For this year's Best Buy E3 demo, Nintendo has sent Super Mario Maker to try and charm the public ahead of the game's September release. Because of the nature of the demo, I only had a few minutes to play - and photography and video was banned - but it's scratching an itch I've had for a while to play a solid if difficult Mario platformer.

The demo comes with ten worlds of four levels apiece, most of which are familiar to those who have watched the ongoing Treehouse coverage. The Mystery Mushroom levels “Body is Ready” (with Wii Fit Trainer) and “Adventures of Link” include nice touches like WFT's voice coming out of the Gamepad and Link drawing a sword when he comes to a stop after running, although I did not have the opportunity to test my own Amiibo with the game. During the setup process, the Nintendo representative stumbled across a "10 Mario" mode that makes you clear eight random worlds (complete with a requisite Peach kidnapping cutscene), within 10 lives. The quick test the representative did before the demo had the Adventures of Link, then "Automatic Mario 4", and the tech got 1-ups when he completed the second level without getting hit.

When I stepped up, I immediately went to "Leap of Faith" as my first level, and failed it three times before bailing out. The level, shown by the Treehouse, sets up a death jump unless you can fit through a one-block wide gap to hit the flagpole. I jumped to "Beetle Surfing," which sets you up with a Buzzy Beetle helmet, then has you jump on another Beetle and ride it for half the level. It was a blast to ride some of the insane jumps on the Beetle, and getting to the flag on the second attempt at the buzzer was really thrilling.

I stuck around to watch a couple of other demos as well: both of which are speed challenges. One level provided a Star and had you sprint to the finish in under 10 seconds, and the crowd got into counting down and cheered when the player broke the tape. The last level I saw, "Swim Faster!" has you try and swim through a field of the Jelectro from Super Mario Bros 3 and get to the end in 50 seconds using Super Mario World physics.

I wasn't planning on going back for another round on Saturday initially, but the brief time I had with the game makes me want to go back and try a few more levels. The promise of a Zelda: Triforce Heroes demo on Saturday also helps, but I'm even more excited to take on other Super Mario Maker challenges the Treehouse and developers have cooked up.