10. New Super Mario Bros. 2 - Nintendo 3DS
A sequel to the 2006 original revival of the 2D Mario series was confusing, to say the least, ever since there was already another iteration previously released and another one ready to be launched 4 months after New Super Mario Bros. 2. has an amazing and well-performed concept of bringing back the best of the classic Super Mario and revamping it in a modern and good-looking way, but this entry felt pretty lacky in level design, and nothing but a coin-rush was added as a new interesting feature. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is not a bad game, but it wasn’t anything we needed.
9. Super Mario Run - iOS & Android
The world got shocked when Nintendo first announced this game as it was during a time in which Nintendo was struggling financially with the Wii U and lots of people thought the company would go software-only. Luckily that didn’t happen, and it’s nice to see Nintendo getting out of their bubble, but Super Mario Run was a good game for its price and it was very awesome not to have micro-transactions as we only have to pay once to get the full game; and while it’s an amazing mobile game, it’s a Super Mario entry that leaves a lot to be desired.
8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Wii
Remember when we said that New Super Mario Bros. 2 wasn’t necessarily the second entry in the franchise revival, well, here it is the child we talked about. New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii is a game that will bring back some nice memories to millions of people since it was the first Mario game to include multiplayer in its base form and gosh was that a nice experience to go through. This isn’t a bad 2D Mario game at all, but we’ll talk about the better version in a couple of spots.
7. Super Mario Bros. - NES
Super Mario Bros. changed the entertainment industry forever, worth mentioning that it also saved it. A pillar in game design and World 1-1 being one of the most iconic tracks in the history of videogames, Super Mario Bros. is a game that still holds up today and is a must-play if you’re into this form of entertainment, but the controls have gotten a little bit clunky over time and we’ve gotten some better options with the pass of the decades.
6. New Super Mario Bros. U - Wii U & Nintendo Switch
New Super Mario Bros. U is not that different from the Wii version, but it definitely is a better one. Awesome local multiplayer, a fun and distinctive soundtrack, and more importantly: New Super Luigi U, this is the best entry ever since the 2D series was revived, but that doesn’t mean this is a perfect game at all since the “New” formula started to get repetitive and not a lot of stuff was being brought to the table. Nintendo had something under their arms, though, and we’ll talk about that a little bit ahead.
5. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - Gameboy
Super Mario Land is one of those entries that’s mostly forgotten but that doesn’t mean it was bad, at all. Actually, the second entry “6 Golden Coins” holds up as one of the best Mario 2D platformers to date and it’s quite impressive how a hugely creative game was able to run on the Gameboy. Let’s hope for Nintendo to get charitable in the near future for them to add the Gameboy library to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.
4. New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo DS
21 years following the original NES release, New Super Mario Bros. was exactly what Super Mario 2D needed to feel fresh again; an amazing soundtrack, memorable levels, and amazing gameplay are the things the fans and general audience got to experience in this feature-packed game with minigames a la Super Mario 64 DS and a local multiplayer mode that let people compete in special levels. It’s a little bit sad that Nintendo hasn’t done anything with New Super Mario Bros. in almost a decade aside from a Nintendo Switch remaster of the Wii U editions but got something amazing afterward and we’ll talk about it in a bit.
3. Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES
The second entry in the franchise was a little bit too difficult for the western audiences so we got a remake of Doki Doki Panic 2, and while this wasn’t a bad game at all, it didn’t feel like the follow-up to the piece of art that Super Mario Bros. was in the first place. Then we got Super Mario Bros. 3 and you can be sure as hell this was exactly what the world needed. With remarkable music, memorable and new power-ups that would stay in the franchise permanently, and a gameplay formula that hasn’t gotten old, SMB 3 is the type of game that can help an IP settle to stay forever.
2. Super Mario World - SNES
I don’t think there’s a lot to say that hasn’t been saying before at all. Super Mario World is in the list of “Best Videogames of All Time” and that’s not for nothing, especially when there were some skeptical people about the future of Super Mario after the third official entry, this was the one that defined the first half of the decade and still is a staple of game designing, of what you should and shouldn’t do with your game. This title has been luckily able to experience over and over again ever since the Virtual Console was introduced in the Wii Shop, and it’s a title included with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
1. Super Mario Maker - Wii U & Nintendo Switch
Super Mario’s 30th anniversary was a big one; we got lots of different things to celebrate with, but the most important has to be Super Mario Maker. Of course, there were a lot of people who thought it wasn’t that good of an idea to let people create their own Super Mario levels, but easy gameplay along with the wonderful and underappreciated perfection of the Wii U Gamepad gave this game some amazing months of popularity all over the internet as well as the creativity of the thousands of levels created with this Nintendo gem. A sequel was released in the Nintendo Switch family of systems a few years later, and while it didn’t have the same hype the first entry got, it is an amazing experience to be played, whether it is by making your own levels or just playing what other people did.
