I had lost sight of what the freedom of Super Mario Maker meant, which was to design as you pleased.

Super Mario Maker isn't about making the best level, it's about making your best level and improving your own game design skills over time. It was then that I realized I may have been missing the point. It didn't fit the mold that I was forcing myself to conform to, but it was an incredible feat of effort. I was not the best at looking at the situation clearly.Īfter wallowing in my own perceived insufficiencies, I caught wind that one of the many Super Mario Maker 2 level creators crafted a stage based off of Touhou, a bullet hell game which while complex and hard to design, is structurally very different from a Mario game.

How could I put anything out there if it's not the best I can do? Every choice was followed by me questioning if it was cheatable or too hard or too easy, and I couldn't bring myself to test it on others for fear of showing my work. However, all I was left with was a blank canvas, the saccharine blue sky taunting me from the other side of the screen.Īfter two days, all I did was erase and replace erase and replace. I was convinced that I could immediately jump in with mega cohesive levels that taught the player as they went and left them challenged but not cheated. I assumed my first levels wouldn't be the greatest, but I didn't realize just how difficult it was to grasp concepts that seemed intuitive to my peers. Soon enough, I clicked in the Super Mario Maker 2 cartridge and booted up the maker. Surrounded by brilliant creations, my personal journey into this realm was preceded by a vague hope of creating levels that were just as perfect and fun as those done by the best.

I was in awe of the innovating level design so when the second version came out, I wanted to play and maybe even create something myself someday. While I was unable to play the first game, I was relatively familiar with the system because I spent quite some time watching playthroughs when it first came out. Taking inspiration from the story mode and other player's creations, players set their minds to crafting levels that suit their wildest dreams and astound those who would wish to participate. Late last June, the sequel to the beloved Super Mario Maker for the Wii U was released, bringing players back into a vast playground to fulfill their game design dreams.

No limits 2 games