The New Mechanics of Super Mario Maker

It seems very unlikely that Nintendo's upcoming 'Super Mario Maker' will be anything other than a phenomenal smash hit. Apart from being obvious for obvious reasons; the impending success of the game is also evidenced by the vast and enthusiastic Mario hacking community that already exists. ROM hacks of Mario games are numerous even on the reproduction cartridge circuit, and a GUI-based utility for hacking SMW called Lunar Magic has been popular for years. Amazing adventures like Kaizo and Brutal Mario World have come of this, but we now have proof positive that Nintendo is taking the concept of Mario level creation to radically new heights. Here, we'll look at the modifications which break tradition with current Mario gameplay paradigms, and examine a few of the implications that will have on level design. This information is based solely on what has been revealed to the public and is of course incomplete in scope; as well as peppered with my own speculations. Nonetheless, as we prepare to watch Super Mario Brothers dismantled to its core and reassembled before our very eyes, it's best we get thinking about this now. Especially as players, and especially as designers too, as fans; come as you are. I feel that we think of the Mario world as our own; growing up with it and developing such a personal bond, imagining and pouring over it for decades when at last we are handed the keys to the factory. This means crossing a line that can't be uncrossed; Mario will never be the same. The old ways die, and new ways are born from them as replacements, changing forms like swapping powerups on the same player. That is the way of it, and it can't be stopped, in any case.

I'm counting on the fact that you're all familiar with what's old, so what's new? I'm only going to touch on new gameplay elements here, rather than describe and review every single thing we know about the game so far. Mario Maker seems to begin with a few core principals:

- SMB, SMB3, SMW, NSMB represent the four different 'worlds' or physics engines that serve as a template. This does not appear to be anything like direct emulation; the older titles seem to have been rebuilt from the ground up. Let's hope the physics are replicated flawlessly; I expect nothing less from Nintendo. It may be that the physics are identical across all skins, but I would almost rather them tweak it to be representative of the source material. It makes sense to assume that users will have to stick with one skin for each level, although it may also be possible that players can switch between skins on the fly while playing. Being able to do so would naturally add extra dimensions to gameplay. Situations could be created that require the player to switch between physics engines in order to perform a certain move at a certain spot. This seems to lend itself to a disorienting and unnecessary amount of chaos though, and I personally doubt that this will be an option. Pick your style and go with it.

- There is, effectively, no more sprite limit. This is something that might be initially overlooked. Even in fan-made homebrews, the old Marios were required to maintain level designs that were limited by the processing power of the system; but this is now quite literally a thing of the past. To me it looks very uncanny to see a screen of Mario 3 populated by way more sprites and animations than I intuitively know the programming is supposed to be able to handle. There will be no lag, even while dozens of bullets whizz past your head as you navigate a gauntlet of spinning fire sticks. This will immediately, and rather harshly, push up the skill ceiling of Mario physics. Without a doubt, there is always room to improve one's chops on the currently available Mario games, but that progression is still achieved through training in a box of limited size. Imagine if the rules of hockey were changed to allow there to be as many pucks in play as you want, or several more goals. Removing a limiting structure (actually, just replacing it with a much larger limiting structure) naturally creates new sources of pressure on one's abilities which could not have been there previously, thus demanding adaptation. Robert Frost once described free-verse poetry as being like "playing tennis with the net down" but in fact there are an infinite number of games that can be invented to play in such a circumstance and many of them are probably more fun than tennis anyhow. Notions like this seem to me to be the guiding principals behind Mario Maker.

- Enemies can change size, stack, fly, and swim, and all of them seem to be available across all skins and situations. This means we can have grinder wheels in SMB1, as we saw during NWC. We can have underwater Thwomps. A Bowser riding a goomba with a bullet bill cannon on his head that shoots boos. Enormous winged fish that swim through the air. Piranha plants that jump out of lava, wait, I think they already had that. I'm just rambling because I'm stoked; you get the idea. Enemies can also be put into boxes and be made to generate from pipes or fire from cannons. This alone blows the lid off of the can holding in the fan-made Mario community; as it can be tricky to hack enemies into places where they're not supposed to be using current methods; but Nintendo doesn't even pretend like it's stopping at that. There looks to be a wide and balanced mixture of enemies to use, but I doubt everybody and their brother will be included. Extra packs of stuff and maybe even a Mario 2 skin will probably be DLC at some point.

- The entire physicality of gameplay has been injected with a heavy dose of complicated chaos molecules. Environmental hazards previously relegated to specific areas such ice blocks, treadmills, trick platforms, fire, and instant-death blocks are now completely global and inter mixable. Platforms, boxes, and doughnut blocks can also be given the ability to fly. Moving shells and enemies can now bounce off springs and jump blocks. Springs can now face either vertically or horizontally. Vines can be made to grow in any direction. Pipes can infinitely generate enemies or prizes. Lakitu can be made to throw all kinds of stuff at you. Any enemy can be made larger, and it might be the case that larger enemies can have special properties such as taking extra hits to destroy or being able to smash through blocks.

- Several new-ish mechanics have either been added, or appropriated from elsewhere in the Mario universe, such as the use of a spiny helmet which seems to destroy enemies and a buzzy beetle helmet which appears to protect you and can also be ridden on as it's moving (which is absurdly radical.) There are at least two new kuribo's shoes, and a skinny mushroom which seems to make Mario extra thin. You can ride around in Bowser's clown ball for crying out loud. And keep in mind, all of this can be stacked. You can be kuribo's shoe fire mario in a cloud shooting fireballs in a lag-less environment. The dream is real.

That's just about all the information about new gameplay that I've managed to glean from watching the materials. Point combos appear to work normally, but of course this will have to be thoroughly tested. The score goes up to 100 million. (Challenge accepted.) Now, let me hit you with a couple more observations and ideas.

- It looks as though you might be able to customize the type of goal as well - the most recent trailer shows SMB3 Mario touching an axe. Perhaps this is just a mechanic that can be added to create boss battles. Surely they haven't forgotten about bosses. It would be nice to see Boom Boom make an appearance alongside the giant Bowsers we already know are waiting. Perhaps we'll get the koopa kids sooner or later.

- Is there an SMB and SMB3 Yoshi we haven't seen yet, or is he not part of the globally transferable set of elements?

- There might be some new types of skins for platforms and blocks that haven't existed in a Mario game yet, like some metallic-looking stuff in a recent trailer.

- My guess after studying what's been released is that the levels will have limited space. You have a certain size area to use for your creations and cannot extend it. This makes sense for a lot of reasons, most obviously the amount of memory needed to store and upload everything. However, this also eliminates some creative possibilities. You cannot make a level that is just an enormous vertical climb, or a huge horizontal run with perfectly timed jumps that goes on for miles. I guess this is alright and I'm not too disappointed because it's necessary. Maybe there will be a way to adjust the given area for a level into a new shape to accommodate non-linear designs.

- Warp pipes and doors: how do they work? You can obviously set them to take you between different areas of the same screen, but could we use them to connect completely different rooms? Furthermore, if we are given a little map editor, can we make levels with secret exits? Do we get keys and keyholes like in SMW proper?

- Where are the invisible boxes and doors? We'll need them. Can we still make P-switches activate ghost doors?

Ultimately, the question is not 'what can be done' but 'what can you do with it?' So what kinds of things will actually get made? From the most recent trailer, it seems that levels can be uploaded globally, and that some kind of ranking system is being implemented. This, I feel, is a great move, as I'll explain. There are a few basic types of levels that we'll probably see being constructed almost immediately, apart from the standard formula of "get to the exit":

- Poorly designed ones. Not to get down on anybody's fun or creative prowess, but be prepared to slog through an endless amount of insane, mismatched nonsense at all levels of difficulty. This is why I think a user-feedback system is going to be important and help the game endure.

- Levels that are art pieces. Huge images made out of blocks or what have you. 

- Levels that are designed with a specific meta-goal in mind. This is something I'm particularly looking forward to. Just running through the level naturally isn't such a big hassle, but the challenge is to figure out how to press the most points or to speed run it. Also be on the lookout for levels that are generators or machines of some kind (especially coming from me!) We'll be seeing levels that are less like obstacle courses and more like spaces to play in, places to create all sorts of interesting gameplay conditions. The first thing I'll be doing with Mario Maker isn't going to be designing levels per se, it's going to be designing situations, uncovering the permutations of combinations of elements that exist.

- I must say, the little tracer that appears on the screen in edit mode showing the trajectory of Mario's movement is the coolest, most helpful thing on the planet; but please playtest your levels anyhow.

It's important to start thinking about good level design now. I suggest investigating Mario hacks that already exist and identifying why they work or don't work; there are great examples of each. With so much hype and attention being drawn to this, the stage is set for anyone to step up and make something that will go down in history. In my next article, we'll dive into principles of Mario level design a bit more in depth, and study why Kaizo Mario World is a flawlessly designed deconstruction of what it means to play video games in general.

Post script: a few things that have come to mind since posting this.

- Auto scroll levels. Can we make them? If so, can we manually set the speed and direction of the scroll? Can we have it change direction mid-level?

- Things on lines. Line-following platforms can be drawn, and enemies appear to be able to be set to move along lines as well. I really hope they include Fuzzies. I love those little guys. It would appear that chain chomps, at least, factor in immensely. They can be attached to drawn lines and their central post will move along that line.

- If the mechanics are global across all skins, what does that mean for the powerful spin jump? Does it only work in skins where it already did? SMW level design can be greatly enhanced by forcing players to abuse the fact that spin jumps bounce off things that would otherwise kill them. We've seen footage of NSMB Mario spin jumping safely across a row of enemies, so it must be in there somehow.

- Some obstacle elements might have been omitted entirely for now. The sliding yellow walls from SMW are conspicuously absent.

- Mario 2 Maker. Zelda Maker. Metroid Maker. Mario Kart Maker. General purpose game maker. I kinda hope they don't include a custom sprite maker and just do a regular old Mario Paint instead. Too many custom sprites turns off a lot of the charm of Mario for me. Why not just make a whole new game at that point, when there's hardly anything left? It might be cool, however, to have some limited element of control over the backgrounds, and pallets and things. As long as it doesn't twist Mario out of recognition, I'm alright with it.

AN UPDATE

- Auto scroll levels can be made. Seems that you can even make an area without it, then a pipe to transition to an area with it.

- It has been explained that the player will need to be able to beat his or her level before uploading them. Great. Uploaded levels will also feature a completion % over all players and a difficulty ranking based on that. Another good thing. Not only does that put limits on the amount of insane crap that will be generated, it also gives you a really decent assessment of the skill levels of other players and designers. If you want to make a brutally hard level, you best be able to beat it.