are 100 costumes to unlock. They can be unlocked by touching the appropriate amiibo to the gamepad, or playing the 100 Mario Challenge mode. The costumes only work in the original Mario Bros level theme, and to unlock the costumes, you will need to have internet access. Lastly, you should know you can unlock all of the costumes with the exception of one, without owning a single amiibo. The one you must have an amiibo for is the 30th anniversary Mario amiibo. This unlocks the Mega Mushroom which transforms you into a super sized, brick destroying Mario.
One of the best features of Super Mario Maker is the online sharing. You can upload your creations, or play others. It’s a great way to get fresh ideas, and see remixes of old levels. Initially, you are only able to upload 10 of your levels. This limit increases as you get higher rankings. It’s a great system to ensure people don’t bloat the community with garbage. Sadly, if you have friends who have uploaded their levels, there is no search feature present to find them. A slight oversight on Nintendo’s part.
Nintendo has included 10 Mario challenge with the game. This is your classic 8 stage Mario run through. These levels unlock to be customized with each toolset, or are selected at random when playing through 10 Mario challenge. With 68 levels in total, it’s like having a whole Mario game included as a bonus.
For completing all of the 10 Mario Challenge course, you unlock the 4 2015 Nintendo World Championship levels. Upon completing these 4 challenging stages, you unlock the Weird Mushroom item which turns you into a skinny, slender man looking Mario that has the same movement style that Luigi from Mario Bros 2 has.
There is a secret CRT mode, which makes the game look like you are playing on an old CRT Television. When loading a level to play, there will be a black screen with the level name and Mario in the center. At this point hold down on the D-pad and press A and B at the same time. When the level loads up you should see rounded corners and vertical lines. Just like the old school televisions. The other way to get this effect is using the 30th Anniversary Mario amiibo’s Mega Mushroom.
The last hidden gem I want to mention is the gnat swatter game. If you haven’t been convinced that this game originally started in early development as a Mario Paint game yet, here is another throw back.
Sometimes while laying blocks, or leaving your system on for a while, 3 gnats will appear. Successfully swap these three gnats and you would access the hidden and challenging mini game from Mario Paint. Upon completing the mini game, you unlock a new costume; the Super Builder Mario.
This game has so much packed into it. The replayability is essentially endless. If you’ve ever been a fan of any Mario game, and you have a Wii U, this title is a MUST HAVE. If Nintendo ever puts out Boss room elements, world designs, check points, and a few of the missing key features from each of the games, then I would give this title a perfect 10. But until that day, I am giving it a 9.5.
I know I know, I am picky. Will a game ever be good enough for a 10 rating? We will see. The ball is in your court Nintendo.
Don’t forget to check out our other videos. And I really want to hear your opinions and feedback. What game should we review? Leave your suggestions in the comment section below. This has been Marcus with Topic Tech Gaming. Thanks for watching!
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