GotGame: Mario is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of his series (oh and Luigi too we suppose). As our own personal celebration, we’ve been replaying the plumbers best games, and we've even ranked them for your reading pleasure. Without further adieu, here are the top 16 mainline Mario games.
After being benched for 20 years, and returning only to be forsaken again despite being a splendid game, it's time Kid Icarus gets salvation.
The Nintendo Switch is potentially nearing its lifespan, and several Wii U games haven't found their way over as ports yet.
I think it's better to leave games like AC: Amiibo Festival and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash forgotten on the Wii U. Best case, they are mediocre games; worse case, they are very bad. It was a dark time for the Wii U, and the first only exists to sell Amiibo cards, whereas the second was put together in a couple of months with a shoestring budget, and it shows.
The rest of the list does have some really cool games, though. I would love to see a remake of Star Fox Zero with decent controls, and Xenoblade X doesn't require that much modification to work.
Same as Paper Mario color splash. One of the best wiiu games and getting even better with dual screen. Same reason why i prefer Splatoon 1
This article leaves out Nintendo's most controversial game to date devils Third.
I personally found the cover system really fun in that one compared to at the time most fps games completely lacking one.
Kirby is always ignored or forgotten by people, so good to see it mentioned here.
Play Kirby Canvas Curse on DS, and then play Rainbow Curse on Wii U, they're really fun and unique 'platformers' without any actual jumping.
“There are many iconic platformers yet Kid Chameleon is rarely discussed so allow me to shine the spotlight on this retro treasure.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
Enough
Swap Mario 64 and Sunshine because sunshine was way better and fixed all Mario 64's problems. It was a fantastic game.
New Super Mario Bros U higher than Super Mario 3D World, wut?
super mario 64 was pure magic to me... jumping in those pictures, the music, the system, the time.. still to this day ill play it on the wii with my gamecube controller
Super Mario World, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario 64 are definitely the top games in the series with all the rest following behind. Only people who think differently are NES and Wii fanboys who choose the game they have the most nostalgia with. I've played them all except Galaxy(Wii Remote Sucks Compared To Traditional Mario Games) and these ones where definitely in the top 5. 3D World had a horrible camera and lot's of levels just felt overused without anything really amazing. It's a very overrated and average Wii U game. Only people who I've known to fanboy over Galaxy are people who actually like the Wii Remote and I personally hate the thing so I will never experience that game.
Don't let nostalgia or your inner fanboy decide the best Mario games. Super Mario World looked and played better than the original Bros series. Super Mario 64 was original as hell in every way for the series. Super Mario Sunshine fixed everything wrong with 64 as far as graphics and gameplay while also giving Mario a new original story which was awesome. New Super Mario Bros and the Wii U version feel average to me without anything really original or amazing while also controlling worse than all of the original 2D Mario games. I've never played the Galaxy series except a little of the beginning but I can't compare it to the other games simply because it uses motion controls/wii remote which in my opinion are worse than traditional controllers every other Mario game has. Galaxy should not be in the same list because if it is I simply can't put it in the top 5. Super Mario 3D World has the same issues as the New Super Mario Bros games in which it just feels like nothing amazing or original if not lacking even more when compared to previous 3D Mario games.
On a side note* I read a little of the article and noticed that the author mentioned after Super Mario 64 the 3D Mario space stagnated because it lacked anything new until Galaxy? To this day I still think F.L.U.D.D was very original and a great idea to give us something new for the Mario series. In my opinion the game is just as amazing as Super Mario 64 and it even played better. New Super Mario Bros and 3D World are far less original than Sunshine yet he ranks them higher saying they are more original. He also rates the Galaxy series the highest because he things they were the only good Mario game since Super Mario 64. I've played a little bit of Galaxy(Not enough to rank it or give a real solid opinion), but it reminded of the horrible parts in Sunshine where you get F.L.U.D.D taken away and you feel very under powered. That was the feeling I got from playing Galaxy for a few minutes, I think those parts are where Nintendo got their Idea for the Galaxy series. I think the only reason Galaxy is so high up there is because of all the casuals who bought a Wii and that was their first Mario game. Because let's be honest it is probably the most played Mario game simply because of how many Wiis were sold compared to all of their other consoles.