Super Mario Maker

[Tarkus]

Super Mario Maker came out this past week on the Wii U.  For those who aren't familiar with it, it allows one to create their own Mario levels, block by block, and even share them via Nintendo's servers.  As someone who grew up with the old NES and SNES Mario games (and is the same age as the original SMB), it's something I've always wanted.  There are some limitations to it, but even still, I've been having an absolute blast with it.  Being a bit of a perfectionist with my levels, I haven't yet gotten to the point of uploading any, but here's a peek at the very first level I started making last week, an underground level in the original Super Mario Bros. style. 



(This screencap was taken in the midst of playing the level, so that Goomba is just kind of in mid-air right now. )

-Alex

[catty]

Never tried this but it looks interesting, as I'm an old Linux user originally so I used to play Pingus alot   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingus

[metarvo]

Way cool!    I hope you don't accidentally make an impossible level, though.    It's too bad I don't actually a have a Wii U, but this game has brought me closer to getting one than perhaps any other one besides Mario Kart 8.

[Simcoug]

Makes me wish I still had my old NES... 

[mgb204]

I was playing SMB 1+3 on the SNES the other day - Oddly your screenshot looks low res because I'm more accustomed to the overhaul present in the Super Mario All-Stars version...

A friend will bring Mario Maker and a Wii U around tomorrow so I'll get a chance to try it out. It's probably the most compelling Wii-U game so far from my perspective. I doubt I could justify a Wii-U purchase for it though.

[Tarkus]

Way cool!    I hope you don't accidentally make an impossible level, though.    It's too bad I don't actually a have a Wii U, but this game has brought me closer to getting one than perhaps any other one besides Mario Kart 8.

The one good thing is that the game is set up such that you have to have been able to reach the goal in your level before you can upload it, which does force you to do some playtesting.  Of course, that doesn't stop you from having impossible levels saved locally. That said, there's still some pretty awful levels uploaded, despite the requirement.

Beyond Super Mario Maker and Mario Kart 8, there are some other good titles out there (my sleeper pick is New Super Luigi U), plus Wii reverse-compatibility.  Overall, I've been quite pleased with the system, though I'm very much an old-school gamer.

-Alex

[mgb204]

Well I must say it was a bit hit and miss for me in the end, I found a couple levels I liked that were really well thought out and fun. Many though are quite frustrating and seemed designed just to bamboozle you into dying many times, still it's early days yet. There are some "Automatic Mario" levels by a Japanese user where you set Mario off and watch him go, certainly cool to watch all the effects at ridiculous speed.

I did even make/upload a level, although I found a number of the puzzles I recall from various Mario games could not be recreated, it seems a little limited in some respects. That said the tools do allow for a lot of potential, so I'd like to make some more...

My friend was kind enough to lend me his Wii U system for a few days, which was a mistake. I promptly went and accidently factory reset it trying to change it from Spanish into English! A few things to learn from this:

1. Don't lend your console to an idiot
2. Use a better password than 0000 (my first guess)

[Tarkus]

Well I must say it was a bit hit and miss for me in the end, I found a couple levels I liked that were really well thought out and fun. Many though are quite frustrating and seemed designed just to bamboozle you into dying many times, still it's early days yet. There are some "Automatic Mario" levels by a Japanese user where you set Mario off and watch him go, certainly cool to watch all the effects at ridiculous speed.

The Kaizo Mario influence is pretty strong with some of the courses, as is the tendency for enemy spamming (i.e. "let's put 20 Lakitus and hidden giant Thwomps up above!") and trampoline ridiculousness.  I've gone through the 100 Mario Challenge three times . . . completed once on Normal, and came close to completing twice on Expert.  According to Nintendo, there's over a million courses that have been uploaded already, so while there's probably quite a few good courses out there, there's a lot of not-so-good ones to sort through/skip in 100 Mario Challenge.  The Automatic Mario levels are pretty widespread as well (and seem to be the ones getting all the stars)--it's interesting to see a few of them, but the novelty's worn off for me now.

I have finally uploaded my "1-1" and "1-2" in the original SMB style, both of which were efforts to try to produce things that seem like they could be in an actual Mario game, but a little different. The course codes are below:

1-1 - Prelude
F54B-0000-005B-466D

1-2 - Neoclassical Underground
FF97-0000-005B-4569

The 1-1 course was my attempt at trying to make a compelling but simple introductory level.  It's quite easy.  My 1-2 is the one I posted the preview of before.  It's a fair bit more difficult (not a lot of solid ground), though still probably moderate at worst.  Spent quite a few hours on both of them.

-Alex

[Simcoug]

Does the Wii U have the original NES controllers? 

[Tarkus]

There are adapters to actually plug an NES or SNES controller into a Wiimote (still compatible with the Wii U).  That said, I've found that if you turn a Wiimote sideways, it does actually feel surprisingly close to an NES controller.  The only real difference is that the controller's a bit smoother feeling, and the 1 and 2 buttons are convex rather than concave like the NES A and B buttons.  I've played quite a few old school and "neo-old school" games with it (including the Wii re-release of Mario All-Stars and the New Super Mario Bros. games) and it felt pretty good.  The Wii U Gamepad's button layout actually isn't far off of an SNES, and there are button remapping options for it.

-Alex

[Tarkus]

Nintendo recently created a "Super Mario Maker Bookmark" site where it's a lot easier to find and play levels now.  All of mine (I've uploaded 28 to date) can be found here.  No impossible ones yet, but I do have one really traditional but brutal SMB3-style fortress with a clear rate currently sitting below 3%.

Brawl Karter on YouTube also streamed one of my less menacing SMB3 courses:

https://www.youtube.com/v/LbGPNLX_sFQ

-Alex