Super Mario Maker 2 is proving to be a hit in every way. It has already sold over two million copies and is popular with level creators, who have now taken the game beyond another milestone. Mario Maker 2 allows players to create their own courses using tools, parts, features and visual effects. The design is restricted to Mario-style platforming, though creators have pushed the limits to awesome levels of madness.
Five Million Courses Uploaded
Although sales are obviously important from the developer and publisher’s perspectives, games that revolve around user-based level design should also be measured by the creative input that comes from the community. This is, after all, the vital life force behind the game’s success.
Just two weeks after Mario Maker 2 was released, Nintendo announced that over 2 million courses had been uploaded. This is an incredible feat when you consider that the original Little Big Planet took 9 months to reach one million level uploads. Of course, the Mario brand has been popular since the 1980s, so it has a head start when it comes to the fanbase.
Nowadays, the gaming community is more aware of the creator type games since the release of LittleBigPlanet, and the new Mario Maker follows off the success of the first game. Yet it also surpasses the old game in terms of levels made. Since its release on June 28th, players have created over 5 million courses for the game. This represents a design rate of around 1 million levels per week! The original Super Mario Maker has so far reached a total of about 7.2 million levels, so Mario Maker II is well over halfway there already.
Possible Reasons For Success
There are several potential reasons to explain the success of Mario Maker II. First, the Nintendo Switch is proving to have a bigger user base than the Wii U, which was the console for the original.Users looking to create levels have additional options and can make solo levels, two-player cooperative and four-player competitive across several categories.
A recent update to the game now allows players an increased course upload limit, up from 32 to 64. Nintendo has also hinted that they will increase this limit one more time in the near future.
Of course, not all of the five million courses are decent. Some of them are, as reported by players, “utter garbage”. It’s unsurprising really, given the technical and creative nuances of making a level functional, challenging, yet fun. Levels are ranked by popularity and ratings, so it’s easier to find decent levels. Some have even made headlines.
From First-Person Shooter To Mario Calculator
Although the dynamics of the level designer does limit what is possible for the player to create, creative users manage to push the boundaries and offer courses that are (almost) unbelievably good. Recent levels to hit the headlines include a first-person shooter by Japanese player Negitendo. “3D Maze House”, course code P59 – 698 – 55G, which is a replica of old-style RPG first-person shooters like Phantasy Star and Wolfenstein.
The premise of the course is to escape from a creepy haunted house by collecting three red coins to get the key and open the locked door. The level features a main window which shows Mario’s perspective, with a smaller window on the bottom right to direct him around the level, and even a mini-map to show your exact location. It’s genius.
Player Helgefan has also recently created the Mario Maker 2 in-game calculator. There was a calculator on the first game, but this one features even more possible calculations. You choose two numbers, 1 – 9, and can then decide whether to subtract them or add them up. Then all you do is wait, as the machine takes you through complex calculations of Goombas, claws and P-switches and eventually arrives at the correct answer. It’s not exactly a challenging level, but it’s beautifully executed.
