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| The Mack Daddy of Gaming Screen Grab Credit: Forever Geek |
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, Super Mario 3D Land, any of the RPGs except Paper MarioI'm also not including any of the ancillary sports games, because Mario Kart is totally not the same as a platform game or a JRPG. So yeah, without further ado, my list!
16. Super Mario Sunshine: I appreciate what Nintendo tried to with the franchise here. Obviously, they didn't want to make just another sequel to Mario 64, which was the risk they would run by trotting out another 3D Mario game. That being said, the controls were wonky, the stripping of the entire Mario ethos by making the water pack the crux of Mario's controls felt cheap without adding a level of fun, and having to clean up acres of goop was just taxing. The game felt unnecessarily hard and not fun. This, to me, is the only true stinker of the series.
15. Mario Bros.: It is the progenitor of the series, and it has a few of the tropes we'd see in later games (hitting enemies from below a platform, the POW box, proto-Koopa Troopas). It's a simplistic, repetitive game like other games of the era, but it's fun for a lark. It's not a bad game at all, but it's clearly a product of its time in terms of game play and replay value.
14. Super Mario Land: It's an awkward port that feels more like a knock-off of the original Super Mario Bros., but it's oddly endearing. The "Super Ball" replacing the fireball was lulz-inducing, but at the same time, it was fine for what it was, a first-generation portable Mario game so you could take the pudgy plumber and his quests away from home.
13. Luigi's Mansion: The Gamecube is known as being the Mario series' nadir. Sunshine was bad, but Luigi's Mansion was unfairly crapped upon, I think. It was definitely a departure (and I feel like Nintendo was way more experimental for the Gamecube for its Mario games than in other system), but it was actually engrossing and fun. It certainly wasn't the pinnacle of game play that the highest games on the series are, but it was a fun diversion.
12. The Lost Levels: This was supposed to be the original Super Mario Bros. 2, but it was so hard to the Japanese audiences that there was no way it'd float in America. Playing it years later on Super Nintendo confirmed why Nintendo feared releasing it at the time of its creation. It was really, ball-busting hard. I enjoy a good challenge, but sometimes, a game can be too hard. The Lost Levels may not have been too hard (I did eventually complete it), but it was close.
11. New Super Mario Bros.
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii: I'm putting these two games together because they're essentially the same game. They're a fun throwback to the olden days, and I spent several hours playing them on their respective systems. These games felt like they were the spiritual successors to Super Mario World than anything else.
9. Paper Mario: It's hard to stick Paper Mario in here because it's a JRPG. How does that compare to a platformer? I'm not sure, but whatever, it's my list. I had a thoroughly fun time playing through this game. Despite being a turn-based role-playing game, it didn't fail to capture the Mario spirit. It's the only among the Mario RPG series I played, but it was totally fun.
8. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins: Comparing this to the original Super Mario Land is like comparing a stick figure drawing to the Mona Lisa. It's amazing this was a sequel on the same system, but lo and behold, it was. I drained many a Game Boy battery on this game. Hell, between this, Pokémon and Link's Awakening, I got good mileage on the original Game Boy. It was meant to be a companion piece to Super Mario World, but it felt like such a different game. Pinnacle of handheld Mario.
7. Super Mario Bros. 2: I remember people being so pissed off about the format of this game, but I played it and played it and played it some more. It wasn't Super Mario Bros., but that was okay, because with each time played, it charmed me. Sure, it wasn't ever supposed to be a Mario game, but it was still epically fun. Pulling stuff out of the ground, knocking around Shyguys, wondering if Birdo was a boy or a girl... it was all awesome.
6. Super Mario Galaxy 2: Some people will claim this is the finest game in the series. I'm always wary on direct sequels. They have to have something that really separates them from the first game to raise them above the original. Galaxy 2 added Yoshi and tweaked the universe map system. It's bells and whistles on the original Galaxy. That being said, it wouldn't be ranked this high if the formula wasn't awesome in the first place.
5. Super Mario World: The Super Nintendo was maybe the greatest system of all-time. Sure, graphics-snobs are going to scoff at this, but if I wanted to look at something pretty, I would ogle Kate Upton galleries on the Internet. For its time though, the graphics were slick, especially for Nintendo's application. But where the system shone was in the game play and in the depth and breadth of the things to do in each game. Take for example Super Mario World. The game play was an update of Mario 3 with some notable difference, but it had a staggering number of secret levels that could keep me enthralled for days. Granted, in terms of game play, I didn't think it was as good as some of its predecessors or successors – it's fifth, not first, for a reason. That being said, it's a fine, fine game and worthy of being considered at the top of any list. Just not mine.
4. Super Mario Galaxy: Nintendo could have given into temptation and made this game an all-out motion fest like they did with Twilight Princess for Zelda, but they didn't. They made a 3D game that utilized the motion sensibilities of the Wii system for an enhancement rather than as a crutch. It takes a little getting used to, but the depth of game play is so engrossing, even if at times it is dizzying.
3. Super Mario Bros.: I'm not sure there's a game more important than Super Mario Bros. Before it, game sophistication meant identical levels with increasingly faster or harder-to-kill bosses. Mario was the first game that was really modern. It had different levels with different oeuvres. It was a game changer for real. The game play has actually stood the test of time, so much so that it's still being tweaked. Ever play Super Mario Crossover? Yeah, I think that's a sign of how iconic the game is.
2. Super Mario 64: I've found this game is polarizing. I've found some very negative reactions to it, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. Nintendo had a daunting task trying to port a classic 2D franchise into the third dimension. From the first level, I found that they had done it nearly perfectly. Forget the jagged polygons for a second. Again, graphics are overrated. There is so much stuff to do in this game. Sure, you could skate by and beat the game with 60 stars, but why not go for 120? The scope of some of these levels are just amazing too. This would be the essential Mario game if, well, not for what I have at number one...
1. Super Mario Bros. 3: When the game first came out, it was so hyped because it was a return to form for the series. So many people flipped their shit when Mario 2 came out, and even though I love Mario 2, I wanted "classic" Mario (even though Mario was, at that time, in more games that weren't in the style of the original Super Mario game than he was in "classic" mode). Everyone did. The game scratched that itch perfectly, keeping the regular ethos of the original NES standard and adding in so much more stuff. I'm not going to lie; I'm a mark for games that have a lot of "stuff" in them. I will rank Wind Waker over Ocarina of Time every day if I were doing Zelda because while OoT was the 3D Zelda innovator, Wind Waker not only had the same expansive story, but it had so many things to do, so many more items, sidequests... stuff. Give me a reason to play for hours, and I'll love you forever.
But the strange thing is that even today, when I fire up my Wii and troll for games on the Virtual Console, I get drawn into Mario 3, and I still have so much fun trying to beat it in one sitting. It still poses a challenge. It's still so fun. It's almost the perfect game. It's one of the rare things in life where the payoff is greater than the hype. It's over 20 years later, and Mario 3 is STILL living up to its initial hype. That's the mark of a great game.
