Super Mario Maker Bookmark is the kind of thing everyone wanted, even if we didn’t know it until it launched. The announcement during November 12th’s Nintendo Direct was an unexpected but exciting one, giving fans of the game a hopefully easier process in finding and saving user-created levels they truly enjoyed.

Yesterday afternoon, December 22nd, the website officially launched alongside the game’s most recent big update, which added numerous new mechanics and features to the course creation and record keeping. After spending a little bit of time with the website, we thought we’d go over it for you.

Aesthetic appeal

I’d like to first point out that the overall design of the website is handled beautifully. Though you may question why the page takes on a blue and yellow color scheme (though this blue does change depending on the page you’re on), instead of red and blue in classic Mario fashion, the colors don’t feel out of place. In fact, it’s very reminiscent of the Mario Maker mascot we’ve gotten to know since the game’s release: Mario in his yellow hard hat. That design is also almost completely void of the color red, so from an aesthetic standpoint this website draws a nice connection to the game. It’s not hard on the eyes, which makes searching for courses an easy and enjoyable process, even if you do it for longer periods of time. Every feature on the site evokes a playful, bouncy vibe that only feels like Mario, and everything is extremely simplistic, making navigation around the site anything but difficult.

User-friendly

After I was done admiring the finely tuned look of the website, I dove right into exploring it. As I said before, everything on the site is simple beyond compare, though not in a detrimental way. It’s not a bare-bones site by any means, but it does lay everything out for visitors in an obvious and literal fashion, meaning there is no confusion when trying to get to where you want to go. Its homepage also functions as its page for recommended courses, which seems to be a randomized list of some of the best courses currently occupying the game. Displayed in separate squares from each other, the information for each is displayed out in the open, such as the creator, course difficulty, clear rate, style, and so on. Even with this wealth of information about each course, it’s not hard to read and you shouldn’t have any trouble gathering all that you need to know about each specific course you want to play. This display of information is a standard throughout the site, so expect it everywhere that you want to navigate. You’re also given the option to bookmark any specific stage for later, or if you’re feeling really daring, bookmark all of them with a handy little button.

Now you might be wondering how you can bookmark stages if you’re sitting on your computer or smart device, instead of on your Wii U. The answer is easy: You can sign right into your Nintendo Network account, and everything will sync automatically! This also means that any courses you’ve already completed will be displayed as such, so there’s no worry of bookmarking or copying codes of stages you’ve already played. Neat, huh?

Search function

You’re also given the option to search for courses yourself, using either a ranking system or a filter. If you choose to use the ranking system, you’ll be taken to a page where courses are displayed in the same way as the recommended courses. However, on this page, there are two tabs at the top, labeled “Courses” and “Makers.” Here, you can have the website list stages, starting from the highest ranked course, by Star Rate, Weekly Total Stars or All-Time Total Stars. With the “Makers” tab, you can simply switch the display so that instead of seeing specific courses, you’re seeing– you guessed it– course creators based on their Weekly Total Stars or All-Time Total Stars.

If you choose to search for courses using the filters, you can filter the courses by Game Style, Course Theme, Region, Difficulty, Tag and Upload Date. You can have any mix of filters applied at any time, which means the possibilities are endless. Also, the courses can be sorted by Star Rate, Total Stars, Lowest Clear Rate, or Most Recent, giving you even more power in your search.

Staying connected

There’s also a settings tab, where if you choose to sign into your Nintendo Network ID, you can link your Twitter account as well as decide whether or not you want to prevent other users from changing the tags on the courses you’ve created. This option is unchecked by default, so if you don’t want people changing your tags, make sure you check it off!

Find what you need

Lastly, there’s a nice little help page that acts much like a legend or a key, in that it tells you what each symbol or graphic means in the display of information about a course. So if you’re ever at a loss for what something means, check the help section. They’re sure to have it!

Overall impressions

Even with the short amount of time I’ve gotten to spend with it, this website is really beautiful. The user experience as a page visitor was nothing but pleasant, with load times being short and navigation being easier than I expected. With a community so huge, you might expect that there would be an overwhelming amount of information for you to take in at once when visiting the page for the first time, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that that wasn’t true. In fact, digging through the various levels the website offered me even in just the recommended section is quite fun, and being able to bookmark them straight from my computer is really convenient.

Nintendo has really hit the mark with this new tool, providing fans of Mario Maker a way of really streamlining the process of finding levels they want to play. I have nothing but praise for the site, both from a design and functionality standpoint. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest checking it out, especially if you’re still playing the game regularly (which I have a feeling everyone is). At the very least, you might find some inspiration for new courses of your own!

Go check out Super Mario Maker Bookmark now!

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