NintedoNintendo’s Super Mario collection is so monumental to the medium of video video games that you just would possibly even consider the mustached plumber if you hear “video games” talked about in any respect. From his earliest days as “Jumpman” battling Donkey Kong to his newest adventures on the Nintendo Switch, Mario has constantly been one of many best characters in video video games. He’s such an amazing character that numerous video video games have been with him because the star, and we tried to rank them.
For our record, we had two predominant standards. First, the video games must be platformers – both 2D or 3D. This eliminates Mario sports activities video games, the Mario Kart collection, role-playing video games, and Mario Party. Secondly, the video games must have Mario himself because the lead character. This eradicated Super Mario Land 3 and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. In the tip, we have been left with 18 video games. None of them are dangerous, however we did have to call a loser. We additionally selected to omit The Lost Levels and as a substitute thought-about Super Mario Bros. 2 because the definitive second sport within the collection.
This is the Super Mario collection, ranked from finest to worst.
1. Super Mario 64
Making the bounce from side-scrolling 2D to 3D platforming for Super Mario 64 was a dangerous transfer for Nintendo and the Mario collection, nevertheless it succeeded in a method few different video games ever had. Mario’s working, leaping, and flipping interprets completely to the Nintendo 64’s polygonal visible model, with inventive ranges encouraging exploration and problem-solving along with conventional platforming.
Super Mario 64 is among the few 3D platformers from the 64-bit period that has aged gracefully, and it’s simply as playable in 2019 because it was when the Nintendo 64 launched greater than 20 years earlier. Perhaps most significantly, nevertheless, is that it was the primary mainline Mario sport to star Charles Martinet – a job that has been iconic ever since.
2. Super Mario Odyssey
Nintendo bizarrely selected to disregard the method established in Super Mario 64 with future Mario video games … or a minimum of the corporate did earlier than creating Super Mario Odyssey. Set in a collection of huge, open environments crammed with platforming challenges and secrets and techniques, Odyssey is Nintendo platforming at its perfect. The character “Cappy” permits Mario to show into practically any object, giving him dozens of latest talents and choices for beating ranges.
The sport’s attractive mixture of lifelike foliage with Mario’s basic cartoony body makes it hilarious at each flip, as nicely, and Odyssey’s jazzy soundtrack and artistic 2D segments make it one of the creative video games within the collection but.

3. Super Mario World
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System had lots to show, as Sega had crushed it to the 16-bit market with the Genesis. Naturally, Nintendo selected Mario to guide the cost and delivered the endlessly enjoyable Super Mario World. Though the sport adopted the identical primary method as the unique sport and Super Mario Bros. 3, its elevated use of things and various forged of enemies make it, in contrast to some other Mario title.
Spin-jumping to save lots of your self from loss of life grew to become a staple for the collection due to Super Mario World, and the sport’s cheery visible and audio model can brighten anybody’s day. And then, after all, there’s Yoshi – we fell head over heels in love with the inexperienced dinosaur and have Super Mario World to thank.
4. Super Mario Bros. 3
Nintendo went in a really totally different course with Super Mario Bros. 2, and it was one which not all followers may recognize. For Super Mario Bros. 3, the collection went again to its platforming, enemy-stomping roots, however the sport wasn’t a easy rehash of the unique.
Instead, it launched inventive sub-bosses that you just’d combat in your approach to Bowser, together with extra power-ups and loopy secrets and techniques that would let you skip a portion of the sport. Perhaps its solely weak spot was its artwork model, which was meant to resemble a stage play however as a substitute appeared virtually lifeless compared to the opposite video games.
5. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Nintendo doesn’t usually make direct sequels to its video games, because it tends to change them in important and basic methods with every launch. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is among the exceptions to this rule, as the primary Wii sport’s huge recognition and success made it an apparent candidate for a follow-up.
Galaxy 2 retains the identical planet-exploring gameplay model of its predecessor however brings Yoshi again to the social gathering. The dinosaur can eat enemies and even sprint up vertical surfaces, resulting in inventive and difficult obstacles.
6. Super Mario Bros.
Is there any degree in video video games extra iconic than Super Mario Bros.’ World 1-1? Super Mario Bros. not solely revolutionized platforming video games when it launched in 1985, nevertheless it additionally helped to revive the online game medium itself. The Nintendo Entertainment System wanted a console-seller to persuade households dwelling gaming was viable after the online game crash of 1983, and Super Mario Bros. led the way in which. Since then, Mario has battled Bowser to save lots of Princess Peach, and we’d return to the primary sport any day.
7. Super Mario Galaxy
The Wii’s motion-control scheme made it the console of selection for youthful gamers and people much less aware of video video games themselves, however Nintendo didn’t dumb down Mario when it launched Super Mario Galaxy. The sport blended the wonderful 3D platforming first established in 64 with attractive space-themed environments. It highlighted the strengths of the Wii with out emphasizing its technical limitations, and its waggle and pointing controls helped to introduce a complete new approach to play video games.
8. Super Mario 3D Land
The Wii’s distinctive options have been instantly obvious to all gamers, however the 3DS didn’t have the identical luck with its glasses-free 3D know-how – a minimum of not immediately. When Super Mairo 3D Land launched, nevertheless, it began to make sense.
The course-based 3D platformer felt like the sooner 2D video games have been merely given a 3rd dimension, and with the power to raised gauge jumps by making use of the 3D know-how, 3D Land stays one of many tightest-controlling 3D platformers ever. Sure, it didn’t reinvent the wheel, nevertheless it actually made it lots simpler to make use of.
9. Super Mario 3D World
Left with out the 3D capabilities of the 3DS, Nintendo nonetheless developed a house console follow-up to Super Mario 3D Land with Super Mario 3D World. The Wii U unique cherry-picked components from older Mario video games, together with Super Mario Bros. 2’s a number of playable characters, and the brand new cat swimsuit power-up makes for problem-solving that was merely unattainable within the collection earlier than. It additionally launched “Captain Toad” ranges, and although the lack of true 3D on the Wii U did make it somewhat harder to play than its little sibling, Super Mario 3D World is a method practically perfected.
10. Super Mario Sunshine
NintendoCentral/YouTubePerhaps essentially the most experimental sport within the collection since Super Mario Bros. 2, the GameDice-exclusive Super Mario Sunshine threw Mario onto a tropical paradise armed along with his trusty F.L.U.D.D. cannon. The multi-purpose machine gave Mario the power to wash up gunk on the bottom, carry out acrobatic maneuvers, and even simply hearth at enemies.
Sunshine represented Nintendo at a time when the corporate had as soon as once more develop into an underdog, and its daring transfer away from commonplace Mario conventions emphasised the scrappy design philosophy. Despite this, Sunshine hasn’t aged significantly nicely, with a finicky digicam making it arduous to come back again to.
11. New Super Mario Bros. U
A refined tackle the New Super Mario Bros. method, New Super Mario Bros. U isn’t precisely the life-changing expertise of the primary sport or Super Mario 64, nevertheless it’s well-designed Nintendo platforming with a wholesome dose of humor and whimsy.
Freezing Dry Bones and sending fireballs and Bowser’s minions stays a complete lot of enjoyable within the Wii U sport, the Switch’s New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe bundles in additional challenges and the New Super Luigi mode for much more platforming goodness.

12. Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2 was by no means even presupposed to be a Mario sport. What started as Doki Doki Panic in Japan was given an all-new Mario aesthetic for launch in North America, the place the Lost Levels model of the sport was deemed too troublesome.
You throw greens at enemies as a substitute of leaping on their heads and there are only a few recognizable characters, however it might be unfair to color Super Mario Bros. 2 as a foul sport. It simply doesn’t really feel like a Mario sport, again from a time when Nintendo hadn’t nailed down the collection’ staple options but.
13. New Super Mario Bros.
NintendoCentral/YouTubeNew Super Mario Bros. looks as if an oxymoron at this level, however again when the sport launched for the Nintendo DS, it had been years since followers had gotten a 2D Mario sport. Built for traditional Mario gamers and that includes the collection’ well-known Goomba and Koopa enemies, it however had its personal distinctive mechanics, such because the Mega Mushroom, and confirmed that the trendy artwork model was nonetheless completely fitted to two dimensions.
14. New Super Mario Bros. 2
Balancing issue and enjoyable for youthful gamers has at all times been on the coronary heart of the Mario collection, however Nintendo stumbled with New Super Mario Bros. 2. The sport was primarily based virtually solely across the idea of amassing cash, with sure power-ups supplying you with an obscene of them with out something to offset this. You can simply get via your entire sport in a day, and but you’ll really feel little satisfaction after truly ending it. New Super Mario Bros. 2 nonetheless has the basic Mario platforming controls, however not a lot else.
15. Super Mario Run
For years, Nintendo resisted placing its video games on cellular gadgets, however after paving the way in which with purposes like Miitomo, the corporate lastly launched Super Mario Run. Essentially a tap-to-jump tackle the New Super Mario Bros. method, Super Mario Run doesn’t provide the identical exploration-heavy platforming challenges of its large siblings, however its easy management scheme and basic Mario aptitude are nonetheless each welcome on telephones. Its pricing scheme — $10 to unlock all ranges – can be affordable, and it’s the right sport to play whilst you wait to return dwelling to your consoles.
16. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The GameDice was one of many weakest-selling Nintendo consoles ever, however its follow-up, the Wii, was certainly one of its largest hits. Unfortunately, that often meant Nintendo launched bare-bones variations of its video games, realizing informal followers can be considering them anyway.
This was the case with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a sport that launched a handful of latest power-ups and multiplayer choices however did little else to separate itself from the pack. Still, the Wii Remote was the right controller for the easy platformer, making it one of many best-selling video games of all-time.
17. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
PenguinNintendoAge/YouTubeSuper Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is probably going the sport followers have been hoping for the primary time round, because it offered a gameplay expertise much like the NES and SNES, albeit with the gross greenish graphics of the unique Game Boy programs. Some of the power-ups featured in these video games have been additionally included in Super Mario Land 2, and it launched us to everybody’s favourite portly, grasping anti-hero: Wario. Still, there are many higher choices for enjoying Mario on the go right this moment, together with Super Mario Bros.
18. Super Mario Land
Game Boy homeowners hoping to expertise a full-fledged Mario journey on the go have been seemingly upset when Super Mario Land launched – if they might persuade themselves it wasn’t the very best sport on this planet on the time. Super Mario Land saved the essential skeleton of its console brethren however used a putrid artwork model, low-quality tunes (together with some public area music).
At the time, it was nonetheless revolutionary to play one thing like this on a system you can slot in your pocket, and it did experiment with totally different gameplay types, however Super Mario Land pales compared to what got here subsequent.