Developer:Nintendo EAD

Publisher: Nintendo of America

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

ESRB Rating: E

MRSP: $39.99

Thank You Nintendo for Providing a Review Copy of this game.

“Super Mario Maker 3DS” is the latest Wii U game that Nintendo is bringing to the 3DS. The game touts itself as being a fun Mario Maker experience, but on the go. So, how does this portable version of the game stand up to the critically acclaimed 2015 Wii U title? All I can really say is that it is lacking, in more ways than one.

Super Mario Maker 3DS’s gameplay is very similar to that of the Wii U, but instead of using the Wii U gamepad to create the levels, you instead use the touch screen on the 3DS to drag and drop things to create the levels. While it may be harder to create intricate designs compared to the Wii U gamepad because of the size of the 3DS, it still gets the job done.

Similar to the Wii U version of the game, you have to be able to complete your levels before you can share them. The gameplay mechanics are as smooth as ever when going through your own Frankenstein creations of levels, and the limits to what you can create are still boiled down to what your imagination can think of. With the ability to take this game on the go now, it’s extremely easy to pick up and play this game to scratch your creative itch.

Visually, Super Mario Maker 3DS is alright. The 2D Mario themes are all really good and transitioned well onto the 3DS; it’s when you get to the New Super Mario Bros content the issues arise. The “New Super Mario Bros” style really doesn’t transition well to the 3DS. I honestly suggest creating levels with any of the other 2D elements, as the 3D ones are just jarring.

However, while the game does indeed have a lot of good things going for it, it has a lot of things holding it back. The biggest issue with this is the lack of content compared to the Wii U version of this game. The more major difference being that you are unable to upload your levels onto the online database of other levels, instead the game opts to share your creations with others around you through Streetpass. While the Streetpass features are cool, as they allow your friends to help finish levels you haven’t finished creating, it feels like without the online capabilities of the game, it misses the entire point of what made the Wii U version of the game so great. The ability to upload my levels onto the internet and see several people play my levels was the main reason why I continued to play Super Mario Maker; I took feedback from players and used it to create better ones. With that reason, and few people around me actually owning this game to Streetpass with, I grew bored of this game after a few hours.

Sticking to the theme of the games content, while the game does have a ton of premade levels for you to go through, and still has the Mario challenges in it, the game just feels completely lacking when there is a more complete superior version, with Amiibo support, on the Wii U. It just baffles me that so much content was ripped from this game, that it feels like a shell of its former self. You do not have the ability to download levels either that you play, nor can you favorite or rate them. This was really disappointing as I managed to play quite a few good levels that I wanted to favorite, or come back and finish later, but due to the nature of this game I was unable to.

At the end of the day, Super Mario Maker 3DS excels at the level editing the Wii U game was known for. Sadly, that was only a fraction of the full Wii U package. While the game does boast to have a hundred built in levels, I feel like that they should have just taken those and repacked the game as New Super Mario Bros 3, as the sheer lack of online functionalities makes this game very hard to recommend. If you can still find a Wii U, or already have one and are debating on whether or not you should pick up this game, I would say just get it on Wii U.

5/10

+GUI is still good

-Lack of features

-NSMB theme looks bad