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Over the course of Devs Make Mario, we've featured all sorts of game developers, from platformer experts to visual novelists and everyone in-between. But Takumi Naramura, designer of the 2005 exploration platformer La-Mulana, represents an interesting middle ground: he's a creator of a well-regarded Japanese independent action platformer who actually has very little experience with Mario. Naramura's own personal gaming roots lie with the MSX home computer, and one only has to look at the MSX-inspired La-Mulana for evidence.
Recently, Polygon visited Playism headquarters in Osaka, Japan to put Super Mario Maker in Naramura's hands for the first time. The results are right out of the playbook for Naramura's development circle NIGORO: a challenging, sinister level packed with traps and secrets.
Above, watch Naramura design and explain his stage, and then try playing it for yourself: the Course ID is 07EF-0000-0226-A205, and you can add Naramura's stage, which he calls "Turtle Hell," to your in-game bookmarks on Nintendo's Mario Maker bookmark site.
This is just the beginning of Devs Make Mario's second season — we've got plenty more episodes on the way each Wednesday featuring creators from all over the world. Special thanks to Playism's Dan Stern and Nayan Ramachandran for helping with this week's episode!
Have a game developer you'd like to see try their hand at Mario Maker? Let us know in the comments and they may appear in a future episode!
(Music: NΣΣT)
