Super Mario Maker 2 | Review

Mario Maker 2 is a game where you get to make the game you want to make. You can make the Mario levels of your dreams (or nightmares) with relative ease, and it's just as much fun as in the first game.

PROS:

-There is a large variety of items to use. As far as I can tell, every item in the first game is usable in the four original level themes. This game also adds many new items, along with the often requested slopes. The variety of level components here is insane.

-The controls for playing levels work well. While not much of a surprise for the four original themes, but the Super Mario 3D World theme can be intimidating at first. Thankfully after a little bit of time I was able to remember how to do what I wanted to do pretty easily.

-Online versus is surprisingly fun. I expected racing other players to get kinda boring, or possibly not even be fun at all. Thankfully I was proven wrong after my first race. Four players playing on the same level can be chaotic, even though you aren't sharing a screen with the other three. This mode also works really well in terms of latency as long as everyone has a decent connection.

-Customizing your Mii is fun. Some people adore Miis and some people despise them. I'm on team adore and I really like picking clothes for my Mii to wear. It isn't a feature everyone will love, and it's an incredibly optional one.

CONS:

-amiibo costumes are gone. Having the ability to scan an amiibo and get a new costume for Mario was great fun in the original Mario Maker. Unfortunately it isn't possible to change the sprite of Mario to someone like Link or Isabelle. You can choose to be Luigi, Blue Toad, or Toadette, but that's a very limited selection. I assume this feature was dropped because characters like Cloud and Snake would be hard to include.

-Controls when making levels are slow... in TV mode. When using the Switch as a tablet, it's pretty similar to the first game. When using the Switch in TV mode it's an awkward shuffle between using the D-Pad to select the item and the control stick to place the item. The whole experience takes a ton of getting used to if you want to get decently fast at building levels on the TV.

-Multiplayer versus levels are not specifically built for multiplayer. If you make a level specifically for single player, there's no way to limit your level for only single player. There's a "multiplayer versus" tag you can use when uploading a level, but I often see levels that don't have that tag get used for multiplayer versus. It's annoying as a level creator and as a versus player, because many levels that would work fine for single player don't work at all with four.

-Everything outside of story mode requires Nintendo Switch Online. I don't think a game's basic functionality should require a paid online membership. Mario Odyssey's Balloon World doesn't, so why should this?

OVERALL OPINION:

Mario Maker 2 is an exceptional game with a ton for the creative type of players to enjoy. That being said, those who don't care to play other people's creations would be better off waiting for a couple of months due to people needing a chance to learn the mechanics. If you're the type who wants to learn those mechanics, this game is amazing.