How to Make a Game Like Mario with AI (2026)

Almost everyone who has played Super Mario Bros has thought about making their own. It is a great instinct, because a Mario-like is one of the most teachable games to build: its appeal comes from tuned, well-understood mechanics rather than expensive graphics. The catch is that the thing that makes Mario feel like Mario is invisible, and most clones get it wrong.

This is a build-it guide, not a list of games to play. By the end you will know which mechanics make Mario work, how to recreate each one in the order that works, which template to start from, and how to drive an AI to build it in Summer Engine, with an honest read on where the real work stays on you.

{/* IMAGE: Split screen of a Mario-style side-scrolling level on the left and a plain-English prompt describing the run-and-jump on the right. 1200x630, screenshot */}

What Actually Makes Mario Work

Before you build anything, understand why the game feels good. Super Mario Bros is not one mechanic. It is a small set of systems that lock together, and the feel of the whole thing lives mostly in the first one.

• Momentum movement. Mario does not start or stop instantly. He accelerates to a run, carries speed when you let go, and skids a little when you turn around. That weight is the entire identity of the game.
• The jump. A variable-height jump tied to that momentum: run faster and you jump further. Gravity pulls down harder than it pushed up, so the arc feels snappy instead of floaty.
• Stomping enemies. You defeat most enemies by landing on them, and the stomp bounces you back up. This turns enemies into platforms and risks at the same time.
• Power-ups and state. Small, Big, and Fire are a state machine. Taking a hit drops you down a state instead of killing you outright, which is what makes the game forgiving enough to be fun.
• Blocks and coins. Bumping a block from below breaks it or pops out a coin or power-up. This is the reward layer that makes exploring a level worth it.
• The scrolling level and the goal. The camera follows you to the right, the level is a handcrafted sequence of jumps and threats, and it ends at a clear goal (the flagpole).

Recreate these and tune the connections, especially the momentum-to-jump link, and you have a Mario-like. Get the movement wrong and nothing else will save it.

Scope First: Build One Great Level, Not the Whole Game

The biggest mistake here is trying to build all of Mario at once: eight worlds, dozens of enemies, every power-up, a boss. Build the smallest version that proves the feel is fun, then expand.

Your first target is one short level that contains the whole loop:

• A character that runs and jumps with real momentum
• One enemy you can stomp
• One power-up (Big) and the state change when you take a hit
• A few blocks, one that drops a coin
• A handful of platforms and one pit to fall in
• A goal at the end of the level

That is a complete, playable game. If running and jumping through that level is fun, you expand it. If it is not, more enemies and more worlds will not fix it. Get the feel right on one level first.

Step 1: Pick the Right Template

Open Summer Engine, create a new project, and choose the 2D Platformer template. It is built for a classic side-scroller and hands you a player controller, physics, a tilemap, and a camera that follows the player, so your first prompt iterates on a working game instead of an empty scene.

Browse the options at Summer Engine templates. For a Mario-like, the 2D Platformer template is the right call. Skip the Precision Platformer template unless you want tight, Celeste-style controls. Mario's feel is the opposite: looser, heavier, momentum-driven. You want a base with movement and a tilemap, then tune it toward weight in the next step.

For the full mechanic-by-mechanic platformer breakdown beyond the Mario specifics, the companion guide on how to make a platformer with AI goes deeper on jump assists, camera tuning, and level structure.

{/* IMAGE: Summer Engine template browser with the 2D Platformer template highlighted. 1200x675, screenshot */}

Step 2: Build the Momentum Controller

This is the heartbeat, so build it first and get it right before anything else. The default platformer controller usually moves at a fixed speed, which feels nothing like Mario. You want acceleration, top speed, and a skid.

Make the player accelerate up to a run instead of moving at a fixed speed. Add a short skid when I change direction so there is a moment of momentum before I turn. Carry a little speed when I release the move key instead of stopping instantly. Make gravity pull down faster than the jump pushes up so the character feels heavy. Let the jump go higher the longer I hold the button, and make me jump further when I am running fast.

Now play-test, and this is the step that matters most. Run back and forth, feel the acceleration, turn around at full speed and feel the skid. Jump while standing still, then jump while running, and confirm the running jump goes further. Do not move on until the movement feels good with placeholder art, because every later system is judged against this. One honest warning: getting feel right is iteration, not one prompt. Expect to say "make the skid a bit longer" or "more momentum, it stops too fast" several times.

Step 3: Stomping Enemies

Mario's enemies are not just obstacles, they are platforms you can land on. Add one enemy and the stomp.

Add a simple enemy that walks back and forth on the ground and turns around at edges and walls. If the player lands on top of the enemy, the enemy is defeated and the player bounces up a little. If the player touches the enemy from the side, the player takes a hit. Show the enemy clearly so I can read when it is safe to land.

The bounce is what makes this fun, because it lets you chain stomps and turn enemies into stepping stones. Play-test both outcomes: land on top and confirm you bounce and the enemy dies, then run into it from the side and confirm you take the hit. The bounce should feel slightly springy, a reward for a clean stomp.

Step 4: Power-Ups and the State Machine

This is what makes Mario forgiving. Instead of dying on the first touch, you drop down a state. Build the simplest version: two states and a power-up that moves you up.

Add a power-up item the player can collect. The player has two states: Small and Big. Collecting the power-up while Small makes the player Big and changes the sprite. Taking a hit while Big drops the player back to Small instead of dying. Taking a hit while Small is what actually kills the player. Make the player flash briefly and be invincible for a second after taking a hit so I do not lose two states at once.

That one-second invincibility window after a hit is a detail most clones forget, and its absence makes a game feel cheap. Play-test the full chain: get hit while Big and confirm you shrink, get hit again quickly and confirm the invincibility protects you, then get hit while Small and confirm you die. Once this works, adding a third state (Fire, with the ability to throw a projectile) is the same pattern repeated.

Step 5: Blocks and Coins

This is the reward layer that makes a level worth exploring instead of just running through.

Add blocks the player can bump from below. A brick block breaks when bumped while Big and is solid while Small. A question block pops out a coin the first time it is bumped, then turns inactive. Track a coin count and show it on screen. Make a small bounce and sound when a block is bumped so it feels responsive.

The feel here is in the small bump animation and the coin pop. It is tiny, but it is the feedback that makes hitting blocks satisfying. Play-test that a question block gives exactly one coin and then goes inactive, and that brick blocks behave differently based on your state. Your coin counter gives you a score, which is the start of a progress system.

{/* IMAGE: A character bumping a question block from below with a coin popping out and a coin counter in the corner. 1200x675, screenshot */}

Step 6: Build the Level and the Goal

Now arrange your pieces into an actual level with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Lay out a side-scrolling level using the tilemap. Include solid ground, a few floating platforms at different heights, one pit the player can fall into and die, two enemies to stomp, a question block with a coin, and a power-up. Place a goal at the far right end of the level. When the player reaches the goal, show a simple level-complete message.

The camera from the template should already follow the player to the right. If it snaps or lags, tell the AI to smooth it. Level design is a craft, not a prompt: this layout is a starting point. The real work is hand-placing jumps, gaps, and enemies so the difficulty ramps up and each jump teaches the player something. Play through it. Adjust the gaps until they are just reachable. That tuning is yours to do, and it is most of what makes a level feel designed instead of random.

Step 7: Play-Test the Whole Loop, Then Expand

Stop adding features. Play your level start to finish, several times. Run, build speed, jump a gap, stomp an enemy, grab the power-up, take a hit and shrink, bump a block for a coin, reach the flag. Ask one question: is the moment-to-moment movement fun on its own?

If yes, now you expand, one system at a time, the same way you built the slice:

• A second enemy type with different behavior (one that cannot be stomped, so you must avoid or jump over it)
• The Fire power-up as a third state with a projectile, reusing your state machine
• Moving and one-way platforms to vary the platforming
• A second level with a new layout and a slightly higher difficulty
• Lives, a score, and a simple title screen to wrap it into a full game

Add each one, play-test it, and keep it only if it makes the game better. A few tight, well-tuned mechanics beat a pile of shallow ones, and that is doubly true in a platformer where everything is judged against how the jump feels.

What AI Does Well Here, and What It Does Not

Being straight with you saves you frustration.

What the AI handles well: the scaffolding. The run-and-jump controller, stomp detection, the power-up state machine, breakable blocks, coin tracking, enemy pathing, the level-complete logic. These are well-understood systems with clear specs, and describing them in plain English is faster than writing them by hand.

What stays on you: the feel and the design. The exact momentum values, the jump arc, the skid length, the difficulty curve of your level, and the layout of every gap and enemy. Mario is famous because its movement was tuned obsessively and its first level teaches you the whole game without a word of text. The AI will happily build a functional platformer that controls like wet cardboard, because that is a tuning problem, not a code problem. Plan to spend most of your time in Steps 2 and 6.

Summer Engine fits this project because the output is a real game project compatible with Godot 4, not a locked black box. When you want to hand-tune gravity or jump strength one number at a time, you open the script and change it instead of re-prompting for a one-line tweak, which is exactly the precise control a platformer needs.

Start Building

A Mario-like rewards builders because its magic lives in mechanics you can recreate, not in art or tech you cannot. Recreate the momentum movement first, then layer on stomping, power-ups, blocks, and a level with a clear goal, and tune the feel until running and jumping is fun on its own.

Summer Engine is free to download and build with, including export to Steam, web, and mobile, so the platformer you build is one you can ship. Start from the 2D Platformer template, build the single level from this guide, and get the jump feeling right before you add anything else. For drafting your own characters and enemies instead of placeholders, the AI 2D game asset generator covers that side.

Every memorable platformer started with someone running and jumping around an empty level and thinking "that felt good." Get that feeling first, and the rest of the game is just giving the player more reasons to do it.