Course Maker
Course Maker (labeled as Create a Course in Super Mario Maker) is one of the main modes in the Super Mario Maker series, where players can create courses to save in Coursebot and upload to Course World. It was first shown off when Super Mario Maker was revealed at E3 2014[1] and has taken a different appearance in each installment.
Features
In each of the Super Mario Maker games, the Course Maker has the following features:
- A clapper board, which switches between the test-play mode and the Course Maker. When Mario (or Luigi, Toad and Toadette in Super Mario Maker 2) loses a life in the test-play mode, it immediately switches to Course Maker.
- A course element menu, where the player select an element to place it on the main field. In the original game and the Nintendo 3DS version, the order of elements can be customized, while in Super Mario Maker 2, they are organized by four categories: Terrain, Items, Enemies and Gizmos, and recently-used elements appear on the upper portion of the screen.
- The game style menu, which switches the game's appearance into four different Super Mario games: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. U; Super Mario Maker 2 adds the Super Mario 3D World style, being labeled as "Extra Game Style" to signify that some course elements in the 2D styles being incompatible with the Super Mario 3D World style and vice versa.
- The course theme menu, which can change the level's appearance into six different themes: Ground, Underground, Underwater, Ghost House, Airship and Castle. Super Mario Maker 2 adds Sky, Desert, Forest, and Snow themes, and can also switch between the day and night modes after placing the Moon for the first time.
- Mr. Eraser, which can erase existing course elements on the main field. Can also be activated with
or 
in Super Mario Maker 2. - Undodog, which undos an action; based on the undo function in Mario Paint. Can also be activated with
in Super Mario Maker 2. - Reset Rocket, which erases everything on the level. Based on one of the transitions for wipe the screen clean in Mario Paint.
- The Multigrab mode (known as Grab Mode in the first game), which can move (or erase when used with Mr. Eraser) multiple elements of a selected area at once. Activated with
or 
in the first game and 
or 
in Super Mario Maker 2. - The Copy mode, which copies a selected object (or multiple objects, when used with the Multigrab function). Activated with
or 
in the first game; in Super Mario Maker 2, the function has been merged with Multigrab, being activated by pressing or again while Multigrab is active. - Soundfrog, which brings up the sound effect menu. Based on one of the icons representing the default songs in Mario Paint's Music Mode. In Super Mario Maker 2, they are organized in five categories similar to the course elements: feelings, stingers, reactions, animations, and music, and the Soundfrog icon initially appears as Partrick, which switches to Soundfrog when the sound effect menu is selected.
- A timer, which can adjust the level's time limit from 10 to 500 seconds, and enable or disable the auto-scrolling function. The auto-scrolling option also has three speed modifiers, each represented by a turtle, a rabbit, and a cheetah; this is a reference to the mouse speed option in Mario Paint. In Super Mario Maker 2, the auto-scrolling options have been separated from the timer, and also adds a Custom Scrolling option (represented by a bird), which can set the scrolling direction and speed to change when reaching a certain point of the level.
- A Small Mario icon, which enables or disables the trail of Mario's most recent movement in the last test-play.
- An area icon, which switches between the main and sub-areas. Can also be activated by putting Mario into a Warp Pipe, though the player needs to place an exit Pipe first.
- A modifier that allows the player to adjust the level's length.
- Coursebot, which saves the currently-editing level into the Coursebot menu.
Certain course elements can be modified to another form if shaken, such as green Koopa Troopas becoming red ones. Most elements can also be given wings and made enlarged with a Super Mushroom, and starting with the version 1.20 update of the original game, a Super Mushroom can be placed on any non-Super Mushroom power-ups to make it a progressive power-up (i.e. if Mario is in his Small form, it becomes a Super Mushroom, and if Mario is in his Super or higher forms, it spawns the original power-up). Elements can be inserted on blocks, Pipes, Bill Blasters or Lakitus, or directly granted to Mario in case of power-ups, which can be removed by shaking them. In addition, the player can adjust the lengths and heights of some elements such as Semisolid Platforms and Bill Blasters by dragging them, and elements that have movements such as Lifts and Fire Bars, as well as elements that can appear either vertically or horizontally like One-Way Walls and Burners can adjust the direction they move or they are placed with tapping the yellow icon with an arrow.
While editing a level in Course Maker, more ambient arrangements of the level's music that varies depending on the game style and course themes play; for example, the Underground theme in the Super Mario Bros. style plays a jazz-style acoustic variant of the original underground theme, and the Castle theme in the Super Mario World style plays an orchestra/synthesizer-mixed variant of the castle/fortress theme from the original game. These music themes are played with multiple channels, randomly fading in and out to that fade in and out randomly to create a dynamic mix. When placing an object, a vocal sound effect exclaiming the name of objects (e.g. "Ground") plays, with its pitch and length shifting accordingly to the music's main melody.
The following features are found exclusively in Super Mario Maker 2:
- A context menu for Mario and course elements, replacing the shaking option and the wings element from the first game and also adding parachutes for some elements (although Super Mushrooms can also be selected, the player can still enlarge enemies or combine the power-ups by placing a Super Mushroom on them).
- A ship icon, which can adjust height, and the rising and falling speed of the water, poison or lava in Forest and Castle levels.
- An arrow icon, which switches the direction of scrolling between horizontal and vertical. Only available while editing the sub-area.
- An icon for the Co-op Making mode, which can edit the level with two players.
- Some elements, such as Snake Blocks and Piranha Creepers, have a modifier that can set the paths they make.
- Course elements can now be pinned by holding down
or by holding down on the touch screen, preventing them from being removed from the row when pushed off the left side by a newly selected element. - Should Mario is moved to off-screen, pressing
makes Mario reposition to near the center of the main field, allowing the player to reposition him again. - The
button temporarily hides all menus, allowing the player to place an element on the sides and corners of the screen. - The player can zoom in or out the camera with pressing
.
History
Super Mario series
Super Mario Maker
After starting Super Mario Maker for the first time, pressing 
, and playing an unfinished course until the game notifies them to edit the course, the player will be sent to a tutorial in the Course Maker where they will be taught how to use features and techniques such as placing, adjusting, and transforming course elements, dragging Super Mushrooms and Wings onto enemies to enlarge them and attach wings to them respectively, stacking enemies, filling ? Blocks and Pipes, and saving courses. After all instructions have been finished and the course has finished construction, the player can play the course before saving it to the Coursebot.[2] When making a course normally, the player will often be notified when new course elements will arrive. When the Soundfrog button is tapped, the course screen darkens, the music becomes silent, and the course element palette is replaced by a single row for sound effects. The Course Maker can also transform into the Gnat Attack minigame, originating from Mario Paint, when a Muncher is shaken repeatedly.[3] When the player touches the screen with the stylus or their finger, a hand will appear on the TV touching/dragging whatever the player is. The hand that can appear can be changed by pressing down the left or right 
.
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS
The Course Maker returns in Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS with the same overall use and behavior except for the main screen being on the Touch Screen, which is 5:3 instead of 16:9. The Top Screen displays a preview of the course for when it will be played. When the course is being played, the Course Maker slides upwards revealing the bottom screen shown during normal gameplay, but with the clapperboard remaining on the bottom left corner. Like the original game, the game tells the player to press 
upon starting the game for the first time (while the Touch Screen tells them to "TAP HERE"), bringing the player to a tutorial in the Course Maker, except this time Yamamura and Mary O. guide the player through the tutorial and Yamamura asks if they want to do the tutorial later. If the player chooses "Go to Lessons", they will go to the first lesson.[4] The hand on the TV screen from the Wii U version does not appear in this game; only the glove cursor appears. The Gnat Attack minigame is also absent. Course elements that were added to the Wii U game via a post-launch update, such as Checkpoint Flags and Skewers, are now in their own separate slots.
Super Mario Maker 2
The Course Maker returns in Super Mario Maker 2 with a complete overhaul. In the February 2019 Nintendo Direct, when the game was first revealed, the redesigned Course Maker was first shown off (with some pre-release differences to the final release) alongside the addition of slopes.[5] The biggest change in the new Course Maker is the addition of course elements being selected from several scroll wheels organized into categories instead of rows. Touch controls can still be used, but button controls can also be used to place course elements and navigate the UI.
Co-op Making
An additional button on the bottom left side for Co-op Making has been added in Super Mario Maker 2, allowing for 2 players to use a single Joy-Con to make courses together. Player 1 still uses the row on the top and the scroll wheels, while Player 2 can press 
to bring up a small bar with every course element. However, Player 2 cannot press 
to pause the game or scroll the screen, and Player 1 interrupts Player 2 placing/finding a course element when bringing up the scroll wheels. When playing a course, Player 1 controls Mario and Player 2 controls Luigi. It is impossible to change characters during Co-op Making. Pressing the button again switches back to Solo Making.
Super Smash Bros. series
The hand seen on the TV screen in Super Mario Maker's Course Maker reappears in the Super Mario Maker stage in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when the fight starts.
WarioWare Gold
In WarioWare Gold, there is a Super Mario Maker-themed microgame that takes place in the Course Maker and revolves around the technique of shaking enemies to transform them.
Gallery
It has been requested that more images be uploaded for this section. Remove this notice only after the additional images have been added. Specifics: Add the post-launch Super Mario Maker 2 incarnation.
Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Maker
The Course Maker in Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS
The pre-release Course Maker in Super Mario Maker 2 from the reveal trailer
