A Christmas special staple!

Mr. Wheel gives me a classic here on this edition of the Christmas block! Can't have it without some old fashioned Mario Maker 2 snow levels! And not one that will take me 7 hours to eventually just give up on!

We start with Snowy Koopa Bounce by Nintendog. It wasn't wrong. I was indeed bouncing on giant Koopa's in a snowy world. It's as light as a light kaizo can be. With basic jumps and switch activating by throwing snowballs into them. That's really what is all for that level. I mean it's a nice simple jumpy level. Maybe a little too easy. Next up is Frosted Prickly Passageway by Markey97. It's definitely a little more of a challenge. As you traverse the level first on the skull-coaster. Avoiding the spikes and the icicles. I ride the snake blocks, collect the 10 coin... coin... because I have to of course. Run across some falling blue platforms, bounce off the mole, jump off another falling blue platform and bounce off Bowser Jr., grab a POW block, die... oh wait that wasn't supposed to happen. You're supposed to grab it and throw it and make the munchers below you fly away. I do get it my 2nd try and carry on with the level. I embarrassingly get stuck here as I put on a buzzy beetle helmet but lose it quickly after landing on some munchers. I quickly make my way to one of those swinging claws and hit a POW block... and then fall into the pit and die. Oh yeah... it happened twice before I realized that I could now stand on the bridges the munchers were on. Too bad I wasted a shit load of time. I took a few silly deaths that could've been avoided. And now it was just a matter of asking how far I could go before I had to stop playing the level. I get the checkpoint and ride up the blue platform to collect a spring and throw it to the indicated spot. I completely miss grabbing a POW block which is costly given I needed it to take down some munchers on a blue platform. I guess I'll forever be known as part of the 96.14% of people who couldn't beat this level. We need to tone down the sharpness and move to Chilly Platforming by... well we'll just call them BC. It took me a couple extra seconds to realize I'm supposed to take... a couple extra seconds when on the rising up blue platform so I can knock off the giant snowball which then flips the ON/OFF switch so I can jump through the switch blocks. I bounce up to an item block containing a spring which gets bounced down by another spring. A lot of springs.

There's a little contraption where i have to ride a blue platform to an ON/OFF switch which will drop down some POW blocks I can hit to take down some munchers and get through the door. Another snowball to push and then bounce off of. There are some POW blocks I can hit above me that drops coin on a noteblock to squirt out a P-Switch that a Thwomp then hits to activate some P-Blocks I can hop across quickly. I reveal a snowball, grab it, throw it at the ON/OFF switch blocks, and it's just a couple more jumps to the goal! Definitely a less sharp level but still a fun and nicely designed platformer none the less. And boy chilly it was. I felt the chills just playing this level. Next level is... all in Japanese text. But it's a challenge room level. Also holy crap a lot of people love using the Mario 3 theme at least for snow levels. That or Mario 3 is a popular game mode altogether. First room just has some falling blue platforms and an ON/OFF switch I need to hit to access the next room. Same idea here. But no ON/OFF switch. But some one way gates to be wary about but not really. The next room took me a few extra tries. This is the room where I have to collect the 5 key coins. I took so many attempts at this room because of the floating falling blue platform that was right above a spinning saw. The celebration was very short lived as once I got past it, there was a massive fire bar to deal with. And I ended up short hopping a falling blue platform and fell into the pit. In fact I found myself falling a lot in this room simply because I just couldn't jump to save my life or my jumps land me where I don't think they will. Eventually I do make it to the next room where I have to ride along a slow snake block and jump my way to the pipe. Thank goodness there was a checkpoint here since running across the first falling blue platform, I just for the fucking life of me could not jump to the next one. It's like Mario forgets how to jump when I tell him to. Completing this room takes me to the final room with the goal where... of course my first try I jump successfully across the falling blue platforms and touch the goal cards. I'm stunned Mario actually jumped. Anyways, FreezePoint (Platforming) by PRINCE followed. Oooh like Prince the singer?

This level... still Mario 3 style too... follows the same concept. Jump across the blue platforms, don't get bit in the ass. There's some other elements too like bob-ombs and skull trains. Really the only reason why this level took me longer than it should've was because I tried to be such a fucking show-off at the end and take my clown car into the end cards. But trying to get the blue skull train out of the way proved to be a bigger challenge than it should've. I eventually did get it... but I could've also saved time by just beating it the normal way. Cold Crane Platforming by S1lverin0 is next. Shockingly this is not a Mario 3 themed level. It's Mario 1. Just like the title suggests, this level makes use of the claw cranes. Holding POW blocks for me to jump across. That and snowballs and springs too. I'm a little... too fast when getting into the subsection. I jump off the big snowball a little early and can't quite make the sideways springs. I do my 2nd try though. For some reason when I get past the key and reach the falling blue platforms, my mind goes to... oh I should hit the POW blocks the claws drop for me... that didn't go so well. I do it right the next time as I let the POW blocks drop, I get the key, hop back across them, get into the key door and beat the level! And a nice heart made of springs greets me when I touch the flag! How sweet? I want to make sure each game mode can be equally respected during this stream. So I scroll down until I find not a Mario 3 level. The first I see is a Mario World level called 40seconds snowy long Speed Run. It's your stereotypical night speedrun level with lots of running, springs to turn you around, sliding down ramps to crush icicles, spinning on top of thwomps with item blocks right above you as you do so. That and the same but with bloopers. throwing POW blocks at munchers, hitting ON/OFF switches, running into snowballs to take down piranha plants, squeaking through noteblock stairs, taking down the massive thwomp at the end with a POW block to access a pipe to the end... oh yeah all under a tight fucking timer too. There is zero error room. Definitely the pressure of the timer does make it a little nerving for me as then I take some silly deaths or just get stopped by like... a ground tile or something, causing me to restart.

It doesn't take me very long though to actually access that end pipe and cut the tape where a collection of sound effects follow along with the goal music. Nice touch! Markey97 is back at it again with Prickly Arctic Ridge! A Mario 3D world level... shit i need to get back to playing mario 3d world. XD! This level utilizes Mario 3D world mechanics nicely like tree climbing, boost pads, clear pipes and of course the head mask things. Like the cannon box I use to activate large snake blocks. And also make sure I know what path they're taking... I don't do that. Though I won't blame myself for a blind jump I took. Not realizing that bill shooters were falling down and dropping to big spike blocks. But once I do realize that, I continue onward and make my way through a pipe where I taste that sweet checkpoint! And also have a Goomba mask on for all of 3 seconds. Didn't need it anyway. There was a bullet bull mask shortly ahead I use to zip across. I sacrifice it to activate a big snake block and hit a POW block to lower down some bullet bill shooters to make my way up and collect the propellor box mask. I end up overusing it after jumping off a bully enemy. Thinking I have to use it twice more to land on the 2nd one. While I did, I couldn't propel up to hit the POW blocks above me. When I do it right, I am able to hit the blocks then wall jump my way up to a little challenge section... not much of a challenge. Just use the bullet mask to take care of the long piranha plants then collect the propellor mask. The end of the level is in sight. But my time for this level is running low. I use a POW mask to activate a big snake block and some POW blocks to clear up a path for me. I collect a mushroom and ground pound on the bricks below me. And now some blue piranha's stand in my way-the fuck do I do here? I can get past the 1st one... but I have no way to get past the 2nd one. Yeah so the way I activated the big snake block and the POW blocks was... wrong. I was supposed to just bonk my head on a ground tile just a little lower. That so the snake block and POW blocks are activated and I can keep my POW mask... oh yeah I'm also breaking my own rules here because that end is so close and I really want to beat it. Even if it means that I go overtime.

With the POW mask still on, I can finally beat the level and ride down the very short flag. Overall, aesthetically pleasing level. More on the challenging side but not on the wants to make me chuck my controller across the room side. Also, just appreciating the 3D world style. Not a lot of levels I saw used it. Still a shame Nintendo never did add any more themes other than the initial 5. Next level I play, It's a small world by MS_Miracle. I don't ever know if I heard the original song. But now I've heard it in Mario maker 2! It's a music level that combines a speedrun kaizo element to it. What's more impressive is how they managed to also make your actions sync up with the music. Especially with these 3 winged Chain Chomps on clouds... moving along with you until you have to spin on them again and somehow it still syncs with the music. I don't know how but that is fucking impressive. After miserably failing to reach the goal the first time because of how fuckishly fast that buzzy shell was moving, and then taking a few more deaths afterwards, I did snag the flag! Bounce Athletic #2 by Realo is what I play next. Too bad I never played the 1st one. XD! Bouncing is right. Bouncing on a lot of galoomba's with... maybe some unnecessary indicators since I think it's obvious where you're going. And then sometimes random stupid shit just happens like trying to grab a shell and bounce off a mole but instead grab the shell, knock out the mole, and then die. Or after bouncing off a Galoomba and not seeing one right in front of me and grabbing the one I just jumped on, leading to my ass being bitten off. Other than that though, it's not a hard level and that goal tape was mine in only just over a minute of playing the level. Back to Mario 1 with Blizzard Platforms by Hinami. There are indeed a lot of falling blue platforms. Some jumps on some... I like to call them construction snow Pokey's. The level doesn't really get tough until this one jump where I have to hop off the skull train and onto a snow mushroom tree but avoid some icicles and... holy fuck is it awkward to do. It's like one of those exact right timing things. Too early and you crack your skull. Too late, you miss the tree. With enough patience I do make it past... but then... PTSD strikes again... P-Switch jumps.... NOOOO-oh wait it's not that bad... it's like... 3 of them.

The rest of the level is smooth sailing. And it's an icy staircase to the flag! Say I was already missing Mario 3 levels. How about Simple Platformer #5 by the 23... the 23 what? It's a series of 1 screen challenge puzzles. First one, avoid the plants and hit the ON/OFF switch to access the claw to the door. Should be easy but I guess it wasn't. 2nd room, use the falling blue platforms and get up to the ON/OFF blocks. Using the final falling blue platforms, I can get to the door... after the 2nd try. The 3rd room isn't as bad as it looks. Just making sure you can hit the ON/OFF switch to then get access to the P-Switch which will turn all the P-Blocks solid so then I can access the pipe and head to the next room. Riding the blue platform, ducking under the plants, hitting the POW blocks to clear the piranha's and munchers, failing miserably to hit the ON/OFF switch, dying, fuck. Next room, again just jumping quickly from falling platform to the next. Avoiding the plants as I go and being sprung to the pipe and using the vine to climb up inside it. Next room is the key coin room... I'd say the plants here were overkill. That or I just played this room poorly. I guess I don't know the definition of careful. But once I do clear the room, the final room is just a few (not so scary) jumps across some falling blue platforms and getting the goal! Man I sure hope these piranha plants are getting their daily dose of water. night winter speedrun by FIXER follows! Oh look! Falling blue platforms and ON/OFF switches! Who would've thought? Thankfully the timer here was not very tight. Even though I made a mistake and just missed an ON/OFF switch, I was still able to get to the goal in plenty of time! Let's challenge kaizo lite by ika is the next level I play. It definitely had a resemblance to Snowy Koopa Bounce... then again it was a light kaizo level in a Mario World snow theme... from now on any light kaizo levels in a Mario World snow theme will remind me of Snowy Koopa Bounce. Oh but this one has a spooky bonus Ghost House section! So scary! But then I guess it got pissed at me for mocking it since later on in the level, it kills me with its thanks... damn I didn't know a thank you could hurt so much. Did you miss BC? Well they're back with Winter again Platforming. Well they're not wrong. It is Winter again!

I've noticed a common pattern with these levels using falling blue platforms, ON/OFF switches, oh yeah all in the Mario 3 theme too. This one is a relatively short level. Albeit I make it longer when I can't properly time hitting the ON/OFF switches to let the tiny snowball hit the POW block. Oh yeah, trying to go for the riches also backfires on me. I mean collecting big ass coins delivers no incentive to me. Beating the levels do however. Like The Russian Tundra [Kaizo Lite] by Nicholas. We don't start with a falling blue platform. No no no we start with a blue snake block! Very different! Some sliding under some piranha's some enemy bouncing, claw jumping, more enemy bouncing, failing to land on a dry bone head..., actually doing it correctly and getting the checkpoint, bouncing on 2 galoomba's and then hitting the ON/OFF switch even though it's supposed to be galoomba, switch, galoomba, small hopping on a noteblock to miss landing on a giant buzzy shell, not knowing how fucking thwomp indicators working thinking I squash both enemies on it and then moving forward when it's supposed to be just one, then landing on the lone galoomba, then going back to hop off the remaining goomba on the thwomp so then I can bounce off a giant mole and land right on a spike block as opposed to a noteblock that a buzzy beetle is hanging on, trying it again and doing it right so I can bounce off of it and hit the goal cards... yeah honestly I think I was focused on finishing this stream. Which is what I did after I finished this level. Well that concludes another successful round of snow levels of Mario Maker 2! Can't have a Christmas event without one after all! As per usual I'll find a way to include more Mario Maker 2 snow levels for the next Christmas event. However which way I will do my next Christmas event. But hey...

I got well over a year to plan that. No need to rush things!