When Super Mario Maker first launched on the Wii U in 2015, it fulfilled a lifelong dream for many Nintendo fans, allowing players to create their own Mario levels and share those levels with friends and strangers online. Of course, the Wii U wasn't a rousing success, only selling around 13.5 million consoles since its launch in 2012, and as Super Mario Maker earned a cult following among Nintendo fans, it only made sense for the company to release Super Mario Maker 2 on the Switch in 2019.
Super Mario Maker 2 functions rather similarly to the first game but with a few key updates meant to enhance the player's experience. In addition to including a Super Mario 3D World aesthetic, Super Mario Maker 2 also introduced a co-op mode, a story mode with over 100 levels built by Nintendo, and the World Maker mode.
With the World Maker mode, players are able to create their own overworld maps, essentially allowing them to design their own fully fledged games. A number of players immediately set out to recreate their favorite Mario games, testing their skill at level design compared to the Nintendo giants who had kickstarted the most iconic video game series of all time.
Full Mario Games In Mario Maker
Since Super Mario Maker 2 only allows players to design 2D levels, quite a few fans have attempted to adapt popular 3D entries in the series into a 2D side-scroller. SeanDreyer (whose maker ID is DRC-JGT-5WF) is one user who has created the entirety of Super Mario 64 in Super Mario Maker 2; however, part of what makes SeanDreyer's Super Mario 64 recreation unique and fun to play through is the creativity liberty they took with the design.
Instead of trying to make their version of Super Mario 64 a one-to-one recreation of the original game, SeanDreyer adds in their own flair, creatively managing to blend together elements that remind players of the beloved 1996 game. One early example is in the first level, which is the first floor of Peach's Castle. SeanDreyer's ability to craft a short, interesting level full of nostalgic Easter eggs based on the hub world of Super Mario 64 is a sight to behold, and their adaptation only gets better and more complex from there.
While it's a little more difficult to piece together since it wasn't created in World Maker mode, there is also a way to play all of Super Mario Galaxy 2 in Super Mario Maker 2 as well (and the best way to find the codes is by watching the YouTube collection by BeardBear). These levels are another great recreation of a beloved 3D Mario game, and, much like SeanDreyer's Super Mario 64, part of the reason they work so well is because they focus more on the aesthetic of Super Mario Galaxy 2 instead of going for a standard 2D copy.
Super Paper Mario is another great recreation available in Super Mario Maker 2. The world itself was built by Blistina (and the ID code is X2B-5C5-S7G), but there's also a good YouTube video uploaded by Dark Lord Chaos that shows off the entire game. Unlike the other games mentioned thus far, Super Paper Mario is already a 2D game. However, it's not necessarily a 2D platformer, and instead blends RPG elements from the previous Paper Mario games with more 2D platforming. In their adaptation, Blistina does a great job of taking the aesthetic and atmosphere of Super Paper Mario, much like SeanDreyer and the creators of the Super Mario Galaxy 2 levels, but is also able to fluidly convert the game into a solely 2D platformer. It's an interesting choice for a Super Mario Maker 2 world, especially since Super Paper Mario isn't quite as beloved as the two prior entries in the Paper Mario series.
Of course, these are just a few of the Mario games fans have managed to recreate in Super Mario Maker 2. With over 7 million copies shipped so far, Super Mario Maker 2 is one of the best selling Switch games to date, meaning that players have a lot more levels to look forward to and thousands of already uploaded levels and worlds to explore, many of which are tributes to Nintendo's own Super Mario franchise.
Source: BeardBear, Dark Lord Chaos