Troll Level

A **Troll Level** is a type of level created in various *Super Mario* games that focuses on tricking players to fall for various traps, as well as playing mind games whether that be to annoy the player or cause them to laugh.

## History

Some roots of troll levels date back to *Kaizo Mario World*, a rom-hack with not only challenging platforming but also traps like the hidden block. The kaizo level concepts later reached a mass audience with the release of *Super Mario Maker*. At the same time, the game also had a mass output of frustrating and unorganized levels (often known as "hot garbage" or "Little Timmy levels") with enemy spam and dev exits, to the point that trolls are heavily discouraged as seen in Yamamura's Dojo in *Super Mario Maker 2.* Eventually, the technical aspects of kaizo and the troll aspects of kaizo are starting to diverge, with the latter developing into the troll level, which takes its name from internet trolling.

While many troll levels are still of the frustrating and unorganized type, a subset of the troll levels are more thoroughly organized with dedicated creators spending time on them. A community of troll creators emerged after CarlSagan42 and GrandPooBear tried to one-up each other in annoying levels in the "Carl vs. Poo" series, along with Carl's troll design contest. Streamer DGR also has the long-running "Trolled" series, to the point that many creators use the #DGR to dedicate troll levels to the streamer. Additionally, Defender1031 made a write-up called "Trolling for Dummies" describing best practices with troll levels.

Later troll levels start to experiment and incorporate glitches to the levels, like the broken track glitch. With the advent of Super Worlds in *Super Mario Maker 2*, some troll creators even make dedicated worlds like "Super About World" and "Super Wagon World" along with more dedicated storylines featuring original characters like Goop, Gorp, and Brian. However, Nintendo sometimes catches wind of some troll levels (especially those with glitches) and remove them from the servers.

## Gameplay

Within troll levels, there are many different kinds of trolls. The trolls play a theme of sudden surprises and reverse psychology, leading players to second guess what they or the level creator are doing.

While there are a variety of troll techniques, the following are some of the more common examples.

### Trolls

#### Back to Checkpoint 1 (CP1)

After a player has made considerable progress in a level, a common way to frustrate them is by forcing them to go back to the first Checkpoint Flag resulting in them immediately losing progress and having to redo the rest of the level. This is often combined with the pick-a-path or hidden Warp Pipe trolls.

#### Carlbox

Some trolls push players into unsuspecting areas if they spend too much time thinking.

#### Death Door/Pipe

If the player enters the wrong door or pipe they will be lead into a death room or a softlock. This is often combined with the ability to hide Warp Pipes behind other objects (such as Skewers or another pipeNoteThis is only possible to do in *Super Mario Maker*, or in *Super Mario Maker 2* when using the blackhole glitch.) or with pick-a-path.

Some of these rooms may have messages indicating what should have been done.

#### Dick Vine

Sometimes, when the player tries to enter a door they end up grabbing a vine instead. Starting in *Super Mario Maker 2*, vines now appear in front of the door instead of being completely hidden like before.

#### Enemy Out of Nowhere

A very common design is to have an enemy come from out of nowhere and land on Mario. Some ways to do this include offscreen Thwomps, Cheep Cheeps inside blocks, activating a P Switch causing Munchers to fall down and teleporting enemies through the use of the Stack Flipping Glitch. Another common troll is to drop a Wiggler onto a Conveyor Belt whenever Mario is near which forces the "butt" of the Wiggler to hit Mario.

#### Fake Pink Coins

A common thing to do in trolls levels is to place unnecessary Pink Coins in the level to force the player to guess whether they are needed or not.

#### Fake Checkpoint

Checkpoint Flags are often placed in a way that appears to be obtainable, but when in reality it is impossible to collect. This can also be done by placing Hidden Blocks directly behind the checkpoint flag to make Mario pass directly through it.NoteThis glitch is only possible in *Super Mario Maker*.

#### Kaizo Block

An invisible coin block that is placed near a pit with the intention of making the player fall to his or her death. It is often times filled with Boo Buddies or Cheep Cheep.

Some Kaizo blocks are on tracks, allowing it to move and crush unsuspecting players in the process.

#### Key Death

Another way to force the player to immediately lose all of their progress in a level is by forcing them to get Key Death. If a player dies after collecting every available Pink Coin they will respawn with zero, forcing them to recollect them in order to progress. However, in certain levels, the level will provide an alternative way to reach the Goal, such as if they restart at a checkpoint they normally couldn't die around. In this case, the level can easily be skipped by waiting for the timer to run out at said checkpoint.

#### Overlapped Objects

A common troll is to overlap objects so that it appears to be one item when in reality it is another. This includes dropping a Super Mushroom onto a track while a Boo is hidden behind it, hidden sideways springs on tracks behind a Bill Blaster and hiding Warp Pipes and Conveyor Belts behind objects like Skewers or Pipes.

#### Pick-a-Path / Guessing Game

Forcing a player to play a guessing game of doors, pipes or paths is common in troll levels. If doors are used, a door will lead the player in the same room, or to a death trap. If pipes are used, sometimes the pipes will not be a warp pipe, or the pipe will lead the player to a death trap as well. This is also very commonly used to send a player back to the first checkpoint or to the beginning of the level.

Creators of troll levels will only pick a single path to be able to let the player proceed further into the level.

#### Softlocks / Anti-Softlocks

Softlocks prevent further progress in the course and arise from luring players in, whether by items that look helpful in harmless areas or by paths that look like it is the way forward. Some softlocks have hazards that allow players to die without having to time-out, but a subset of these softlocks known as "anti-softlocks" have hard-to-reach mechanisms. Often times, the anti-softlock rooms play music like the Slider theme from Super Mario 64.

#### Twice Twice

This troll uses the player's prior knowledge against them by making them think they were sent back to an area previously in the level when in reality it is a duplicate room where the "correct solution" from the first room is now a troll. Twice Twices can also be complete remixes of a previous section of said troll course.

### Bait

Troll levels are heavily filled with "bait" that is used to trick players into falling for the traps. This is also sometimes referred to as "shinies." This can also be used to make a player overthink a situation, which causes them to sometimes troll themselves.

#### Items

Items such as 1-Ups, Yoshi, Fire Flowers, Super Mushrooms, Super Stars and Pink Coins are often used to lure the player into falling into a trap. In troll levels, these items are often put in ditches covered by invisible blocks so the player is softlocked and is forced to reset the level.

#### Arrows

Arrows are a common bait, attempting to lead players in a pipe, door or a path.

If it is a door later found in the level, there could be a chance it will be a death door or a door taking the player back to the beginning. Another thing is the door might also take the player to a death door, meaning that the door will have spike traps or enemies waiting on the other side of the door.

If it is a pipe, sometimes, an arrow will point down on the pipe and will attract the player to go in the pipe, only to find out that the pipe doesn't warp Mario to a subworld, and attempting to leave the fake pipe will jail Mario with Invisible blocks. If the pipe works, it'll take Mario to a death pipe, meaning that spike traps or enemies are waiting on the other side of the pipe.

When arrows point to a path, there's a good chance that the path will lead Mario to a death path, or imprisoning Mario.

## How To Clear

Troll levels generally involve trial-and-error gameplay where the player must memorize the correct route through the process of elimination. Becoming familiar with common troll setups can also help a player know what to look out for when playing through a troll level, though some creators can take advantage of that.

A common approach is to

Alternatively, in *Super Mario Maker*, it is possible to download the level to see how it is designed by opening it in the course editor. This makes it possible to see where the various traps are located, find any Hidden Blocks, as well as check which doors or pipes are safe to enter. This greatly helps remove the trial-and-error aspect of troll levels and can help the player to become less tricked upon replaying the level. Generally, it is advised to locate the goal and work backward towards the beginning. However, starting in *Super Mario Maker 2*, it is no longer possible to view downloaded levels in the course editor, so course viewing involves using external sites like Wizulus's SMM2 Viewer .

## External links

* Trolling for Dummies (reference book for designing good troll levels)

## References

1. ↑ https://rhombical.medium.com/its-a-beautiful-city-troll-and-glitch-levels-in-mario-maker-as-visionary-environments-b3cb1eeecbe8
2. ↑ https://egmnow.com/these-super-mario-maker-level-designers-have-elevated-trolling-into-an-artform/
3. ↑ https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7v9b4/worlds-biggest-troll-collab-is-ready-for-nintendo-to-ban-their-mario-maker-levels

## See Also

* Kaizo Traps

• Indicators
• Infinite Checkpoints
• Off-Center Course Elements
 Patched
 Contraptions
• Key Check
• Lag Machine
• Multiplayer Detector
• Multiplayer Splitter
• Player Counter
• Power-up Check (Anti)
 Patched
• Freeze Detecting Machine
 Level Types
• Don't Jump (Captain Toad)
• Don't Run
• Kaizo
• Music
• Pacifist
• RNG
• **Troll**