The quality of Super Mario Maker 2 courses can vary wildly. Many players don't often venture into the "New Courses" tab and try stuff out because it can take a lot of time to find the gems. This means a lot of creative courses miss out on plays. Unfortunately, the "Popular" and "Hot" tabs also don't always have the best stuff, either. Mario Maker players have uploaded over 5 million courses.

Mario Maker Mondays highlights some of the gems that players have uploaded over the past week. The process includes sifting through the "New Courses" tab and highlighting creative levels that Mario Maker players should try.

RELATED: Trihex Beats Insanely Hard Super Mario Maker 2 Level After Eight Hours, Here's the Code

mario-maker-yoshi-hungry

10 Hydro Labyrinth Zone by ArnaudZX

Course ID: WDF-90D-QSF

Theme: Super Mario Bros. 3

Hydro Labyrinth Zone puts Mario underwater and gives him four pipes to choose. Each pipe leads to a different mini challenge that will help Mario navigate the other rooms. Mario must tackle obstacles in a specific order to get through the maze and clear the course.

The level requires some fun puzzle solving and some deft maneuvering to complete. The underwater nature of the course and the careful placement of enemies and hazards makes it feel claustrophobic in a way that sells the feeling of being caught in an underwater maze.

mario-maker-do-together

9 Let’s Do It Together! by Miria

Course ID: 4X9-LBY-6PG

Theme: Super Mario Bros.

Mario Maker 2 allows you to use some elements in themes that originally didn’t include those elements. A lot of these apply to the Super Mario Bros theme because the original game didn’t have a ton of different stuff in it. This makes a lot of the SMB courses not feel like that game.

This course, however, manages to use new elements and still feel like a course from Super Mario Bros. It doesn’t provide a challenge, but sometimes Makers should be rewarded for constraint. Let’s Do It Together! feels simple and clean. It won’t take up too much time to try out this level and give it a like.

mario-maker-normal-course-1

8 Normal Course 1 by There

Course ID: SVF-KMP-SLG

Theme: Super Mario Bros. 3

Sometimes, a Mario Maker course can feels like coming home. This course, while simple, comes close to something that might have appeared in World 1 of Super Mario Bros 3. It has some tricky platforming challenges and some good enemy placement.

It doesn’t have the extravagance of other courses on this list, but it doesn’t need it. It just sets out to make a Mario level worthy of the theme, and it does a great job. Fans of Super Mario 3 will feel like they’ve found a brand new course to play from the classic game.

mario-maker-normal-course-1-1

7 Block Curse’s End by Dark B

Course ID: G9P-0W0-WQF

Theme: Super Mario Bros. 3

Block Curse’s End has a really great, really tough boss battle in the finale. The battle has Bull’s-Eye Banzai hunting Mario down while he avoids Bowser’s fire and tries to lure the menacing turtle into a trap. It’s tough but fun and has a checkpoint that will put Mario right back into the fight.

The lead up to the boss fight can get tricky, but it mostly feels like a fun twist on a classic Super Mario 3 castle. It has Mario avoiding fireballs and firebars as well as rows of stationary Magikoopas. It even takes you for a swim under the castle.

mario-maker-herd

6 hard by joan smm

Course ID: G1C-YRD-LWF

Theme: Super Mario World

This course lives up to its name. It creates a few perilous jumps and swings over some thick walls of spike traps. It will take Mario a few tries to get through it, but as soon as it starts to feel too tough, it ends.

The course has some zaniness with a sections that sees a bunch of enemies and stars bouncing around in a place Mario can’t even reach. However, the platforming parts will keep Mario occupied enough to ignore the weird sections.

RELATED: Super Mario Maker 2 Level Removed Nearly Without Explanation

mario-maker-up-please

5 Up Please by mumuxow

Course ID: QWL-1LD-1HF

Theme: Super Mario World

In Up Please, Mario must survive a deadly elevator ride through a barrage of Goombas both large and small. He must do so while avoiding a bunch of spike traps.

This course uses the lift system. Two lifts slowly move upward along two opposite but symmetrical tracks. Sometimes the lifts come together and overlap and sometimes they split apart. All the while, Goombas fall onto the lifts and spike traps appear in all kinds of places.

The elevator ride is a fun gauntlet that never feels unfair. Some of the rest of the course gets a little whacky, but the ride makes it worthwhile to try.

mario-maker-tricky-tower

4 Tricky Tower by Dark-Pyro

Course ID: L5B-QQ1-NJF

Theme: Super Mario Bros. 3

Dark-Pyro maybe should have called this level “Frustration Tower” due to a particularly tricky section with music note blocks. But despite that, the course has some interesting challenges to tackle.

Tricky Tower combines platforming with some careful use of some of Mario’s more bouncy gizmos and makes players feel like they can get it if they just try once more. It might get a little hairy near the end, but it shows a clever and restrained use of the Mario Maker toolset.

mario-maker-mushroom-mansion

3 Mysterious Mushroom Mansion by Dat1Dude

Course ID: 2TN-Q3M-2YG

Theme: Super Mario Bros. 3

Ghost Houses and key coins go well together, but this course takes them to a whole new level of challenge. It begins outside, and then takes Mario into a house which quickly becomes eerie. Mario must survive a series of challenges in a small room in order to proceed to the next area.

The difficulty ramps up from there and the ensuing gauntlet will surely test the prowess of many skilled Mario players. The course has a great use of checkpoints and the difficulty ramps up well. It’s worth trying for those who can stomach it.

mario-maker-yoshi-hungry (1)

2 The Yoshi’s are really Hungry! by Gaudimann

Course ID:84S-0SS-VYG

Theme: Super Mario World

The Yoshi’s are really Hungry! takes place in the forest with a rising and sinking water level that the player must navigate. At the start, Mario gets a Yoshi and the goal of defeating 30/40 Goombas. This goal feels good from the start because Mario knows that he doesn’t have to defeat every single one.

As Mario navigates the course, he will find Goombas on tracks, Goombas floating in the water, and Goombas falling from the sky. He must gobble them up with Yoshi in order to defeat them. The course has some fun platforming challenges and ramps up in difficulty well without ever getting too tough.

The level also uses sound effects better than ever seemed possible.

mario-maker-pipes3

1 COURSE OF THE WEEK - pipes3 by unclebeer

Course ID: 40Y-9k7-s0G

Theme: Super Mario World

pipes3 exemplifies the prime way to use Mario Maker 2’s goal system. The course challenges Mario to collect 10 “10 coin” coins. Instead of hiding them in places that Mario might miss or forcing him to waste his time to find each one, this course puts each coin in plain site but requires Mario to complete one platforming challenge.

The challenge asks Mario to navigate a field of pipes and avoid Thwomps. The Thwomps go in every which direction and each coin requires Mario to avoid one in a unique way. Once Mario learns the trick, the challenge becomes much easier because the player understands it. This means that Mario will get a little further with each attempt.

Super Mario Maker 2 is available now on Switch.

MORE: Mario Maker: 10 Great Courses Uploaded Last Week (August 19)