Mario Maker - MY World 1-1 (by Kez)

NintendoDuo's Mxy plays NintendoDuo's Kez's level and falls for pretty much all the tricks. Bookmark.

To celebrate the upcoming Super Mario Maker 2, we’re posting a bunch of SMM goodness on our YouTube. Here’s Kez’s developer commentary about his first level (played by Mxy on the GIFs):

This is the introductory level to my own personal epic Super Mario game. I wanted to ease new players into the game, so I laid out the first jump over a pit early on with coins hovering over it, so they would understand that they were expected to clear that space. Since you can’t do that by running, they would have to push a button to figure out that they can jump.

But I also set up the coins so that only expert players could grab them all on the first try. This would encourage newcomers to try to jump back across the pit to grab the coins that eluded them the first time, and invariably they will fail and die. This will teach them that falling into the pits is something that must be avoided.

I then placed a mushroom block underneath moving platforms, to encourage players to jump upwards, and strategically placed more platforms to encourage jumping further and further to the left. At the edge of the screen, they discover a beautiful floating mountain, luring them into the fantasy setting of the Mushroom Kingdom.

However, they would discover that, despite taking multiple tries and putting forth great effort, once they reached the top of the mountain they will only receive one coin. This teaches players that life is cruel and unfair, and that they are much better off not trying so hard.

The continuing sinister nature of the dark world that Mario, upon emerging from the icy Brooklyn sewers, now must inhabit is explored further along this level. The player learns that everything is trying to kill Mario no matter how benign it should be. Plants, insects, even bullets can be used to cause harm in this twisted realm. There is literally no way for Mario to navigate this part unscathed, so now is life not only unfair, but it’s crippling and bleak, too.

Then I gave in and decided to add power-ups and springboards that help the player finally beat the level. The world is cruel and people are cold, but someday you will find something that makes you invincible and then it’s your turn to treat everything in your path with hostility and violence.

At least until you learn that you have to hold your breath underwater for several minutes at a time, but that’s a level for another day.