Vlog: My Courses in Mario Maker

My most recent addiction has been Super Mario Maker, the Wii U title that regularly has thousands of viewers on Twitch and has allowed gamers worldwide, whether talented or not, to exercise their creative muscles and show everyone how great (or horrible) their Mario-making skills really are.

I am not going to claim to be perfect at this whole endeavor, but I am having fun creating my own courses. The trouble? You need people to give your courses stars to be able to upload more and more courses. My limit is currently 10, and I have uploaded 6 courses, which means I am quickly running out of uploads.

So, here is my attempt to get my courses out there for people to discover and try. I have included videos of these courses (only successful play-throughs, mind you) as well as codes for each of them so that those of you out there that are lucky enough to have this game in your library can search for these courses and play them. I will eagerly follow anyone that decides to play and star my courses, of course, because we are all supportive in our Mario-making endeavors.

So, here they are - enjoy!

Wartime Waterway - 829D-0000-006D-3383

The Airship Shuffle - 7252-0000-0085-1E0A

Castle Climb 'n' Fall - 6819-0000-0072-691F

A Boo-tiful Mansion - B333-0000-00A0-9DEA

Can't Stop ... But I Gotta! - 9FD2-0000-005E-CF0F

The Ride of Doom - 871D-0000-0096-E438

Game Profile: Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)

Since I rarely play games in time to properly review them, I occasionally take a post to discuss whatever games I am playing at the moment, and create a "review," of sorts, that may or may not convince someone else to play it or not play it. These games may be recent or old - either way, you get to hear about it from what I hope is a different perspective.

Mario has gone on many adventures by now, and despite the fact that these games tend to follow the same kind of dynamic (run and jump to get places, pick up power-ups here and there), most of them feel incredibly unique. Sure, some feel like retreads (New Super Mario Bros. U feels like leftover levels from New Super Mario Bros. Wii) and others don't always feel like genuine Mario experiences (Super Mario Sunshine, as good a game as it is, just doesn't always play like you'd expect a Mario game to play), but on the whole, when you go into a Mario game, you tend to expect something different.

Super Mario 3D World is no exception - pulling its gameplay style from Super Mario 3D Land, this game manages to present some wonderfully innovative gaming experiences. From the multitude of stages, to fighting Bowser in his car that looks like a product of Pimp My Ride, to the chaos of multiplayer (seriously - it's harder to play multiplayer than it is to play alone), this game offers a continuous barrage of things to catch your interest. Just when you think a series of levels feels the same, over and over again, you get hit with something completely different, forcing you to adapt to face the new challenges.

That doesn't mean the game is particularly difficult - overall, if you care mostly about the main game (excluding the extra worlds at the end), and you consider yourself an experienced gamer, then you'll have no trouble finding your way to the end. If, however, you are the level of gamer that our little foster daughter is, you might find some levels are rather vexing. The game does offer its share of challenges, and for experienced gamers, those challenges don't come until the end, but overall, this is not the hardest Mario outing (that, in my opinion, belongs to the real Super Mario Bros. 2, known as The Lost Levels here in the US).

The game, like pretty much every Mario game these days, follows a map screen in which levels pop up each time you beat one. Sometimes you've got a single path to follow, and other times, you have a couple of choices. To avoid spoilers for those that haven't played it, there are a bunch of worlds, and each time you beat a castle, you move on to another world. Each level has its own care of collectables - the typical ones have three green stars and a stamp. The stamps can be used to post messages to the Miiverse, Nintendo's attempt to make gaming into social networking (really not my thing). Once you beat enough levels in the game, you start being able to see with which character you beat the level, meaning yes, in order to unlock everything in the game, you need to beat every level with every character. If you play primarily alone, like I do, then that means you essentially need to play through the game 5 times (so far, I've only bothered to do that in world 1). Notice I said five times, as opposed to four - there is a hidden character much later in the game.

I do primarily play alone, even though the little lady is more than happy to play with me, but in order to effectively play this game with others, you need excellent communication and the ability to coordinate your movements almost effortlessly. Unfortunately, that's just something I cannot do with our little one, try as I might, but I could see it working well with the right group of friends. I worked through New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my brother and a friend, and we managed to coordinate extremely well most of the time, rarely giving in to the temptation to put ourselves in a bubble and let one person advance while the rest of us get dragged along. I think that the temptation to do that in Super Mario 3D World would be greater, mind you, but the levels are not impossible to do together if the group practices coordinating and timing things effectively.

Even if parts of the game aren't that tough, the game is quite long, even before you go through and do every level with every character. I myself am a completionist, so if I miss any items on my first play through a level, I play it again right away to get what I missed. If that isn't your strategy, you'll find some levels blocked off because you don't possess enough green stars. I am also unsure of how exactly to unlock the extra worlds - I imagine you need all of the green stars, or to get to the top of each flagpole at the end of each level - because I made sure to get everything in each level before moving on.

Some fun breaks from the main action involve Captain Toad - you get to play as him on some levels in which the play style changes considerably. You need to follow a 3D path in what amounts to a level shaped like a cube, without jumping, but hitting switches to unlock other paths and changing the camera angle to see all of your options. The levels are fun, and I am under the impression that the game Captain Toad: Treasure Trackers is essentially this style of gameplay the whole time, so that is a game I might make the time to check out at some point. The little lady would certainly enjoy that game, and it would probably be more on her gaming level than Super Mario 3D World.

What impresses me most about Super Mario 3D World is that when it does get difficult, it gets really difficult. The extra worlds can get insanely hard, especially if you want to collect everything, and after about fifty to sixty tries, I still haven't managed to beat the very last level in the game. I recently started going back to play through the other levels as the other characters as a break from the frustration of the final level, going back and making attempts at it when I have the right items in my possession. I hope this eventually does the trick, because after all, I need to complete that level five freaking times in order to unlock everything. Thanks, Nintendo.

As usual with Nintendo titles, the sound, music and visuals are clever and beautiful. The music reflects the light-heartedness and fun of the game, while the visuals are cartoonish and bright (unless it's one of those underground levels, then sometimes you are puttering around in the dark). There are levels in which you need to watch the shadows on a wall to get the whole story, and some that keep the camera above you as you navigate a maze-like area. It's no Super Mario Galaxy in terms of the scale of each level - it's as if original, platforming Mario levels have been stretched into 3D - but it's still great to look at.

Overall, this game, like nearly every Mario title before it, is an instant classic, one that captures one's attention quickly and never stops throwing creative challenges into the mix. From platforms that appear and disappear based on the beat of the music to bodies of water that move in the air, forcing you to jump between them, this game does what a game is supposed to do: challenge you repeatedly and make you marvel at the world in front of you. The creativity on display in this game is quite impressive, and if you still haven't picked up a Wii U, or have a Wii U and somehow missed this game, you need to alter your priorities.

And if I ever beat that final level, you will all be the first to know. Well, second to know - anyone within a several-mile radius of my location will probably hear the screams first.

Somebody Make This: Cooperative, Multiplayer Avengers Game

Imagine this: both HYDRA and AIM, evil organizations from the Marvel universe, are fighting each other in New York City, with SHIELD jumping in not only to fight off these two, but to keep the Avengers from interfering. The Avengers are scattered throughout the city, some tackling HYDRA, some tailing AIM, and some fending off SHIELD. They each have their own tasks but must come to the aid of others when they can. It's a crazy, hectic situation, the Avengers needing to stay coordinated and communicate.

Well, if you can't imagine it, you can simply watch Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode titled "Hail, HYDRA!" That's the premise, and it's a doozy - a fun episode that shows just how entertaining the show can be and the kind of mayhem it can present. The movies cannot touch this kind of character collision - too many actors, too many contracts, too full for even a 3-hour movie. And do you know what else would be able to handle an epic battle of this magnitude?

A video game.

I know - there's LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, but it doesn't have the cooperative aspect or the multiplayer aspect. As much as I have talked up that game in a previous post, the thing I have in my head is much, much more than what that game manages to accomplish. There's also this Avengers: Battle for Earth game, but it's a fighting game, not the type of large-scale treatment the Avengers really deserve. These guys need something big, something epic ... something Hulk-sized.

Here's what I've got:

The gameplay covers a map - let's say New York City, but other Marvel locations could work (maybe Wakanda, maybe another city). There is chaos all over this map - maybe HYDRA trying to steal something somewhere, maybe another super villain breaking in somewhere else - and you and a team of Avengers is scattered, trying to handle all of the problems. Whether the multiplayer action occurs online or in your TV room together (I prefer it all happening together - more fun, better communication, better gaming environment), it is up to you and whatever Avenger you have chosen to save the city. You need to coordinate, obviously - you can't all go to the same crisis and ignore the others - but you also need to work together to accomplish every task.

There could be missions to complete, or maybe you get some sort of rating after you have saved the city. You could compete with others to get a better rating. There could be some sort of story mode, but it would need to feel unique somehow - it can't feel tacked-on like the Star Wars Battlefront story modes. It needs to somehow build on the multiplayer mode, but I haven't thought of any good ideas about that yet.

But more on the gameplay, since that is the most important aspect. SHIELD could play an important part in this, and even be playable - how about taking advantage of that wonderful touch-screen controller for the Wii U and letting someone use that to pilot the Helicarrier? They could keep track of where all of the action in the city is, tell the other players where to go and who is there. They could even call in recruits from SHIELD or (and this is where things get crazy), they could even call in Ultron recruits. The Avengers cartoon does a great job of introducing Ultron as an army of robots that help the Avengers fight off an alien invasion, and soon afterwards, Ultron turns on them. What if you had the option of using Ultron in this game, and sometimes, but not all of the time, Ultron turned on you and you had another problem to solve? Oh man, if this game had that kind of depth, it would be epic.

Let's build on that - what if you and your friends were sitting in the living room, playing this game, and online, somewhere else, was another group? One group could be coordinated by HYDRA and the other by SHIELD, and you would fight each other over the internet, not knowing what the other group is planning. That is definitely one of the best multiplayer ideas I have ever heard.

Now, some of this gameplay does sound like Star Wars Battlefront, but those games were always clunky and unrefined. This needs to be almost flawless in its execution or it'll be a let-down. I know it would never, ever happen, but Nintendo could destroy this (in a good way). Shigeru Miyamoto once said he would never put multiplayer in a game unless it was better than Mario Kart (a high standard, to say the least). This could be exactly what he's talking about, and nearly every single Nintendo game I've played does play smoothly, especially in multiplayer mode. This is a game that needs the kind of care and attention Nintendo tends to give games. This is, of course, a dream, but it's nice to dream sometimes.

There would, of course, be a wide variety of heroes to choose from: Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Antman, maybe the Wasp (since I got my inspiration from the cartoon), and definitely Black Panther. You could also play the game from the villain's side and play any number of Marvel villains. I imagine DLC would happen at some point, with more locations and characters available to unlock. This could be a pretty big deal, if it were done well.

And while I am thinking on an incredibly large scale, why not make one of the locations Asgard? The little lady and I, continuing to plow through the Avengers cartoon, just watched the Avengers thoroughly thrash Loki and his army of monsters. How about defending, or taking back, Asgard from Loki? What about somehow incorporating all of the other nine realms? Maybe SHIELD cannot coordinate here and you need to find other ways to coordinate your efforts and prioritize different parts of Asgard as you fight off the enemy threat.

I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of all of the possible Marvel locales that could be involved in such an undertaking - I am limited to what I know from the movies and the cartoon. Those who read the comics may have a better handle on how this idea could be broadened or refined, and what sorts of things to include. The game would need some significant development time - it would need to be tested and retested to make sure it all works flawlessly - but I have no doubt that this game would be a pretty big deal if it ever actually happened.

Why no one has managed to try putting something like this together, especially in the wake of continued success of Marvel movies at the box office, is a complete mystery to me. I suppose the idea might be out on the internet somewhere, if I broaden what websites I check regularly, but maybe it isn't, not on this scale. Come on, people - talk this one up. Someone needs to make this happen, because it could easily be one of the biggest games to ever grace our wonderful gaming world.