Semantic Nonsense: Remembering Super Mario Maker
Today marks the end of online functionality for Wii U and 3DS games. Which also means it is the ultimate end for both platforms’ versions of Super Mario Maker.
And it’s not like the kind-of deaths we’ve seen before. Courses could no longer be uploaded 3 years and 8 days ago. The game itself was pulled from the eShop 2 months even before that. But while you could no longer share new levels with friends and strangers, you still had access to the millions of levels floating out in the ether. You could download them to your Wii U and also still compete to set world records. That’s all over. All you’ll be able to do now is mess around with the toolset and play any of the levels you previously downloaded.
Still, that’s a long run for Super Mario Maker. Much longer than I expected given Nintendo’s ardent desire to drop support for old games in general and the Wii U in particular. It’s end comes a fair bit shy of 10 years since I wrote up my impressions of the killer app the Wii U’s unique controller desperately needed sooner than 3 years after launch.
Indeed, it wasn’t until I re-read that impressions blog that I remembered how much was missing from Mario Maker at launch. Can you believe that the Starman wasn’t in the game until the second content patch? Ridiculous-sounding, but true. While several series staples would still be missing by the end of these updates (most of SMB 3‘s new powerups, Yoshi’s color powers, a bunch of enemies, slopes), the new uses and combinations of stage elements unique to Mario Maker more than made up for these absences.
Super Mario Maker counts itself as one of the better-covered games on Damage Control. From Geoff’s preview, to calling out its use during every major GDQ event, to a nod in the Wii U retrospective, to 40% of the short-lived podcast Couch Co-Op, we were clearly fond of it.
I, of course, having already conquered my fierce rival that was the 100 Mario Challenge on Expert difficulty 2 years ago, had only one more task to accomplish before the final curtain fell: Downloading. (What, did you really expect Super Expert?) I saved my own copies of Magnus’ levels and also every level I had starred. I even grabbed a few other levels that were good showcases of what Mario Maker once was.
While Super Mario Maker 2 on the Switch is still going strong, it didn’t strike the same chord with me that the original did. I dove in right away to play with the new elements, but for whatever reason it didn’t propel me as the first did. Perhaps now that the first is well and truly over, my interest may reawaken.
But outside of my own experience, I think the single most important part of Super Mario Maker‘s legacy is that it forced Nintendo to broaden the scope of gameplay for future 2D Mario platformers. The need for the next game to be a LOT more than you could simply whip up in Mario Maker is why we have Super Mario Wonder.
So in this final moment, let us not speak ill of missing hammer brother suits or coin heavens or entire game styles. Too much greatness sprung from this game to let ourselves get caught up on unrealistic expectations that it would be comprehensive. Though if you want to get hung up on the loss of the billion+ level library, I’ll allow it. Super Mario Maker offered us a new twist on many things, including a whole, ‘nother way for Nintendo to create a game preservation crisis.
The other 100 Mario Challenge streams
DC Live! Second shot at Super Mario Maker’s 100 Mario Challenge
DC Live! Super Mario Maker: 100 Mario Challenge, part too many
About The Author
Drew
Features Editor | Drew started behind the 8(bit)-ball in the video game world. He first became interested in anime by chance exposure on the Sci-Fi channel. Drew's the creative force behind blog-wide features, works the movie and food beats, and pioneered Damage Control’s entry into video, podcasts and streaming.
