Year Anniversary of Mario Maker 2 & Infographic About Top Speedrunners From Six Months After Release

I'm guessing the vast majority of my posts here are gonna be about rap music. This is already one of those rare exceptions. Today is the one year anniversary of a videogame I play. Normally games aren't such a huge part of my life to consider anniversaries on any conscious, let alone celebratory level. And typically for me games are completed or more likely left unfinished, sometimes returned to, often not, but aren't a continual daily or weekly investment that goes on for a full year straight. Super Mario Maker 2 has been different for me in that regard, as well as a couple of others.

Some of my earliest videogame memories are of Mario. Super Mario Bros. 3 in particular was mindblowing to me at five years old. Since then, most of my Nintendo videogame handheld and console purchases (SNES, Game Boy Color, Wii, Wii U, and now Switch) have been primarily because of Mario games.

Now I played the first Mario Maker, but due to the relatively small size of the active community, the lack of interest from my friends, and the limitations of the game and the console, I was intrigued though not yet obsessed. I played enough to collect all the in-game costumes, yet not enough to get any medals, which are achievements that generally take hours upon hours of repetitive action to unlock (an act in gaming known as grinding). 

Before Mario Maker, I knew a bit about Mario ROM hacks conceptually but not enough to understand the kaizo level people from the ROM hack world who were taking over the Mario Maker community via YouTube influence. So I watched videos to learn more. First to watch professional level players complete levels I wouldn't dare play and then to learn more about the game mechanics and gain knowledge of the lexicon. I ended up building about half a dozen levels using the first Mario Maker level builder, they weren't great. 

But along the way I discovered people who had transitioned from building ROM hacks, to also building Mario Maker levels, to making YouTube videos explaining and showing off their levels. People like GrandPOOBear and PangeaPanga. Also gamers who were incredible at beating levels, like Thabeast721 and Z7. Years went by as the already diminutive but dedicated group dwindled further. Then rumors started to swirl about a Super Mario Maker 2. A sequel to be delivered on Nintendo's newest console, the Switch. I was back on-board and ready for an updated take. It has more than delivered.

Now I'm watching those YouTubers from before more than ever but also people I didn't know about last time around like LilKirbs, who plays some of the world's most difficult levels and breaks down his movements, sometimes in slow-motion in order to show off what he can do. KingBoo97, one of the fastest speedrunners. raysfire, friend of Panga and an all-around good-natured funny guy. DGR Dave, whose laughter rather than anger at troll levels is particularly uplifting. Ceave Gaming, Icay, and Smashy all show off little-known techniques, each one of these YouTubers with unique presentations. There are also speedrun and versus competitions put on by the likes of GSA. Never have I ever considered retaining the name of some streamer and / or gamer personality, let alone dozens. Lots of wholesome, supportive, quality content produced by all.

I was doing enough speedrunning in the early months of the game to (at the time) have a gold medal (top one hundred global rank) for most world records. At the six month mark I documented the placement and statistics for myself and the other top ninety-nine players. At the nine month mark I took those screenshots, made this infographic, and posted it on Reddit (though I've never been a big fan of their format or layout, there is a strong Mario Maker following there):

As with most things I create and try to self-promote, not many people saw it. Just like not many people have seen my newer levels. So now I'm archiving and writing far too much about it here for you. Makes sense, right?

Final Bonus: Someone who had a streamer-looking name (iGamer4TV) played a few of my levels back in late March. So I looked him up on Twitch and downloaded an extremely low-res copy of the stream. Now that it has been removed from his video on-demand (or VOD) list, I've reupped that to YouTube.

Who remembers RealPlayer? Yeah the quality is about there. Prepare to go back in time, in more ways than one.