Super Mario Maker is the weirdest big game Nintendo has released in a long, long time. It throws back the curtain, not just on the innermost secrets of Mario making, but on Nintendo’s history as well. And it raises big, bold questions about what Mario means. And it’s really two games in one—making your own levels, and playing other people’s levels (including those from Nintendo itself). Unfortunately, both halves of the game have a major problem. Fortunately, both problems will be totally fixed with time, and in fact one of them already has been. Still, a few days after release, Super Mario Maker is mostly potential… incredible potential.

Super Mario Maker Review: Make Levels, Throw Levels

For most of us, the “making” side of Super Mario Maker sounds like the immediate attraction—doesn’t it? It’s in the name, after all. I expected to have the most fun with this part by far. Alas, I was mistaken, but it’s not Nintendo’s fault: It’s mine. I forgot something. Designing levels is really hard. Now, don’t get me wrong: Making levels is extremely easy. Super Mario Maker has a great, easy to use interface, and—critically—it’s extremely easy to hop into a level you’re designing to play it, or a section of it, at any time. You’ll be building a remix of 1-1 in no time.

The big problem on the Mario-making side of things was initially the very slow process of unlocking all the game tools: It took a full week. That meant that, for the first few days (particularly over the weekend), the tools you could use were rather limited. Almost everyone who had the game was also limited to these same tools, unless they had a previously-unlocked review copy or fiddled with the Wii U system clock (easy enough, but of course not something most people will do). More on that later.

On the design side, though, options were pretty limited early on: A few platforms, a handful of enemies and power-ups. Not a lot to work with. That limits the fun early on, even though it does ease you into the game. Now, though, Nintendo has released a patch that significantly eases the process of unlocking everything. In a nutshell, it’s based more closely on play time rather than real time, so if you’re fiddling around a lot in the Maker, you’ll unlock stuff quickly.

For now, though, Mario-making has been less fun than I expected. Nintendo’s levels show off cool quirky tricks that I can copy, but I couldn’t come up with ones of my own without more unlocks—or more level-design creativity. It’s easy to make a playable and vaguely sensible level with challenges, at least if you’ve played a lot of Mario games. But making a genuinely interesting level is, at least for now, beyond my ken. And the tutorials teach me about using the tools, not about actual level design. That’s understandable. But still, I feel limited, even if only self-limited. Making levels interesting is a creative process that requires a skillset most of us don’t have, at least not yet, and that makes the titular activity in Super Mario Maker rather less interesting than I expected.

The Three Kinds Of Levels

Now, let’s get to the level-playing side of things, where I’ve been spending the vast majority of my time with the game. First off, the official Nintendo levels, which function both as a tutorial and as a grab-bag of fun things Nintendo could never do in any other game. These are, on the whole, a mixed bag. Some levels are simple proofs-of-concepts, or feel just like traditional Mario levels. Others, however, truly disrupt expectations of what a Mario level feels like. A few have made me laugh out loud amid a surge of childlike joy; these, of course, are the best levels, but they are far from the only ones.

The online levels created by other users are, of necessity, in an early stage. After all, the game just came out, even though it’s been in the hands of reviewers and influencers for about a month. There’s good stuff out there, though. However, levels have so far fallen broadly into four basic genres:

1. Really Basic Levels With Nothing Much Going On

By far the most common kind of levels online right now are very simple ones… often much more simple than a full Nintendo course. Basic jumping obstacles if you’re lucky. A few enemies, platforms, and power-ups scattered around with no rhyme or reason. These levels are what happen when people who know nothing about level design, and who have unlocked less than a third of the game—people like me—publish their levels online. These are not interesting and should be avoided, unless you are a friend of the designer, or want to play my crappy level. Sadly, this is the vast majority of the levels, although Nintendo’s filters make it very easy to find the cream of the crop.

2. Fiend Levels

Fiend levels are very, very hard, and that difficulty is their defining characteristic. Think a normal Mario level—but with ten times as many enemies, or with brutally tough jumps, and lots of ‘em. They don’t have a secret or a trick; they just require exacting precision and a great deal of patience (or skill, I guess). Personally, I don’t think these levels are terribly interesting either, although they’re certainly better than type 1. They are punishing for the sake of being punishing. It’s not fun in Dark Souls and it isn’t fun in Super Mario Maker either, at least not to me. If you feel otherwise, then you shall probably enjoy the challenges that lie ahead.

3. Roller Coasters

You’ve probably seen the roller coasters of Super Mario Maker on the Internet already, because they’re the most immediately gripping levels. These are the levels that play themselves: Mario must either do nothing, or press constantly toward the right, or else certain death will result. Building automatic levels seems like a true challenge, one that’s hard for me to even fully grasp. They are a feat and a genuine achievement, and they’re lots of fun to “play.” But, in a sense, they aren’t really full Mario levels. They combine all the elements of a Mario level except Mario himself. But that guy’s needed.

Auto levels are the dominant trend in Super Mario Maker level design right now, and I’m sure they’ll always be around. But I think that, over time, the last and best category will supplant them.

4. Awesome Levels

Awesome levels are the best kind of Super Mario Maker levels. Obviously. By this descriptor, I mean levels that you actually play, as you would in a normal Mario game, and that have some degree of challenge, and a high degree of ingenuity and innovation. Some of these levels are basically just complicated Super Mario levels. These are probably the rarest and the hardest—the ones that channel Nintendo as well as Nintendo itself does. On the course “The Great Escape” by CB*Crazykg of France, a Miiverse commenter included a comment that sums things up pretty well: “A real level? Not just some random blocks and items?!” So, yea, these are rare.

Another kind of awesome level that’s getting a lot of play in these early days is the concept level, usually involving costumes. There’s the Metroid level, which manages to legitimately feel like a Metroid game. There’s the Donkey Kong level, the Mario Kart level, the “don’t touch a mushroom” level. These courses showcase the depth of what Super Mario Maker can do, and I’m sure we’ll see more of them over time.

The levels in this category are the brightest hope for Super Mario Maker. Remember, we’re in the early stages of this game—most players have only unlocked a fraction of the content. Hell, most of the eventual players haven’t even bought the game yet, let alone discovered its full potential. People are still learning the ropes. Soon will come the day when they test the game’s limits—break the game and develop truly amazing things. That hasn’t happened yet, but it will.

Super Mario Maker: Incredible Potential

Super Mario Maker is, right now, a vast fount of potential. It’s fun as it is, especially now that unlocking all the tools is easier. There are a lot of fun levels already, including the 100 or so from Nintendo. But they’ll just give you a feel for the game. This is the most community-oriented game Nintendo has ever released. Think of it like Minecraft. Do players discover the full potential of new Minecraft features on day one? Of course not. It takes time. But eventually, they get there. Super Mario Maker is like that: It’s something pretty cool now, and in a few months, it will be something really incredible.