by Matthew Yapp The original Super Mario Maker hit Wii U's everywhere way back in 2015, and straight away it was a smashing success. The game offered players complete free reign to be as over-the-top and creative as they wanted in level design, as well as an ability to share their courses online with players across the globe. This game was a high point in the Wii U’s library and now, four years later, its successor has hit the Switch. While the core mechanics and ideas of the original game have remained the same, there have certainly been some tweaks that set this sequel apart. That being said, does Super Mario Maker 2 live up the excellence of its predecessor?
Building upon greatness
Without a doubt, the most fun thing to do in Mario Maker 2 is design levels. It feels incredibly intuitive and simple enough that a child can do it. Which is good, since that is the target audience here. Mario Maker laid fantastic groundwork, so I was very curious to see where the creators would go in terms of expanding on the level creation aspects of the sequel. Seeing as it’s not just a port, players are expecting new features and improved gameplay, and luckily, they received it. Nintendo was wise in the sense that they omitted very little from the original game but incorporated several new features that made gameplay even more fun. Ramps were something in high demand that breathed new life into speedruns and overall aesthetic. There is also a variety of new enemies so you can add to some new dangers to your courses. You can even add the angry sun that spits fire at you from Super Mario Bros 3 if you want to make a level with not-so-subtle allusions to our current climate situation! What I’m most pleased with, though, is the addition of the on/off switch, which will make red and blue tile blocks disappear and reappear when hit. This adds an incredibly fun mechanic to the game; in fact, I’d say after playing the online courses uploaded by other players, the on/off switch is incorporated to nearly all of the most popular levels in some capacity. While Nintendo did amazing building off the work they’d done in the previous game, there is sadly a glaring omission from the items catalogue. Despite being an amazing instrument of creativity, we tragically had to say goodbye to the mystery mushroom.
An improved single-player experience
When I started playing Mario Maker 2, the last thing I thought about was a story mode. However, when I finally rolled around to giving it a shot, I found myself having a lot of fun with it. In terms of plot, it’s not really substantial, but that comes as no surprise. Essentially, just as you finish constructing Princess Peach’s new castle, an Undo Dog comes and destroys it. This leaves Mario responsible for collecting enough coins to rebuild the castle by completing a variety of “jobs” that come in the form of platforming levels.
Bumpy but tremendously fun online play
In a game that is all about creation, it makes sense that a big aspect of this game should be sharing your work. Course World allows you to upload up to 32 of the levels you designed and offer them up for anyone in the world to beat. This is what really makes the game for me. There is literally a near limitless supply of incredible levels offered to you endlessly and each one is completely unique with its own gimmick and vision. There is a definite problem where, seeing as these courses are designed by mostly amateurs and there’s not really a good filtering process, you may have to slog through some pretty lame levels before you find the gems. There is an upvote/downvote system but the problem is, when you’re sorting by new levels or levels on the rise, the voting hasn’t really had time to take effect and you can end up getting a lot more misses than hits. Genuinely though, if you just sort by popularity you will end with incredibly entertaining and innovative levels that—without sounding too dramatic—makes me incredibly eager to see what this generation of game creators will make in the future.
Images: MarioPartyLegacy, Twinfinite, NintendoLife Featured: Nintendo