Super Mario Maker 2 — Initial Impressions
It’s been close to four years since Nintendo gave us an opportunity to create our very own Super Mario levels for the first time. Back when Super Mario Maker was first announced at E3 2014, I could have never imagined that I would have the ability to create the very Mario levels that I grew up playing. Now how good my level creations are might be better left for another article.
While doing my investigation into Super Mario Maker, I was surprised to read that Nintendo had explored the possibility of a video game editor in the 1990’s and had even filed a patient in 1994 that would allow players to pause a game, edit parts of it before resuming gameplay. Before Super Mario Maker, the closest form of editing in a Mario game was from Mario Paint back on the Super Nintendo.
Fast forward to 2019 and we now have Super Mario Maker 2. Super Mario Maker 2 takes the core formula that worked so well in the original and enhances it in every way. The user interface is familiar in terms of layout. The art style and course themes are still on the left hand side, the play/edit icon is on the bottom left and the save/load, erase, undo and reset buttons are on the right hand side.
What’s changed is that the top palette now displays the most recently used items as opposed to a drop down menu with all the items displayed. The original Super Mario Maker utilized a staggered approach for items where players had to play the game for specific period of time to unlock new items. This time around, all items are available from the get go and can be accessed via the search icon.
I’ve now spent about a day tinkering with Super Mario Maker 2 so let’s dive right into my initial impressions. One thing that stood out for me was the ability to access a dedicated tutorial mode upfront. As exciting as creating your own levels sounds, it can actually become quite daunting once you’re dropped into edit mode and left to navigate through all the options.
Having a three-tiered tutorial system (beginner, intermediate and advanced) that allows players to learn the fundamentals of creating a level but also going deeper into topics such as inspiration, testing and feedback were appreciated. For me personally, it can be hard to think of an idea for a level and going through the inspiration tutorial to think about recognizable objects for ideas and building out a story helped me get started.
When Super Mario Maker 2 was first announced for the Switch, there were questions as to how Nintendo would deal with level creation given that the Wii U gamepad worked so well in the past. The use of the radial dial design actually works very well and having items grouped in logical categories makes a lot of sense. Using the controller in edit mode however was definitely a struggle for me.
Even though I could see all the options in front of me, knowing how to navigate to them and completing simple tasks such as going back to the starting point of a level were not intuitive. I’m slowly getting a handle on using the controller and I expect the process to become easier as I continue spending time creating levels. Providing players with a capacitive stylus with the game would have been a nice gesture but that’s just me wanting the world every time.
Story mode is a new feature in Super Mario Maker 2 and I was keen to see how this part would play out. Essentially story mode is a curated set of Mario levels across varying art styles, themes and difficulty where Mario collects coins to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle. It really does feel like a free 2D Mario game included as part of the package.
So far, I’ve been enjoying story mode and hoping to gather more inspiration for my own levels as I continue my play through. One element that really stood out to me is the assist portion where if you fail to complete a level after a few attempts, the player is given the option to edit the level to make it easier and continue playing from that point on.
The more time I spend with Super Mario Maker 2, the more I feel that the development team really took care to consider accessibility and catering to both casual and more experienced gamers. It’s the small things that truly enhance the gaming experience such as clicking and holding on an item to see what options are available e.g. adding wings to a Koopa Troopa or adding a mushroom to a Goomba.
Going forward, I’m very keen to see what new game styles and themes will be introduced possibly via DLC. I love the new forest, snow and dessert themes along with the new moon item that changes the behavior of a level e.g. wind in a dessert or making the ice more slippery at night. When choosing an art style, there appears to be an open slot for a new game style and personally I would love to see either a Super Mario Galaxy or Paper Mario game style. Given how Nintendo was able to work the Super Mario 3D World game style into 2D levels, I’m sure the development team could think of creative ways to bring Super Mario Galaxy theme elements into 2D as well if they choose to go down that route.
What are your thoughts on Super Mario Maker 2? Have you been spending more time creating levels or playing story mode? Fire away in the comments below and let me know!
