6 Ways to Use Keys and Doors in Mario Maker

6 Ways to Use Keys and Doors in Mario Maker

What sorts of keys and doors can you make in Mario Maker?


Hi! Game Design Ed here! And I’m playing around with Super Mario Maker!

Keys and doors are interesting game mechanics. And they can be used in numerous interesting combinations: You can make doors that don’t need keys, doors that only allow you to go through one way, doors that require specific keys, doors that require a bunch of keys and these keys need to be collected in a sequence.

Keys and doors aren’t generally that big of a game mechanic in twitch-based platform games like Super Mario Bros. Generally they are used more in logic puzzles for gating and sequencing. Logic puzzles, as you may recall, are puzzles that challenge the player’s mind as opposed to a twitch-based game that challenges their dexterity and reaction time

However, you can build logic puzzles in Mario Maker or you can at least use a logic puzzle as a game mechanic in your levels.

So what sorts of keys and doors can you make in Mario Maker?


1. Brick and Mushroom: This is the one you’ve probably seen in Mario before. Bricks that need to be broken and you will need a mushroom to break the blocks. The bricks are the door. The mushroom is the key.

2. The One-Way Platform: This can serve as a door that you can only move through one way, which would affect how the player moves through the door and, in turn, through the level.

3. Enemy and Brick: You can use an enemy, such as a Koopa Troopa, to break bricks as well. The Koopa Troopa shell is the key. The brick is the door.

4. Enemy and Context: You could use an enemy as a door that opens when you get close. For example, a stack of Thwomps is the door and Mario needs to stand in a certain spot to open it.

5. Small Mario: You could make it so Mario has to be in a certain state in order to move through an area. For example, Mario must be small to move through this part of the level. In order to make him small, you would place enemies that he can’t avoid as keys.

6. Enemy and Power-Up: You could use enemies as the door and a power-up as the key. For example, a Fire Flower could be key and a Piranha Plant could be the door. Or a Star power-up to run through a bunch of Thwomps.


So there are a bunch of ways that we can bring keys and doors, these mechanics generally used for gating and sequencing in logic puzzles, into Mario Maker.

What are some ways you can think of that you can make keys and doors in Mario Maker?


If you'd like to play the level from this post, "Luigi's Logic Puzzle," here is the Course ID: E2DD-0000-0067-1F77