Table of Contents
Which Best Mario Games? Where do you even start to put them in order? Let’s be honest, any of the top 10 games could easily be the best. All of them could be someone’s “best game ever,” and there will always be someone who thinks The Lost Levels was the best in the series. You have the right to have that opinion! We asked Nintendo Life readers to rank the mainline Mario games they had played so we could answer this question definitively. The result is the list you see below.
proving that the franchise continues to grab our imagination and entertain us in equal measure. The Mario series has evolved and changed with the times, going in imaginative new ways that shook up the basic platforming concept, jumping from 2D animation to 3D, and exploring beyond of the Mushroom Kingdom. We’ve taken a look back at the iconic series, from its beginnings to its most recent instalments. So, without further ado, continue reading and join us as we celebrate the best Mario games.
Here is the list of Best Mario Games
Super Mario Galaxy
It’s the most thematically consistent title on a list of fantastic games. If Mario games are typically confident, the first Galaxy for the Wii understood it aspired to be a maximalist masterpiece a la Sgt. Pepper’s or our Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It’s the result of Super Mario 64’s best teachings, Sunshine’s secret levels, and Super Mario World’s sense of exploration and wonder.
It was such a terrific game that Nintendo took the unusual and astounding step of recreating it with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Galaxy 2 may feature more innovative levels, but we’d be fooling ourselves if we didn’t consider presentation, and the first game sings in ways that its successor does not.
Super Mario World
This is the only 2D Mario game that anyone needs. It’s an advancement of Super Mario 3, to be sure, but as the Super Nintendo’s debut title, it needed to be more. It needed to be brighter. It was necessary to repeat even more secrets. It needed a better tale and more characters. And it had to be simple enough for any new gamer to pick up and play.
While the earlier Mario games were quite difficult, World made design and power sacrifices to make it easy and fun for anybody to revisit. It reserved the most difficult trials for the most determined participants. Aside from running and jumping, World provided Mario with his first significant increase to his fundamental move sets.
Super Mario Odyssey
Odyssey is the best Super Mario game ever produced, and it’s the best Switch game if you’re seeking for a Mario title. 30 years after his debut adventure, the plumber continues to surprise players at every step in Super Mario Odyssey. This warmly nostalgic journey proves to be thrillingly inventive, whether it’s inhabiting a T-Rex thanks to some magical headwear or revisiting a certain legendary castle from Mario 64.
Cappy, a live, breathing hat who makes the plumber’s platforming tricks more ridiculous than ever, provides a lot of the excitement in Odyssey. Who says an ancient Nintendo mascot can’t be taught new tricks? Yes, he can still ground-pound, stomp Goombas, and dodge Bullet Bills, but you can also transform into Goombas, Bullet Bills, and a variety of other beasts.
Super Mario 64
Mario’s first 3D game is not only one of the best games ever developed, but it is also probably the most influential title of all time. While it did not invent the concept of 3D gameplay, Mario 64 nailed it right away with an amazing swagger. The fact that a 1996 platformer still outperforms the bulk of PS5 and Xbox Series X games is plain ludicrous.
Is that camera a bit shaky? Sure. Despite this, Mario’s N64 debut has barely aged a day in terms of raw gameplay appeal – it is, after all, one of the best N64 games of all time. Playing Mario 64 on Switch via Super Mario 3D All-Stars allows you to experience the kind of unbridled inventiveness that would come to define Mario Odyssey 21 years later.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
A list would be incomplete without Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. We had to give it to TYD after a tough struggle between the classic Paper Mario and the fantastic Super Mario RPGs: Legend of the Seven Stars. There’s a reason this game is so popular. Unlike other Mario games, this is a 2D RPG with a few non-traditional RPG aspects.
Mario is on a quest to Rogue Town with a slew of unusual allies in search of and eventually saving Princess Peach. However, not everything is as it appears in Rogue Town. This game is just wonderful. It’s the perfect combination of RPG wonder and platforming, as well as unique story-telling and incredible gaming mechanics.
Super Mario Maker 2
Super Mario Maker was one of the best Wii U titles, and while it was pioneering, it suffered from a number of constraints. So, when Super Mario Maker 2 was published on the Switch, it filled in all of the gaps from the original game, allowing gamers to get even more creative with their nasty death traps.
The entire online community allows you to publish your wacky courses for others to play as well as browse innovative fan-made levels that you’d never see in a Mario game. Another feature that distinguishes Super Mario Maker 2 is the inclusion of a story mode. Overall, it is one of the best Mario Games that you can download from official website.
Super Mario Bros. 3
There is a widely held assumption that such lists should be objective. Super Mario Odyssey clearly has the larger budget, more levels, and better graphics. We should throw out my recollections of huddling with our cousins in front of a little smart TVs, taking turns playing Super Mario Bros. 3. Or maybe we should stop marathoning this game at the dentist’s office, showing other youngsters how to get two warp whistles and immediately travel to the final world.
The first game that we and many others recall playing, even if it wasn’t the first game we ever played? The truth is that Super Mario Bros. 3 is pure, unadulterated fun. The simple activities of moving and jumping are enjoyable. The levels of creativity that teach and iterate on gimmicks are masterpieces. The thrill of gathering stuff and exploring planet captivates the imagination.
Super Mario Sunshine
Much has been said about Super Mario Sunshine, both positively and negatively. While it isn’t as amazing as previous major 3D Mario releases, the bar has been set so high that Sunshine should be appreciated on its own. It is also, without a doubt, one of the most amusing games we have ever played. Even after only briefly revisiting the game for this list, we couldn’t quit smiling at Sunshine’s absurd situations and terrible speech.
Even when we were kids, the “Mama Peach” cutscene was so unsettling that my friends and we spent weeks deconstructing it. Sunshine will always have a place in history for this reason, in our opinion. It catches everything of 2002’s awkwardness, and it should be saved long after we have left this mortal coil.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury takes everything that made the Wii U original so wonderful and adds a slew of subtle gameplay adjustments to make it even better. The first four-player 3D Mario game brilliantly combines the openness of the third dimension with the spirit of his 2D games’ tighter, more limited courses.
The cooperative multiplayer game mode reinstated Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad as playable characters, duplicating the lineup of Super Mario Bros. 2. Cat Mario and Captain Toad were also introduced here, with the latter’s special stages leading to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, a standalone adventure. Super Mario 3D World is a colourful and unintimidating introduction to a wider Super Mario world, as well as a thrill for Z-axis veterans.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Nintendo provided us a rare pleasure with Super Mario Galaxy 2: a direct sequel to one of its best titles. While everybody who played and fell in love with Super Mario Galaxy would have been pleased to hear that there will be more, the expectations could not have been higher. Galaxy 2 somehow improved on the original’s ingenuity, turning up colour dial to eleventy-stupid.
With a large range of locales and obstacles, plus Yoshi and a slew of new power-ups, this was Nintendo tearing up the rule book and pasting it back together in exciting, surprising ways, showing its beefed-up and confidently inventive muscles after the first game. It’s an absolutely fantastic time. Although it is not included in the Switch’s 3D All-Stars collection, this game is well worth hunting down a Wii for if you missed it.
Final Words
Here is a list of the best Mario games ever made. Mario has become a household name throughout the world as the star of the biggest-selling video game franchise of all time, with some of the most adored and critically-acclaimed games from the early NES days to the Switch. Whether it’s the latest revolutionary 3D platformer Odyssey, a sporty spin-off like Mario Strikers, or the build-your-own levels of Mario Maker, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of gamers have played at least one Mario game throughout their lives.