It might be the best news you’ve heard, or it might cause a relapse of your PTSD. Nintendo has brought Super Mario Maker to the Switch with Super Mario Maker 2. This is not a port of the original game, but a true sequel that adds even more things to create your perfect course or get your friends so angry they rage quit. There is alot of new features, different play modes, and so many new items it will take you awhile to use them all. How does it compare with the original, the surprise hit of 2015?
There are two main ways to play Super Mario Maker 2. Build a course using the items and themes of classic Mario levels. You can do whatever you want, as long as another player beats the level. It then goes into the rotation. The other way is to test your skills from levels created by people around the world. If you are looking for a fairer experience, Nintendo has also created levels that you can play.
The biggest addition is the use of the Super Mario 3D World style to build the levels. This changes things a lot, as new items are available and enemies have a different method of attack. The cat suit makes a reappearance as well as the master of the flames, Charvaargh. If you can think of a foe from this game, chances are they will make an appearance. My favorite is Banzai Bill, a Bullet Bill that will track your movements in a quest to destroy you.
I said in the beginning that there is quite a few new features, so I will only go over what I think are the coolest additions. You have the ability to change the setting from night, to desert and sky to name a few. Night has a hidden feature, as the darkness will effect things from mushrooms to how gravity works. Think your level is hard, but someone found a way to glitch the system? You can now add winning conditions, requirements that the player must fulfill in order to win. (no touching the ground for example) If you are a terrible person, you can also change how water and lava rise and fall. This has skipped over a ton of other things such as red Yoshi, parachutes, custom scroll, Dry Bones and the a car that goes through the level. Like I said, creators will find lots to play with here.
Three new games modes are introduces as well. Story mode takes you through one hundred levels as you try and collect coins to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle. Multiplayer allows four players to play a course at the same time and see who can win with the best time. Endless mode gives you a set number of lives and turns you loose on creator’s levels. See how far you can get before you run out.
I wanted to give Super Mario Maker 2 a perfect score, but one thing took it away. It is not something new that was added ,but something that was taken away. The hundred Mario challenge, in which a player gets one hundred Marios to try and beat a set number of levels, has been removed. There was nothing that matched the sense of accomplishment when you finally did it. The other modes are great, I just wish they had kept this one as well.
Super Mario Maker 2 is ridiculously fun and you will spend hours trying out the new levels that come in hourly. This games almost demands you find some friends to really get the full experience. The appeal of Mario has always been a game that anyone could play and this sequel proves that anyone can also make a level. Just not everyone can beat it.
9/10
Available on Switch
