Top 10 Super Mario games

EmployeeAMillion

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I've been planning on sharing this for months in anticipation of Odyssey, but now that Odyssey comes out tomorrow, I realised I've put it off for too long and want to get it out before Odyssey sneaks its way onto the list (depending on if it's good or not).
This list will be focusing on the mainline platform games that I've played, which is all of them except the 3DS titles (the Land games didn't make the cut unfortunately, but I considered them). With that, let's get started.

10. Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES)
Yeah, the original Super Mario Bros. still holds up in my eyes as a great video game. There's so much about it that we take for granted these days, such as the sidescrolling levels, warp zones and enemy variety among other things, that it's always worth going back and taking to peak at. It's incredible how for a 32 year old game, there's always something new to discover about it.

9. New Super Mario Bros. U (2012, Wii U)
This was the game I got with my Wii U in September of 2013, and it took what I enjoyed about the DS game (easy to play, medium to master) and took it into HD. Every new little addition such as Nabbit and the Baby Yoshis allowed the NSMB brand to go out with just a little bit of its spark intact.

8. New Super Mario Bros. (2006, DS)
For quite a while, this game was seen as fresh and unique. Boy how times have changed. Thankfully, the levels here do genuinely feel like they were leftovers from 3, key word being leftovers. The game itself is fun, if not a bit short, but the minigames, most of which are recycled from 64 DS make it feel like the most complete package in the NSMB miniseries.

7. Super Mario Sunshine (2002, GameCube)
Challenging? Yes. Fun? It has moments where it isn't, but it's still a 3D Mario game through and through. Even as late as 2002, Nintendo was experimenting with how the core basics of Mario would function, and even though the new storytelling style here hasn't aged well at all (seriously, that trial scene), the gameplay itself feels like an evolution from 64, which would've been a tough task to accomplish. It helps that the water effects still look fantastic even compared to modern consoles.

6. Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, NES)
This was where the Mario series really began to take off and not just feel like a mishmash of fantasy elements, but its own substantial environment. Each world and each new power-up adds something extra to the DNA of the game, making you feel like a world is unravelling before you the more you play, and although it's hard for modern audiences to know just how fantastic the graphics looked for the time, they still look great for an 8 bit game.

5. Super Mario 3D World (2013, Wii U)
For while during late 2013-2014, I would've considered this my favourite game of all-time. However, now after some serious thinking, although it's a solid game, it doesn't have its own unique atmosphere like the Top 4, it seems to mix and match from previous installments. That's not to say it's bad, but it's noticeable once you get to the bonus worlds. Even at that, the graphics throughout are gorgeous, each character plays like a dream and the level design works both in single player and multiplayer, which isn't something easy to accomplish.

4. Super Mario World (1990, SNES)
Easily my favourite 2D Mario game. Although playing it on the Wii Virtual Console with a GameCube controller is something I wouldn't recommend, the game itself just feels so jam-packed with great ideas, and for a launch title no less! It's also one of the hardest 2D games next to the original and The Lost Levels, but it never gets to a point where it feels too punishing. There's always a hint of fairness to the challenges it presents to you, even Tubular. Although I don't think it's better than the Classic Sonic quadrilogy combined, it's much better than each of them seperately.

3. Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
This, alongside Mario Kart 64, was the first console game I ever played back when I was a wee little babe, and what an introduction. Years later when I started to get into Mario, I wanted to get my hands back on this game asap. I eventually got the DS port for Christmas 2011, which due to its map feature spoiled some of the surprises for me, but I love it for expanding upon an already masterful game regardless. The original is where it's at, and going back to beat it in early September (within the span of 4 days), I realised just how cleverly it was designed from beginning to end. It's one of those rare games that you respect more as time goes on, and thanks to meme magic, that burning light for exploration in the game will never die.

2. Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii)
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010, Wii)

It was so hard for me to choose which one I love more. 2 means a lot more to me nostalgically due to it being the first Mario game I personally owned, for my 10th birthday on September 23 2011, while Galaxy 1, which I got years later, still blows me away with its equal scope and superior sense of the depths of space and the depths of its new character, Rosalina. If I had to pick which one had the better gameplay however, it'd be Galaxy 2, as it just seemed more finely tuned and surprising throughout. That's not to say you should value one of these games over the other. Both tell a simple yet loveable story, boast breathtaking graphics for the Wii of all consoles, feature orchestral soundtracks written to perfection, and a gravity mechanic carved into the code of the disc by Gods (or Japanese technicians).

I don't think you've truly played video games until you've played one of my Top 4 favourite Mario games, but tomorrow I'm going to see if Odyssey will blow my expectations even further away.

Thank you so much for reading my list!
 

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Honest Slug

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Great list. I agree with most of it except New Super Mario Bros U. I'll post my list once I've finished Mario Odyssey. Which knowing me will be 1 week at most.
 
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