ALL HAIL MARIO
Believe it or not, the gaming brothers are 35 years old. We share the best they have to offer.
The Super Mario series is 35 years old, and reported rumours strongly suggest that Nintendo will be remastering the franchise’s greatest 3D outings for the Nintendo Switch.
In case you’ve just come out of a warp pipe after 35 years, Mario is THE video game character. The first Super Mario Bros. in 1985 essentially rescued the video game industry. Having appeared in more than 200 titles, Mario fronts the bestselling video game franchise of all time with 600 million sold since his first appearance in 1981’s Donkey Kong. With 19 different titles across the “main” series of Super Mario games, each title hits different for different people. An objective ranking of core Mario titles is impossible; So we are going to go with our top 10. And here they are.
10. SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE (2002)
The first Gamecube Mario was also Mario’s grand return to 3D adventuring, after Super Mario 64 blew the doors open for the genre. As a result, Super Mario Sunshine is packed with ideas. Instead of Mario’s traditional powerups like flowers and stars, which gave him additional new powers, Sunshine’s water jetpack did something revolutionary. It enhanced Mario’s core abilities of jumping. This led to an ambitious open-world design that was a bit confused. They never quite figured out the appropriate amount of challenge to fit with Mario’s new-found freedom to fly and hover. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is probably still the most fun version of Mario to control.
9. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U (2012)
As you’ll see later in this list, Nintendo often celebrates its latest console by throwing a housewarming party in the shape of a new Mario game. The New Mario series has been about removing invention and flash for the sake of creating a straightforward Mario game. Of all the games on this list, this is the least inventive. And because of that, it’s also the tightest.
8. SUPER MARIO MAKER (2015)
It’s not true that you’ll never need another 2D Mario game after Super Mario Maker. You can’t really re-create the thoughtful pacing other games on this list provide. But it’s almost true, which is enough to make Super
Mario Maker 1 (or 2 for the Switch), a must-own for any Mario fan. Mario’s nerdiest fans would often create their own levels using graphing paper.
7. SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2 (2010)
Level for level, this is probably better than the first Galaxy. Nintendo thought of making this an update to the first Galaxy, but it had enough level concepts to fill an entire game. We’re glad they did. Mario levels are designed to introduce a new obstacle or challenge, present a variation of the same challenge later, and end with a finale course that puts everything you learned to the test.
6. SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY (2017)
This game is the promise of Super Mario 64 finally fulfilled: Open worlds with secrets and stars to find, Mario with the same robust acrobatics he had in 1996, and a camera that you can finally fully control.
5. SUPER MARIO BROS. (1985)
This is probably history’s most important video game. It rescued the entire industry from the infamous 1983 market crash. It gave rise to two decades of Japanese dominance in video games. Beyond that, it also introduced new possibilities of narrative (story cliffhangers after every castle) and game design. Nintendo’s resident genius and creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s meticulous level design philosophy ensured that it’s simple enough to play and understand.
But underneath the simple gameplay are layers and layers of complex design decisions that gave root to so many video game genres today, including the important consideration of gravity and weight, how Mario feels as he jumps and runs and slides.
This is the “Link to the Past” of Mario games, the one that defined the series for years to come. It is the creative apex of the 8-bit Nintendo era. Yes, other games on this list also have dozens of levels brimming with new gameplay ideas. But the third Mario showed such early confidence in its ideas, it kept some of its best ones to only a few levels. It broke the “run, jump or die” mechanics of platformers and games by giving us secrets to explore, and wonderful reasons to revisit and reconsider the levels we just beat. Mario games weren’t just about surviving anymore.
3. SUPER MARIO 64 (1996)
The current history of video games can be split between an age before and after Super Mario 64. In the ’90s, video games were growing to three dimensions, and characters and cameras thrashed and flailed around as developers struggled to depict how to move in this new space. Once again, Mario showed everyone how it’s done in a single try. As the first Mario game defined platformers, the launch Nintendo 64 title wasn’t just a showcase for the console, it was a showcase for gaming ’s future. Nintendo demonstrated to the industry and players how to move in 3D, and video games haven’t been the same since.
It’s aged better than Zelda’s Ocarina of Time. Played in
2020, the levels are still large and plentiful, still offering more than many games today. Really, the only huge flaw is the game’s camera, which was controlled by the C buttons on the Nintendo 64. That was a blueprint for the right-analog movement that’s become standard today, and if the remasters of Mario 64 are true, we may really be one camera tweak away from finally having a perfect version of Mario 64.
2. SUPER MARIO WORLD (1991)
This is truly the only 2D Mario game anyone really needs. It’s an evolution of Super Mario 3 for sure, but as the launch title for the Super Nintendo, it still needed to be more. It needed to be more colourful. It needed even more secrets to be replayed. It needed a stronger story, more characters. And it needed to be accessible enough for any new gamer to play. While the other Mario games were pretty difficult (especially the third one), World made concessions in design and powers to make it easy and fun for anyone to revisit. It locked away its hardest challenges for the most dedicated players.
1. SUPER MARIO GALAXY (2007)
It’s the most thematically cohesive title in a list full of incredible games. If Mario games always feel confident, the first Galaxy for the Wii knew it wanted to be the grandest conception of Mario’s previous ideas, a maximalist masterpiece à la Sgt. Pepper’s or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It’s the product of the best lessons of Super Mario 64, Sunshine’s secret levels and Super Mario World’s sense of exploration and wonder. The game’s enthusiasm for you, the player, echoes through Mario’s whoops and hollers, cheering you on to run, jump and soar through it all. The best Mario games feel like dancing on air. Super Mario Galaxy will sweep you off your feet.