After my glowing review of Super Mario Maker and my breathless promise that Super Mario Maker 2 would be a day one purchase for me, you could be forgiven for thinking that this review would be quicker to market. In reality, I decided to do what I always do and wait for a discounted copy. So I took the twenty bucks my parents sent me for Christmas for video games, and bought a copy for $50. What a savings.
Mario Maker 2 is a sequel to the original game, and features an additional playstyle (Super Mario 3D World) and a bunch of new course development options, the most exciting of which was slopes, as well as that angry sun that I specifically complained about in the previous review. You still cannot faithfully recreate every level of Super Mario World due to some elements being missing (trust me, I tried), but you can get pretty darn close now.
The game is very similar to the original in its design. You can make your own levels using buttons or the touchscreen on your Switch (only in handheld mode), and can play levels that others have dreamed up. The opportunities for searching levels are much better now, as you can tag your levels with an increased number of tags to allow mysterious online people to find your levels based on their theme.
The level creation is still excellent, although I really miss the capability of the Wii U's gamepad to interact with a touch screen while also having the game displayed on screen. But they did a reasonably good job of making the level creator simple to use without a touchscreen, and if you really want one, you can always use the Switch in handheld mode. A slight knock here, but as usual, Nintendo thought out the user experience as well as their hardware was capable of achieving.
The big omission for me was the lack of opportunity to create your own Super Mario game with an overworld and a level progression. This was my most significant complaint about the game last time, and the fact that they didn't include it here annoyed me. It doesn't seem like it would be that much work, to be honest. But what do I know about game creation, also to be honest?
They did include a brief little story mode this time around, with a host of really nicely designed levels intended to jog your creativity about the possibilities of the level creation suite.
The game has also had a big update since launch that includes a Master Sword power up that changes Mario into Link. Unlike the mystery mushrooms in the last game (which are curiously omitted here), this doesn't just change Mario's appearance. It also gives you a host of new combat options, including arrows that can be shot in any direction, bombs, the classic Link pogo stick from Zelda II, and a shield. This has given rise to hundreds of delightful Zelda dungeon-themed levels using these new abilities to great effect.
This game is definitely better than the original, but it didn't represent the huge jump forward that I was hoping for from the sequel to an all-time classic. But it's excellent, and if you love Mario, it's really a must buy. I'll give it a 9.5/10.
I've already teased my next completion, so check in next week (probably) to read it!
-TRO
