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Super Mario Maker Review

A Mario platforming haven that lets you create, play, and share

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This is where the game really shines, as it adds a level of interaction and community to an already joyous and deep experience, and it encourages you to really put some effort into your creations. Each level comes with its own ID code, which, while a bit excessive in length, is nonetheless a relatively convenient way to swap stages. With that said, a unified friend list is absent, which is a bit of a disappointment, as it would have made level exchanges quite a bit easier.

 

Regardless, Nintendo offers a convenient way to assist you in discovering new levels, and provides a simple method of honing in on some potentially great ones. In a semi-social media fashion, you can look up stages via a well-organized list of levels, or even designers, which have received the most “stars” by other players. You can even “follow” users that have provided several enjoyable stages. Sticking with the social media comparison, stars are similar to Facebook’s “likes” or Miiverses “yeahs,” as they reward the level creator for a well-crafted, creative, or otherwise amusing stage. One neat feature these stars hold, aside from simply making players aware of its quality, is that it also rewards the creator with additional slots in which to upload more levels. This is a neat, albeit subtle feature as it provides greater incentive to create better quality stages, as you fight to earn those badges of honor.

Super Mario Maker

There is also a Demon Souls-esque comment system that allows either friends or strangers to leave their two cents, helpful advice, or simply random humorous banter throughout the user-created stages. These proved amusing for the most part, though at times I found that they cluttered up the more popular stages and actually got in the way to the point where it cost me a life in a few instances. Though, thankfully this can be switched off.

The lack of an in-game friend list and occasionally cluttered comment system notwithstanding, however, Super Mario Maker provides an otherwise outstanding and robust online experience with a neatly organized system of leaderboards that make for easy level browsing. This is a relief, since the game very heavily relies on its online community for its content. Simply combing through the top 100 users and stages is almost guaranteed to provide you with hours of amusement and joy as you venture through a plethora of different types of stages from different Mario eras.

I have experienced everything from grueling dungeons, to head-scratching puzzlers, clever homages to other games like Sonic, Pac Man, and Splatoon, and even some showcases that provided strange gimmicks like levels that “play themselves.” I have played some quirky little stages that can be completed in seconds, and some lengthy nail-biters that truly put my Mario skills to the test. On a side note - upon uploading a stage, Nintendo requires the designer to complete their own stage, ensuring the player that no matter how difficult and absurd a level may seem, it is technically doable.

Super Mario Maker

The game offers both a 10 life challenge which helps give you a taste of this experience via the generally simplistic pre-made sample courses, as well as a more robust 100 life challenge which can be played through on a difficulty level of easy, normal, or hard. The latter challenge provides yet another quick and convenient method to discover and play through a random sequence of user-created stages, which can thankfully be skipped in favor of another if the stage proves to be too much. These modes prove a welcome addition, as they provide a bit more of that traditional Mario experience of getting from point A to B to save the princess with x number of lives, and make for the ideal quick pick-up-and-play experience. They also grant another avenue in which to earn some more fun unlockables. One minor grievance is that you are only granted a maximum of three extra lives per level, though one can understand this limitation in a sense, as many levels tend to throw 1ups at you quite liberally.

It was quite enjoyable to relive my Mario nostalgia with levels that used all of the major Mario themes, sometimes even playing through all four in one sitting. I was also pleasantly surprised with how much these themes actually felt like their original iterations, despite Nintendo’s claim that the New Super Mario physics had been used as the foundation for the gameplay. Even upon playing some of the more off-the-wall and quirky stages, I really felt like I was playing the respective Mario games, whether it be New Super Mario with its subtly more floaty mechanics, or the original Super Mario Brothers with its more stiff and precise controls.

The neatest aspect of all, is that despite my vast nostalgic journey into this online Mario wonderland, I have barely scratched the surface when it comes to user-created courses, as people continually crank out more stages. While there have been plenty of duds, there has been a plethora of surprisingly great stages as well. Provided you have access to the internet of course, you are essentially provided with endless amounts of gameplay - even when disregarding the level creator!

Super Mario Maker

Whether you’re an old school Mario fan seeking some nostalgia, a creative type wishing to flex his or her artistic muscle, or just a gamer who enjoys a solid platformer, Super Mario Maker more than delivers. It offers a smorgasbord of features and endless streams of user-created content (much of which is quite good), and provides a new spin on an old series, while still adhering to the classic style that made the original Mario series such a phenomenon. This game does the franchise proud, and only adds to its legend.

Our ratings for Super Mario Maker on Wii U out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Presentation
78
All four of the classic Mario game themes are here, and they all look and sound just like their original iterations, right down to the recognizable 8 and 16 bit tunes and sound effects. While there isn’t much new offered in terms of style, in this case it is generally best not to fix what isn’t broke.
Gameplay
85
Just like the asthetics, the game feels authentically like the old Mario games that it emulates, while adding a ton of new content and features. The level creator is solid and simple to figure out, and the online mode allows for a unique experience each time, and an endless amount of content.
Single Player
88
The game offers a more traditional Mario experience through the 100 Mario challenge, which is fun, though it could perhaps have been a bit more fleshed out. The near endless replayability, however, more than makes up for this.
Multiplayer
NR
None
Performance
85
The game runs smoothly without issue, both online and offline; my experience was glitch-free.
Overall
86
Super Mario Maker provides endless fun, heavy doses of nostalgia, and a superb level creator that makes it easy to play the role of amateur game designer. A must have for any Wii U owner who is even mildly interested in Mario games and/or likes to create.
Comments
Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Maker box art Platform:
Wii U
Our Review of Super Mario Maker
86%
Great
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Super Mario Maker is ranked #134 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #9 out of 110 games reviewed in 2015.
133. Dishonored 2
PC
134. Super Mario Maker
135. Forza Horizon 3
Xbox One
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Screenshots

Super Mario Maker
15 images added Oct 12, 2015 22:14
Videos
Mario Maker - Announcement Trailer
Posted: Jun 15, 2014 19:22
Super Mario Maker - E3 2015 Trailer
Posted: Jun 21, 2015 14:47
Super Mario Maker - Nostalgia Trailer
Posted: Jul 27, 2015 20:00
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