So yeah, Patrick played the Giant Bomb/GB community made monstrosity earlier today. You can probably imagine how it goes but the link to the twitch archive is below if you care to see it for yourself, I thought it was really good!

http://www.twitch.tv/patrickklepek/v/17520473

I found it interesting to see someone play that level without seeing the stream of it being created (he claims he turned on the stream just long enough to see Dan spelling out "Police State" in coins then turned it off to experience the level fresh haha... which is a pretty perfect level of prior knowledge to have imo). For such a random, crazy, wonderfully stupid level he trial and errors his way to some pretty good solutions. Probably most importantly, even when the level has just fucked him over he keeps it lighthearted and funny. Well played Scoops :)

P.S. Has anyone else tried/beaten it? I thought it would be sorta unplayable but apparently not. I have to wait a little while longer to buy my copy of Mario Maker but I'm interested to give it a go for the hell of it.

EDIT: He took another shot at it this afternoon, part 2 might be better than part 1 in some ways, some great discoveries late in the game haha... Part 2 link: http://www.twitch.tv/patrickklepek/v/17580570

Great. My first thought during was "I can't wait to watch Patrick play this."

The police state got the best of him... For now

He's giving it another go in about an hour.

Once Patrick manages to beat the level, he should make a level and have the Giant Bomb crew try and beat it.

Patrick going in the pipe into the star/spike hole was hilarious and sad after seeing him make progress. It's funny to see him think through things. He finds a great solution to the early Bowser. But he never found the cape at all which made it quite different. He also killed Bowser a couple times.

Though he never learned he could run under the trampolines, he's made some good progress. But he hasn't made it to the part with the hidden P-switch yet.

Fuck me, that was entertaining. When Patrick ended up in the invincibility death trap... I lost it. Absolutely just...hands and knees, laugh-coughing like a pie got dropped in a fucking toilet. Unhinged.

I like how he assumes the level must have some kind of logic to it.

I loved Patrick's solution for getting past Bowser!

Yeah this level is an immediate skip. It's so, so bad. Hilarious but awful.

Nothing will make me happier than if he falls for all of the false exits. I hope he keeps streaming until he beats it.

It's really interesting how Patrick has become this weird hybrid of traditional games media, and solo Twitch/Youtube streamer. Like, the transition from Giant Bomb to Kotaku affected very little of his solo streaming features. He's great at building his personal brand, so regardless of how his job goes with whatever particular games outlet, his name is out there and people know him.

Edit: Bowser chasing Patrick is legit entertaining as fuck. Patrick's alternate solution to getting past Bowser is great.

Edit2: So pleased with Patrick's reaction to going down the death pipe with endless stars. Also, Bowser jumping on the discarded P-switches is the greatest.

@sunbrozak: so its like they're spitting tracks back at each other. like when Cube left NWA

Its weird how patrick has sort of become the enemy. Or at least his commenters are cause they all seem to hate giant bomb.

All of Patrick's Mario Maker streams are really entertaining because he's mostly playing absurdly difficult levels.

@jakob187: Same here, totally lost it there! I think it was his slow realization that got me. He moved around a bit like "hmm whats the way to get out of here" and then it dawned on him and he accepted his fate, great moment

Watching Patrick play this level made me realize how many GREAT THINGS it offers. I know the level was supposed to be a random-ish nightmare, but there are some parts of it that feel impossibly well designed.

When the boo-launcher at the beginning of the level shoots the boo to the right, it leaves the boo in such a spot that it's very difficult to fit between it and the bigger boo without getting a face full of Bowser. This encourages the player to quickly move past the boo-launcher, which means dropping down to the ground and trying to go under Bowser, which is probably the smarter move than trying to go over. Patrick's trampoline solution caught me by surprise.

Next up is the goomba pipe and the Hall of Dry Bones. Of course, folks who watched the level being made know that the block in the center of the platform has a cape feather in it. Patrick never found the feather, but it's not because the feather is unfairly hidden -- there are actually two clues that can lead the player to find the feather. First, there's the fact that one of the only ways to put a Dry Bones down for good is to bop it from below. A player who is trying to remove threats to slow things down is then naturally going to hit the blocks, revealing the feather. The second clue is in the Goombas. The maximum throw distance from right below the Goomba pipe puts the tossed Goomba directly beneath the feather block, so if a player is going to try a block at random, the feather block is at least favored over many of the other blocks. After all, the bottom row is pretty safe after the Goomba toss, so they might as well try one of these blocks!

And up next is a fresh bit of emergent gameplay! Forget MGS V's open world, all you really need to create some crazy gameplay scenarios is a dose of Big Bowser. By chasing Mario through the first half of the stage, Bowser adds an interesting time pressure, as well as making each playthrough a bit different, as his fireball pattern can be a bit erratic. I really like how there are several ways to deal with Bowser once you slip past the trampolines. Quick players will never encounter him again. Slower players who are feeling out the level might do what Patrick did and use the fire flower to fight Bowser on a platform which just so happens to be large and open enough to accommodate such a feat. Other players may let the P-block bridge handle Bowser. I really like how Bowser and Mario have to overcome the same obstacles as they work through the level -- seeing Bowser hop over the music blocks and fire sticks with ease adds a bit of panic to the scene. He's too fast, how will I ever lose him? I especially love how the easiest solution to the P-block bridge (toss all the P-blocks to the left) adds time pressure, as now Bowser can land on those P-blocks to destroy the bridge. Sheer insanity, I tell you.

And finally, at 37:06 -- the Magikoopa turns the bottom piece of the wall into a Boo. Players willing and able to dodge the Dry Bones Air Squadron for a while can con their way into a quick exit this way. Super rad.

Anyways, can't wait to see the next part of Patrick's attempt.

@peezmachine said:

I would phrase that as "the pieces of Super Mario World/Super Mario Maker are themselves so brilliant that they can make genius out of gibberish." I do agree that some of the spacing of objects in Dan's Giant Bomb level are accidentally phenomenal.

Patrick realizing that he could pick up the P-Switches was like watching a man see his newborn child for the first time.

I forgot that Patrick did not see the creation of this map. Super hilarious, but I was rooting for him the whole time.

@bisonhero: Oh 100% no doubt. All of this is one big happy accident.

Agree with all of this, but, as @bisonhero said, its mainly proof of how beautifully designed and balanced Mario's base elements are. I think this game is actually pretty important and profound!

This level is the gift that keeps on giving.

wait, why is he doing this? i thought he works at kotaku now?

That moment when Bowser stepped on the P-block so the bridge Mario is on gets destroyed, Patrick being confused and then suddenly a slight pleading, "..-Bowser?!"
I may just have awokened sleeping neighbours laughing that much.

@peezmachine: The Bowser chase is absolutely incredible. I will say that last part you mentioned isn't totally true. He's not turning those bottom blocks into a Boo, just spawning a Boo over them. You can see the blocks remain as the Boo floats away from them.

@peezmachine: You put that into words way better than I could have, but I got the same feeling at those moments watching him play it. I have to say Dan (with input from Jeff and Brad) did a pretty good job of translating the chat's chaotic orders into playable sections of the level. I think some of it like the beginning of the underground is really messy, but those sections you called out are great. I love that he found the double trampoline solution to getting by Bowser instead of doing it the "intended" way, great stuff!

@hatking: Nope, actually if you look closely the bottom block disappears.

Kamek's power is to turn things into other things.

So it is possible he'll turn the exit blocks into, say, fish and you can squeeze out through there and finish the level.

That stream was just magical. Really fascinating to see Patrick attempt to find an intended path through the beautiful nonsense.

@ackbarguo: Oh, you're totally right. Although, I still don't know that it'd be possible to slip in there, that area is a mad panic. Haha

@peezmachine said:

This is a really brilliant breakdown of why this level works so well. Even if it was accidental, this game gives a pretty dramatic and thorough breakdown of good level design.

O man, watching Patrick playing this..... This level is a true work of art.

I think this level just broke patrick. He just found both of the bad warp pipes.

Watching this made me realize: Couldn't you beat the level by taking the koopa car to the start and going up the pipe that leads to the end? Clearly the best strategy to stumble into.

Aww I missed it!

I am convinced this level is way better than it had right to be.

Its weird that patrick cant do the spin jump part when dan never messed it up once.

He finally found the feather! XD

Ahhh, he finally stumbled across the feather. This is great.

@your_name_here: Yes you could. Also, I guess some people have been completely bypassing the lower level by having Kamek get rid of the blockade to the exit.

Anything made by Dan needs to be feared.

"...I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything that was near Dan mind. I don't want Dan near anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed by Dan, or process anything sold, bought, or processed by Dan, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed adjacent to Dan. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

@peezmachine: Yea I agree that there are some surprisingly cool and seemingly well thought out elements to the GB level. However, given the haphazard way the level was actually put together, it makes you wonder how much time and thought were put into classic mario levels :p

Just reached the moment when Patrick has gotten legit pissed. He did just finally find the feather on a good note.

@artisanbreads: Of course he immediately goes 'screw that!' and proceeds to continue his legit strats.

They are pretty good strats though.

Edit: Patrick "Legit Strats" Klepeck! That was great.

Of course the instant I tune into the stream he beats it.

Bowser's relentless hunt of you brings to mind the ghost from Spelunky.

Watching Dan in retrospect he kinda fumbled his way through to the end, knowing where all the power ups were. Patrick beat it legit, no cape.

I missed the beginning of part two but that seemed pretty great as well. Finding the feather was great, forgoing using it was better, and I think he hit ALL the restarts/false exits?

The only small bummer is that he never tried the start of the underground section without flying past with a cloud, I just woulda been curious how tough or easy it was compared to the rest of the course, but no biggie. Great stream and great job Patrick!