2064: Makin’ Marios

I picked up Super Mario Maker for Wii U the other day. I originally wasn’t going to bother with it, but a lot of positive feedback from people I know, like and trust convinced me to give it a shot.

I like the concept of games with built-in level designers very much, but the execution has to be good to make them something I want to engage with in the long-term. TrackMania does it well; LittleBigPlanet less so. For me personally — and this doesn’t apply to everyone, I know — the key is the balance between simplicity and flexibility: the freedom to realise your creative ideas without it being too much work to do so.

Fortunately, Super Mario Maker strikes an excellent balance, and part of that is due to how it gradually dishes out new parts, themes and level types over time from launch. It can be mildly frustrating to have a level concept in mind and be unable to realise it completely until you’ve unlocked the relevant pieces of content, but there are ways to game the system if you feel that strongly. In the meantime, though, it’s worth exploring the initially limited toolset, because artificial limitations can often stimulate creativity in the strangest of ways.

It’s ridiculously easy to make a level in Super Mario Maker. Choosing from a palette of objects at the top of the screen, you just draw things onto the level using the Wii U GamePad stylus. There are limits on how much you can put down, but they’re pretty generous; likewise, the overall width and height of a level can be fairly large. We’re not talking Metroidvania territory, of course, because that would go against the philosophy of a Mario game, but you can certainly put together some fairly intricate designs in the available space if you so desire.

As with any type of game like this, it’s always fascinating to see what other people have come up with, and the creative ways in which they’ve used the tools. TrackMania, for example, fostered a subculture of track creators who made “press forward” tracks, in which all you had to do to complete it was simply continuously accelerate; the design of the track would take care of the rest, automatically flinging the car through a series of ridiculous stunts, with objects placed in the absolute perfect locations to ensure that you always landed in the right place and the right way up.

It’s the same with Super Mario Maker. The game’s only been out for a few days, and some of the most popular levels out there are already of the “don’t press anything” variety; in other words, they play themselves. These levels aren’t any challenge to play, of course, but it’s fascinating to see the intricate “machinery” these creators have put together, and worthy of respect, because it must have been a painstaking process of trial and error to get it working perfectly.

As for me, I haven’t unlocked everything just yet, but I’ve been enjoying dipping in and out of the game, playing a few levels here and there and even making a few. I like the whole package very much, though there are a few things it would be nice to see expanded on over time: most notably, it would be good to see the in-game score and coins actually matter, because outside of the “Mario Challenge” modes, in which you’re presented with a randomly selected series of levels to complete, even the concept of “lives” is completely irrelevant. It would be good to see some sort of leaderboard system with clear times, scores and number of attempts, for example, and perhaps coins could be used to unlock additional features.

It remains to be seen if Nintendo will expand this over time, but with Mario Kart and Splatoon on Wii U, Nintendo has shown itself to be open to the idea of games growing and changing over the course of their lifetime. Super Mario Maker already has a wealth of content in it, but it would be fantastic to see more features — perhaps even based on the Amiibo compatibility, since most currently available Amiibo already unlock character sprites; it would be cool to be able to unlock visual themes, sound effects and music through the Amiibo, too; I might even be tempted to collect a few more then.

In the meantime, though, Super Mario Maker is an enjoyable package that is well worth a purchase. Even if you never make any levels yourself, it’s great to fire up for a quick blast of Mario action — and if you do make your own levels, it will give you a whole new level of appreciation for what professional level designers do all day!