Super Mario Oyunu
Alpha Knows
Let's face it, any of the top 10 could justifiably take the top spot. Any of them could easily and understandably be somebody's 'best game of all time', and there'll always be someone who believes the series peaked with The Lost Levels. That's an opinion, and you're entitled to it!
So, go get the definitive 'Best Mario game', we've asked you lovely Nintendo Life readers to rate the mainline Mario games you've played and the result is the ranked list you see below. Remember: the order below is updated in real time according to each game's User Rating on Nintendo Life. You can affect the ranking of this list at any point! Feel free to rate the ones you've played with a score out of ten by clicking the 'star'. And, if you're interested in Team Nintendo Life's personal takes, check out our video at the very end of the article, but the list below is based on the opinions of you lovely lot. Enjoy!
We've also taken the liberty of excluding compilations and certain ports to avoid repetition (the GBA 'Advance' ports, for instance), plus we've gone with the Switch versions of New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World.
Super Mario Run served as Nintendo's first foray into mobile gaming (unless you count the ill-fated Miitomo). On its own terms, it's a solid effort with clever compromises to allow for the one-touch control scheme, and a great translation of the plumbers' 2D oeuvre into the smartphone space. Mario runs automatically, vaulting over enemies and small obstacles, and you pull off tricks by tapping at the right moment, jumping high or low depending on how long you hold your finger on the screen. The fact that it looks so much like an entry in the 'New' branch of 2D Marios perhaps set expectations higher than they might have been for the first Mario game to appear on non-Nintendo hardware (for a very long time, at least), but this is a classy example of transitioning a beloved character and series to a totally different platform while embracing the differences of that platform with a tailormade experience.
It wasn't until Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES that the wider world got to experience this game (which is where it picked up its 'Lost Levels' moniker). It's not bad by any means, but it's the sort of thing that would be a New Game+ mode in a modern game. It's incredibly unforgiving and lacks the careful, considered balance of risk and reward associated with Mario platformers. It's available on Switch for anyone with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, so test your mettle with it there if you dare.
Super Mario Land was an impressive accomplishment in 1989. The sequel might have made this first shot at translating the plumber's platforming to the overworked, underpowered handheld seem quaint by comparison, but it's still a fun Super Mario experience, albeit a short one. Crafted by Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1 rather than Shigeru Miyamoto's team, it's a surreal yet compelling take on the template which takes some adjusting to nowadays. And just when things are really getting good, the credits roll.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is an impressive package, offering madcap multiplayer and glimpses of the outrageous invention that was to come in Super Mario Odyssey. It's a top-drawer 2D entry and arguably the best of the 'New' branch whether you play on Wii U or Switch, although ageing visuals and the irritation of being kicked back to the world map after every death stand out as things that could have been finessed in this Deluxe version. Still, with New Super Luigi U included, this is a very fine 2D Mario (and Luigi) package, even if Wonder makes everything that came before look a little staid and static.
Super Mario Bros. 2 (or Super Mario USA when this famously reskinned, plumberised form of Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic made its way back to Japan), was the follow-up to Super Mario Bros., with platforming mechanics quite different from the original. It introduced the ability to lift and throw objects and a screen that scrolled left and right and up and down.
If you've never played Super Mario 64, you'll probably want to begin as nature intended with the home console version due to its vastly superior control system. This remake controls too awkwardly on original DS hardware to compare favourably to the N64 launch title. Still, Super Mario 64 DS takes a stone-cold classic and augments it with new characters, minigames, and tweaks that make a playthrough more than worthwhile, especially if you've played the original to death.
While divisive among fans of the 8- and 16-bit classics, there's no denying the popularity of the 'New' series. The original New Super Mario Bros. opened up 2D Mario to an entirely new generation, even if gives off a 'been there, done that' vibe these days. We dinosaurs can pine for our pixels and the 'classic' games, or wax lyrical about the myriad enhancements Mario Wonder brought with it, but that shouldn't detract from this remarkably solid Mario platformer. Absolutely essential it is not, but there's plenty to like in Mario's oldest New adventure.
Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy.
And just like the Zelda one the newer version of Mario is on the top what a surprise, anyway I still think Super Mario Galaxy 2 or 1 hard too choose are the best Mario games Odyssey is good but not galaxy level and Sunshine deserves more love
I don't think Odyssey is the best Mario game. Based on nostalgic reasons I would probably choose SMW or SM64, as I played them so much as a kid, and they are still fun to play today. As is SML1 and 2.
This for me is based upon time spent and impact the games had on me. The N64 was the first console I saved for and purchased myself and Mario 64 was incredible compared to anything else at the time. Super Mario Bros. 3 though was (is) just magically, the variety the structure. Watching the film The Wizard and seeing it in the final showdown. It was in every magazine at the time. I remember seeing it in Total and then reading the guides. Great game.
I know it's just my opinion, but I'd place Galaxy (the first one) on the top, with 64 and Odyseey tied for the second place. Odyseey is an amazing game, but it's the most recent game and it has to be on the top (BotW was the 1st on the LoZ list), hence the older games being lower on the list.
I just loved traveling from small planet to small planet. It's one of the most original modern ideas I've ever seen.
I find these list distasteful. Nintendo life has severely disappointed me in the creation of these. I wish I could downvote this to show you how bad of an idea it is trying to rank different games and compare them to one another. You failed miserably in my eyes to adequately prove your reasoning in Zelda. And even worse all you did was stir up more Flame Wars in far spans of the internet.
@Spectra Of course lists like these aren't to be taken seriously. But they can be fun, even though they're purely subjective. I just think you're overly negative in most of your posts, like some other users here. It makes it less fun to be here.
Of course I can just ignore the negativity, but when people whine and complain in the comments of every article, it's just not fun anymore. Why comment at all if you have nothing nice to say (note: this is not aimed at you personally, even though I think you should cheer up a little)?
You could have used at least the 3DS version of Super Mario Maker, that has original levels that are better than those included in New Super Mario Bros. 2, but you chose the Wii U version that doesn't.
Odyssey could very well be the best one, but we all know, with tedious predictability, that like Breath of the Wild's number one last week, it's at a massive advantage here with it being the most recent one, as that's the one you've currently got the hype-frenzied hard-on for. (I mean, you even claimed the fact it has waggle as a plus point...)
Personally I would go for Super Mario World because I think 2D Mario is inherently better than 3D Mario, but I don't have a problem with Odyssey being number one (I just don't fully trust the reasoning or objectivity with these lists).
Am I the only one who was disappointed in Odyssey? I don't think it's bad, it's just not as good as a lot of people are making it out to be.
For me, Galaxy 1 & 2 are the definitive Super Mario experiences.
64 and Galaxy are my favorites because I like that structure of Jumping into a level with a goal, but still having freedom to goof off most of the time. Mario 3 is forever locked as my favorite 2D Mario because of nostalgia of growing up playing it with my late father. Odyssey is great but almost too open. The quantity of moons makes them feel worth far less when you get them too. Mario 3D World was super fun to play co-op with my roommate in college an I hope we get another game in that vane of co-op focused Mario with the different characters. Also playable Rosalina is
Also I don't think Mario Maker belongs on a list like this. I love the game, but it's almost more about creating the levels than playing them, and I feel like it's a separate type of game. And it's in my top 3 most wanted Wii U ports to Switch still.
@Cinaclov Super Mario Sunshine is a bit darker despite the sun shining, it's a hardcore and polished experience. It's a pure platforming challenge so I can understand why it's your favourite. I prefer the most balanced Super Mario 64 but Sunshine is the second best 3D Mario for me.
I guess it's really hard to separate nostalgia from the present when ranking favorites. I know editors' lists can't be taken as any rule because they are always biased in some way, and that's not a criticism. People have their preferences, whatever they might be. At the turn of the century, some lists ranked Hendrix as #1 guitarist, others had Kurt Cobain at the top, where as others placed Johnny Ramone in the top 2 or 3. Insanity is a very individual thing and has its own laws.
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