The red Italian plumber we all know and love is still kicking. Mario shows no signs of disappearing any time soon. He survived the great video game crash of 83’ and still continues to put out imaginative and new creative ways of level design. Speaking of this, to celebrate the pasta eating plumber’s 30^th anniversary, a new game was released. That game is Super Mario Maker, which was released on September 11^th. Instead of playing Mario’s newest adventure, YOU are going to make it!

When the word “Mario” comes to mind, most people will think an Italian plumber in red, jumping on turtle shells hitting blocks for coins. You could make a level similar to that, but that’s only scratching the surface of what you can do. Mario Maker is pretty simple, you choose what level setting you want and put obstacles and enemies in it so you can send your impossible levels for your friend to get frustrated over. The designs can be set from the oldest era of Mario, the 8-bit era, to the most recent, Wii U era. This allows players of any era to enjoy the Mario they grew up with, whether it be the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, or New Super Mario Bros. Wii U.

Creating levels can be quite hard however. While there is no limit to what you can do, literally no limit, designing a level is easier said than done. Anyone can put a few blocks and enemies in your path and call it level. It’s the levels that stand as being absolutely insane and creative that will grab your friend’s attention. Speaking of friends, you can send your levels to your friend via the Wii U’s friend list system as well as send them to Nintendo themselves to see what they think about your crazy ideas!

Mario isn’t the only one who’s turned 30. His arch-nemesis, Bowser, is still a relevant character in the Mario world, causing mayhem for our hero in red. While Bowser may not play a huge role in Mario Maker because he’s not really a main character in the Mario game, you can still use him as… an obstacle. You can literally stack 3 gigantic turtle monsters on themselves, the possibilities are endless. I don’t think things can get any more awesome and chaotic than that!

This is a game that will bring out your mad scientist instincts and creativeness. Our Italian friend eagerly awaits your evil torment you’ll probably put him through. No biggie though, because he’s Super Mario! Bring out those creative mind of yours and make Mario’s next 30 years a imaginative one. Will you create the most imaginative level that rivals Nintendo’s leading design team, or make a level so frustratingly hard that you become a meme on the internet? It’s up to you.