My heart broke after reading a letter from a seven-year-old fan named Daniel, who was hoping I’d play his Mario Maker stage. The problem? He feared Nintendo would delete it before I had a chance to check it out.
I play new Mario Maker stages every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Twitch and YouTube. My selection is typically random, but if people send a drawing with a code to a certain PO box, I’ll make sure to play theirs.
Here’s the letter I received from Daniel and his father:
My 7-year-old son Daniel and I are huge fans of Mario Maker Mornings. Attached is a picture from Daniel along with a code from his first created level. He would be thrilled if you’d take a shot at it, hopefully before Nintendo decides to delete it (we just had three of his other levels wiped out today). I had no hand in this, so please blame him for any frustrations!!! Thanks again for taking the time to play his level.
User-created stages disappear from Mario Maker all the time, though it’s never been clear why. The notoriously quiet Nintendo has given loose explanations why it feels the need to delete levels created by the community, but at this point, it’s unlikely they will ever really own up to it.
Nintendo says “low popularity” levels are pruned from the online servers, in addition to stages with inappropriate content or exploits. If a level is removed from the servers, however, there’s no way for other people to play it, unless they’re sitting in front of that Wii U. It’s not a good system.
Daniel’s fear is well-founded. I’ve had people reach out in the past, hoping I would play their levels on my show specifically because it might save it from being deleted. If it’s featured on my show, other people might play it, which means it could avoid Nintendo’s sweep.
Fortunately, I was able to load up Daniel’s stage, Piranhas On The Loose.
There’s no guarantee it will save his level, of course, but at least there’s video proof it exists. I’d happily play another one of your levels, Daniel!
Oh, and here’s the drawing Daniel sent along.
Not bad.
Comments
5 responses to “Seven-Year-Old Mario Maker Creator Just Hopes Nintendo Won’t Delete His Levels Again”
If the NX is to become a subscription online service as suspected by the analysts and game news reporters… they really need to be clear on service policies, rules and user-created content. A 7 year old is scared his creations will be destroyed… that likes a bully kicking sandcastles at the beach… or an older brother trashing your legos. Nintendo you monsters!
Ahaha, seriously? Subscription online from Nintendo? Nintendo barely seems to understand the internet.
Nintendovare behaving like arrogant assholes. They are biting the hand that feed them. They shouldn’t create community based software if they can’t implement a system with clear user end policies. They’re coming across as backwards and heavy handed. It’s pathetic.
I mean, it’s really easy to fix this problem.
Stop buying Nintendo’s rubbish consoles and they’ll be forced to release their games on reliable platforms. Like Sega.
I’d hate to be a bummer but, maybe the kid just made bad levels that are unpopular???