Super Mario Maker!

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Just use the skip function until you find a REAL level.

I know some players say you shouldnt, that it's not a real win if you do, but... I'm sorry, alot of the levels that get bumped to that difficulty are so bad as to be GENUINELY unfair, or requiring alot of luck instead of pure skill. There's no shame in skipping those until you get a real level.

I mean, I'm fine with levels of very high difficulty, but alot of the ones in that mode do it wrong. Just dropping 3 of Bowser and 10 million Goombas and Koopas and other things or maybe doing Lakitu spam, does not equal proper difficulty. It equals some idiotic assumptions on the part of the creator. The same goes for "Kaizo" levels.

There are of course exceptions to this. The "Mario Frustration" level that I'd linked to, I'd liked that one well enough. It was properly adapted to this game, and everything was done right. There was nothing actually unfair about it.

Of course, hardly anyone actually FINISHES it. Me and maybe 15 others, out of 12000+ attempts from people, are the only ones that finished it; the clear rate percentage is extremely low. It was at 0.08% last time I looked at it. It's still a very popular level though.

I've forgotten where I was going with this.

I don't know what level is real and what isn't is the problem. Unless they make it so obvious in the title such as "impossible" or "troll" or have the word "glitch" in it. By the time I figure it out, I have already lost a life.

I am guilty of the laku guys dropping a bunch of enemies but I also have some of them drop down stars so the player can be invincible and race to the goal or climb up the vine for 1 ups and they have a chance killing those lakus.

Well, there's a few things I do at the start of a level now, that can allow me to figure out a troll level from a real one.

First, use Adam's trick (which I also just posted about on Miiverse... it really works!). Hold the stylus or your finger or whatever on the screen as the level loads; the "skip" thing will come up INSTANTLY. Dont move the stylus though! Hold it there, and take a moiment to examine the area. First, what is around the section where Mario starts at? If there are threats of ANY sort really close to that section, it's almost definitely a troll level. If there is a trampoline or a conveyorbelt under or right next to his starting spot, it is probably a troll level.

If no such threats exist, let go for a moment and then tap it again.... this is to check for sudden off-screen Thwomps coming from above. This I've found is actually very rare.... most people prefer to troll with a Spiny or something standing right next to Mario as the level loads.

Next, look around you at the terrain. Can you see a way past it? How congested with spikes is it? If you've got things like an obvious wall-jump section that forces you to jump on walls that are part block and part spike, chances are, it's a Kaizo level. That's not a troll level, per say, but it's close enough; Kaizo levels are NOT meant for this game. They exist almost entirely on emulated roms for a reason. They seriously dont work here, and I recommend skipping them the same as you would a troll level.

Also look for any immediate jumps that require ridiculous precision. Again, this is the hallmark of a Kaizo level. If the immediate area has like, hardly ANY blocks over a huge wide pit, and they're all single blocks (or even worse, single note blocks), again, probably a bad one.

When you come to the edge of a cliff, if there's no other way you're supposed to go, stand near the edge and have a look. Can you actually SEE the area you're meant to jump onto? If you cant, then one of two things is happening: 1, either you're actually supposed to go in a different direction, which always means hidden blocks nearby that the creator wants you to find and jump on, or 2, the creator wasnt exactly thinking very hard, and there IS a spot you're supposed to jump on.... but it's down BELOW the camera. In other words, they assume that because THEY know where it is, EVERYONE will know where it is. There's no point in doing this sort of trial and error, as chances are, this means the rest of the level is just as badly thought out.

Also: When you start, check to see just how many enemies are around. If there's TONS of them, and if they seem pretty random, just skip, because it's an enemy-spam level. I also do the same thing if a bazillion Lakitus appear. A "Bowser tower" is also bad.


So, that's some starting hints that may help you. And that trick he mentioned really helps ALOT. I went through Expert mode just now, and it took 1/3rd of the time it usually does, and because there were NO TROLL DEATHS AT ALL, I ended it with just under 70 lives. I was able to just play REAL levels that were difficult, instead of troll, gibberish, or just plain bad levels that were, *ahem*, "difficult".


Aside from that.... it's all about practice and increasing skill to get past those levels that are actually levels.

I think this speaks for itself.

And here I didnt think next week could GET any more awesome as far as gaming-related stuff goes. I WAS WRONG.


....also that explains what shaking a Muncher is for. I'd been wondering about that since the game came out. Gotta love all the little easter eggs and stuff in this.

I swear, this game just gets better the more I play it, too.

I am happy for the checkpoints and I can see trolls might abuse it by putting it over spikes or fire or enemies or under an enemy or over a gap.

love it!

i think my favorite thing will be the "official Nintendo-Made courses".

the event courses seemed interesting, but i will need more details on what they are about.


i am really glad for the checkpoints. looks like i will be going back to update all my other levels. some of them (especially my Mirbyo's Dreamland set) could really use checkpoints.





the video stated that "level must be cleared FROM the checkpoint if the checkpoint is used". (but i am sure that trolls will find a way to make people want to avoid them. they always have to ruin the experence for everybody else)

My stars had skyrocketed. I had 17 last time I checked and now I am at 25. I came on and saw all my levels had more than one stars, about two of them with five stars the most. I was like "whoa."

I notice just as long as I keep playing the levels, someone will play mine because some people like to play your levels when they see you played theirs. That is a way to get your levels noticed.

I'll be honest, I havent the foggiest freaking clue how levels get noticed. It makes no sense to me.

Originally, I advertised a couple of mine a bit over at GameFAQs; mostly my "traditional grasslands" one.

After that (and the topic for it is old, so it's been dead for awhile), I didnt need to advertise again. Somehow, they're still found. I log on to find a small barrage of plays and stars every day that I fire up the game. I'm probably just over 230 now, I think? And I only have 9 levels out. Heck, I havent posted about my 9th one AT ALL, not even on this forum, yet it's still found. It's baffling. These arent being done by players whose levels I've played, either. They're just random people. So.... yeah, I really just dont get it. It doesnt make sense.

well i did it. i unlocked all mystery shrooms from "expert". finally!

i am still missing #13. after a little research, turns out to unlock that one i need to beat Gnat Attack. i guess i will do some work on some of my levels while i try to make the flys spawn.

You can shake Munchers to get that going (the black biting plants) even in the current version, apparently.

It bothers me that munchers count in the enemy budget.

I want to place enough of them that the player won't be able to pass even when powered up, so that he has to acquire and keep kuribos shoe. The invulnerability time after being hit makes sure I have to take into account the probability of the player trying to run during invuln time to reach the end.

That means I'll place a whole lot of them in order to realize my idea, and I might reach the limit and not be able to place all the enemies I want after that.

Those aspects make no sense. I wish they up or remove some of the limits further down the line, so we can lower our shoulders while designing. It is one of the major cons when comparing to PC alternatives like SMBX and Lunar Magic.

you could just use spike traps. they pretty much function the same way as munchers and they count as ground.





thanks.
dang, that boss hurt my wrist. i managed to get the shroom though.

I know, but the spikes don't have the desired aesthetic effect as I am trying to stay true to the SMB3 style.

To be honest, I find them to be an eyesore across all styles.

even though i unlocked all shrooms, i am still addicted to the 100 mario challenge.

naturally going back to "normal" mode as it is a lot less painful. it is such a huge change of pace. actually very relieving.

though "normal" has an abundance of auto-play levels, they're a lot better than all the garbage i played in "expert".

After some tweaking (and OCD), I think I've finally come up with a satisfactory result:

4DA6-0000-00CD-8420