Super Mario Maker

The perpetual joke at the end of every 10 Mario Challenge run informing you that the Princess is in yet another castle hints at Super Mario Maker's bigger promise: There will always be more levels to play thanks to the online creation community, and a virtually endless pool of challenges to overcome.

And for the first time in a creation-focused experience, I look forward to returning again and again for more than just the amazing levels I know other people will create. I want to keep making my own levels better. The game won't necessarily turn you into the next Shigeru Miyamoto, but you can almost feel a little bit of that magic rubbing off every time you upload a new creation.

An elegant level editor that offers real insight into three decades of platforming brilliance.

Where other publishers might release a making-of documentary of their golden era, Super Mario Maker does the unthinkable: It lets you do the making of. I have had a tremendous amount of fun playing Super Mario Maker, but the way it developed that newfound appreciation for something I've known my whole life was the game's biggest accomplishment. Sure, there's touches of fan service here and there, like a startling number of references to Mario Paint, but that's not how it won me over. Super Mario Maker wooed me because it's a hands-on history lesson.

Brimming with positivity and encouragement, Super Mario Maker's brilliant toy box gives you everything you need to easily create and share some truly fantastic levels.

A literally endless supply of Mario levels is at your fingertips, as long as you don't mind if they aren't up to Nintendo's standard of quality. Getting creative with the tools is fun, and so is seeing what others have devised

Once you overcome the initial frustration engendered by Super Mario Maker's refusal to give you all its tools at once, it provides a wondrously moreish experience that will enthral a generation of tinkerers.

"Super Mario Maker" feels like the antithesis of this spirit. "Mario" levels begin to feel like traps that can't be escaped. As with many digital tools that seem to liberate us from the laborious demands of creation, "Super Mario Maker" is primarily an engine for circulating bad ideas and broken gimmicks as if there weren't already an overabundance of them.

Super Mario Maker is a charming little creation tool, and I'm sure fans will come up with some amazing levels for years to come. However, it feels a bit more constrained than it needs to be, and is in dire need of updates or DLC to keep it going long term.

Finally, I can make the hellscape Mario levels of my dreams.