The “Super World” update for Mario Maker 2 could not have come at a better time. To generate some spice during the COVID-19 lock-down (and as a break from studying for the PMI-ACP), the roomies and I spent May and June building our own Super Worlds and played them together in early July.
It’s nothing too special in a Mario Maker sense, and it’s my first real shot at designing challenging (but not super challenging) levels, but I took it pretty seriously and I’m pretty happy with the results! Enough to make a trailer at least.
Below are screenshots, level codes, and some narrative bits I wrote for each world to read during our livestream. I even wrote this…ridiculous prologue story to set the scene in the hour prior to the stream that you all have the sad privilege to read now. If you want to play the Super World yourself, my Maker ID is: GCG-9QN-TMG
World 1: Mirage
- Outskirts: DS2-7WY-FJG
- Gusts: JQS-KBY-XPG
- Sand Castle: 0GN-ML8-VGG
- Illusion: 4DD-NB7-3QF
- Fleet: 88Y-DCL-07G
(Journal Text, World 1) From the outskirts, head directly east toward the volcano. The stories tells a different tale about the first hour in the heat…like it knows where you’ve been. Don’t let it fool you, just make it through in one piece. The wind picks up from here and it’s pretty rocky. Keep your footing and be careful of the tunnels where the wind seems most powerful. You’ll eventually happen on a cluster of old pyramids. Try to go around and you’ll be lost forever. Find the largest one and travel through it. It’s the only way to the other side safely.
This is where my hallucinations started. Just keep going, don’t let them fool you. You’re on the right path. The Agency patrols at the edge of the desert. If you encounter a small fleet, use it to your advantage to sneak over the border. Pray you don’t need to cross on foot.
World 2: Barrier
- Melt: VT5-X2P-9SG
- Iced Over: XD8-7HP-KVG
- Climb: 2H6-JD3-76G
- Air Drop: 6CR-680-QCG
- Mansion: 0GD-WN6-LJF
(Journal Text, World 2) If you’ve made it this far, it must be on to you. Don’t trust the deja vu, but don’t let your guard down. Head for the pillars of fire in the distance—they’re a small drilling operation on a lake. What you’re after here is a shortcut over the ridge on the far side of the lake. Cross the lake, stay out of sight, and head for the vines at the edge of the ridge. Scale this ridge all the way up into the fog. Head east one step at a time.
When you come to a clearing in the fog, you should see old, magical machinery suspended in the air. Navigate these carefully—there are monsters everywhere—but do so and you should exit on the east side of the mountains. You should see the forest on the other side of the ridge. But be warned—entering in most places means certain death. Look for an old dwelling just a click north—entering through this house should prevent detection.
World 3: Edge
- Karst: NL5-940-1VF
- Plant: S6S-8TQ-CXF
- Mold: 0SF-312-76G
- Voyage: D4J-HP1-SHF
- Abandoned: XSD-82N-XLF
(Journal Text, World 3) The forest on this route is resting on porous limestone. Follow the water deeper into the woods. Eventually you will see the start of the artificial forest—green pipes stretching into the sky. Make your way through this abandoned water treatment plant and look for a trail of purple poison leaking further into the woods. The leak should take you to a massive tree, rotting with mold. Hold your nose and scale the inside of this fallen sentinel. You should see a plot of gathering poison, your destination. It moves somehow, so I can’t direct you there—you’ll have to find it for yourself.
Make your way to the pools of decay. Find a raft somewhere at the edge of the largest pool. Set off as quietly as possible in the dead of night and head for the barely-visible dwellings that glint in the moonlight. This is the entrance to the underground. It’s protected by a magical force. Gather the relics that glow in the four corners of the basement and use them to dispel the barrier force.
World 4: Abyss
- Distortion: GF4-9VN-VGG
- Sewers: JGD-PQT-L8G
- Escape: S2J-917-XPG
- Mines: 8NH-X2F-KMG
- Lab: DG7-494-33G
(Journal Text, World 4) This is where the knowledge ends. I don’t know what I’m walking into. I’m leaving this here in case someone needs to follow me. Good luck to you. Good luck to me.
World 5: Core
- Mantle: B34-K9G-K0H
- Tower: QRF-0DD-CXF
- Factory: GMK-X79-BPF
- Flow: VYC-47N-4YF
- (Null): 219-HCL-1LG
World 6: Bonus
Story Prologue
PRINCESS VANISHED
The news had traveled to the local papers and across the land, splashing reality across the pages in black and white. Our beloved princess was indeed missing. She was last seen departing her castle at the outset of another of her travels to faraway lands, seeking problems to solve, to help make other worlds as prosperous as ours.
Our princess was no slouch. It had been a long time since princesses needing saving. These days, princesses do the saving. But now, with word spreading beyond our borders and to our potential enemies…something had to be done.
Relics from another time, I mused to myself as I slipped on my overalls and deposited my cap firmly atop my head. Retirement wasn’t shaping up to be my style anyway. Let’s-a go, I muttered under my breath as the door clicked closed behind me.
It wasn’t easy getting information. The usual suspects had been out of the game for too long, and they seemed as befuddled as anyone else. Scared even. Looks like I wasn’t the only one uncomfortable being out of the loop. I checked the pipes, I shook some trees. Nothing. Even I was starting to worry. Until it showed up.
A little scrap of paper was waiting on my bed one evening. Two lines, two numbers each. Coordinates? After checking the joint for Boos I drug out an old map. Coordinates all right. Both to a distant land at the edges of the known world, with a name I couldn’t pronounce. A small population…most of the land a mix of harsh desert and frozen wasteland, with a single peak, a dormant volcano with foothills of forests. One of the coordinates was this peak, and the other, a small town on the edge of the desert. Was this bait worth taking?
I strode into town early one morning in plain clothes—and old P-Wing let me glide in overnight. I watched the town go about its business, looking for a sign, a look, a smell. I felt my stomach rumble as I found the smell of rich tomato sauce fill my nostrils. I strode to the source and looked over the building’s entryway. A familiar wooden sign with sun-baked pastels. Pizza Go.
I sat inside and ordered a drink (and a slice). When I was finally alone at the bar, I dropped a question about the mountain. I got nothing but a look in his eyes. That look. I took a chance. “The name’s Mario. I’m looking for someone.” A gasp. I got looked over real good.
“Prove it,” he said. I leapt to the top of the glass rack and snatched a bottle of their most expensive red, landing back in my seat and dropping it on the bar without a sound. “Mario…so it is you. I didn’t think you’d show. Let me get her.” He disappeared.
The blinds were closed as I waited. The door locked. And then…there she was. “Mama Mia,” I lamented.
“Who did you expect?” she responded. “Listen Mario, I know why you’re here. Nobody comes here unless they’re looking for something.” She poured a couple glasses and took a sip. “After Bowser bit the dust, I had to move on too. Came here looking for a fresh start, and I got one.” She looked out the barely-lit windows, sighing. “Then people started showing up. Looking for things, people. All headed to that mountain. And now you’re here.”
She looked into my eyes. “Mario, they never come back. No one does. I can count on one hand how many I know who have even made it past the barrier.” She took another sip. “You know I’d help you if I could. But the best thing you can do is get out of here before it gets you too. Whatever it is.”
I pushed my glass toward her with my gloved fingers. “Whatever it is, it’s got her.” I looked right back at her. “Mama, I’m not going back. I know I ain’t the Mario I used to be, but this ain’t like her. Might be bigger than all of us.” I leaned in. “You gotta know something.”
She gave me a good long stare before slapping a small, torn up square of leather and paper in front of me. “This is all I got. One of the scavengers brought it back from the forbidden forest, right at the edge of the mountain.” She watched while I picked it up and thumbed through it. “Don’t know whose it is, don’t know if I’d trust anything in there, but somebody wrote it. Somebody that ain’t got it anymore.”
I flipped back to the front to a crudely-drawn map. Mama lowered and quickened her voice. “Head out at dawn. Edge of town, the outskirts. I’ll make sure no one sees you. If you can make it across the desert, next is the barrier, terrible ice storms. I’ve heard people go over or under it, don’t try to go through. If it gets wet, you know you’re on the right path. The rain forest at the base of the mountain is as far as anyone’s gone. But somewhere in there is an entrance to a cave system. And I’ve heard rumors they go right into the mountain. After that… don’t know what you’ll find.”
I tucked the journal into my overalls and tipped my hat. “I wasn’t here. Thanks Mama, I won’t bring any trouble back.”
“You better hope you come back at all,” she said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Radicoon Register 