Parallels

Super Mario Maker has been out for about a week now and it seems pretty unanimous that everyone loves it. I don’t own Wii U, so I’m missing out on all the fun, but if I were ever to get one, you’d better believe I would purchase Super Mario Maker with it. That and also Splatoon as that game looks totally fun as well.

But regarding Mario Maker, it seems to scratch that itch a lot of people have about video games: creating their own levels. I remember friends and myself designing levels for Super Mario Bros. where we would place items or enemies in specific locations, so we could create our own unique situations Mario would have to go through. And now those ideas can be achieved with Mario Maker. I guess if there were ever to be a level creation video game that is based off of an actual IP, then Mario would be the best one as it has so much memorable assets to select from like warp pipes, blocks, and mushrooms; just to name a few.

The other day while I was reading up on all of the Mario Maker reviews, I remembered that Sonic had something similar to Mario Maker where you can place objects and enemies anywhere you wanted in a level. Yep, in 1991 you were able to design your own levels with a home console, but in a limited kind of way.

The original Sonic the Hedgehog included a few secrets that were hidden behind codes you needed to punch in at the title screen. One of these codes allowed you to enter into what is known as "debug mode." With this mode you can change Sonic into an object like a ring or a spring and place that object anywhere you want to. In addition, you can scroll through different types of enemies and place them anywhere too. When you were finished designing, you can change back to Sonic and have him run through what you just created. Debug mode made things a little easier as it prevents Sonic from dying by an enemy or falling onto spikes. The only way to lose a life would be to fall down a cliff, get squished, or drown.

Obviously super limited in scope compared to Mario Maker, but it did allow for whoever knew about that code to go into a level like Green Hill Zone or Marble Zone and go to town on dumping assets all over the place. I’d love to have Sega do an us too approach and get to working on a full-fledge Sonic maker game. Just imagine the crazy zones people would create if this were to happen. Think of the possibilities of a level design if you were to include other characters like Tails, Knuckles, or Super Sonic. Man, talking about this makes me want this game now more than ever. You reading this, Sega! Make it happen!!

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