One of the benefits to consistency is how much easier it makes innovation. A perfect formula or flawless design can become timeless. Look at the Rubik’s cube or Final Fantasy Tactics and you’ll see something that stays a classic simply because it stays true to itself. But the biggest surprises are the ones you never see coming, and ten years ago Nintendo gave us one of the biggest surprises of all. It gave us Mario.
Yes, we’d all played as Mario before, but on September 10, 2015, Nintendo handed us the keys to the proverbial Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mario Maker wasn’t just another Mario platformer. It was a game design toolkit that unlocked the Super Mario franchise in a way that had never been seen before. It was Nintendo saying, “Fine. Show us what you’ve got.” And we did.
