You build your own Mario levels by dragging blocks, pipes, and enemies onto a grid with a touchscreen, then jump in and play what you made. If you would rather not build, you can download millions of levels other people uploaded, from gentle strolls to fiendish obstacle courses. There is also a hand-made story mode with over a hundred levels, so it works fine even if you never make anything.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
Why it lands
As a creative tool this is nearly bottomless, and the community output means you'll rarely run out of clever, sometimes brutal, courses to try.
How it plays
Building feels intuitive within minutes, though finding genuinely good levels among the flood of user content takes some patience and a willingness to sift.
Style and score
Four distinct visual styles let creators riff on Mario history, and the game runs smoothly even when levels get absurdly busy on screen.
Who it's for
It's built for the long haul, especially if you enjoy sharing or hunting for tough courses online, though solo players may want the story mode to bulk things out.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
This gives you the pieces Nintendo uses to build Mario levels and lets you assemble your own. You drag blocks, pipes, coins, enemies, and moving platforms onto a grid using the touchscreen, then hit a button to jump straight in and test whether what you made is actually possible. You can build in five different visual styles, from the original 1985 look to the modern 3D one, and each style changes how Mario moves and what pieces are available.
If building is not your thing, the far bigger draw is playing what everyone else has made. Millions of levels have been uploaded, sorted by difficulty and popularity, and they range from gentle scenic strolls to musical contraptions to fiendish obstacle courses that only a handful of people on earth have completed. There is an endless mode that just feeds you random levels at the difficulty you pick, which is a great way to pass twenty minutes.
There is also a proper story mode with over a hundred levels designed by Nintendo, built around rebuilding a castle, and it is substantial enough to be worth the purchase on its own. Four people can play a level together locally or online. The one thing to know is that uploading your creations and playing online levels requires Nintendo's paid online subscription, and the level editor, while intuitive, rewards patience. If you have a kid who likes making things, this is the most creative game on the system.