Platform lovers have enjoyed kaizo levels for over a decade, with endless Mario deaths becoming a routine part of the experience. But with the launch of a link power-up by Super Mario Maker 2 last month, the rules for extremely hard courses have been rewritten.
For one thing, Link doesn’t quite work like Mario. Link can shoot arrows, he can shoot, he has a shield and he has bombs. All of these skills have been put to the test by course makers who develop complex levels created with Link in mind, as you can see in the following clip by Speedrunner GrandPooBear.
This has to be the craziest level I’ve played in MM2 so far, and another level with a clear rate of 0.01 that has been lowered 🙂 Greetings to crazy genius @ Carl_Sagan42 PLEASE MAKE MORE WEBELS
It is dangerous to walk at all
QHM-GFK-2NF pic.twitter.com/gKYuOkiL5e
– GrandPooBear @ santas Mamas Haus (@GrandPOOBear) January 1, 2020
According to GrandPooBear, these link levels are “button-heavy”. For example, you will find that left arrows do not hit the target immediately because the hero of time has to pull back his string and let the weapon fly.
“Mario games have never had such a buffered action, so it is very strange and difficult to get used to the timing,” GrandPooBear Polygon says on Twitter messages. “You also lose momentum if you have to push left or right and release the directional pad during shooting to keep the top speed. Then you have to catch up when it’s done.”
According to GrandPooBear, Link’s arrows can be combined with his other abilities to create some mechanically complex maneuvers.
“(One of the coolest things you can do is shoot an arrow in the air, throw a bomb. If the timing is right, the arrow hits it and you can use more arrows to basically juggle a bomb until it explodes. “”, he notes.
However, Link is not entirely different from the red plumber. For example, the best of Hyrule is down-air, and this can be used in a similar way to Mario’s ground-pound movement, so players can do things like “surfing” spike balls. Still, Mario Maker players seem to have a good time considering how to deal with typical platform challenges.
“The link power-up is the best that Kaizo makers have ever had to offer. It was fun to familiarize ourselves with all the new possibilities,” said GrandPooBear.
