It feels like we're beating a dead horse at this point, but for the gazillionth time, the Wii U was a huge failure for Nintendo. It was poorly advertised and was lacking in third party support to name a few of the issues the system had. But even so, the Wii U was home to some incredible games such as the breakout IP, Splatoon, which just recently hit its 4th anniversary. Another huge title for the system was Super Mario Maker. Despite the Wii U's small install base, the game was massively popular and continues to be played by streamers and YouTubers to this day. The only thing that will put Super Mario Maker to rest is Super Mario Maker 2. With the sequel to what is arguably the greatest level creation game of all time landing on Friday, I'd like to take this time to reflect on the things I've learned from my time playing the original Super Mario Maker.
I was beyond stoked for the original Super Mario Maker. Finally, a Super Mario game that let the players design their own stages. And what did I do when I first got the game? Stare at the blank canvas before me all the while feeling that I could never match the plethora of outstanding courses that were already posted. I never thought I would feel pressured in a Super Mario game, but when you're tossed in the creator's seat, those sweat bullets start droppin'.
The very first course I designed for Super Mario Maker ended up being a simple one that relied heavily on the skill for which Mario is most famous, jumping. Using the New Super Mario U layout, the course I designed had only one type of power-up, the Super Mushroom and not too much in the way of enemies. Some tricky wall jumping was presented near the end but it wasn't anything most would struggle with much. To ease players into some of the more troubling sections, I used coins as a guide My intent wasn't to give players a hard time with my first level. I just wanted to get my name out there.
That first course, basic as it was, became one of my highest star earning courses. The name of the course? Jump Man. This would go on to be a series of levels that was followed up by Jumpman 2, Jumpman 3, you get the idea. Although I never did make it to Jumpman 5 (for reasons that I'll explain below), the Jumpman courses were something vastly different from other courses I would design. I even made it a rule in all of these courses to limit the power up to just the Super Mushroom and (mostly) stick to the Ground theme. The Jumpman courses are going to be making a comeback in Super Mario Maker 2 so I hope your jumping game is on point.
Before Super Mario Maker released, I had the idea to make some brutal, soul-crushing courses. Inspired by the course names from the Special World in Super Mario World, these devilishly hard courses had all kinds of slang names like Wicked, Gravy, and Clutch. I had a huge list of current and old slang to use for these levels. I even looked up some terms I'd never heard of before like Shaka. Not only was looking into old and new slang fun for these tough courses, designing the course was just as, if not more so fun. By no means were these levels unbeatable. They just demanded a lot from the player. Making these types of courses really pushed me and I honestly think these were some of my best levels. And I made sure they always got a Expert or Super Expert rating.
Fleek was a P-Switch run course with a twist. Not only did you have 40 seconds to complete the stage, but beating the level without the aid of the Starman scattered throughout the course was impossible. You had to be fast enough to make it to the next P-Switch AND snag the next Starman. The 40 second time limit made things tense but the sped up Starman theme made sure players were always booking it. I've always felt the the sped up Starman music was a great piece of music that just screams "HURRY UP!" I cannot wait to design another course like this one in Super Mario Maker 2!
Hammer Bros. were my go-to enemies because I loath Hammer Bros. I don't think there is anyone that enjoys dealing with these guys, so I would use them whenever I felt like making the player uncomfortable. Steps at the before a flap pole in Super Mario Bros. theme? Hammer Bros. Need a key to open the door blocking your path? Gotta take out that Hammer Bro. No doubt I'll be using them again in Super Mario Maker 2, but I will be using other enemy types to frustrate you. We've got Fire Bros. now!
Everyone has their own style when it comes to the things they do and that is something I learned for the umpteenth time when making levels in Super Mario Maker. Initially, I felt that my levels weren't on the level (no pun intended) of courses that had hundreds of thousands of stars, but I learned to embrace my own style and improve upon it. If you have even the tiniest bit of interest in level design, Super Mario Maker 2 should be on your to buy list.
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