Hi all!
Today Nintendo posted the Super Mario 35th Anniversary Direct, and I’m pretty hyped about the announcements - which I will not talk about in the post. Don’t worry, no spoilers!
However, I would like to talk about my most played game of 2020, Super Mario Maker 2. I’ve played so much of this game during lockdown, seriously. Before lockdown I had 20 hours on the game, now I have 190 hours on it.
Without further ado, it’s time to talk about Super Mario Maker 2. This blog is split into ten parts, to make for easy reading. Let’s begin!
Part 1: New Course Elements
Not only are there new exclusive elements to play around with in the 3D World style, but there are also brand new universal items that can really spice up your level. For example..
Red Yoshi, which I sort of.. forgot about.. it wasn't until I randomly saw him in Story Mode that I remembered he was in the game! If you want to use Red Yoshi, put a mushroom on the standard Yoshi egg, and it'll turn red! It's a shame that Blue Yoshi and the Baby Yoshis aren't here, but two Yoshis are still wonderful!
Also here we have the Angry Sun, which interestingly was in the files for the first Mario Maker - I'm not entirely sure why it wasn't in the first game, but I'm glad it's here. This enemy has clearly made an impact despite only ever being in one level of one game prior to this.
Snake Blocks are here too, which are a really nice addition. I'm genuinely surprised that they weren't in the first game, considering that they're used so much in the New Super Mario Bros series. Sure, you could place a row of blocks onto a track, but it just wasn't the same, and it's so much better to have the two varients of Snake Blocks we have here. Also, is it me or do the blue Snake Blocks look like the icy ones from New Super Mario Bros Wii? Just me? Okay..
On/Off switches are here, which are just spectacular. They can do many things, including changing the status of On/Off blocks, which changes whether you can use them as platforms or not, and changing the direction of conveyor belts. In fact, I used On/Off switches and conveyors to recreate this boss fight from New Super Mario Bros 2. These switches and blocks literally have infinite potential, and I love it.
Boom Boom and the seven koopalings are also here. I'm surprised it took until the 3.0 updates to add the koopalings, but Boom Boom was in from the very beginning. Honestly I'm so glad these guys are in, because in the first game, every single boss was Bowser or Bowser Jr, or occasionally a Big Goomba or something. But no, not anymore. Now we have not one, not two, but eight new bosses. They all have their own attacks, too. For example, Boom Boom can spin jump, Ludwig can flutter jump and Lemmy can create magic balls that bounce you around. Wonderful.
On top of this, There are slopes. I cannot stress this enough, slopes. Why weren't they in the first game? There are parachutes. There are Goombrats and Goombuds. There are Banzai Bills and homing Banzai Bills. There is a Super Mario Bros 2 power up, a Super Mario Land power up, a Legend of Zelda power up - WHAT?! So many power ups!
The amount of elements in this game is just.. well, crazy. Rotten Mushrooms. Goomba Masks. Hop Chops, aka those deadly springs. Spikes. Snowballs. Dry Bones Shells you can ride through lava with. Mechakoopas, some of which shoot homing bullets and some of which shoot giant lasers. The Moon. Charvaarghs. Porcupuffers. Koopa Troopa Cars. Icicles. Twisters. Cursed Keys. Larry. Lemmy. Morton. Iggy. Wendy. Roy. Ludwig. Seesaws. Swinging Claws. Meowser. Trees. Dash Blocks. Toads.
Okay, Toads only appear in Story Mode, but it'd be cool if you could add characters that you have to save from an enemy or boss in your levels. I haven't even listed everything, but I think you get the gist that there is a lot of stuff to play with in this game.
This game has so much content that is all so much fun to play around with and make levels around. In this game, there is always something for your level-creating needs, no matter how you like your Mario levels. You’re always bound to find something to make a great level themed around. And speaking of themes..
To start off, let’s talk about the Mario 3D World style. Thanks to the new elements exclusive to the style, there’s so many new, creative things to do in the 3D World style. Clear Pipes, Blinking Blocks, on/off trampolines, among other things allow for some very interesting level design. Add that with new boss enemies like Meowser and Pom Pom, you can make some really great levels in the 3D World Style. While I wish that it had regular Bowser and Chain Chomps in it, because stan Chain Chomps, it doesn’t diminish how great this style is.
Unfortunately, where this style falls flat is in features and parity. When you want to change your level to the 3D World style, you have to.. reset the level? While it is lame, I do understand why this happens. The enemies are completely different in the 3D World style, and some levels that are in the 3D World style aren’t in other styles, and vice versa.
I also feel like the 3D World style is somewhat lacking in features compared to the other versions. This was somewhat fixed, however, with the addition of On/Off blocks to this style in the 3.0 update. Now, Nintendo hasn't said that there won't be any small updates in future, however it is unlikely that any new content will be added, but it still means that more features and parity could be added in future. To be honest though, these are rarely huge issues, and don't take away from this brilliant style.
(Not entirely sure why they didn’t add a Mario Odyssey style too but whatever)
Part 2: New Themes
There are four new level themes in Super Mario Maker 2. These are the Forest / Jungle, Sky / Athletic, Desert, and Snow themes. These allow the levels you create to have a lot of variety and concepts. If you want a desert level with Pokeys everywhere, go right ahead. Want a sky level without having to deal with the Airship music and wooden floors? You can do that now too.
My only complaint with the themes is that I'd personally like to see more of them. I'd like to see the Beach, Mountain and Volcano themes added, and at least an option to change vertical castle levels into Tower levels. Speaking of vertical levels, why does the sub-area have to be vertical? I think that's daft.
But apart from that, I love these new level themes. I love that you can now adjust the water in the forest theme and the lava in the castle theme. I love that you can put Spikes into snow levels and have them turn into snowball-throwing versions of themselves. I love how night time affects the different themes. Oh, yeah, I should probably mention..
Part 3: Night Themes
So there’s these new thing in Mario Maker 2 that allows you to cycle through day and night, night in particular having brand new gimmicks, and while I absolutely love some of these gimmicks, like the poison in the forest theme, the wind in the desert theme, and the extra slippery surfaces in the snow themes, I don’t really like some of the gameplay differences in a couple of them.
For example, in the ground theme Goombas float and power ups literally run away from you, and in the underground theme everything is upside down. Now, these can be used for very good levels in specific ways, and I plan to use them in these ways, but I would like an option to turn off the gimmicks. I'd also prefer if there was at least an option to merge the backgrounds. For example, the desert theme would have the standard pyramids and moais from the day theme, but would still use the night sky. I think that'd fit better. I'd also like an option to use the default music at night, because while I do like the night time music, it isn't always very fitting. Speaking of music..
Part 4: Music
Mario Maker 2 brings more musical options to the table, and I love that! There's a track from Super Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy and Kart. The bonus and boss music return, and final boss music has been added.
But to be honest, I wish there were a few more tracks. I'd love to hear Jump Up, Super Star or the New Donk City theme from Super Mario Odyssey, the main theme from Super Mario 3D Land and the castle theme from New Super Mario Bros. DS, for starters. More musical options would be fantastic.
Part 5: Multiplayer
Back in the first game, Mario Maker was exclusively a single player game, with level design and playing levels being single player only. But now, in the sequel, you can now play with up to 4 people at a time, just like in New Super Mario Bros Wii! And that multilayer is clearly flawless.
It’s really nice to play levels without a bored person watching you, and it’s a lot of fun playing multiple levels with another person, even if you both die over and over again because you suck at Mario.
I have no real gripes with multilayer play, except for the absence of Yellow Toad, come on Nintendo I need my bucken-berry! However I do have a problem with making levels with a friend.. Why can you only use Joy Cons?
Why is making levels together exclusive to single Joy Cons? Joy Cons do not have many buttons, so it only serves to make the level design process harder, even if it is more fun with a friend. The only reason I can gather this is that not everyone has a Pro Controller or two pairs of Joy Cons, but I would like the option to create levels together with full pairs or a pro controller.
Making levels by yourself allows these to be used, so why not? Honestly this I just a nitpick, it's not a huge issue, just something I'd like to bring up.
Part 6: Characters
There are four playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Toadette. But.. where's Yellow Toad? Apparently working on Peach's Castle, but I'd like to have the ability to play as more Toads to truly make this adventure unique to you. Purple Toads, Green Toads, Red Toads, many Toads!
Another thing, I'm genuinely surprised that other characters haven't been included in this game, especially in the form of Mystery Mushrooms. It isn't a huge deal though, I'm fine with the Mystery Mushrooms being gone - especially as they were in every single level online in the first game.
Part 7: Story Mode
It sure is here.
Okay, but seriously, I love Story Mode. It genuinely feels like a new 2D Mario game packed in with Mario Maker 2, and is leagues better than what the first game presented. Honestly, I don't have much to say about Story Mode. It's just an absolute blast.
Part 8: New Interface
With the game on the Switch and the obvious lack of a Wii U Gamepad, Mario Maker 2 now has a brand new interface with each element sorted by category, and while that’s cool, my favorite new addition is being able to hold down a button on an enemy or object and instantly be given all the options to change up that enemy.
Turning Green Koopas into Red Koopas, giving enemies wings and making them bigger is just a few things that are possible with this menu, which I think is much more convenient than shaking them or manually putting wings and making them bigger with mushrooms.
There have been times where I forgot and I instinctively tried to go up for a mushroom or wings to add to the element, but I’m definitely getting the hang of it, and honestly I prefer this new menu.
Part 9: Level Making
Undocked
Level making undocked is fine. While it initially feels worse to create levels than on the Wii U, after a while I personally got used to it and level making became easy in portable mode.
Docked
This isn't a huge problem, but I feel like I should mention it nonetheless. I know that it has to change up a bit due to it being on the new system, but it doesn’t change the fact that it can be kind of annoying.
In order to move to the rest of your elements to get them, you have to press the d-pad up, then press Y, pick your element, then press X to go back to making levels. While I am getting the hang of it, it greatly slows down level creation, especially when compared to handheld mode, where you can use the touchscreen.
There have even been some occasions where I forget I’m in select mode and I end up moving around the sides of the screen before realising and pressing X. But to be honest, there is no way that Nintendo could have done this better, since Mario Maker is clearly catered to the Wii U Gamepad.
Conclusion
Super Mario Maker 2 is a truly amazing game, despite its flaws. The amount of possibilities of level creation is really cool, and while I wish some things were different (especially the controls), it doesn’t bring my love of this game down.
I'm really glad that they've added more enemies and elements in free DLC, including fan favourites like Spikes, Pokeys, the Koopalings and..
Wait, am I forgetting something?
Part 10: World Maker
In the 3.0 update, along with big features like the Mario 2 Mushroom, the Cursed Key and the Koopalings, Nintendo added something huge. The World Maker feature.
This feature allows the player to make 4 big worlds, each of which featuring up to 8 worlds. Each of those worlds can have up to 5 levels, one of which being a castle or airship.
You can place many things on this world map, including bridges, mountains, clouds, ships, ghost houses, three variations of Toad Houses and even holes filled with snow, sand or water. There are numerous decorations in each style, ranging from poisonous lakes to pyramids to Bowser statues.
Oh yeah, the themes. You can have a big world full of eight of the same theme, or mix and match from the eight themes available: grass, desert, forest, snow, clouds, underground, volcano and space.
Those last two are interesting, as they don't appear as level themes. The closest things are the castle theme for volcano and night time ground theme for space.
I do hope that if they ever add more themes, they also add more themes to the world maker, and allow for both more levels per world, and more worlds. But overall, this is truly a brilliant addition and basically allows for an entire Mario game to be made. And that's where this game truly thrives.
Conclusion (again)
Super Mario Maker 2 is honestly nearly perfect. As I said before, Mario Maker 2 is a truly amazing game, despite its flaws. While I still wish the controls were better, it doesn’t take away from the fantastic value of the game.
This game will continue to be one of my favorite Switch Games and will probably always be my favorite video game of 2019.
I give Super Mario Maker 2 a 9/10
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