Nintendo Could be onto Something Big with Mario Maker - Article
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 25 June 2014 / 7,462 Views
When I first saw the debut footage of Mario Maker during Nintendo’s E3 2014 Digital Event, I thought it looked interesting but not overly fascinating. The concept of creating your own Mario levels sounds like it would be fun for a while but could also have somewhat limited lasting appeal. However, after seeing a much more in depth look at the game during Nintendo’s E3 Treehouse Events, including one with the game’s producer, Takashi Tezuka, I believe that Nintendo could be onto something big, not only with Mario Maker itself, but perhaps a whole series of similar games.
The game’s user interface couldn’t be simpler. It borrows heavily from many of the ideas introduced back on the Super Nintendo with Mario Paint. We’ve seen plenty of game creation games before on consoles, but the Gamepad’s intuitive input method provides an unparalleled ease of use. The tools are very easy for anyone to understand immediately and being able to jump in and out of the game as you’re editing a level is wonderful. It allows the creator to play a level in parts, even being able to see a tracer of Mario’s run and jump paths, making it easy to place blocks or platforms in the appropriate places on the fly to accommodate gameplay. Players can then upload their created levels online for everyone around the world to play.
Mario Maker's aesthetic can also be switched instantaneously between the classic 8-bit look of Super Mario Bros’ sprite-based graphics and the new look of New Super Mario Bros U. Nintendo’s goal is to have Mario Maker extend beyond feeling like a simple course-editor tool into a fun experience which involves both building and playing.
Further intriguing is the potential for more of these types of games on the Wii U. Imagine a "Legend of Zelda Maker" that allowed people to create an entire overworld with dungeons and items, or perhaps a "Metroid Maker" with similar ideas. Mario Maker could very well prove to be the Wii U’s answer to Minecraft, if not in terms of its own reception then in its potential to be the start of an entire series of creation games that, coupled with the Gamepad’s ease of use, may help to propel the console’s appeal to a much broader audience.
