Nintendo is celebrating 30 years of Mario this year and they have rolled out the big guns in the form of Super Mario Maker. While it may not be a brand new Mario title, the implications of it on present and future game designers is something extraordinary.
Endless Mario:
For those who have completely missed the news, Super Mario Maker is a complete editing tool for anyone interested in creating their own Mario levels. The other side of the experience is having access to and playing as many levels as you could possibly want, thanks to the online course share functionality.
Even though the course editor is the bulk of the package, we’ll start with the play feature as it is the quicker of the two before we get to the meat of the game. If you have no intention of building a course, there is still content for you to enjoy. For offline fans, you can play random courses with the 10 Mario challenge, which gives you 8 random levels built using the editor and challenges you to get through it in 10 lives.
Online functionality takes this further with the 100 Mario challenge, where you must get through even more courses pulled from the game’s online database or just search the database. The online database allows you to easily sort courses by the top picks, specific users, what’s new and more. Every course can be played straight through the online functionality and you can download courses that you like to play again or edit.
You are free to use any and every element, item, character etc, from 30 years of Mario design
But as I said, the real point of buying Super Mario Maker is the editing software and where people with an eye for design will get their money’s worth.
The Plumbing of 2D Design:
Super Mario Maker’s real treat is that it offers you the keys to the Mushroom Kingdom; allowing you to design courses using all the tools, items and functionality that Nintendo has made over the last 30 years, along with new ones as well.
The genius of Super Mario Maker’s editing software is that it was design explicitly for people who don’t have an interest in or are horrible at programming, like yours truly. The entire software is built around visual and iterative design processes: Where you’ll build a level piece by piece, refining and perfecting it as you go. All the controls are built into the Wii-U’s tablet and allow you to drag, stretch, move, copy and more with simple touches of the screen.
The toolset allows you to create courses using four of Mario’s styles: Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. From the outside, this may sound like you’re just getting four takes on the same thing, but it’s a testament to Nintendo’s creative team with how different each style is.
Mechanics are exclusive to their relevant themes, but the items and characters can be mixed and matched. The different themes have a major impact on how you design and build your levels; Mario’s wall jump ability introduce in New Super Mario Bros Wii-U, can break levels that were design around the other stages for instance.
The editor was designed for people who aren’t programmers and is very accessible.
While being able to design levels like Nintendo is a great experience, the real magic happens when you start experimenting with the different objects to create things never before seen in a Mario game. Many items have functionality when combined or shaken (via moving it really fast with the stylus.)
This allows each element’s separate design and utility, to combine with others to produce new elements. If you ever wanted flying Piranha plants and giant goombas riding tiny koopas, you have the ability to make that.
Being able to create your own custom levels and design in a game is not new; Little Big Planet did beat Nintendo to the punch. However, its how Nintendo has created this editor that I think will help it stand the test of time more.
Make, Play, Progress:
One of the daunting elements of any editing software is the fact that you have no limitations. You can start from anywhere and build anything you want, which is the power behind tools like Unity or the Little Big Planet editor. The problem that any designer can tell you, is that infinite choices can leave you with no real idea of how to move forward.
Nintendo has built two limitations into Super Mario Maker that help get around this problem. The first is simple: You cannot make anything but Mario levels in the as mentioned four themes. The second is that objects are limited for the first week of play; play 5 minutes one day, and there will be new content unlocked the next. This allows someone to be able to make levels around these limitations and learn the tools, before graduating to the point where the entire toolbox is open for them. As a quick aside, Amiibo functionality is built in the form of unlocking costumes based on their respective Amiibos.
The quality of the levels available may be subjective, but every course must be beatable in order to be uploaded
For someone who is a dedicated programmer and has mastered software like Unity or UE4, Mario Maker is nothing to get excited about. But for fans young and old who ever wanted to dive into making courses from Mario and understand game design, this is the perfect tool for it.
In less than an hour, I already designed two completely different courses that would have probably taken me a hell of a lot longer using dedicated editing software.
Again, for people who aren’t programmers, having such an amazing and easy to use wrapper for this editing software is a real treat.
With all that said, it’s time to talk about the hardest point for this piece: Is there anything wrong with Super Mario Maker?
Poison Mushroom:
Super Mario Maker is not a “game,” in the same vein as previous titles, but something that lets you make your own levels. Because of that, it’s hard for me to talk about things from my typical analytical point of view. With that said, I want to dig into the overall level of complexity and sophistication of the tools, as I can point out some nitpicks.
If I were to rate the level of power Super Mario Maker’s editing tool has from one to ten; one being super simple and ten letting you literally design your own Mario game, I would give it a 7.
At an individual level, the editing tool is immensely powerful and it will be amazing to see what expert designers make with it, but it is lacking in some areas. At the moment you cannot add checkpoints and the tool is limited with how far you can push the mechanics. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot here for you to do, but there is a limit built into the tool. For example, I can’t create a completely vertical style Mario level, or design one that changes based on the number of coins you get. You also can’t create your own world and map design as in the later games, which would let you try to take your skills to the next level.
While we’re not quite here yet, who knows what’s coming in the next 30 year anniversary
Because the game is entirely removed from coding, you are forced to use all the hard coded elements for Mario, items, enemies and so on. For instance, you can’t combine a fire flower with an item box to create an item that lets you shoot boxes at people.
Again, this was a deliberate decision by Nintendo to have these hard limits to prevent people from getting bogged down with too many choices, but it would have been nice to have a little more malleability with the items.
Please note, this review was done early in the game’s lifespan, there is the chance that Nintendo will release DLC to add more functionality, but that isn’t known at this time.
Shell School:
Super Mario Maker is another brilliant decision by Nintendo this year and may be their most successful game that isn’t a game yet. This is something that definitely belongs in classrooms and for anyone with any passing interest in being a game designer. While it may not have the power of game engine tools, Super Mario Maker is an accessible option and removes the excuse of programming that has stopped many would be designers.
If Nintendo was smart, they should keep putting content into this, now that they have the base engine and design done. It would be amazing to see more options available or even the ability to design other classic 2D Nintendo games. But for right now, as Super Smash Bros was the hit game of 2014 for the Wii-U, Super Mario Maker is definitely the Nintendo 2015 hit.
