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You'd think the simplest thing to do in Super Mario Maker 2 would be to recreate the original Super Mario Bros. It's so simple compared to later games, and it was created with limited resources that would probably make the tools available to Mario Maker players look like a NASA supercomputer. But as YouTuber Mayro found out in their quest to recreate the entire, original game - not just World 1-1 as is the "My First Level" tradition - it's actually really frickin' hard.
The first problem? Goombas that stand too close together. Super Mario Maker 2's editor uses a strict grid pattern, making it easy to arrange blocks and for the most part replicating how actual Mario levels are designed. But only for the most part. In Super Mario Bros., some Goombas march in formation a square and a half from each other. No problem, just stack the second Goomba on top of a giant Goomba (who takes up two squares), then stick the giant Goomba in the ground so it disappears as soon as it spawns, thus leaving the normal sized Goomba a square and a half away from its friend and the player none the wiser.
Not every problem could be solved so, uh, elegantly. You know those infinite elevators in World 1-2, the ones that send discrete platforms up or down forever? Those aren't in Super Mario Maker 2. A single platform on an up-down track had to do. Later, Mayro discovered that Mario Maker's version of Cheep Cheeps (the fish enemies) move faster and behave differently than their Super Mario Bros. counterparts, making water levels feel way more dangerous. Further dilemmas presented themselves in the lack of tipping scale platforms, maps that weren't nearly wide enough, and a lack of support for the seamless loop-back trick the original game used to make puzzle levels.
Mayro ultimately concluded that you cannot recreate all of Super Mario Bros. in Super Mario Maker 2. But I think their end product is actually much more interesting, since they still went through and built out all 32 levels with whatever compromises were necessary to retain the spirit of the original. Give Mayro a follow in-game with Maker ID YF6-89P-S2G if you want to try them all yourself.
Find more to play with our list of the best Super Mario Maker 2 levels.
