Review: Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS

by Jim Smale · Published December 5, 2016 · Updated December 12, 2016

In Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, you call the shots, and simple touch-screen controls and interactive tutorials make designing courses a snap.

Pros:

Classic Mario graphics.
2928 Block dl size.
Two control options for button layout.
Optional tutorial section with 10 lessons for both basic and advanced lessons.
Game takes in Four classic Mario era’s. Mario, Mario Bros 3, Mario Wii U and Super Mario World.
Fast loading times.
Solid classic Mario platformer.
Super Mario challenge: Main single player section if you prefer. Here you take on Mario levels by Nintendo using a set amount of lives. It also has 2 medals that can be earned in each level and carry criteria for each medal. Can be things like finish a level without pressing left or collect all coins.
Unlock new course creator items by playing through Mario challenge.
Course bot: Here you can play/edit your own created levels or replay/edit levels completed in Mario challenge.
You can send/receive levels via Streetpass and local connections.
Courseworld: 100 mario challenge where courses are a mix of Nintendo made ones and select user created levels from the Wii U version. You get 100 lives and have four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Expert and Super expert.
Profile page: Shows medal count, 100 Mario stats, Course world stats and Streetpass exchange numbers.
Plenty of save slots for created levels. 30 rows with 4 slots in each.
Huge selection of creation tools to unlock and use for level creation.
Easy to understand UI in level creation.
Help section on hand.
Courses from select Wii U creators can be downloaded for offline play.

Cons:

Long initial load time as it creates extra data.
No 3D implementation at all.
No Amiibo support which includes the ability to use special character models.
No cross downloads with Wii U. Apart from the select levels in game, You cannot interact with the Wii U in any way.
The special event levels are not present.
No local multiplayer modes or play.