About four years ago the dream of many fans came true: Super Mario Maker released in 2015 on Nintendo Wii U, finally making gamers a creative part of the production of levels of all kinds, all dedicated to the famous Super Mario. Full of absurd challenges and ingenious ideas, the only rule to be able to publish a level was always the same: you must complete it once in offline mode, before sending it to the big internet, among dozens of levels. After 4 years it arrives Super Mario Maker 2, a sequel that takes its cue from both the first original and the reinterpretation for 3DS, bringing many interesting innovations.
The plot also wants its part
The first unexpected surprise is the game plot: a single player mode in fact it will accompany you, to show you the various game features, in more than 90 levels who will aim to accumulate coins to be able to rebuild Peach's castle. Each level will have increasing difficulty and a very specific theme, capable of introducing you to the mechanics of creation, useful at a later time.
Among the various levels, "secondary missions" appear that will allow you to accumulate aesthetic elements both for the area surrounding the castle and for the clothes of your Mii, the avatar of your published creations. Although it wasn't necessary - as the main dynamic of Super Mario Maker 2 remains the creation and sharing of levels - this single player (and offline) mode is fun to play and a great plus, great companion of the main course, coming a few lines. more down.
Many news
Although the features of the first game were already many at the time, Nintendo decided to add many new features (in terms of level design and features): ascents and descents arrive, great absent from the previous iteration, which allow to give more dynamism to some types of levels. To make everything deeper and more varied, secondary objectives have been inserted that can be inserted in the levels: you could for example force the players who step on your (virtual) ground to complete the stage wearing a shell, or without jumping once or aboard some vehicle. The challenges become exponentially greater, and this is immediately visible in the online level leaderboard.
If these are the two big news, Super Mario Maker 2 introduces a new game world and fixes the small details that fans had already reported. The new game world is that of Super Mario 3D World, a hybrid between 2D and 3D, which does not insert the depth of the game, but which uses a graphic style from a three-dimensional perspective: this has allowed the developers to make available the Mario Gatto enhancement, as well as some enemies seen in the WiiU game really interesting.
Many small improvements dot the already functional creation system: four new environments are added to the list (desert, forest, sky and snow) while the levels can now be developed horizontally or vertically, with customizable length and the possibility of connecting a primary to secondary level. Dozens of new effects, little additions and sounds season in the final one complete and detailed level editor, certainly not yet at its maximum potential but certainly capable of satisfying the biggest fan of the mustachioed (former) plumber. However, there is also space for other characters: in the game, in fact, you can choose to use not only Super Mario, but also Luigi, Toad and Toadette.
Last note should be made for the editing system: even if some commands are still difficult to manage (for example the complex method for setting the day through night), in the handheld mode the comfort is maximum (even if the WiiU stylus was much better), while it remains a little more uncomfortable in the docked one, with less intuitive classic controls.
A cross-generational experience
During an interview, the creator of the game talked about how the idea was no longer that of to merge two generations of players, but three: past, present and future, all in front of an idea made available to the player. This is the real power of Super Mario Maker 2: accessibility. The ability to be able to approach the title lightly or with tenacity, to play it alone or to make local rooms with other Nintendo Switches, are the true value of this game, which arrives in a hot summer period and which is available to cool the days of all the fans of the series.
And so what does it matter if the Amiibo are now not compatible with the game, or if the title makes you feel the lack of a new two-dimensional game dedicated to the mustachioed: Super Mario Maker 2 respects its promises, keeps them and offers some really unexpected little news. Surely the game will be made by the players, since its longevity (compared to the few hours of play in history) will be given mainly by the support of Nintendo but above all, by that of the players, true level designers of this fantastic tool disguised as a game.
