Five Greatest Mario Games Of All Time
16 November 2009, 11:15 AM. By Fidel Martinez
Holy nerd on a stick! Nintendo has released a new Mario Bros. game and it’s amazing. In honor of the overall-wearing, princess-saving brothers, here’s a list of the five greatest Mario games of all time. As Mario would say, a-here we go:
#5 Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars
We’ll kick things off with one of the lesser-known titles in the series, Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars. The game makes our list because of its high replay value. It was the first RPG to focus on the Mario Bros, it had a great story and graphics, and you even got a chance to play as Bowser. We realize that RPGs might not be as popular with everyone, but fuck it, this game was shitloads of fun.
#4 Mario Kart 64
It wouldn’t be a complete list if we didn’t include a Mario Kart game. Mario Kart 64, in our opinion, is the best of them all because it was the first time four people could play at the same time. Like orgies, video games are better when more people are involved. In addition to the racing element, the game also featured a battle mode, which provided us with hundreds of hours of entertainment.
#3 Super Mario 64
Our minds were blown when we first played Super Mario 64. The images were sublime, and it made full use of the Nintendo 64’s capabilities. Even better was how the game broke away from the sidescroller format and it let you wander around. We would have this game higher up on our list if it weren’t for Luigi’s absence (he’s not even a secret character, damn it!), and the fact that it was a single-player, so we couldn’t play the game with anyone else.
#2 Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the best-selling titles of all time, and for good reason. It was well crafted, and introduced many features that helped shape the franchise. Some of these include Mario’s ability to fly, the overworld map that tracked your progress through the game, and the shitloads of little secrets built into the storyline. The only reason this game is not #1 is because it was too damn easy. Not only that, but the two flutes allowed lazy punks to skip over most of the levels.
#1 Super Mario World
We had a hard time figuring out which game would get the top spot, but at the end of the day we had to go with Super Mario World as the best in the franchise. The game introduced us to Yoshi, the iconic dinosaur sidekick. Super Mario World was also one of the most complex and challenging games in the Mario series. The game had so many levels that to this day we don’t think we’ve actually finished it all the way through. Super Mario World’s badassery is so great, we recently dropped some good cash to buy the Super Nintendo console just so we could relive our childhood.
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Good calls if I may say, though I wouldn’t say it was easy to beat actual LEVELS in Mario 3. Always used to skip as much of World 7 as possible because the levels were just insane.
As for the new Mario, I guess I can dust off the ole Wii and check it out. It’s hard to downgrade in that way though when I’ve been playing ODST, Modern Warfare 2, and Valkyria Chronicles. Fortunately, I shall always have a soft spot for Mario and crew. We grew up together. =)
Mario 3 had 3 “official” flutes (according to the booklet), but there is a hidden 4th flute, as well. Surprised that wasn’t mentioned.
You’re right, though to get to the final world, you only really needed two.
Where was the fourth one? One in the castle and then the one where you dropped down through the white square and then one in the dessert level where you break the rock at the top right of the map.
There were 3 flutes in super mario bros 3
I suppose I mostly agree, though Mario Kart 64 is the second best of the kart franchise. Mario Kart DS, from a purely gameplay standpoint is number one. It’s got more tracks, online play and it fits in your pocket! But I guess from a nostalgic standpoint, I do have some awfully fond memories of playing 64 with my friends as a kid.
Super Mario World is available on the Wii.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Virtual_Console_games_%28North_America%29#Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System
Also the Super Mario Bros 1 for the Will remembers the high score over sessions.
Super Mario Bros #1 isn’t listed?????? Its better than Kart 64 which gets boring after awhile. Super Mario 1 is original classic! For a time it was the only reason to own NES. Screwed up list.
First of all, Mario 3 was not too easy, a lot of the World 8 levels were suitably hard. Just because you could get to the final world with whistles, doesn’t mean once you got there it was easy (without the items you could accumulate instead of using the whistles). Second of all, Super Mario World was easier than Mario 3, especially if you’re talking about possible skips to the end, so your reasoning doesn’t make any sense!
# 4, and 5 are not Mario games, they have Mario in them, but they’re not Mario games.
Also, both the original Mario Kart and Mario Kart wii are way better than Mario Kart 64
The original Super Mario Bros. was awesome and I’ll forever have great memories of spending as much eight hours a day playing that game when I was a kid. Still can’t believe how much that game has evolved since then.
What ever happened to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island?
This was the most beautiful side-scroller of its time, and getting through the game 100% was fiendishly difficult! It also had an interesting play mechanic, and was long and fun. Worthy of at least top-three inclusion!
needs moar Super Smash Bros. Melee.
SMRPG should be in the top 3. Make that change and at least the top 3 will be right. Super Mario 64 wasn’t really even that good. At least not good enough for top 3.