The original Super Mario Maker is celebrating its fifth anniversary today, after originally launching for the Wii U in Japan on 10th September, 2015.
Also appearing in Europe and North America on the following day, Super Mario Maker flipped the Mario platforming franchise on its head by giving players access to a full suite of level creation tools for the very first time. Gone were the days of simply playing whatever levels Nintendo made for us; now we were the ones making our own levels. And what a time we had.
The concept was so obvious yet so mind-boggling at the same time; the potential for fun and creativity on offer is obvious right off the bat, but giving players the ability to create an infinite number of levels would surely kill off the main series, right? Why would we ever need a traditional Mario ever again?
Of course, the success of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe soon proved that we needn't have ever worried, and the usual assortment of 2D and 3D offerings continue to appear to this day. Now, the relatively recent arrival of Super Mario Maker 2 on Switch has taken this new level-building venture to new heights, and it wouldn't be all that surprising to see more Mario Maker titles appear on future Nintendo systems.
Did you play Super Mario Maker on the Wii U? Any fond memories of the game? Share them with us in the comments below.
Comments 35
The first game is nothing special outside of the concept really, but the sequel really turned it into a well rounded title. The added single player really gave it a lot more depth, not even really a point in playing the first game anymore, but it was amazing for it's time and really showed off the creativity of the community. Definitely the best game for user created levels.
I played Mario Maker on WiiU but I spend a lot more time playing Mario Maker 2 which for me is just better in every possible way. These 2 games have shown me that creating a good platforming level is not as easy as I thought it would be and made me appreciate the mainline games even more.
Never played Mario Maker 1 as no single player
I'll whine about mm2 not having amiibo costumes until I bend nintendo to my will with my persistence.
I played a bit of Mario Maker 1, but I was garbage at making levels, but at least I'm better in the sequel. So um...Happy Anniversary Mario Maker 1! You started a revolution
I have to say I think the concept is great, and a better celebration of SMB anniversary than this year's, but I'm built in a way that I rather play other people levels than create them myself. I just don't have the imagination.
Anyway, it amazes me to see that the Wii U entry still has a lot of people playing currently, despite the superior version being available for quite some time now.
@Moroboshi876 Same with me. I really tried to get into this, but I just don't enjoy putting hours into making levels instead of playing them.
@Moonlessky Sadly that omission more or less killed my interest in the title.
Bought it at launch and loved it. I still need to buy the sequel but my wife said I shouldn't because the levels always ended up pissing me off on the first game.
@IronMan30
I can't even count how many times I'd load up a level and shortly after starting I'd be skipping them because of the bullcrap design. Nothing but troll courses or otherwise poorly crafted BS. I'm like Nope, Nope, Nope, and Nope! I just want back a real 2D mario made by Nintendo.
This was such a great idea when it came out. With the software droughts on WiiU a title like this was perfect for giving you something you could play for hundreds of hours and generated it's own content. Very smart of Nintendo.
Mario Maker was great and while Mario Maker 2 was better I still feel like they could have done a lot better with that one, some boneheaded limitations like music being tied to a level theme and the night-time gimmicks being tied to... well, night-time hurt the the game a lot.
Then the nightime versions in itself are insufferable to use because of those irritating music box renditions of the level themes.
I also liked the old 100 Mario Challenge a whole lot more.
@Zeldafan79 tbh, I don't remember it that way. The game was fun and I usually searched for levels from names like IGA. Perhaps my memory is selective because I did have fun trying to make courses people could actually complete. Now that I think a little more about it, I do remember the "auto" levels bugging me because they were boring.
@IronMan30
I made a few levels and it was fun trying to see what i could create myself but the randomly generated thing is what i didn't like. about 90% of the time they just seemed awful. Searching for specific users stages was the only way to go. Otherwise it wasn't fun for very long.
Is Nintendo celebrating by releasing Mario Maker Deluxe on the Switch? 😂
Played the first more than the second for some reason. Not sure why, but I found the interface easier in the first, maybe because of having the gamepad. Also, the unlockable costumes appealled to the collector in me more than the Mii costumes in the sequel. Story mode was great in the second though, really enjoyed blasting through that.
Still playing this, actually.
Played it to death, unlocked all of the Mystery Mushroom costumes. Should’ve been a Wii U launch title, it’s one of the best games they’ve made in a long time.
Rip Super Mario Maker 3DS, nobody cares about it lol
Spent too many hours on the first one
@SwitchVogel @Moroboshi876 Creation games like this should sell a separate ‘player’ that allows people to play the levels, but without access to the creation tools. An upgrade package could be made available for people who later want the full game.
Having said that, I enjoyed creating levels. I would estimate 10% of my time was making levels, 90% playing the levels of others.
@Tandy255 That must be my case too. Really, I create levels and think they look good, but then I download others' and man... People can do things.
That's a great game, I was just playing some new levels for it yesterday. For some reason people seem to think that the 2nd game is an upgrade, but it's obviously a completely different game so I like to play both. Walking horizontally into blocks as Giant Mario, and the costumes and mystery mushrooms and Strange Mario and the weird easter egg sound effects, and the physics of duck-swimming and having classic non-ducking small Mario and the 100 Mario Challenges and the overlapping pipes and the Mario Maker bookmarks and website integration, and how you could go into a pipe even if there was a block in the way, or hiding behind another pipe, and how the flagpole had gravity at the ball on top, and I liked all the crazy levels that people make that take advantage of those things. Having this specific pallette of game rules and items/enemies means that this game has very specific levels that you just won't see anywhere else.
So, I'd love to see it on the Switch, and it still has a touchscreen so you could still play the fly swatter game as well without having to resort to pointer controls. But if they did bring it back I'd like to see them restore the game's Miiverse functionality since even though it's only black on white compared to SMM2's color, the story levels were easier to play because in SMM2 the text bubbles disappear when you get too close and in SMM1, they just became semi-transparent.
Also having new mystery mushroom costumes come in every few weeks with a new challenge level to complete to unlock them was great and I think a lot better than the Ninji Speedruns where you just unlock Mii outfits that you can only see outside of levels.
@Moroboshi876 You have it. It’s just a matter of motivation; finding a way to inspire it. (And block out all the crap getting in the way, plus allowing time for all of this.)
Mario Maker 2 may be the better game, but I will always prefer Mario Maker. It's easier to make levels, it had a lot more charm, it had that sick Idea Book, it really felt like a once-in-a-lifetime game to me.
@Moonlessky I totally agree that Mario Maker 2 is the better title overall, yet I can't help but feel majorly disappointed about the lack of Amiibo support in the sequel.
Especially after it being so well implemented in the first one! - I was expecting it to be improved for the sequel not removed
@Sensible Yep. Didn’t have a Wii U, but was looking forward to costumes in MM2... sad, but still like 2 better I think.
If anyone wants to play Super Mario Bros. 3 in multiplayer look up my ID: H1R-X6F-NRF I made every single level in the game in Super Mario Maker 2, but only the first four worlds are in my Super World.
@Apportal It's a sequel, it's called Super Mario Maker 2, not Deluxe. If it was just a deluxe version than where is the flyswatter minigame and why can't I break the bricks by walking into them as giant Mario, and most importantly where are the millions of levels people made for it? If I can't play the millions of levels people made for the game, than that's not the same game. If I buy SMM2 expecting to play things like levels by TheLaw, or Hype, or CheezSauce I'd want my money back. And I have no idea what you meant by "their first underperformed game", it sold over 4 million copies on a console that only has 13.5 million sold, that means that nearly 1/3rd of all Wii U owners bought the game, i.e., it sold great.
So now I'm quite curious, they changed the game rules, the levels are all different, the single player is different, they each have modes not offered by the other, different physics, different items, different menus, the randomizer doesn't work the same, along with a long list of other changes and you call that an upgrade? What do you think it would have to do to become a sequel in your mind, rather than an upgrade? Is there anything they could do, or do you not believe in sequels?
Next people are going tell me the Wii is 14 years old...
Those who claim Mario Maker 1 was not a great game has totally lost it. Just because something better comes out, does not maker the former less creditable.
@JayJ Definitely not, Little Big Planet and Dreams are much better level-building games, but Mario Maker is a very good game.
@Nintendo_Thumb SMM1 in my opinion has better mechanics and levels made by the community more creative than anything I've seen so far in SMM2.
I really like Mario Maker, but it is difficult and even frustrating for me at the same time. I try to make levels that are fun, challenging, but not impossible, which is tough. It is really easy to make a level that is fiendishly difficult, but those levels aren't any fun, at least to me. Making a level as good as the levels Nintendo makes is no easy task. I sure don't know how to do it.
I also wish the Amiibo costumes were in Super Mario Maker 2. Such a huge omission, and there are some new Amiibo that have come out since the first Mario Maker was released. Playing with the Belmonts would be a lot of fun!
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