Super Mario Maker is bringing the creativity out in people in a big way, and I’m not even talking about level design. Media outlets and individuals across the internet have been consistently producing wildly entertaining and incredibly personal coverage of the game. In fact, every major publication has found a unique way to play, create, and share Super Mario Maker with its fans. Let’s take a look at some of the ways this creativity has taken shape.
IGN – Editor Challenges
If you’re familiar with many of the editors on the IGN staff, you’ll already know that there are some die-hard, lifelong Nintendo fans among them. There are also some that have more of a waning or passing enthusiasm for Nintendo’s games.
In a series called Super Mario Maker Challenge, editors were paired off and asked to create levels for their partners. The two would then sit down together and play each other’s levels. The magic of this setup is the variety of level design shining through the diverse cast of creators, and watching them gently encourage or maliciously berate their unwitting test subjects. All of these challenges are fun to watch, but my absolute favorites are the ones involving Nintendo superfan Brian Altano. Like this one!
USgamer (Jeremy Parish) – The Daily Mario
Everyone has a first experience with a new game, and while reviews can give us insight into a game’s initial impact on someone, we don’t often get to witness the phenomenon firsthand. Video game historian Jeremy Parish of USgamer, recognizing the importance of this process with Super Mario Maker specifically, created a series of videos chronicling his early experimentation and learning process with the game.
The Daily Mario, as Jeremy called it, is a nine episode feature that will guide you through his first steps of creativity and inspiration with Super Mario Maker.
Nintendo Life – Level Database
Our colleagues across the pond at Nintendo Life have created a fantastic resource that can benefit all Super Mario Maker players. In the absence of some much needed curation and search features within Super Mario Maker, Nintendo Life has called upon its massive readership to fill in its own database of levels.
The database has robust search features, its own rating system, creator profiles, and pretty much anything else you could ask for in such a service. If you’re frustrated by auto-playing and music levels dominating the charts in Super Mario Maker, this database is a good place to look for quality levels.
And if that doesn’t prove Nintendo Life’s love for Super Mario Maker, this will.
Kotaku (Patrick Klepek) – Mario Maker Mornings
With very impressive consistency, Patrick Klepek of Kotaku has been starting his mornings off on the right foot. In a feature he calls Mario Maker Mornings, Patrick spends many of his early hours live streaming and chatting with his fans about Super Mario Maker.
While it’s pretty easy to find a good Super Mario Maker live stream these days, Patrick brings his unique charm and expertise to the equation. And being conditioned by obsessive stints with games like Spelunky and Dark Souls, he has a very entertaining penchant for brutally difficult levels.
Giant Bomb – Crowd sourced levels
The beloved ensemble that is Giant Bomb has nothing but enthusiasm for Super Mario Maker. Coming from some of the most experienced and sometimes rightfully jaded talent in games media, this praise for Nintendo’s latest creation means more than most.
Five star review aside, Giant Bomb is known for its feverish fanbase and high quality video content. These two come together beautifully in this video, where the cast, helmed by Dan Ryckert, sits down with its fans and dictates a Super Mario Maker level on their behalf. They’ve promised more of these levels to come.
Polygon – Guest creators
Anyone can make levels in Super Mario Maker. Some are better than others, sure, but inspired creativity can come from anywhere. Polygon recognizes this, and invites a wide variety of guests to come and create Mario levels with them. These guests have included legendary designers like Koji Igarashi (Castlevania) and Tom Hall (Doom), as well as indie genius Derek Yu (Spelunky). Oh, and a pizza delivery guy… Yep.
Twitch
Twitch is usually a pretty good gauge of community interest in a game, and Super Mario Maker has been in the service’s top ten streamed games consistently since its launch. This shows that not only is it a great game, but it can be as fun to watch as it is to play. Nintendo has a hit on their hands in more ways than one, and I honestly think we’ve only begun to see what the world can do with Super Mario Maker.
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Written by Brittin Shauers
Brittin literally grew up with Link, Mario and Samus. These three characters and their worlds collectively capture everything that he loves about video games.
