Happy Mario Day! To celebrate, here are my top 5 Mario games (off the top of my head, and the list is subject to change before I even finish writing this post).
5. Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Sunshine makes a lot of people’s bad lists, because of some glaring flaws and an unusual lack of polish for a 3D Mario game. Or, a Mario game anyway, considering there was only one 3D Mario game before this one. Anyway, despite all of that, here it is on my list. With the release (and subsequent removal, Nintendo wtf, why) of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection for the Nintendo Switch in September of 2020, I embarked on a replay of all 3 of these glorious games. And while I knew that 64 would be as fun as ever, Sunshine was the one that would shine (😌) bright in the end.
The movement in this game is so flexible and it just makes it a blast to cheese your way through some jumps and flips, it makes the whole game a really fun time. It’s perhaps a bit TOO sensitive in that regard, but you can learn to work with it a bit. Just a really fun time, helped along by the fact that I got lucky in THAT level.
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Galaxy 2 specifically stood out for me for a number of reasons. Some power-ups, like Cloud Mario, were stand-outs for sure. But Yoshi was the highlight here. 3D Yoshi had been a dream since the days of Super Mario 64, and Sunshine’s Yoshi implementation felt a bit weak given the restrictions. Yoshi goes all-out in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and combined with everything that made the first Galaxy great, it makes for a stellar 3D Mario game. To date, this is the only Mario game I’ve completed to 100%. No picture for this one though, because Nintendo left it off the All-Stars collection and so it’s not on Switch.
3. Super Mario World
What a joy. It’s a nostalgic treat every time I see (or hear) this game, and a recent replay has me ending the debate and comfortably placing it above Super Mario Bros. 3 as my favourite 2D Mario game. It’s quick to play through, it’s got a lot of fun secrets and a ton of the quirkiness of that era of 2D Mario.
2. Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey manages to take a lot of the agile movement that I loved from Sunshine and tighten it up to make what I feel might be the perfect implementation of 3D Mario movement. Between the usual jumps and being able to do creative tricks with Cappy, this brought us the most variety to Mario’s moveset yet. Not only that, but Super Mario Odyssey, like many Mario games before it, is just pure joy to play and behold. The outfits are also something I’d never even considered as something a Mario game would need, and
1. Super Mario 64
This one will always have a special place in my heart. The introduction to Mario in 3D, countless hours of watching my dad play through it and playing through it myself, scouring the early internet for the fakest cheat codes, just nostalgia galore. But more importantly, Nintendo nailed 3D Mario from the get-go in a way that still feels pretty good to play today, and it’ll forever be an impressive and historical moment in video game history.
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This list would’ve been tough to put together, so I just made the list off the top of my head with whatever came to mind first. This list feels right, but there’re countless others to call out. Super Mario Bros. 3 is probably the Mario game I’ve known longest, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a fresh new look at 2D Mario, and then there are all those spin-offs. Mario Kart obviously, but Mario Party too. And the RPGs!
Okay I’m done. Thank you, Mario!
