This is the first time I'm using the generic "played" tag, as when have you really "completed" Super Mario Maker 2? It's certainly not after the story mode, a passable framework with which to deliver some creative pre-packaged levels. The main events of this game are obviously the level creation and curation, which end whenever you want them to. The creation part is great, offering a good degree of freedom and accessibility, while enforcing enough limitations that any person could play your creations and have a reasonable understanding of how things work. The curation part is a mixed bag, but if you refresh the Super Worlds until you find a maker with a few thousand likes, you'll probably get a decent selection of levels. A highlight for me has been Bear24's Super World, a collection of 20 single-screen puzzle levels, which are generally challenging and well-presented, only occasionally relying on obscure knowledge of a "mechanic" that is really more of an unintended system quirk.

I'll be continuously popping back into this thing for a while, making a few levels myself though mostly playing Super Worlds. Other than improved features and curation, I'm not sure where a prospective Super Mario Maker 3 could go. Without adding a sixth theme, it would feel redundant. They were clearly intending on a Super Mario Bros. 2 theme for post-launch addition here, before settling for the SMB2 Mushroom power-up instead. I think this was probably the right choice, given just how different SMB2 is (for well-documented reasons). Until we get that next step beyond the underwhelming New Super Mario Bros. series, I'm not sure the Maker sub-series has anywhere to go. Let's hope for something spectacular, eh?