What is the greatest Super Mario game of all time?

Sonic and Knuckles

Alone better than every Mario game.

@ghosts4ever: Better than any 2D mario, aside from Mario Maker. But I would say several 3d marios, such as odyssey, 64 and galaxy have it beat.

SMB3 in my opinion. I’ll be honest, I haven’t played half of those Mario games.

It's difficult to say, there's several GOATs in there.

World, 64, Maker, Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 2 are probably the top of the top for me.

I guess I'll pick Galaxy 2.

Sonic is a shitty corporate mascot aimed at edgy kids that never achieved more than being average. It was so forced and artificial that to this day Sega never fully managed to conciliated the "designed by focus group" character with an appropriate game design. It's just a marketing product that has little to no influence and legacy in gaming.

Really tough call. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Mario 64, Galaxy 1, Galaxy 2, Maker 2, and Odyssey are all 10/10 games. My nostalgia side wants to go with World but realistically would probably go with Galaxy 2.

There are multiple great Mario games. It is simple to go the brain dead route of "greatest of all time". But, look who is the OP.🤭

^ if it’s so simple, why can’t you do it 😎

Looks like you were too simple to understand my comment.😎

Super Mario World, easily. That was my first Mario game ever, plus the first game I played on the SNES, I believe. It doesn't only hold nostalgia, but the art for the game is beautiful and still holds up. There are secret exits, secret levels, Star Road, plus after beating SR, you enter into what I call the "Halloween" levels for beating the hardest levels the game has to offer. Immensely high replay value.

Odyssey was a joke of a game. I was expecting Mario 64 levels of fun, but instead we got boring levels, boring worlds, gimmick of a hat, and uninspired star locations. What happened to the creativity form 64?

Man that's tough... so many masterpieces. I'd give the edge to Odyssey, as it just felt like a culmination of years of Mario games in one. Absolute masterpiece.

Runner up would have to be Sunshine. Technically other games have it beat, but for me there's always been something special about Sunshine.

@mycatismilk: I was a Sega kid and one day my sister lend me her SNES, I played World and I was completely taken by it. Incredible game. Graphics, sound and gameplay still hold up.

Don't know, but this is the best cereal ever.

Actually, do know. It's Mario 2. Nothing will beat that fever dream of a game.

This.

I've only played 6 of them. I've played 2, 64, and NSMB Wii a couple times, and I've beat 1, SMB3, and SMW. There was definitely a magic to 64, but I was too interested in Resident Evil or Goldeneye at that point. For me, it's either between 3 and World.

3 was awesome, and was first shown in the coolest way possible... in the movie, The Wizard. World has so much going for it; great art style, awesome new mechanics, the hidden levels, etc. So I would have to go with World. But 3 is a close second.

Doo-ta-doot, doo-ta-doot, doo-ta-duh-doo-ta-doot, doo-ta-doot, doo-ta-duh-doot

Honestly I’ve never actually played a super Mario game, I’ve never had a Nintendo system though and have always preferred Sony or Microsoft titles since I got into gaming.

SMW

Zelda thread was way more clear cut for me.

Can't choose. For a while there, would've said SMG2. But really, SMB3, SMW, Yoshis Island, SMG2, 64, Odyssey, all of them I'd gladly hop back into any time. SMS a little uneven, but still a good time. 2nd best mechanics set in the 3d games. Of course Mario Maker is dope af.

If Odyssey just trimmed away the filler moons and replaced them with more linear platforming challenges, that'd be it for me. Has my favorite mechanics in any platformer. The open area platforming was great, scales hard with your skill level. Just needed more of the linear challenge rooms to push those mechanics to their limits.

Was really hoping for an Odyssey 2 to do exactly that, similar to how SMG2 amped up from SMG1.

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Watched this the other day, the guy polled about 10k people. Some unexpected results, but interesting nonetheless. As much as I do like SMO, probably some recency bias in there.

So many to list but I would choose Super Mario World for 2D and Super Mario 64 for 3D since I play them the most.

Meh, Odyssey as number 1 makes me sad lol. but like you, I think a refined Odyssey 2 could be a GOAT.

@SolidGame_basic:

Yeah. My #1 could be interchangeable between like 5 games lol. Depends on the day. No gripes against Odyssey taking it on my end. But yeah, recency bias. Could also argue that Odyssey has the most casual appeal. Easy to avoid friction in that game if you want.

@ghosts4ever: ewww... Sonic is total trash. Mario is quirky but at the games play well. Sonic games are poor man platformers.

3D World is excellent too. I disregarded it when it came out to the Wii U but decided to buy it on the Switch because I needed a Mario fix. Played a big portion with my girlfriend and it was some of the most fun I had with a game, ever.

Odyssey I love it too, and in some ways is the perfect game. Like, perfect to just get high and be in that world enjoying the vibes with no push back. I was hoping to get a Odyssey 2, like Galaxy improved on a fantastic game to GOAT levels.

Bowser's Fury was a cool little thing. Felt somewhat underdeveloped and it needed better hardware to fully execute on the Idea. It's like a good DLC, can't complain.

That's crazy the quality of this series and how they manage to change things up with each release. Sunshine is the only I don't care much for, although I did enjoy those more challenging pure platforming levels.

64 I've only played it fairly recently. Had tried Ocarina recently too and just felt too dated for me to enjoy it. Gave up on it quickly. Feared the same would happen with 64 but damn, incredible game that when straight to my GOAT list.

@kathaariancode: I feel like kids who grew up playing Mario 64 developed some great platforming skills lol. That game had a high skill cieling. Odyssey on the other hand, you got rewarded for just finding some random thing lying around lol

I just played Odyssey again, and it's downright amazing... Still, i'd give it to SMB World.

@kathaariancode:

Yeah, pretty amazing how good SM64 still is. Honestly wasn't much of a fan of it in its time, appreciate it a lot more now though.

In a vacuum, think 3D World is a pretty great platformer. Just for my tastes, consider it the weakest 3D Mario. Nintendo always has that balance of mechanical flexibility or lack thereof vs. relatively open or linear spaces. 3DW being of the linear branch, which is fine, but I just find the mechanical limitations a bit much. Still, gotta give that level design its credit. And it does introduce a lot of neat ideas, but then again, has a lot of diet SMG ideas thrown in there as well.

I understand the hard limits were necessary to make it a multiplayer game. And yeah, it achieves that very well. Just doesn't have the replayability for me as a solo game.

Eh, wouldn't mistake a low skill floor for a low skill ceiling. Can have a low floor and a high ceiling in the same game. Both 64 and Odyssey are exactly that. Odysseys floor may be a bit lower, but that high level play is just as crazy.

Still SMB3.

@ConanTheStoner: @lundy86_4:

You guys are making me want to do a new playthrough. Unfortunately I’m up to my neck in games lol

@SolidGame_basic:

I hear that man, another long ass game too lol.

I actually did enjoy my second play a bit more. Didn't obsess over getting every single moon. Went straight for the more interesting stuff, only grabbing "meh moons" if they were in my path.

Galaxy 1 is my favorite. Then Mario Maker 2 and then Galaxy 2. All three of these are so much fun to play, I almost forget to go on Gamespot and spend more of my time commenting here and there on these stupid forums.

@ConanTheStoner: what about Mario maker, did you make any levels

@SolidGame_basic:

Messed with it a bit. I'm one of those assholes who makes trial n error levels that can only be completed in a very specific way.

Mario Maker is awesome, but I definitely prefer being the player rather than the creator lol.

Imo, you need to separate the 2D ones from the 3D ones. It's like throwing in all the Forza games together just because they share the same name, despite them being two very different series.

For me for the 2D ones it might be Super Mario Bros 3. Super Mario World by far has the best design and would easily win this, but if I'm honest it's just a bit too easy. It has maybe a third of the difficulty of Super Mario Bros 3 and maybe one tenth if not less of the difficulty of Donkey Kong Country.

As for the 3D ones, I never really got on with them. I remember playing Banjo Kazooie on the N64, I didn't get the point of Mario 64, collecting stars. I've tried playing it since, but I just get a bit bored. I think I also preferred the atmosphere, music and just what was going on in Banjo Kazooie in general.

I tried with with Mario Galaxy, it just didn't grab me. I don't really get on with the 3D Mario games.

I'm more likely to play New Super Mario Bros than any of the 3D ones.

This is why I think they are two different lists. Same character, completely different games.

I agree, no Mario expert by any means, pretty far from it.

But it seems very obvious the 2D games have went downhill while the 3D games have remained slightly above Sonic Adventure.

Well, that's definitely not the point. 😂

Really never understood why people say this. Stars are like a finish line, akin to the flag poles in SMB, boxes in SMB3, goal posts in SMW, etc.

The point of SM64 is platforming, just like the others.

@ConanTheStoner: Being very multiplayer focused was what kept me from even trying 3D World on the Wii U. And it certainly keeps it from being in my top tier list but I had such a blast playing it with my girlfriend that on a personal level makes it special.

It's also no small feat that a person that only plays Stardew Valley and is a complete disaster when playing 3D games managed to play and enjoy it.

@HalcyonScarlet

You could certainly have a discussion mixing all the Forzas but I get your point.

But in a way the Galaxy games are almost as different from Odyssey as Forza Motorsport is from Horizon. The former being linear and the later more of a collection of sandboxes.

RE: The video

They said WHAT about SUPER MARIO BROS? :-O

Voted SMB3, but it's tied with 64.

Sonic sucks. Clunky poo game.

Not sure how to articulate this. This is how I felt as a kid. I needed the goals to be as meaningful. And it kind of is the point of it. You're given tasks to complete to earn stars. I think I felt like it was a lazy progression system. Like, the gameplay is joined together with a very weak story. I'm not all about the story in games, I skip cut scenes whenever possible, I often couldn't care less most of the time. And the 2D Mario games can get away with that basic story. I think I just needed a bit more than platforming for platforming sake.

Like Banjo or Conker gives you a little more to go on. Tomb Raider has you thinking there's a point to what your doing. I just didn't feel that with Mario 64. I need to have a bit more of a reason if that makes sense. In a 2D Mario game, this strangely wouldn't have bothered me.

None of the Mario games are good for anyone above the age of like, 10.

but if I have to pick, either SMB (1985) or SMB3 (1988) legendary games that perfected platform nearly 40 years ago.

they at least deserve a place in history.

I've only ever liked Sonic 2 and Sonic Generations. It's a hit and miss mess of a series.

I think for the 3D games, they need to consider slowing everything down around Sonic instead of speeding him up. It doesn't work, it just turns into a clunky on rails thing.

I've never liked Sonic.

Running super fast, wiieeee - SPIKES.
Running super fast, wiieeee - Hole.
Running super fast, wiiieeee - SPIKES AGAIN.

And when the game annoyingly interrupts your speed all the time, and you slowly move around, it's a really clunky platformer. Too floaty.

The 3D games you can clearly see are terrible. I think the only people who prefer Sonic over Mario is people who didn't play Mario.

@HalcyonScarlet:

Yeah makes sense. Guess I'm the opposite, could just drop me in a Mario game with nothing to go on, I'm fine lol.

They did start adding more context to the 3D Marios that followed. Not level by level or star by star levels of context, but a series of bread crumbs throughout the games. Though honestly could do without it. Wasn't overbearing, just nothing I really cared for. SMG1s story was charming af though, can admit that.

Agreed.

And Sonic Mania improves upon it further.

Yeah, also agreed that Mario Maker and 3D Marios are awesome. ;)

Never played. Don't count.

Yeah that really bothers me as well. I'm supposed to be fast but I keep having to slow down to a stand still.

sonic is fast paced, ring collecting, mario is slow jumping game. overrated.