• Tech
  • Video Games

Nintendo’s New Game Lets You Create the Mario Levels of Your Dreams (or Nightmares)

1 minute read

Super Mario Bros. turns 30 this year, and Nintendo is celebrating the iconic video game character’s birthday in style with a new game that’s like a love letter to Mario’s legacy.

In Super Mario Maker, players can build their own levels using the warp pipes, question-mark blocks, piranha plants and other items that have become Mario staples over the years. Players can even skin their levels to look like the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros. U, complete with items and moves specific to those games. Levels can be shared with others online.

In an E3 trailer showing off the title, Nintendo revealed some particularly twisted worlds built with the level editor, featuring giant Koopa Troopas, a screenful of Boos and an entire wall of fireballs, among other obstacles. Players will be able to use Mario’s signature mushrooms to transform into other Nintendo characters, such as Link and Wii Fit Trainer, as well. The alternate costumes can be unlocked in-game or using Nintendo’s toys-to-life Amibo action figures.

Super Mario Maker debuts on Sept. 11 for the Wii U.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com