IndexGeneral TipsTool PaletteStarting Tools100 Mario Challenge10 Mario ChallengeUnlockable Mystery Mushroom CostumesUnlocks and SecretsBypass the 9-day content lockInteractive Title ScreenFlyswatter Minigame - Super Mario MakerShare1:50Change HandsSave the Princess in a CostumeUnlock the Nintendo World Championship Levels Shell Helmet in the Game Playing near Doors Mushroom Skinny Mario Mario and Thwomp's Death Sound Effects Costumed Hero Crt Mode Mini Game Fly Swatter Nintendo World Championships Title Screen Fun There is no right way to design a level in Super Mario Maker. However, there are many tips and tricks that every aspiring level designer should consider, whether it's your first time building a simple course or you're planning on making the most challenging level possible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay General Tips Doors vs. Pipes: Knowing when to use a door or a pipe is key to designing a good level. Doors can take you anywhere in the current level (you can have up to 4 sets of doors on one level). Pipes, on the other hand, will take you to a sublevel (after unlocking the sublevels of course). Place them wisely to send players all over the map and use empty space that would normally be out of reach. To create a pipe connection, drag Mario into a pipe and place the exit. To create a door, place the twin doors and then move one to a different location. Less is more: There are a finite number of things you can place in a level. So don't go crazy and be smart about which pieces you use, where and when. But you can get more mileage by using pipes to connect to a sublevel. The sublevel can have its own theme (although you cannot switch to a different version of the game) and its own set of blocks and enemies. Tester Wanted: Never doubt the power of a small game test. Before you upload your creation online, consider letting friends or family try it. You'll often be amazed at how someone else interprets a level and does things in ways you might less suspect. Asking others to test your level is also a good way to find something worth tweaking that you may have overlooked. Once online be sure to check the comments to see what others think! Checkpoints and Rewards: Be careful when your level becomes too long. Long levels (especially difficult ones) tend to get frustrating unless you start rewarding the player with things like power-ups if you don't add checkpoints. Remember to leave power-ups after difficult or large areas of your level. Learn your shortcuts: Like any application, learning to do things quickly in Mario Maker can save you a lot of time and effort. You can use the side and trigger buttons to copy or select areas, pressing either will let you erase without hitting the eraser button Think before you leap - it can be fun to start placing enemies and traps everywhere, but it's a smart idea to have a vision be clear about where you want a player to go first. Think about first building the skeleton of a level and then working backwards to add enemies, traps, and other obstacles. Hold back. More enemies don't make a better level. Blind jumping is never fun for players, so make sure your level communicates that there are dangers ahead. You can, for example, mark a path with coins or arrows to eliminate themconjectures. And I saw a level with a blind jump with coins, but they lead directly to the spikes! Don't do it! Why erase when you can undo?: The Eraser tool is a great tool for eliminating mistakes, but it's best used to erase things you may have inserted a while ago. Everything recent can be done with the Undo button and does not require switching from Erase mode to the previous one. Tool Palette The most important part of Super Mario Maker is the Tool Palette. The palette is divided into 6 rows of 12 items each, with the sixth row left blank for "favorites". Each row can be customized at any time allowing you to swap objects in the palette to allow you to draw from a particular row when editing a layer. The palette consists of three types of items: items, enemies, and power-ups. Many of these items have a unique appearance depending on the type of Mario game you're modifying into, and some items can be shaken when placed to create new variations. Items in this palette are often combined or used together to create interesting and inspiring combinations. New players will not be able to use every single item right away. Instead, Nintendo chose to allow players to ease into the game by unlocking certain items only after spending time using the available tools. The only requirement is that you play with the editor for about 5 minutes and you will be notified that a new shipment of items will arrive soon. Starting Tools On the first day you will only have access to the Brick Block, Question Mark Block, Block, Stone Block , Pipe, Super Mushroom, Coin, Trampoline, Goomba, Koopa, Piranha Plant and Wings. After completing a tutorial, you will be able to create levels using the Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros U. styles, in both Land and Dungeon modes. After tinkering around a bit more, you'll also gain access to the larger menu, including the 10 Mario challenge and the world of online courses. First Update The first new item shipment will consist of the Secret Mushroom/Cape Feather/Super Leaf/Propeller Hat, Lakitu, Spiny, Moving Platform, Fire Flower, Super Star, and 1-Up Mushroom. Second Update The second shipment will bring Bill Blaster, Blooper, Cheep Cheep, Spikes and Semi-Flat Platform. This will also include the ability to create underwater levels. Third Update The third expedition may come with Hammer Bros., Buzzy Beetle, Thwomp, Lava Bubble, Bowser, Note Block, Skull Platform and Fire Bar. This also includes the ability to create Castle-style levels. Shortly after obtaining the new items, you will also be able to turn Mario's track on and off. Fourth Update The fourth dungeon will contain Rocky Wrench, Bob-omb, Donut Block, POW Block, Cloud Block, Fire Jet, Cannon and Bridge. This will come with the ability to use the Super Mario Bros. 3 style, as well as the Airship level theme. Shortly after tinkering with this day, you'll also have the option to change the timer and auto-scroll settings per level. Fifth update The fifth shipment of items including Spike Top, Boo, Dry Bones, Magikoopa, Hidden Block, Vine, P Switch and Door may arrive. This also includes the addition of the Super Mario World style and Ghost House level theme. Note that with all 4 styles, you can now use the Secret Mushroom / Super Leaf / Cape Feather / Propeller Hat in the respective styles. Sixth update the sixth expedition will contain the Muncher, the Wiggler, Yoshi/Kuribo's shoe, the clown car, the mushroom platform and the arrow sign. Note that you will also have access to the sound effects editor. Seventh update The seventhShipping items will bring the track, conveyor belt and grinder. Final Update The final shipment will bring the final three items: Chain Chomp, Ice Block, and One Way Tile. This final shipment will also include the ability to use sublayers in your creations. Simply drop Mario into a pipe to create a lower level. Mario Maker has a wide range of items to choose from. Drag and drop these items from the top of the menu bar to the layer to add them immediately. Items shown in the E3 2014 trailer include: 100 Mario ChallengeThe 100 Mario Challenge is a game mode for Super Mario Maker that allows players to tackle an assortment of levels from around the world. You'll have just 100 lives to complete a huge assortment of levels, all taken from online courses uploaded by other users. Please note that this mode is only available to play when you are connected to the Internet. If you are not connected to the Internet, you can try some of the Nintendo courses by playing the Mario Challenge 10. When playing the 100 Mario Challenge, a player's coin total will carry over between levels and they will have the opportunity to earn a maximum of three 1-UPs per level, which will only take effect if the player manages to pass the level. To proceed, you must replay a level until you can beat it. If a player fails to pass a level, they can "skip" the current stage, replacing it with a new user-created level. This doesn't cost any lives, but you won't continue either. There are two difficulties, Easy and Normal, which are curated by Nintendo based on the ratio of completions to failures by players, in order to classify the difficulty of the level presented. Playing in Easy mode will require you to complete 8 levels in 100 lives, while Normal mode will challenge you to beat 16 levels. Once you complete the 100 Mario Challenge for the first time, a new, harder difficulty mode will become available. Players who complete 100 Mario Challenges will be rewarded with a random Mysterious Mushroom costume for use in level creation. This costume can be based on an Amiibo or a costume unrelated to any current Amiibo.10 Mario ChallengeThe 10 Mario Challenge is a game mode for Super Mario Maker that allows players to tackle an assortment of levels from around the world. You will only have 10 lives to complete a total of 6 levels, all taken from online levels uploaded by other users or from the Nintendo level pool located within the game itself. Please note that unlike 100 Mario Challenge, this mode is available to play both online and offline. If you are not connected to the Internet, you can only play from Nintendo levels. When playing 10 Mario Challenge, a player's coin total will carry over between levels and they will have the opportunity to earn a maximum of three 1-UPs per level (up to a maximum of 10 lives) - which will only take effect if the player manages to pass the level. A level must be replayed until it can be beaten to proceed. If a player fails to pass a level, they can "skip" the current stage, replacing it with a new user-created level. This doesn't cost any lives, but you won't continue either. There are two difficulties, Easy and Normal, presumably curated by Nintendo to classify the difficulty of the level presented. Unlockable Mystery Mushroom Costumes The purpose of the Mystery Mushroom is to transform Mario into another character through the use of costumes. Once unlocked, a costume can be selected by tapping the mushroom, or you can have it select a costume at random. Costumes work much like a power-up in that you take damage in the costumeit will only make Mario lose his costume. They don't increase his height at all, even if a costume appears larger than Mario traditionally is. The only thing a costume changes is purely visual and audio, as many costumes come with unique sounds when jumping, taunting (pressing up), and falling into a pit or clearing a level. At the start, there will be some costumes already unlocked, such as Goomba, Trampoline and Question Block. Additional costumes can be unlocked through use of the Amiibo feature or as a reward for completing the 100 Mario Challenge online. Keep in mind that after obtaining around 60 costumes, the rest must be earned by completing the 100 Mario Challenge on a higher difficulty. Also note that there are several costumes that do not relate to any Amiibo and cannot be unlocked by any Amiibo. Additionally, a player can use a costume they have not unlocked if another player's loaded level has that costume. If you download that level, any costumes you don't own will not transfer to you. Unlockables and Secrets With a game like Super Mario Maker, Mario's story is on display and many secrets, Easter eggs and more are just waiting to be revealed. found in the game. Unlock the 8-bit Mario Amiibo CRT vision with a code Using the 30th Anniversary Mario Amiibo will activate a mushroom-shaped mega power-up that changes several things on the screen, most notably an old-fashioned filter that replicated a television screen CRT. However, you can activate this effect without the Amiibo. When you're at the loading screen of any level (not just Super Mario Bros. style levels), hold down the D-pad and the A and B buttons to activate the effect. You can turn it off the same way. Bypass the 9-day content block. New players will not be able to use every single item right away. Instead, Nintendo chose to allow players to ease into the game by unlocking certain items only after spending time using the available tools. The only requirement is to play with the editor for about 5 minutes and you will receive a notification that a new shipment of items will arrive soon. Interactive Title ScreenWhen the game's title appears along with the background of a sample level (which you can take control of and play at any time!) you can interact with the title itself much like Mario Paint. Tap the "Super" part of the title to hear a crowd shout the title, along with the group of Super Stars that will erupt. Tap the "M" in Mario to change it to a W. Wario will shout in appreciation and give you a Wario costume! (Not forever, though, and only in the SMB theme.) Tap the "A" in Mario to summon a bright, fantastic shower of shooting stars. Not only does it look cool, but it will destroy all enemies around. Tap the "R" in Mario to stretch the letter, releasing a horde of coins. Tap the "I" in Mario to summon a parrot, used in the sound effects editor. Tap the "O" in Mario to summon a Koopa Clown Car. Tap the "M" in Maker to drop a buzzing beetle shell. If it lands on Mario, he'll wear it like a helmet! Tap the "A" in Maker to start a countdown, before the A blasts off into space. Tap the "K" in Maker to activate an old-fashioned filter, rendering the title screen in sepia with retro music to boot. Tap the "E" in Maker to make a trampoline fall. Tap the "R" in Maker to stretch the R, which will spit out one of Kuribo's shoes in the process. If the title screen is Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros. U style, it will release a Yoshi Egg. Tap anywhere on the screen to summon a random enemy, just like Magikoopa's attack. Hold and drag toshow the magical effects. Fly Swatter Minigame - Super Mario Makershare 1:50A throwback to Mario Paint is back in the form of the Fly Swatter game. At a random time during level creation, you may notice 3 flies buzzing around the screen. Hitting them all on the gamepad will trigger the start of the minigame. Unlike the previous version of Fly Swatter, this minigame used the touch screen to swat flies and has a very limited time period, instead of using lives. If you complete the minigame the first time, you will unlock Builder Mario. Additional plays do not appear to unlock additional costumes.Change Your HandYou can change the hand image on the TV screen as you place items by simply pressing the left or right control stick. Depending on which side you press, you can choose to show your right or left hand. You can also choose between different skin colors or even animal paws! Save the Princess with a Costume When playing 10 Mario Challenge or 100 Mario Challenge, if you beat the final level while wearing a costume, this may affect the dialogue during the meeting Toad or the princess. For example, Toad will panic if you wear Bowser's costume, while Peach will be surprised that Bowser saved her himself. If you wear the Toad costume, Toad will call you Captain. Tall Mario At any time when playing levels (yours, champion levels, or even community levels) you may come across a tall, skinny Super Mushroom instead of a normal one. This will turn Mario into a tall, skinny version of Super Mario with a very strange appearance, complete with strange sound effects and moving his legs when running and jumping. Creepy. If you can beat all the Nintendo World Championship levels, you'll be able to place the Skinny Mushroom at will! Unlock the Nintendo World Championship Levels If you want to try your hand at the four courses created especially for the 2015 Nintendo World Championships, you can unlock them yourself. To do this, continue playing and complete 10 Mario Challenges. Every time you pass it, the 8 levels you have played will be added to your Coursebot. Once you've unlocked all but the last row on the Coursebot, you'll be rewarded with the 4 championship courses! Shell Helmet in the game If you find a Shell Helmet, but it's lying on the ground in Super Mario World or New Super Mario Wii-U Theme, you can simply take your helmet and duck and it will go on your head. However, if Mario is not small in the Super Mario Bros. 3 style, the player can wear the helmet as above. Hidden Videos in the Digital Instruction Manual In the digital instruction manual, you can enter a variety of four-digit codes that will prompt for a video. Many of these four-digit codes can be found in the booklet that accompanied physical copies of Super Mario Maker. This booklet may also be viewed in PDF format online for those who have purchased a digital copy of the game via Nintendo's Wii U eShop. You can also obtain physical copies of the booklet by contacting Nintendo by telephone and requesting a physical copy of the book after verifying that you have actually purchased a digital copy of the game using your Nintendo Network ID (NNID). However, there are some codes worth pointing out that aren't actually gameplay footage. By entering the code 0913, you can watch a video of Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros. music composer) playing a medley of Super Mario Bros. music on an electric piano. By entering the code 1309 you can watch a video in which both Tezuka and Miyamoto sign their autographs on large white cards. These signatures are also found on the back of the aforementioned booklet. The numbers 0913 and 1309 have significance as the original Super Mario Bros. was released on.