Now, Nintendo gives control to the fans. With Super Mario Maker, players can create the Mario level of their dreams/nightmares, share them online and play other creations. How does that experience measure up the Mario lineage? Here is what I think of Super Mario Maker for the Wii U.
Let's begin with the whole reason this game exists: to make Mario levels.
When you first boot up the game, it runs you through a quick tutorial of a "1-1"-like stage where you replace some pieces that are broken. It really helps to ease you into the tools that are about to be thrown upon you.
Once you get past the tutorial, the game gives you a sample of the creation tools, letting you design in the Super Mario Bros. and NEW Super Mario Bros. U tile sets, using a few assets, like Goombas, Koopas, Question Mark Blocks, etc. You unlock more tile sets and assets just by using the creator, eventually opening up the Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World tile sets, as well as underground, underwater, ghost house, airship, and castle backdrops for each game. The original idea was to unlock new stuff every real time day, meaning you had to play the game and use the creator for at least 5 minutes for about 9 real days to unlock everything. Thankfully, Nintendo patched this on launch day so now you could unlock everything in about an hour or so. A quick Google search will bring up the fastest way to get it all.
Though you may not want to do the speed version right away. The idea behind gradually unlocking things is so the player doesn't feel overwhelmed, because it can be that way up front. Later on, the parts become more complex, introducing different enemies, traps, and tracks for moving platforms. You can also modify the assets as you see fit. For instance, you can place a Question Mark Block, and maybe you decide a Goomba should be in it, go for it. What if that Goomba happened to be a giant? Simple, add a mushroom to the Goomba. Want a Bullet Bill Launcher to spit out Hammer Brothers instead of Bills? Put a Hammer Brother in it then. You can also shake the item to turn it into something else, like taking a green Koopa, shake it, it becomes a red Koopa, not all items react to it, but it is fun to experiment.
That's only the beginning of what this tool is capable of. You can adjust how many seconds the stage has, you can add sound effects at certain instances in the level or create your own (though those won't go with the level if it's uploaded to the internet, for obvious reasons). You can place a pipe, put Mario in it, and open up a sub-level, you can add doors which take the player anywhere in that level, or (if you're a heathen) you can add autoscroll to your level, even the speed of the autoscroll. Don't use autoscroll, you asshats.
A huge part of the game and what will only add the fun and craziness: the costumes. Using the Mystery Mushroom, you can turn Mario into a number of different Nintendo characters. You unlock these costumes either using Amiibos or unlocking them from playing the other modes in Mario Maker. I won't spoil who is all in the game, but there are 100 different skins, most of which come with their own sound effects and music at the end of the level. Note that these characters can only be used in the Super Mario Bros. tile set.
The creation tool is super intuitive and works great on the Gamepad. This is the perfect example of what the Gamepad is capable of. It's also full of charm while creating, as the voice will announce what you added to the level and even does it in tune with the music in the background.
Before I move on, I will say this: if you are going to be a serious Mario level designer using this game (and it's very possible I will go down that route), buy graph paper. This way, when you are away from your Wii U, you can be plotting what you want to happen when you do get back to it. Also, that's how Miyamoto and Tezuka designed the original game 30 years ago. It's effective.
What's more, the game comes with an idea book that pretty amazing. Even if it doesn't give you ideas, it's a great piece of Nintendo love.
Once you create your levels, you can upload them to Nintendo's server, where others can play, comment, and favorite (star) them. The more stars you get for your levels, the more levels you can upload. You start with 10 slots and that increases depending on how many stars you receive for your levels.
These levels go into "Course World" where you can pick and choose one-off levels to play. The main mode of play, though is 100-Mario Mode. You are given 100 lives and choose whether to do Easy (8 Courses), Normal, or Expert (both 16-courses). These consist of random user-made levels for you to play. If a level becomes too difficult, just hold down the minus button, lose a life, and move on to another level. Complete the entire course, and you are rewarded with a new costume for the Mystery Mushroom.
The goal with this mode is to ideally give you ideas for your own levels. I have played through the mode SEVERAL times and it has given me plenty of neat ideas for my own stuff.
There is already plenty of levels to choose from thanks to the community. Not all of them great. This is true for any community-based game. The really great thing is that before a stage can be uploaded, the creator must beat it themselves to prove it can be done.
One trend is definitely dominating the server right now: the Autoplaying levels. Levels where you literally press nothing and the levels guides Mario to the exit. On one hand, these complex machines are amazing to look at and basically works of art, on the other hand, they aren't particularly fun, as all you are doing is watching. I'd rather actually PLAY a Mario game instead of the game playing for me, but I do see the appeal of those levels and some of those levels are quite the sight to behold.
I have put SEVERAL hours into this game and have been thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, right now I am getting the itch to go make some more levels, or go buy graph paper.
Super Mario Maker is amazing to me, purely in that it exists. Nintendo has been super protective of all its properties, so seeing them handing all of it over to the players and saying "Here, go nuts" is pretty mindblowing. Luckily, all the tools are there to create some astounding levels.
Super Mario Maker is every Nintendo fan's dream, and definitely one of the ever-growing reasons to own a Wii U.
Update: Here are my level ID's if you want to play them:
1E9B-0000-001B-C251
F789-0000-001C-2EEB
FE0A-0000-001D-2D85
124E-0000-001D-B320
0CD1-0000-001E-AA1D
F0ED-0000-0028-6403
C8B1-0000-0033-7CE0
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