Mario is, without a doubt, one of the most well known and iconic characters in any medium. He’s appeared in over 200 games across about a dozen platforms, and has had at least twice as many jobs. At the end of the day, it’s the core Mario games that have kept players coming back for nearly forty years. So, without further ado, these are the Top 10 Mario games of all time.
In Mario’s second Game Boy adventure, he has a castle (which he inexplicably owns) stolen from him by none other than his childhood friend, Wario and he must receive the titular six golden coins to break Wario’s curse and win the castle back. So, it’s pretty safe to say that this ranks among the weirder entries in the Mario series. Not unlike Link’s Awakening, the bizarre, otherworldly feel of the Game Boy Mario games only add to the character’s charm and appeal. While the original Super Mario Land was modeled after Super Mario Brothers, 6 Golden Coins borrows heavily from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. The overworld map allows you to tackle each of the game’s six zones in any order you choose, and in doing so you’ll explore an enormous mechanical Mario, the insides of a haunted pumpkin, and of course, Space. Also unique to this entry is the magic carrot power up, which gives Mario’s cap rabbit ears and allows him to float past obstacles. Furthermore, one of the boss fights pits Mario against the three little pigs, so, that’s pretty great too, I guess. - Zach Ryan
By now, everyone and their mom knows that Super Mario Bros. 2 was originally released as a completely different game (Doki Doki Panic, in case you’ve never read an issue of Nintendo Power). But, in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? It’s still a supremely polished and unique platformer that just so happens to star your favorite Nintendo characters. Set inside a dream, Super Mario Bros. 2 let’s you choose between Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, or Toad, and utilize each character’s special skills to toss vegetables, find potions and lift enemies over your head throughout the game’s seven worlds. While Lost Levels is often considered the “true” Super Mario Bros. 2, this adventure introduced several series mainstays like Birdo, the Shy Guys, and most importantly, a sense of verticality to each level that would become essential to future games in the series. - Zach Ryan
Not only is Super Mario 3D World one of the very best games on the Wii U, but it stands tall as one of Mario’s absolute best adventures. It builds upon the diorama-feel of 3D Land by making the stages larger, filling them with interesting puzzles, and constantly switching up the aesthetic. You can also play through all of 3D World alongside three friends, which makes for some of the absolute best multiplayer the series has ever offered. Finally, it pulls in a ton of classic Mario power-ups, while also introducing a few that pretty much need to be in every Mario adventure for the rest of time. Seriously, once you see Mario and pals wearing cat costumes then cloning themselves using Double Cherries, your life will never be the same again. - Marty Sliva
Though Galaxy 2 practically perfected the formula of its predecessor, the original Super Mario Galaxy is no intergalactic slouch. The first 3D Mario following Sunshine, Galaxy revitalized this line of the Nintendo series with an inventive gravity-based hook, an out-of-this-world design, and smart mechanics that took advantage of the Wii but never felt like cumbersome inclusions. Galaxy smartly played with the idea of Mario’s momentum, centering puzzles around flinging, flying, and falling through space in a continually surprising and satisfying adventure for the former plumber. And for a franchise that redefined camera control on consoles, Galaxy limits that freedom but smartly uses fixed and tracking angles to feed into the game’s sense of discovery and puzzle solving. Galaxy may not have defined a genre in the way Mario 64 did, but it married an important spark of creative with gorgeous artwork to propel Mario to new heights…literally. - Jonathon Dornbush
You could write a book on how Super Mario Bros. not only helped save the video game industry, but also paved the way for the 30 years of our medium that followed. It solidified our fearless plumber as an icon synonymous with video games. It offered a perfectly-tuned challenge while also encouraging exploration and experimentation. And it gave players a sense of ownership via Mario’s pinpoint inertia that had rarely been seen in games before that. But apart from the NES masterpiece’s undeniable mark on history, it’s the little details that stick with us after all this time. Like the way that the clouds are just palette-swapped bushes. Or how the increased tempo of Koji Kondo’s incredible score is matched with the dwindling timer. There’s a reason Super Mario Bros. has been re-released about a hundred times in the past three decades -- simply put, it’s one of the foundations of our medium. - Marty Sliva
Not unlike the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2, Yoshi’s Island is only a Mario game in title alone. At the time of its release, Nintendo was afraid their American audience wouldn’t be interested in a Yoshi game and thus added the Super Mario World 2 prefix. Regardless, the game is, categorically, a work of art. Led by Tekashi Tezuka, the team at Nintendo EAD crafted one of the most enduring and expansive platformers of all time. Its hand drawn art style gave the adventure a bespoke and timeless quality that surpassed what most thought the Super Nintendo was capable of, even at the end of its life cycle. Moreover, Yoshi’s Island stacks systems on top of systems. You’ll platform your way through 48 levels, generating and tossing eggs at enemies, hunting for red coins and flowers, and even transform into a helicopter to uncover a metric ton of secrets and protect Baby Mario from would be kidnappers, in an adventure that puts Yoshi in the spotlight where he belongs. - Zach Ryan
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is to 3D Mario games as Super Mario Bros. 3 is to the 2D iterations: pure platforming goodness. Coming so quickly on the heels of Galaxy 1, SMG 2 is not nearly as surprising as its predecessor, but it is so much more refined. Focusing on pushing players from one level to the next rather than having them explore for challenges, SMG 2 hones in on what made the first game such a breath of fresh air while making smart tweaks and additions to the formula. The inclusion of Yoshi and new powers like the Drill and Cloud suits only further push the possibilities of the gravity-based challenges. But more so than just throwing new ideas at an already solid foundation, Galaxy 2 feels like a culmination of so many ideas from past Mario experiences pieced together in a brilliant platformer that, even at its most difficult, is still a joy to play. - Jonathon Dornbush
Super Mario World expanded on the potential of a Mario game to be more than just a level-completing platformer challenge, but that challenge has rarely been as pixel perfect as it is in Super Mario Bros. 3. While establishing the series’ penchant for secrets (the Warp Whistle in World 1-3 is still one of the 8-bit generation’s best surprises), SMB 3 also delivered on some truly difficult challenges throughout its eight kingdoms. From the hilarious perspective shifts of Giant Land to the brutal challenge of Dark Land, SMB 3 never lacked for inventive world design, all while setting a precedent for Mario worlds and power-ups in future installments. After all, there are few wardrobe changes better than the Tanooki Suit. - Jonathon Dornbush
Much has been made of Super Mario 64’s influence on game design and how it nails “feel” and control in a 3D environment. How it’s hard to resist wasting minutes in the opening castle garden just running, jumping, and flipping about. Or how thoughtful it is about introducing players to 3D platforming – the game actually has you meet your Lakitu cameraman! But what is most notable about the game is how fresh, fun, and playable it still feels today, a full 21 years later, despite being part of an era of games whose graphics haven’t aged gracefully.
If you think Mario 64 finds its way into Top 10s merely on pedigree and influence alone, give it another go. It takes the concept of multiple stage exits from its 2D predecessors and presents us with perfect little playgrounds filled with tasks and scavenger hunts of carefully escalating difficulty levels. At the core of this timeless game system is a physics engine that lets you have fun with mass, weight, inertia, size, and even time. It’s obvious the designers carefully placed each block, seesaw, slide, trap, and enemy to challenge and delight. It may not be the single greatest Mario game on our list, but there’s no denying that Super Mario 64 is a rare timeless 3D classic of the highest quality. - Peer Schneider
Super Mario World took everything that was great about Mario on the original Nintendo, and multiplied it by at least 100. As a testament to its pitch perfect gameplay and outright , Super Mario World appears in the number one spot of countless “Greatest of All Time” lists, and for good reason. Built on the framework of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World expanded the overworld map, introduced more challenges and powers, and packed more secrets into a 16-bit cart then anyone could have anticipated back in 1990. Super Mario World’s biggest contribution the future of the franchise is, without a doubt, it’s emphasis on exploration. Some levels contain multiple paths and exits, which in turn reveal switch palaces, secret levels and even entire secret worlds filled with some of the most challenging platforming levels ever created.
Mechanically, it’s a dream to play. Every jump, every fireball, and every cape spin perform exactly the same as the one before it, and this reliability allows masterful players to navigate Dinosaur Lands whopping 96 levels with the fluidity of someone composing a symphony. On top of this, the game is full of little details and charm in some of the best sprite animation to this day. When Mario jumps, his hat pops off his head just a bit, when he flies, he holds the corners of his cape to catch the wind. Animations that would seem commonplace now showed an attention to detail and added an enormous amount of character to every action and solidified Mario, and his goofy supporting cast of friends and enemies, as Nintendo mainstays, not just on the NES, but forever. - Zach Ryan
Which Mario game holds a special place in your heart? Discuss your favorite Mario memories and moments in the comments below.
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