Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Maker allows players to create levels in the style of the Super Mario series, and publish them to the Internet for other players. , Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U, which all share the physics of the latter.

The gameplay mechanics and enemy behavior vary between game modes. Some elements are limited to specific game styles, and other elements can be merged into other game styles, such as having Boos in Super Mario Bros.

Before developing Super Mario Maker, Nintendo had previously explored the concept of a video game editor in the 1990s. The company filed a patent in 1994, for console hardware and software that would allow players to pause a game, edit parts of the game, resume gameplay, and to save and share the changes. The patent described an example game called "Mario Factory," and later reviewers noted the similarities between this concept and Super Mario Maker.

Super Mario Maker was conceived as a tool for Nintendo's internal development team to make Mario levels. The team, however, quickly realized the tool's potential as a standalone game and pitched the idea to senior game designer Takashi Tezuka. Meanwhile, Tezuka had been wanting to make a Wii U follow-up to Mario Paint that used the Wii U GamePad. Upon seeing the Super Mario Maker tool, Tezuka realized that a course-making tool was more marketable than a mere art program.

The Wii U version of Super Mario Maker received "generally favorable" reviews, while the 3DS version received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator website Metacritic. IGN's Jose Otero praised the game's social elements, including its online features and the 10 Mario Challenge, stating that players would "see a genuine reverence for Mario’s history" in the online modes. He praised the course editor and its user interface, writing that "[n]o matter which style you choose, creating levels is an intimidating task but the well designed interface makes learning easy and intuitive" and that it "gives us a fun, flexible toolbox to build and play Mario courses like never before".

GameSpot's Justin Haywald praised the course editor, stating that "the mix-and-match nature [of gameplay elements] allows for exciting and anachronistic additions to familiar scenarios". He was disappointed in particular limitations, such as the absence of checkpoints originating Super Mario World, and the vertical and horizontal limits of stages. He ultimately concluded that "the game won't necessarily turn you into the next Shigeru Miyamoto, but you can almost feel a little bit of that magic rubbing off every time you upload a new creation".