In case you missed it yesterday, Super Mario Maker 2 is now out. Being a huge fan of the Wii U original, I was very excited for the sequel - and grinned throughout the Direct where it was announced.
I haven't done much level making yet, but I have been playing through Story Mode. The levels feel fresher than 2D Mario has done for a while. Back when lots of games "went" 3D on the Nintendo 64, it felt like there was a wholesale move away from 2D games. That the two couldn't co-exist.
Thankfully, that proved not to be the case, and the "New" Super Mario Bros series began. The first DS title was really fun and felt like it introduced enough new ideas within the 2D template to make it a worthwhile outing. However, as time went on, the "New" games started to feel like Mario-by-numbers. In my view, this progressed through the Wii and Wii U versions, and felt quite tired by the 2nd (3)DS title.
I couldn't tell you about the various levels in New Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii, New Super Mario Bros Wii U, New Super Mario Bros 2 - all of which I played and completed. They were fairly fun, but many of the levels didn't pose much of a challenge - nor did they feel particularly memorable. I don't remember them introducing much new stuff from level to level beyond the usual overground, underground, (Wombling free)... sky, underwater, ghost house, castle... It really didn't help that if you play all of the "New" games back to back, it can feel like you're playing a variation of the same game. With the Wii U game I got a serious sense of deja vu, particularly in the first few worlds. (This is where someone tells me that some levels were remixed... I'm sure they weren't meant to be, but it certainly felt that way.)
How is Super Mario Maker 2 different?
In Super Mario Maker 2, the original has been expanded with a bunch of new stuff - slopes! Angry Sun! Rising water/lava! Snow/desert/jungle/sky themes! 3D World! As a result, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the toolset - especially if you didn't play the original, and you skip the tutorials.
One of the key things I've learned about making a good Mario level is to try and focus on a theme, and build and expand upon it as the level unfolds. This might involve one or two aspects, perhaps a certain enemy, types of platform, or a mechanic. One of my favourite Wii U levels (which I made), "In a Spin", starts by giving you a quick tutorial on spin jumping, before requiring you to use it to scale a wall, but in a safe area where there aren't any pits to fall into. You then go down a pipe, and have to cross a few gaping chasms by spin-jumping across Spinies and Buzzy Beetles. It's tricky, but I thought it worked quite well. It means you're not throwing the entire toolset at a level, and you can create something memorable.
This is where the "New" titles fall down. They failed to have a lot of memorable levels. In Maker 2's Story Mode, clear conditions help a lot - such as collecting coins or not jumping. And it helps that each level could be a totally different theme to the last. Maybe it's that each level has a title and a description, which might give you a hint (climb the trees) or set the scene, at least. It feels like Nintendo have considered what to include in each level one at a time, rather than picking the usual world themes (desert, ice, water, forest) and having a batch of standard levels (normal, underground, athletic, ghost house, castle) in those themes.
It's funny that we remember Goomba's Shoe in Super Mario Bros 3, which was only in one level - or the Angry Sun, which was only in two levels - the second being level 8-2, but I'd bet that most people have a better memory of it from the desert world. Who could forget levels such as "Tubular" from Super Mario World, which could've been a straightforward Pipe World romp but turned out to be anything but. These are memorable because they do something different - they're not simply a case of walking and jumping from A to B.
I'm only 15 levels into Super Mario Maker 2's Story Mode, but it already feels like a carefully considered collection of standalone stone-cold classics, far more so than much of the "New" series. Considering the primary reason for Maker is in making levels, we're incredibly fortunate to have such a stellar Story Mode to play through on the side.
