By KYLE VANDERMARK
Contributing Writer
Summer is coming to a close and that means it’s time for fall releases in the video game world.
We’re gonna take a look at “Super Mario Maker” for the Nintendo Wii U. I was intrigued when I first saw the E3 trailer for this game.
I’m a huge Mario fan. “Super Mario Bros. Deluxe” was my first video game I’ve ever owned for the Game Boy Color, so I may be a bit biased towards the Mario series, but I’ll try to keep it as fair as possible.
This game gives the gamer a chance to let their imagination run wild by creating their own side-scrolling Mario levels. This game can appeal to all ages because there are four different themes of levels to create: “Super Mario Bros.”, “Super Mario Bros. 3”, “Super Mario World “and even the latest, “New Super Mario Bros. U.” The themes allow the gamer to kick it old school and relive the glory days or create an HD masterpiece with a nice modern style.
This game may not be for the gamer who wants to press play and start a campaign within minutes. “Super Mario Maker” is what you make it. You don’t necessarily have to create a level in order to enjoy the game though. Nintendo has included pre-made levels for inspiration, along with a booklet with tips and tricks from the professionals of Nintendo. Gamers have the chance to share their levels online so others can play them and give feedback. I like the sound of this, not so much because I want other people to try my levels, but because I know there will be people who are much more imaginative than I that spend a lot of time making elaborate levels. With this sharing system, I’ll be able to get in on that.
The Wii U Gamepad and stylus offer a simple, yet innovative drag and drop method of creating levels. Creators can double tap the screen to start testing their creation, and if they encounter an issue, they can revert directly back to edit mode to start fixing their level. There’s a lot of freedom for the creators. If you like to run through a level quickly and can’t stand falling into a bottomless pit and getting sent back to the beginning, then you can make your levels without pits. Or stairs too for that matter. Nothing kills your momentum more than the stairs at the end of the level that you can’t clear in a single bound.
These levels that you create don’t have to be the everyday levels we see in the previously released Mario games. Break the conventions of traditional Super Mario gameplay, be a rebel. Creators can blend enemies, traps and items into unexpected twists, like Piranha Plant-shooting cannons, power-up-tossing Lakitus or even Hammer Bros. riding on Bowser while bouncing on trampolines. Want to mix a Piranha Plant with a Bullet Bill cannon? Do it! Want to make it so Lakitu drops power ups from his cloud instead of enemies? Why not? It’s a game, and you’re giving the gamer a chance to bend the rules and make their own game. That sounds like a genius idea to me!
If you’ve heard of the “amiibos” that Nintendo has been releasing over the past year or so, they are compatible with “Super Mario Maker”, so yay! If you haven’t, amiibo are a series of Nintendo character toys that interact with multiple games on the Wii U and 3DS. There’s a new item in the game called “the mystery mushroom”, and you can change Mario into another videogame character. For example, if you purchase a Link amiibo figure from the Legend of Zelda series, you can design a level and put a mystery mushroom into a question mark block so Mario can actually turn into Link. That’s such a cool concept to me. I’ve never been inclined to buy these, considering they’re sold separately, but this might be a good enough reason for me.
For people who don’t necessarily care for the Mario side-scrolling games as much, they now have a chance to make the levels into a game that they love. Anyone with an “I can do it better” attitude, this is the perfect game for you. I personally can’t wait for this title that will be released in America on Sept. 11, 2015. I hope my “first look” does the game justice and maybe even convinces someone to give it a try.
