TITLE: Super Mario Maker 2
DEVELOPER:Nintendo EPD
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
GENRE: Course editor, platformer
NUMBER OF PLAYERS:Up to 4
PLATFORM: Nintendo Switch
RELEASE DATE: 28 June 2019
PRICE: $59.99
The original Super Mario Maker was a massive hit, despite it being released on the Wii U during its waning days of its very short stint in the limelight. The idea of being able to create your own Mario courses is almost too good to be true, and yet with this game, Mario fans from around the world unleashed it collective creativity and created millions of courses with varying style and quality. It was a radical idea, and it worked.
More than a year later, it got ported to the 3DS, which is almost as good as the original, if not for the fact that Nintendo omitted the ability to share created courses online. That's the version that I played, and I played the hell out of that game, accumulating more than 50 hours playing more than 100 pre-made courses and a good sample of the amazing courses that have been already shared online by Wii U players. I also created a level myself, just to try it out, and I think it was quite good, but I am the only one who has played it, since I don't personally know anyone who also has the game on their 3DS.
When the Switch came out in 2017, a few of Wii U's gems, such as Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Bayonetta 2, got ported to the hybrid console. Many fans of the original game clamored for it to be ported as well, since the Switch has already outsold the Wii U more than thrice over since launch and many thought that the game needs to be experienced by a wider audience. Nintendo listened to its fans and stepped it up a notch: they didn't port Super Mario Maker to the Switch but did something better… the made a sequel.
Enter Super Mario Maker 2. Now, you may ask, "how do you make a sequel to a game that just makes you create courses?" What else can be done? A lot, apparently. This game is, overall, far superior to the original. There are lots of new game elements that can be used in creating levels, like slopes, on/off switches, new enemy types like the pesky sun from SMB3, variable scrolling, among many other things. And most of these are available from the get go, unlike in the original where game elements are introduced gradually, making players play the game more over days to unlock new elements. Here, you can start making elaborate courses right away, and that's exactly what Super Mario Maker veterans did. Within a month, more than 2 million course have been uploaded with much varying styles, complexity, and creativity.
Making a course is pretty much the same as how it was on the Wii U and 3DS but with one big caveat: the Switch doesn't have a separate gamepad, making course creation in dock mode a bit less precise. Motion control is also not supported, thus, you cannot use the Joy-Con as a mean to make precise controls on your TV. Your best option is to just create courses in handheld mode, since you can use the touch screen to easily add and remove elements on your masterpiece. Aside for the new additions and inevitable departures, course creation from putting gaming elements together to sharing it online is still as easy as before. Of course, you still have to be able to complete your course for you to actually upload it.
I myself am not much of a course maker, so I just pick from the millions available course that are already uploaded and have pretty much unlimited fun. The uploaded courses are categorized depending on difficulty, and are ranked based on popularity (Hot). Popular new courses (Trending) are also listed. It's just unbelievable how much incredibly creative other players can get when it comes to designing these levels. They are so good that sure, in any given day, they can give the Big N a run for its money.
But of course, Nintendo will not just go down defeated when it comes to creating courses. After all, they made all of these possible. So they packed in more than 100 pre-made courses in the game, which more than your average Mario title has (in comparison, Super Mario World only has 72 courses). And it seems that Nintendo was taking notes of what the original Super Mario Maker players have done, and it shows on the level of creativity and complexity of their own courses. Unfortunately, you will not be able to edit these courses. You can only take inspiration out of them, apparently. For me, that is an excellent move, because it allows the players to be more creative without having to rely on game elements already set in place for them. By the way, these pre-made courses are accessible by playing through the story mode.
Super Mario Maker for the Nintendo 3DS also has a story mode, with 100 courses grouped into 18 worlds. Unlike that game, Super Mario Maker 2 tucked in an actual story: Princess Peach's castle got accidentally "deleted", and it is up to Mario to raise enough funds to completely rebuild it. A toad character gives you the courses to play, which you can play on any order, and another one to whom you give your accumulated coins to fund the construction of the castles and unlock various other extra areas around it.
You get coins by playing and finishing pre-made courses. These courses vary in style and complexity. The courses, like in the first game, can be in the style of the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U. A new design style, from Super Mario 3D World, makes its debut on the game. The more difficult the course, the bigger reward it yields. You are given 5 lives to complete a given course, which you can increase by getting 1Ups. When you run out of lives, it's game over, and you will be booted out of the course. Fortunately, you can have your good lil' bro Luigi to instantly complete a course. Or, if you don't want to completely give up, Luigi can also provide additional assistance in the form of power-ups or allowing you to alter the course a bit with blocks that you can use to build platforms and whatnot, making them easier to complete. As far as I know, there is no penalty for getting help from Luigi: the mechanic is probably there for the kids or to those who are not very savvy with platformers (like me sometimes haha). You don't have to play all 100 or so pre-made courses to complete the story mode, but the extra levels will still give you coins which can still be used to unlock additional stuff.
The Nintendo-made courses are, as usual, top-notch, but still on the safe side for all their worth. They will never be too crazy or too crazy hard. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not much of a creator but I appreciate a well-create course when I see and play one. The player-created courses in the course world are just overflowing with creativity. They are also well-curated, thanks to the simple yet highly effective ranking system, so finding one good course is never a hassle, since they there are top lists where you can find them. Of course, you can still search courses by course codes, if you know them, so sharing courses between people is also very easy. If you find a course that you really like, you can save them locally on your Switch so that you can play them offline, but unlike in the original, you can no longer edit them, for the same reason stated earlier. By the way, a subscription to the Switch Online is needed to access the courses in the course world, so that is another reason to have one.
If you like playing with random players online, this game now supports that. Within the first few months of the game, this feature is quite broken, with lags and extreme slowdowns and disconnections being experienced in much frequency, but nowadays, those have been significantly lessened, thanks to recent game updates. You can even play locally with a friend or two, which was only available for joint course creation before. Yes, you can create courses locally with friend. Why anyone would do that is beyond me, but if you have some like-minded friends with you, the option is there.
Overall, Super Mario Maker 2 is one of Nintendo first-party games that gives you great bang for your buck as it gives you virtually infinite number of courses to play that will have you occupied for years, or until the next entry to the series arrives. It joins the ranks of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario World, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as one of the essential Switch video games that every Switch owner should own and play.
REPLAY VALUE: very high
PROS:
- Pretty much the ultimate 2D Mario platformer game any player would ever need
- Amazing graphics and soundtrack from across the many Mario games over the years
- Course creation is as easy as before, though a bit trickier if done while docked
- New game elements to be used for course creation, such as slopes, on/off switch, and many others
- Course uploaded online are diverse and well-curated based on user ranking
- The new course style based on Super Mario 3D World is a welcome addition
- Story mode is much meatier than the one found on Super Mario Maker for the Nintendo 3DS, but there are no extra challenges
- Pre-made and downloaded courses can no longer be edited, which promotes more creativity
- The newly-added Legend of Zelda game elements are simply awesome!
CONS:
- Multiplayer modes suffer from some technical issues
- Amiibo support is completely absent, and thus, mystery mushrooms are no longer used
RATING: 5/5 Super Mario Superstars
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