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!
