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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