Mario Builder - Community Member Interviews

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Deep insight into the minds behind modern Mario Builder projects

To view this article with download links for the games previewed alongside screenshots and videos click here!

Mario Builder, the level creation tool created by Ting_Thing in 2009 meant a lot to me. It was a creative outlet, an artistic medium and gave me a social group. But it also means a lot to other people as well – it’s time to dive into their thoughts, feelings, experiences towards Mario Builder and look at their own creations. Three creators all with different experiences and design styles in this tight-knit community are all currently working on Mario Builder projects and are ready to share what they are all about. I'll be interviewing three Mario Builder Community members, Mechasuar, purpl and Mynti Dragon.

If you like what you hear about their projects, make sure you try them out by clicking the download link beneath each section.

Mechasaur
When did you first start using Mario Builder and how did you find it?
I first found Mario Builder on YouTube a long time ago. Game Maker videos were on YouTube back then and a video I found was this.

I thought it was the coolest s**t ever back then and I decided to get it.

What’s your general history with Mario Builder? – how many games / levels made, how many years spent using it?
I started to use Mario Builder when version 9.3 came out. I only got serious with it once version 10 and 11 came out with custom tiles. It was the best thing Mario Builder did and it helped push the limits of what Mario Builder can do (for the most part). I met a few good pals because of it (Nradoto, you [Karmic Pumpkin], purpl, Guinea, etc.) and I do not regret it one bit.

What’s your favourite thing about Mario Builder?
My favorite things about Mario Builder are the amount of content it has and the level editor UI. It's not as powerful as let's say SMBX or Lunar Magic but that's ok. It's way better than Super Mario Flash and Mario Maker.

What’s your least favourite thing about Mario Builder?
My least favorite things about MB is how buggy and glitchy it is (Custom BG and Overworld bugs during published games). And don't get me started on the physics.

Why don’t use a more robust level creation tool such as Super Mario Maker 2 or Super Mario Bros. X?
I tried SMBX a couple times and I honestly prefer playing custom episodes [games in SMBX] rather than making one myself. I suck at making anything good with it and it's more fun playing other people's stuff. Mario Maker just feels limited compared to other editing software I've mentioned.

What do you expect from the future of Mario Builder?
I honestly have no idea. TingThing moved on to Platform Builder thanks to Nintendo shutting MB down (I'm still VERY bitter about that). We'll see what happens later down the road.

What makes your Mario Builder game stand out from the crowd?

The amount of custom s**t I have and I've been pushing the limits of what the engine can do because of it. (I've said it on the second question)

How would you describe your game?

What game?
What is your design philosophy when making levels?

Unlike other people, I don't handhold players with Toad Houses and power ups that let you breeze the game. I just go old school with precision platforming and I do a little trolling sometimes.

What do you like about the Mario Builder community?

I'm a moderator for the MB Forums as well as the main owner of the Mario Builder discord. The community is rather small and chill which is perfect. Albeit a bit boring but that's fine w/ me. As long as it works. I get to do whatever I want which is nice.

My thoughts on Mechasuar's game - Mario's New Adventure

Mechasaur's game is the quite traditional Mario experience with a bit of challenge with it currently having 2 complete worlds. Levels are tight and dense in design and require playing well to succeed with good pacing with no level going on too long. There aren't many power-ups around to help out Mario, and no ones are available that can allow the cheesing of levels through flight such as the Raccoon or Tanooki suit. This difficulty makes it more recommendable to those with some Mario Builder experience under their belt due to MB's quirky physics. The soundtrack is something of high note - Mechasaur has taken various fan retro remixes, official songs from a ton of game franchises - popular and unpopular to create a soundtack that really made me want to guess the song playing because I've heard a lot of them before!

purpl
When did you first start using Mario Builder and how did you find it?

Years and years and years and years ago. Can't even remember where I found it, but the YoyoGames [site that created and hosted GameMaker games] download was my go-to.

What’s your general history with Mario Builder? – how many games / levels made, how many years spent using it?

Half my life have I been making Mario Builder games and levels, I've started and scrapped like 10, 20 projects over my building "career".

What’s your favourite thing about Mario Builder?

The chill atmosphere I get from making games through it, UI's the obvious answer and it's a part of the reason but still, never gets old.

What’s your least favourite thing about Mario Builder?

It hasn't aged well at all, the physics are too terrible for it.

Why don’t use a more robust level creation tool such as Super Mario Maker 2 or Super Mario Bros. X?

SMBX is just too damn complicated for me. I've been thinking of trying it out, but whenever I tried it as a dumb child, it stupefied me.

What do you expect from the future of Mario Builder?

[The future] depends on whether the game gets remastered to be actually playable by most audiences or not.

What makes your Mario Builder game stand out from the crowd?

I try to stick to an authentic Nintendo feel with how I make my games, though not deviating from creativity, of course.

How would you describe your game?

Mario jumps and goes "wahoo." Hope it's fun, cause I spend hours and hours on each level I create.

What is your design philosophy when making levels?

I look for a theme I could use and find ways to expand upon it for 300 Mario seconds, more or less.

What do you like about the Mario Builder community?

We're small, but we're dedicated to making this crappy 2000s fangame that Nintendo shut down work.

My thoughts on purpl's game - Mario Builder Unimportant Road

purpl's game Mario Builder: Unimportant Road is a fully complete game with 50 plus levels spanning 8 worlds. It's the closest to a classic Mario feel in a Mario Builder game I've played and manages to be on the easier side which is great for those new to Mario Builder and who need time to get used to its antiquated physics. Levels are abound with checkpoints, and the world map features numerous item houses allowing a larger margin for error when playing through levels. The game starts out rather safe with a first world aptly titled 'Generic Greens', but the longer the game goes on, the more unique and interesting elements such as enemies and power-ups start showing up. However, occasional difficulty spikes in levels are noticeable such as 2-1 are present where Unimportant Road throws too many tough enemies at the player a bit early. However, these don't get in the way often enough to ruin the fun. Music sticks to official Mario tracks ranging from Super Mario All Stars to Super Mario Maker 2, helping emit a classic Mario feel.

Mynti Dragon
When did you first start using Mario Builder and how did you find it?

In 2013, I used to watch a ton of video game-related content, wanting to play a lot of games showcased but never doing so out of fear of getting a virus or something, but I did still play a lot of flash games anyway. One of these flash games stuck out to me in particular, Super Mario 63. The reason was, alongside the fact that it was a pretty fun game in its own right, it had a level editor mode. I loved making levels in this game and other flash games that would allow it, such as Super Mario Flash. So, I stuck with fan games until one day, I mustered up the courage to download some fangame off of a website called YoYo Games. After downloading this fan game, I searched around the website for something else to play when I came across Mario Builder v11-3. Given the fact that I loved making levels in Super Mario 63 and the like, I of course jumped at the chance to be able to make my own Mario game.

What’s your general history with Mario Builder? – how many games / levels made, how many years spent using it?

I have technically been using this program for nearly a decade now (God, I feel old). I say technically because I fell out of interest with Mario Builder gradually through late 2014 to about mid-2016 when I nearly stopped using Mario Builder entirely. That was until suddenly on June 20th, 2020, completely out of nowhere, I wanted to start making Mario Builder games again and thus starting production on The Mystery of Lumber Marsh. Over the years, I’d say I’ve worked on eight games with only one game ever being completed. I have a couple livestreams where I go through those old games if you’re curious but the only released one is Mario SuperStar Adventure.

What’s your favourite thing about Mario Builder?

My favorite thing about Mario Builder has to be the ability to upload custom tiles and music. This allows for a vast array of aesthetics and vibes to choose from. If I were to give an obvious choice aside from that, it would definitely be the easy-to-understand UI.

What’s your least favourite thing about Mario Builder?

The fact that unless you are standing on flat ground, donut blocks and moving platforms not counting, you have about a 50/50 chance of the jump key actually functioning. But yeah, I’m able to deal with the weird floaty physics just fine but the finicky responsiveness of the controls can often make the game far more frustrating than it should be.

Why don’t use a more robust level creation tool such as Super Mario Maker 2 or Super Mario Bros. X?

The reason I don’t use Super Mario Maker 2 is simply that I don’t have a Switch. As for why I don’t use something like Super Mario Bros X? For one, I’m just someone who gets stuck in their old ways. But in all seriousness, I have thought about moving over to Super Mario Bros X and I definitely plan on trying it out. And heck, if I like it enough, I might just switch over to it, but as of right now we’ll see. You could also make the argument that there is a sort of beauty in the simplicity of the program, you have to think outside of the box quite a bit in order to make a certain idea work, and that process can be creative and fun. A lot of the same here in terms of thinking outside of the box that can still apply to Super Mario Bros X, however, the really creative and out there stuff requires programming skills I don’t have.

What do you expect from the future of Mario Builder?

If I’m being completely honest, not much. In the wake of Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Bros X, with no new updates to the program in nearly a decade, and with how incredibly niche the community is, it’s clear that we are all a bunch of stragglers clinging on to an old relic fading into the past. There is the whole Mario Builder Reborn project going on and it’s possible it might breathe new life into this game. But, unless a massive overhaul is done to practically every aspect of the game outside of maybe the UI, I don’t see it catching on very much in comparison to the other more robust options. Of course, I can’t predict the future, maybe this game will have a massive resurgence, who knows, but I think this program is only going to maintain the small cult following it currently has.

What makes your Mario Builder game stand out from the crowd?

I would say that my game’s focus on story and themes, and building a world that feels lived-in as a way to facilitate that. Most MB games that I’ve seen don’t put as much emphasis on this, which isn’t inherently bad, said games are doing other things that make them great. purpl’s games I feel manage to have a grounded vibe and sort-of lived-in presence, I can get a sense of history out of them. But, this relatively untrodden road is the one I took for my game. For example, the broken bridges in World 1-1, on the surface, act as part of a platforming challenge and add to the visual variety of the level. But, digging more into it, it is mentioned in the story how this place has been long abandoned and left to rot and thus the broken bridges act as a representation of that. It alludes to a time in-universe where this place wasn't left unkept, a time before the doomship crashed into this area, making you able to feel the history of this area and this adds to the atmosphere and vibe. It gives a sort of melancholic undercurrent to this relatively chill and upbeat vibe largely created by the song.

How would you describe your game?

I’d describe my game as an attempt to use Mario Builder as a storytelling medium, to evoke a strong atmosphere, sense of a big world, and some emotions from the audience, all wrapped up in a hopefully fun game.

What is your design philosophy when making levels?

My design process and philosophy are a bit inconsistent and convoluted so I’ll take you through it bit by bit. I generally have two different ways I come up with level designs and aesthetics. The first way happens away from the program, I’ll often be looking at other games, shows, or images, and experiencing the aesthetic and the vibe from them, or in other games’ cases even ideas for gimmicks or cool platforming challenges. I then go into Mario Builder and try to implement this to the best of my ability, often needing to make massive adjustments thanks to limitations in sprites and what the program is capable of doing. The other way happens through sheer experimentation. I’ll often just screw around in the editor, looking at different items, enemies, and such and just slapping them together until I find something that is fun. I usually have a lot of ideas when I’m actively putting together a level though I try to stick with several and expand on just those ideas and gimmicks so that said level can better maintain a sense of its own identity.

My levels tend to be vast, winding, and sometimes very tricky to navigate. Your first playthrough of a level will more often than not, take quite a while and it will feel like you made it through a gauntlet and a half once you beat the level for the first time. I try to teach the player how to use the gimmicks through the level design but it isn’t until you master the mechanics of the gimmicks and build a strong familiarity with the levels that you can break this game in two. There are several tricky skips both intentional and unintentional throughout the levels and beyond that, you can now get through these levels that once took forever in significantly less time as you blaze through sections that once gave you trouble. This, I feel, makes playing through these levels very rewarding. However I know of several sections where I think I don’t live up to my own philosophy.

In short, I would say my design philosophy is to prioritize making every level identifiable via level design and aesthetics and making it replayable.

What do you like about the Mario Builder community?

The people here are extremely nice and are very dedicated to their craft (even if one particular member is a tiny bit notorious for procrastination) and you can find some truly great and creative Mario Builder games made by the people here. The small size of this community I think helps create a stronger sense of connectedness between everyone in the group. I’m not really sure how else to answer this question, there is hardly any toxicity that I’ve seen in this community, and it is awesome.

My thoughts on Mynti Dragon's game - The Mystery of Lumber Marsh

I would describe Mynti Dragon's game - The Mystery of Lumber Marsh as having a mysterious, off-beat aura. Levels are open and vast with plenty of breathing room with two worlds included in the current demo. There is a vaporwave flare throughout the demo through music and visuals, especially in the back half. There are some off-beat gimmicks include streams of air that send Mario in circles to swim through and racing platforms through obstacles to progress through a level. Not every gimmick lands however, and sometimes it can be a bit unclear where to go or what to do, but ultimately I appreciate the attempt at something different. It really suits the off-beat aura around the whole experience. There are some difficulty issues with the game at the moment - some jumps are rather tricky due to the MB engine and the lack of power-ups. Thankfully checkpoints are used to make the game a bit less punishing. There's also some story told through message blocks but I ended up not reading much of it - level names and background elements help clue you in store naturally on what is going on. I'm curious to see how 'The Mystery of Lumber Marsh' will develop in the future - one can only imagine the strange places levels and worlds will take place in.