The game you made up when you were a child.
The thousands of Super Mario romhacks containing everything from seemingly impossible levels to the kinds of automatically playing musical theme parks that have been overflowing from the depths of the shadiest romsites to the most popular Youtube channels have finally got a legitimate platform to exist within. Super Mario Maker contains smart and intuitive level editing tools for the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and the New Super Mario games that offer a level of depth in customisation that may not be immediately apparent from their simple interfaces. An easy to use drag-and-drop style UI allows for tactile and straightforward level creation that allows you to very quickly get a handle on how to create anything from simple, traditional Mario levels, to fiendishly difficult labyrinths to levels that hang on inventive gameplay gimmicks quite unlike anything you would see in a regular Mario title. There are a few levels that come on the disc, but the meat of the game is on the theoretically infinite number of user-created levels that can be explored online. Mario Maker can at times seem like a playable proof of Sturgeon’s Law (that 4/5ths of everything must be bad), with the random level selection in the main 100-Mario Challenge modes leaning toward the amateur side, and the search tools included in the game being a little feature-less (it would be nice to have a sort of tag system a la LittleBigPlanet or honestly virtually every internet search function contained on any website ever). The web browser version of the search tools are a little more fully featured, however, and a little digging through a few forums will turn up a few much more valuable ways to search for levels. With the exception of the poor in-game search function, it is hard to fault Super Mario Maker for the quality of its user’s levels, because the creation tools are robust, easy to use, and remarkably versatile. This is a game that really leaves it up to the individual player to make of it what they can, and with a little effort you can create and find truly incredible levels, all put together in well-playing and updated versions of some of the best games ever made. With useful free updates having been provided relatively regularly so far, and the community surrounding the game only seeming to grow stronger, Super Mario Maker is a game that is only going to get stronger. The creation tools are expansive and fantastic, and really that’s all that Super Mario Maker needed to deliver on. The search functions could be better, but are slowly being updated over time and so may no longer be an issue themselves in the near future. Worth noting too, is that this game lends itself to the growing trend of Let’s Plays and Twitch channels more successfully and less cynically than pretty much any other game out there. The whole thing is a celebration of creativity, and for the first time I am finding a game just as enjoyable to watch as to play. Super Mario Maker is what you make of it, but thanks to a robust and well-designed set of creation tools and a creative and expanding community, what you can make of Super Mario Maker right now is truly something spectacular.