Every friend group has a Ross O’Donovan among them—the one who’s so gosh darn friendly that you never expect the hell they delight in unleashing upon you. My personal Ross O’Donovan is this adorable, squishy face bean in my friend group who always finds a way to screw me over in Mario Kart.
The world is lucky they don’t all have to deal with my friend’s chaos, however, they might have to deal with the actual Ross, especially if they play the Super Mario Maker series of games.
Ross “RubberNinja/RubberRoss” O’Donovan is an animator, voice actor, streamer, and absolute sadist who has created some of the most difficult levels in the Super Mario Maker franchise. I was introduced to him via the GameGrumps, one of my fave entertainment industry duos. A few years back, when the first iteration of Super Mario Maker was released, Ross did what any good diabolical friend would do: made Mario Bros. levels for his buddies to play on their Let’s Play channel.
The levels were … torturous, to say the least, but the most frustrating thing about Super Mario Maker is that you technically have infinite lives (unless you play the 100 Mario Challenge). This means that you actually have to give up on a level versus getting a legitimate Game Over, so there’s this urge to just … keep trying … and not give the level creator the satisfaction of you rage quitting their stage.
Especially if the creator’s in the other room, cackling as you verbally sew together various forms of profanity.
So when Super Mario Maker 2 was released, we all knew Ross was going to create even harder stages for his friends—and, well, for anyone willing to try them, since he always posts the level codes. However, with the final update back in April, Nintendo gave creators the ability to make entire worlds, similar to the way the world map works in Super Mario World. You can make up to 8 worlds and 40 levels, incorporating the various Mario play styles throughout (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Super Mario 3D World).
Have you ever seen an announcement where you could just feel the wheels turning in someone’s head? Even if you’re just a fan of theirs and you don’t know them personally? But you’ve seen enough of their work to know that they’re going to do something that’s both great and terrifying?
Welcome to Super RubberRoss World!
Hold up.
THIS MAN MADE A WHOLE-ASS TRAILER?!
Right off the bat, I am in awe at the amount of creativity here. This is cool as hell, y’all! This looks exactly like a Nintendo launch trailer! The Mario-style Ross. The gameplay footage. A lot of work went into this, and it touches on every single bit of my love for Mario games.
8 months work. 8 worlds. 40 levels.
Built from the ground up to annoy your favorite creators.
Available now for Super Mario Maker 2!
Tag your favorite creators you want to see play!
Creator code: 405-052-WSF pic.twitter.com/OTdRhOMAya
— Ross O’Donovan (@RubberNinja) December 16, 2020
8 months of work, and it shows. He could’ve easily just tweeted the code when done, but wow, he got together with other animators and made a flippin’ trailer! Major props to David Mellow, Jordan Crownshaw, and Noah Barnes. Everyone’s handles are in the tweet below:
The trailer I worked on for @RubberNinja’s Mario Maker World is FINALLY OUT! Go take a look and play it if you dare!
Big shoutout to @Jordanimating for animating Ross in the skewer sequence, and @SmeetheNation for making the final edit look tight. It turned out amazing!!! https://t.co/tjnYiiK1ve
— David Mellor (@MelloMoGraph) December 16, 2020
As for that sweet Super Mario 64 Bowser track remix? That’s RichaadEB! I recognized it immediately; I’ve been subscribed to the channel for a while.
As for the levels themselves? According to the trailer, it’s not just Ross’ twisted brain we have to worry about; there are levels where he collaborated with others. They are:
- Alpharad
- The Completionist
- PangaeaPanga
- Dan Avidan (the Not So Grump of Game Grumps/vocalist of Ninja Sex Party)
I’m only familiar with The Completionist (don’t be fooled by the fluffy beard that lulls you into a comforting sense of security—his levels are brutal) and Dan (who may have some sympathy for us since he’s been haunted by Ross’ levels). But wait … is PangaeaPanga the one who did that Pit of Panga: P-Break level in the first Super Mario Maker? THAT’S one of the collaborators with Ross? THIS guy:
Huh.
I’ve decided to preemptively nope out of Super RubberRoss World.
I’m kidding. Once I get a copy of the game (no, I don’t have it yet, don’t judge me) I’ll definitely give this … some kind of try? Trust me, I’m NOT going to rescue any sort of princess. She’s on her own. It’s fine. She’s got a floaty jump and hip smash.
The creator code for the hellscape is here: 405-052-WSF
You can check out Ross on Twitch, where he streams a bunch of cool content, not just stuff that’ll make you smash your controller into your Switch. He’s also over on YouTube and, of course, his Twitter handle was already shared in this article.
Thank you, everyone, who put this entire thing together.
(featured image: Ross O’Donovan)
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