One game i admittedly spent much less time than i should is Super Mario Maker.

I do like the editor and am a big fan of Level Editors overall, but there's just so many other stuff to play that i did not really come round to invest time into the game after the initial honeymoon period.

With the Update bringing in much needed stuff like Checkpoints and stuff, i was wanting to fix that...yet i hesitate.

I'm a bit burned by previous experiences and the type of internet hype the game recieved.

As expected, getting a random shuffle of levels kinda sucks (sucked?), but at the same time, even the "good" levels seem to be either of the boring "don't press anything" variety (yes, people put a lot of effort in staging crazy close calls and such, but that gets still boring quick), the "let's stretch the gameplay mechanics as far as possible to make the level play like a different kind of game" (admirable on paper, usually not a whole lot fun to play) and then there is of course the dick measuring contest in creating "impossible levels".

I get that it's likely fun to be trolling your friends similar to the whole Ryckert/Klepeck thing, and i get why people want to be featured on Kotaku for getting new records in least completion rate, yet that shit pollutes the game for people who just want to have a good time without needing to prove themselves or get super-good at playing Mario.

Yet at the same time, the stuff i tend to want to make (levels that are fun and have a kind of variety to them without straying to far from what a classic Mario Level would be) is too mundane and not grabbing enough attention to be actually played let alone starred, putting me already close to the upload limit i probably will never be able to surpass which will eventually put me in a place where i spend time and effort on a level and then have to decide which levels that i also spend time and effort in to be thrown out of the loop.

There is of course the Giant Bomb Level showcase i myself prematurely started out of the initial excitement that alleviates some of the above problems, yet at the same time, keeping to these levels is kind of a pain in execution, as you still need to jot down slightly-too-long codes for more or less each level twice, only to then determine if the level is to my taste in the first place.

Sorry, for being such a sourpuss, but i don't know, i don't really feel like playing SMM, even though i kinda want to.

Please convince me that (and how) i'll have lots of fun when getting back into the game.

For me, Mario Maker seems to be the perfect game to chill out and play and not take too seriously. I'm not even creating that much, just going through 100 Mario challenge once or twice a day has been relaxing for some reason, even if the levels I'm playing aren't particularly well crafted.

The other thing is that it's an absolute blast to play Expert courses with a friend locally. I'd forgotten how fun "pass the controller" kinda games can be.

I fire the game up every other day, though I guess it also helps that I'm not actively playing anything in particular at the moment.

If I have an idea I might start building a level, or I'll play through the 100 Mario mode to unlock more Amiibo costumes. Any other way of playing levels are kind of a hassle, I agree, but I also like to just slowly working towards something and the Mario mechanics are enjoyable enough to me on their own that even playing some bad levels is fine.

I just reached 50 stars and doubled my upload slots, that was really freeing, But I also just reached the limit for how many costumes I could unlock by playing on the easy and normal difficulties, so I expect things to get rougher from here on.

All this said, I do feel like the quality level of especially the Expert ranked levels has improved since the early days, so crap levels are further apart. I don't think I have anything to say that can immediately get you back into it though. It's one of those games that takes work for it to be enjoyable, at least as long as you're looking for something specific out of it.

Play my levels! 15C3-0000-00E9-19B6

I think you will enjoy the game again if you get inspired to create some levels based on something else. Yesterday I saw a player who created levels based on Pokemon and Dragon Quest. Also, it takes a lot of energy to create something, so if you get tired creating a level, play another level that someone else created. Another option is to go back to a game like Super Mario 3D World or New Super Mario Bros. U and play some of those levels again. Playing Super Mario Maker has made me appreciate the work of those on the Nintendo teams who make new Mario games for us to play. Still another option is select the option to play four of your own courses back to back, like as if you're playing Super Mario Bros. again. If you create a castle level and make that 'World 1-4', for example, it'd be a fun thing to do.

I would like to mention that something that has helped me is to play Super Mario Maker in conjunction with something else, and in my case, that's Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. I create one or two levels, and then let those levels sit on the server for others to play over a couple of days, go back to create more, and so on. In the mean time, I'm also enjoying the 3DS. I'm nowhere near as talented as some people are when creating levels, but my own style of creating still allows me to make something fun for someone else to enjoy, too.

Mario Maker feels like a great palette cleansing game. A great game to play between other games.