Indicators

Indicators are a common design element in Super Mario Maker levels. Indicators are onscreen visuals that help guide the player and indicate where to jump, when to do a specific trick, which enemies have a key and many other things.

Tips

When using indicators there is often multiple ways to indicate the same exact thing. In these instances, it's important to be consistent in which indicator is chosen to make the level as clear as possible.

• Example: If an arrow sign is used to indicate the player should throw, a track indicator should not later be used in the same level to also indicate throwing.

Basic Movement

Direction

Use	Indicator
Follow This Path
Land Here	A single coin indicates the player should land at that specific location.
	2 vertical coins indicate the player should land on the same location twice.
	An unactivated block is often used in place of coins as they cannot be removed.
	An arrow pointing at the location the player should land.

Jumping

Use	Indicator
Air Twirl	or  A curved track indicating the player should perform an air twirl.
Dismount Boot or Yoshi	A "Z" indicating the player should press one of the shoulder buttons.
Spin Jump

Throwing

Use	Indicator
Throw Left	or
Throw Right	or
Throw Up	or
Drop	or

Form-Specific Movement

Ground Pound (NSMBU and 3DW)

Ground Pound
Ground Pound Cancel

Enemy Status

Thwomps

When including a section where a player rides a Thwomp it's very easy to misjudge how fast it is going to move (i.e if it has a parachute or not). Additionally, it may also be beneficial to include an arrow showing which direction it is set to move.

Use	Indicator
Direction
Parachute Thwomp

Environmental

Hidden Block

When using Hidden Blocks to remove cheese or as required platforms, indicating where they are located can remove certain guesswork. This can also be used to make "kaizo" blocks less dangerous by showing the player where to avoid jumping.

Use	Indicator
Block
Row

Techniques

Midair Input

Note: This only applies to Super Mario Maker as the technique was patched.
In order to indicate which Midair Input should be used there are various different indicators:

• The first arrows indicates the starting position, or the direction the item is being thrown.
• The second arrow indicates the ending position, or the buttons that need to be pressed on the next frame.

Type	Indicator
Standard
Throw Cancel	or
Diagonal Up Throw	or