Making Mario

Super Mario World is what made me care about games in the first place. Had my Super Nintendo and my friends’ consoles running constantly. I could argue endlessly about how perfect it was—and it still is.

Super Mario Maker is Nintendo handing you the architecture. You make your own levels in any style from the last thirty years of Mario—NES, SNES, modern 3D. Underwater, in the clouds, deep underground. You pick the theme, place every block, every enemy, every jump. You’re not just playing Mario anymore; you’re designing it.

That shift matters. As a kid, I memorized levels someone else had designed. Now I’m thinking like the person who designed them. Every platform, every gap, every enemy—it’s about understanding why each choice was made, how it shapes the feel of the level.

Most of what I’d build would be garbage. That’s fine. The point is it could exist. The ideas I’ve been carrying for thirty years that just lived in my head—I could actually make those real. I could build something impossible, or weird, or something I think is perfect. The tool doesn’t judge.

That’s what stuck with me: it’s not about more Mario content. It’s the same game you loved your whole life, but from the other side. You finally understand the blueprint.