Super Mario Maker

SUPER MARIO MAKER

Today, let's cover Super Mario Maker, the game that put the power in the player's hands to design their own Mario levels and took the internet by storm for at least a few months after its release. By the very nature of the game, this one's going to be a little unorthodox, as any moves for a Builder Mario or something along those lines would have to come from the construction interface of the game rather than the levels themselves for the most part.

So, we'll start with the title screen, which follows after Mario Paint with the whole "each letter causes some kind of effect": SUPER shouts the name of the game, M drops a Wario Mystery Mushroom, A causes stars to fall, R will shoot coins, I will summon the sound parakeet (we'll get into that), O summons a clown car, M will drop and Buzzy or Spiny Helmet, A will shoot off like a Reset Rocket, K will change the screen to a sepia tone, E will drop a trampoline, and R will drop a Goomba's Shoe or a Yoshi Egg.

Now for the Stage Builder itself. You can start with several themes and game styles. The game styles you can pick from is Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, while the themes are Ground (basic), Underground, Underwater, Ghost House, Airship, and Castle. Then you have a selection of elements you can place. These include: item blocks, arrow signs, brick blocks, rotating blocks, bridges, burners, cannons, cloud blocks, coins, conveyor belts, donut blocks, fire bars, grinders, hidden blocks, ice blocks, lifts, mushroom platforms, note blocks, one-way walls, P switches, pipes, POW blocks, spike traps, tracks, trampolines, vines, and warp doors.

Unlike the sequel, Mario is the only playable character, and all gameplay is standard sidescrolling Mario stuff. The items available include old classics like 1-Up Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Super Leaves, Cape Feathers, Propeller Mushrooms, Super Mushrooms, Weird Mushrooms, and Super Stars, alongside new items like a Clown Car you can fly yourself, Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells that can be worn as helmets, Big Mushrooms that . . . make everything around you Mario themed for some reason, and Mystery Mushrooms that can transform Mario's appearance based on an amiibo being tapped. (Link amiibo would turn him into Link, basically).

The enemies you can place on screen include Goombas, Galoombas, Koopa Troopas, Dry Bones, Piranha Plants, Cheep Cheeps, Bloopers, Boos, Bob-Ombs, Buzzy Beetles, Lakitus, Spinies, Spike Tops, Monty Moles, Rocky Wrenches, Hammer Bros, Sledge Bros, Wigglers, Blurps, Deep Cheeps, Stretches, Jelectros, Sea Urchins, Fish Bones, Munchers, Bullet Bills, Chain Chomps, Thwomps, Magikoopas, Bowser, and Bowser Jr., all acting much as you'd expect them too. One fun detail about all these features is that you had a pretty good amount of freedom to mix and match them as you please. Do you want to put a Chain Chomp inside a Clown Kar? Sure. Do you want to stack a Bullet Bill Blaster on a Wiggler's head? Why not? The internet certainly had a lot of fun there.

I think I've covered most of the meat of the game anyway. You could share courses built online with other players, and you could likewise play theirs. The game also came with an assortment of demo levels you could play through if you were so inclined.

I think that's about it. Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer, pink (enemy), blue (block), yellow (metal plate), green (brick), Kanbank, throw Koopa shells, chisel, pinball, dance

Builder Mario: item blocks, arrow signs, brick blocks, rotating blocks, bridges, burners, cannons, cloud blocks, coins, conveyor belts, donut blocks, fire bars, grinders, hidden blocks, ice blocks, lifts, mushroom platforms, note blocks, one-way walls, P switches, pipes, POW blocks, spike traps, tracks, trampolines, vines, warp doors, 1-Up Mushrooms, Fire Flowers, Super Leaves, Cape Feathers, Propeller Mushrooms, Super Mushrooms, Weird Mushrooms, Super Stars, Clown Car, Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells, Big Mushrooms, Mystery Mushrooms.

Luigi: same, dance

Princess Peach

Bowser, dance

Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character, see all above

Wario: chisel, dance

Toad

Yoshi

Donkey Kong

Daisy

Waluigi: dance, steal music keys

Birdo

Diddy Kong

Toadette

Toadsworth

Bowser Jr.

Petey Piranha

Koopa Troopa

Goomba

Shy Guy

Boo

Cheep Cheep

Bob-Omb

Lakitu

Pokey

Chain Chomp

Monty Mole

Ukiki

Eggplant Man: run around

Gotchawrench: run around

Slime

Platypunk

Bianca

Angelo

Jessica

Alena

Kiryl

Carver

Pudding/Princessa

Yangus

Dragonlord

Stella

Patty

Onigiri

Onnanoko

Oyazi

Dogu

Tutankoopa: float, spell

Stages:

Wrecking Crew

High Rise Building

Mario Paint

Clash House Tower

Fun Fair

Frosty Frontier

Grassy Greens

Shifting Sands

Fiery Stage

Truffle Towers

SS Brass

Corkscrew Hotel

Wario Carnival

Snowy Peak

Bowser's Castle

Yoshi's Island

Bowser's Castle

Mario Stadium

Mario Circuit

Peach's Castle

Delfino Plaza

Mushroom Kingdom

Castle Trodain

Mt. Magmageddon

Colossus

Ghost Ship

Slimenia

Alefgard

Robbin' Hood Ruins

Starship Mario

Good Egg Galaxy

Observatory

Alltrades Abbey

Mario Maker (I like the way Smash did it)

Items:

Hammers

Bombs

Drums

Blocks

Shells

Mahjong Tiles

Pinball Machine

Music Keys

1-Up Mushrooms

Fire Flowers

Super Leaves

Cape Feathers

Propeller Mushrooms

Super Mushrooms

Weird Mushrooms

Super Stars

Clown Car

Buzzy Beetle and Spiny Shells

Big Mushrooms

Mystery Mushrooms

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's cover the game's sequel!