Thanks to Super Mario Maker 2, millions of Nintendo Switch owners are now experiencing the joys of making their own 2D Mario levels and becoming a part of a shared player community. That includes me, my girlfriend, my Mashable co-workers, and my friends and fellow journalists behind some of the coolest levels you should check out. However, it appears that also includes #brands.
While not on the level of Arby’s or Sonic the Hedgehog, the Wendy’s Twitter account is pretty spicy when it comes to online personalities. And the fast food chain has apparently just decided that making Mario levels is the next way to get hip when it comes to promoting square burgers. They tweeted out a Wendy’s-themed version of a Super Mario world map, and each level tile includes a code for a real level the Wendy’s account made for Super Mario Maker 2.
More than just one level, we made a whole world #SMM2 pic.twitter.com/BG7h7n5ltb
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) July 16, 2019
As you would expect, these six Mario levels reference the menu items Wendy’s is best known for. There’s a Frosty ice level, blocks arranged into chicken nuggets and soda cups and french fries, rising lava to represent hot grease, and a pretty clever use of colored bouncy mushroom platforms to recall hamburgers. They’re not bad. You can tell their social media teen designer really cares. It makes us wish you could creatively package levels into contained worlds within the game itself.
Normally, something like this Wendy’s stunt wouldn’t bother me that much. Yeah #brands in general need to learn when to log off, but the lack of overt branding in the levels themselves makes this pretty harmless and the whole thing is actually cool proof of how Super Mario Maker 2 lets anyone make and share levels so easily. The problem is, this news dropped around the same time we learned that Super Mario Maker 2 isn’t quite as open as we would hope.
Nintendo just deleted my Kai-Zero G course, one of the most played Super Expert courses in Mario Maker 2. It contained no inappropriate words, pictures ect. It contained no glitches.
I am at a loss for words and extremely sad about this. I feel Nintendo just doesn’t want me 1/?
— GrandPOObear (@GrandPOOBear) July 16, 2019
Streamer GrandPOObear is an accomplished speedrunner and maybe the closest thing the Mario Maker community has to a celebrity. But while’s known for skillfully playing brutally difficult “Kaizo” levels he’s also been a force for good, making levels that elegantly teach you how to get better at advanced Mario mechanics and raising over a million dollars for charity through Mario play.
That’s what makes it so disappointing then that Nintendo keeps punishing GrandPOObear seemingly for no reason. His entire library of original Mario Maker levels was deleted, an incident Nintendo claimed was an automation mistake. And now one of his most popular expert Super Mario Maker 2 levels, “Pile of Poo: Kai-Zero G,” has been deleted because of “harmful content” with no chance for appeal.
GrandPOObear is understandably upset but also confused. There are no curse words in the course. His name isn’t the problem for Nintendo, there’s an EarthBound character named Poo. I thought Nintendo might be foolishly trying to crack down on Super Mario Maker’s culture of difficulty (like ignoring the hardcore Super Smash Bros. community’s love of exploits) but this level had no glitches.
Right now he thinks a bunch of trolls mass-reported the widely played level just to screw with him, but if that’s the case Nintendo should look at these situations more closely before making such harsh decisions. Other users, while not as prominent, have also experienced apparently arbitrary bans.
Super Mario Maker 2 has all the tools it needs to be incredible. Again, I just played some Mario levels made by Wendy’s. But if Nintendo wants to grow this community of fan creators the game relies on, it can’t keep punishing one of its most productive members.
Buy Super Mario Maker 2
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