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Making Mario’s Life Difficult In Mario Maker
Senior editor Benjamin Reeves and I got a chance to check out Mario Maker, and though neither of us were able to produce anything resembling an enjoyable level, we had a good time.
As we were walking to the booth, we noticed someone from NPR covering the show spelling out those three letters using blocks. Suddenly, we were struck with the inspiration to make a level out of the letters GI. Sometimes, you just can't explain from where your inspiration is born.
The interface is reminiscent of Mario Paint. You start the level nearly blank, with just a row of bricks along the bottom to assure Mario doesn’t fall into oblivion. Reeves, who was on the controls, quickly deleted most of the ground to make sure the level was as dangerous as possible. He tapped a brick icon, and began spelling out the letters GI (for Game Informer). As he pressed the stylus to the GamePad, a giant hand appeared on the television to emulate Reeves’ actions. It was very simple to undo mistakes and erase excessive blocks.
After getting the letters up, Reeves placed a few enemies and coins around, and hit the test button to try out the level. He immediately died, not even making it to the closest platform. An outline showcased exactly where Mario went before falling to his death, which will undoubtedly help when trying to set up levels and for helping to space blocks properly.
After pausing for a photo (above), Reeves panned the level all the way to the end and made a gigantic screen filling platform right in front of the flag. He jumped off, completed the level, and a representative at Nintendo assured us we would definitely be considered for employment in designing future Mario levels.
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