Super Mario Maker is one of few creative tool games that has truly lived up to the hype. Offering us plumber fans the freedom to finally construct our own Mario stages for friends and family to test their platforming skill on. Yet with every relaxed walk in the park there will always be those stages designed to make you snap your controller in two out of blinding rage…..Ahh, the good old days. Obviously Nintendo could foresee this outcome, as they even used some deliciously devilish stages in the Nintendo World Championship. Though in a recent interview in Edge Magazine with Nintendo producer Takashi Tezuka, we got some insight on his thoughts for Super Mario Maker‘s ultra difficult stages.
“When you design levels for a product, you need to take into consideration a wide range of users,” Tezuka explains. “This limits the amount of extremely difficult courses to only a fairly small part of the whole game. I expected that the users who wanted to play more of the hard courses would be attracted to Super Mario Maker, so it’s not surprising to see that a lot of difficult courses are being made.” He continues on, elaborating on a perception of difficulty in Super Mario Maker between creator and player “There is a tendency for the courses people make to be a little harder than they think they are. The creator already knows the design, where they have placed their traps, and the best route to take. So it would generally be easier for them to play through than someone trying it for the first time. As a result, the course ends up being more difficult than the creator meant it to be.”
Finally, Tezuka remarks on arguably one of the more entertain aspects of Super Mario Maker; watching others struggle to complete an obscenely hard level. Duh. “I’ve been watching lots of different courses on YouTube. It was quite a surprise how much fun it was to watch the videos, without even playing myself. There are so many intriguing and inventive courses, like one which you couldn’t beat if you picked up a mushroom. It’s been a huge motivation for us developers to do better.”
What do you think of Tezuka’s thoughts? What’s the hardest level you’ve ever played in Super Mario Maker? Any you’d recommend or challenge us to beat? Sound of below!