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Super Mario Maker is the game the creative industry has been waiting for

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The first time I booted up Super Mario Maker last Thursday evening (yes I got it a day early because it transpires Amazon are just THAT reliable) I was immediately struck by just how intuitive it was. Whereas I had experimented with game building kits before, the usual cycle of patronising tutorials and trial and error abortions (I'm looking at you Little Big Planet) had been replaced by clear, simple instructions, and within 15 minutes I'd finished my first disaster-piece.

Super Mario Maker has been a runaway success, placing second in the weekly gaming charts behind only the ludicrously hyped Metal Gear Solid 5

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It's this immediacy that elevates Super Mario Maker above and beyond its contemporaries, even more so than more ambitious pieces of software available for the PC such as Garry's Mod. It turns creation into a legitimate game that's arguably more entertaining than playing the levels themselves, and in doing so, could very well catalyse the talents of hundreds, nay thousands of young individuals with latent creative tendencies, and inspire them to pursue a career in the industry. It could be argued that Minecraft has already achieved this, but Minecraft is a game that requires a serious level of commitment (hundreds of hours in fact) to fully understand and master. Effectively, Super Mario Maker is to Minecraft what a sketchbook is to a canvas.

For those unfamiliar with the game, the concept is simple: Designed to coincide with the moustachioed plumbers 30th birthday (so he's JUST older than me), the Wii U exclusive gives players access to the basic toolkits used to create the legendary stages in the original 1985 Super Mario Bros game, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World, and the more recent New Super Mario Bros Wii U. Thanks to the functionality offered by the Wii U gamepad, users can literally draw their stages onto the tablet-cum-controller and switch from creation to play mode in less than the time it takes to shout “It's a Me, Mario!” These creations can then be shared with the community online, or you can try out any of the thousands of stages already uploaded on the company's servers.

The Wii U exclusive gives players’ access to the basic toolkits used to create the legendary stages in 4 Mario games from the mascot’s 30-year history

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Once you overcome the initial frustration engendered by the game's refusal to give you all its tools at once (items and toolsets are drip fed over 9 days to provide a less intimidating experience), it provides an addictive experience that could very well enthral a generation of tinkerers. And as anything you create in Super Mario Maker will appeal to people of all ages and skill levels, it offers a great progression for Minecraft veterans who have honed their design skills, yet are starting to feel like one-trick ponies. If it throws up a whole new generation of Shigeru Miyamotos, it will go down as one of the most significant and influential games in history. Unlikely perhaps, but we can hope, and I've already stumbled across some true masterpieces in “Course World” that led me to believe the game might have unwittingly unearthed a few genuine design geniuses!

As evidenced by the thriving community that seems to have sprung from nowhere in just under a week (the game was released worldwide last Friday September 9), the game has been a runaway success, placing second in the weekly gaming charts behind only the ludicrously hyped Metal Gear Solid 5. What makes this so astounding is not only that this is a title many would assume has little more than niche appeal, but that it's an exclusive for the Wii U, a console so far behind in the console wars that most gamers appear to have forgotten it existed. Indeed, I've owned one for 2 years and last Thursday night was the first time I'd touched it since a particularly fraught drunken Smash Bros marathon last Christmas.

Nintendo has announced downloadable content for Super Smash Bros, which takes the Mario Maker concept and transposes it into the realm of the fighter

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Speaking of Smash Bros, the game-changing (no pun intended) Mario Maker tool kit has proven so popular that Nintendo has already announced downloadable content for the Wii U and 3DS Smash Bros games, which takes the general Mario Maker concept and transposes it into the realm of the tournament fighter. It's just another sign that Mario Maker has captured the industry in a manner we haven't seen in years, and surely hints at a future where Nintendo are more open with letting their fans rewrite the rulebook. I for one would love to see a Super Mario Maker 2, where the 3D Mario games are opened up to the public, or a “Build your own” Zelda adventure! Just imagine the potentially endless possibilities!

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. His favourite Nintendo character is Yoshi. Just because.

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