'Super Mario Maker 2' review: Everything about it is so good

If I could inject Super Mario Maker 2 into my veins, I would.

Every ounce of this game is pure, uncut, 2D Mario fun. Like its predecessor, Super Mario Maker 2 turns players into level designers and testers, but this time there’s more tools to mess around with, more styles to create in, and more ways to explore the world of 2D Mario.

In addition to the new Super Mario 3D World style of levels, the cat suit item, and switch blocks, Super Mario Maker 2 also includes a story mode, which is basically an entire 2D Mario game that spans the series’ colorful arc.

With over 100 levels created by Nintendo, story mode is just tasty icing on an already delicious cake.

Creativity unleashed

Super Mario Maker 2 is such a great creative outlet. The course maker mode, where players can craft their own levels and create experiences never possible in 2D Mario games before, is intuitive and fun to play with.

While playing around in course maker mode, I fell into the flow and time completely slipped away from me. I found myself messing around with different objects, arranging enemies, and placing platforms in an attempt to create a wild, sprawling level where each disparate beat felt great.

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I was in a zone that I hadn’t been in since I last developed video games in college. Back then, I could spend 10 hours straight coding trajectories of objects and drawing objects and items in Flash.

Super Mario Maker scratches an itch that I had forgotten about, and the ease and versatility that Super Mario Maker 2 gives players to build and experiment is so addictive. Trying to make tough platformers, devising fun puzzles, and laying out dumb, half-baked levels just to see if you can make it work is a blast.

To think like a developer and designer isn’t something that games let you do very often. Not only does Super Mario Maker 2 provide that experience, it does it really well.

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That kind of creativity is fun to engage with from a creator’s perspective, but it’s also incredibly fun to see what other people come up with using those same tools.

Nintendo’s spin

After seeing what players came up with since the launch of Super Mario Maker in 2015, Nintendo got in on the fun and created its own Mario Maker levels for a story mode in Super Mario Maker 2.

It’s a lot of fun.

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There are over 100 levels to play through in story mode and the vast majority of them feel completely unique to Super Mario Maker 2. The developers really seemed to have fun with their levels and seem to embody the spirit of the community from the first game.

Some of the levels that stick out are the ones the likes of which haven’t been seen in the main series. There’s a couple of levels where players aren’t allowed to land on the ground after jumping, which is a completely new spin on Mario.

One of the most fun additions is the little car, first seen in the reveal trailer, which can be used to zoom through twisting levels at high speeds, and Nintendo created a couple of levels built for well-timed jumps and turns on four wheels.

The story mode comes with that usual Nintendo charm and humor, making it really feel like a full-fledged 2D Mario experience.

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Plus, it provides some free inspiration for first-time course makers.

Community

Super Mario Maker wouldn’t be the success that it is without its online functionalities and community, which Super Mario Maker 2 expands on in course world where players can upload their creations and play other creators’ levels.

Even though my time in Super Mario Maker 2 has been pre-release and the full community hasn’t arrived yet, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing what other pre-release players have created and it’s exciting to see when people have played the levels I’ve uploaded.

Super Mario Maker 2 includes new tags and reactions to help players pick levels that they actually want to play, like if you’re in the mood for a speedrunning challenge, a puzzle-based level, or an auto-scroller.

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Seeing what other people create on their blank Mario canvases is also a nice way to get inspired for your own creations, to see how different ideas can be implemented, and possibly most importantly, see what kinds of things don’t work at all.

I'm excited to see thousands of community-made courses come pouring into the game.

Super Mario Maker 2 arrives on Nintendo Switch on June 28.