The 25 Best Mario Games of All Time
With The Super Mario Bros. Movie debuting in theaters, we're revisiting 40 years of excellent Mario games from Nintendo.
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After all these years, Mario is still number one. The biggest name in video games is also one of the most recognizable mascots in the entire world. Though Mario games may be silly, narratively vapid, and even frivolous at times, the core mechanics and sense of adventure in these titles have inarguably pushed the medium further—and just as much as any other leading franchise in the history of gaming.
The first platformer starring Mario—an arcade game—debuted all the way back in July 1983. Now, nearly 40 years later, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in theaters, promising another celebration of a gaming icon. To celebrate the occasion, your friends at the Esquire Gamer Zone made like Super Smash Bros. and duked it out over a top-25 list of the greatest Mario titles of all time. Of course, there are so many games to consider through the years, but we decided not to limit our selection to “true” Mario titles. Sports games, Party games, mashup titles—all are welcome. Now, we present: the best Mario games of all time, ranked. As a great plumber once said: Here we go!
25. Super Mario Strikers (2005)
Super Mario Strikers snuck its way into this list nearly on ambition alone. At this point in the great history of Nintendo, the studio could've pumped out Mario Kart and Mario Golf sequels to appease the sports-loving corner of its fanbase. But no. Someone had the idea to mash football, rugby, and soccer together—creating a brand-new sport, which just so happened to live in Mario's sandbox. Say what you want, but Super Mario Strikers rules.—Brady Langmann
24. Super Mario 3D Land (2011)
When 3D Land was announced, fans were baffled by the concept of a Mario game that would literally pop right off the screen. Though gimmicks like this have been attempted before, none seemed to inspire much hope for a stereoscopic 3D Mario title (see: the Virtual Boy disaster). Turned out, though, that this one actually worked.—Dom Nero
23. Super Mario RPG (1996)
It’s a shame this is the only time Square Enix and Nintendo teamed up on a Mario game. The idea of a full-fledged RPG in the Mario universe made by the masterminds behind Final Fantasy was really astounding—and it made for one of the most memorable Super Nintendo games ever.—D.N.
22. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Combining action- and reaction-based minigames with traditional RPG strategy, plus a fantastic art style, this GameCube iteration really hit on the wackiness of Mario. By expanding on an already great battle system, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remains immensely replayable; both its mechanics and visuals hold up extremely well.—Cam Sherrill
21. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1995)
Much like Paper Mario, Yoshi’s Island is responsible for one of gaming's most identifiable looks. In it, you played as Yoshi protecting Baby Mario with egg-throwing mastery in a beautifully hand-drawn-esque style. It also made you pull your goddamn hair out whenever you lost Baby Mario as he screamed in his dumb bubble. Regardless, this game was a fun, different kind of platformer, even if it did serve as paternity propaganda to kids.—C.S.
20. Mario Tennis 64 (2000)
Mario. Tennis. 64. Friends, if you didn't enjoy crowding around your friend's mom's dinky upstairs TV and going John McEnroe on your best friend's ass, then I don't know what to tell you. (For the record, Boo—yes, Boo, who is too fancy to shuffle, so he floats—is the best character.)
19. Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
Easily one of the weirdest video games of all time, Super Mario Bros. 2 took the success of the first Mario game and brought it into very surreal new territory. Today, the game has become something of a punching bag for critics of the franchise, but it still stands as a damn good title. Hey, you can pick up radishes in this one.—D.N.
18. Dr. Mario (1990)
Like Barbie, Mario is a man of many talents and professions. Sure, he’s a hero who fights Bowser to save the princess. But he’s also a plumber from Brooklyn, a superstar athlete in just about every sport imaginable, and a doctor. Yup, that’s right. One of Mario’s most-donned outfits is that of a doctor. But what does Dr. Mario do, exactly? Does he treat patients in Mushroom Kingdom? Is he trying to prevent The Last of Us’s mushroom infection from becoming a reality? No, he’s solving Tetris-like puzzles. But I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the best Tetris-like puzzle game since Tetris itself.—Josh Rosenberg
17. Mario Golf (1999)
Mario Golf wasn’t just a stellar Mario sports game. At the time, it was also the greatest golfing video game ever made. Stop for a second and think about just how crazy that is. If you wanted an authentic, true-to-physics basketball or soccer game, you’d play the NBA 2K or FIFA games. But if you wanted a golf sim in 1999, the best experience was Mario Golf–where Baby Mario was a playable character, not Tiger Woods.—J.R.
16. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
This game continued the immensely popular New Super Mario Bros. series for the 3DS, giving us four-player simultaneous gameplay and featuring everyone's favorite characters, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad. Hectic gameplay let you work with—or absolutely fuck over—your friends, and new power-ups and beautiful worlds made it a good adventure.—C.S.
15. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (2012)
The New Super Mario Bros. series has remained relatively the same since its initial Wii release, just with new character modes and face lifts. But seeing as a lot of people missed everything on the Wii U, Nintendo decided to re-release New Super Mario Bros. U and the surprisingly challenging New Super Luigi U in one bundle for the Switch. It's modern but classic Mario action, and we can't gloss over the Super Crown/Peachette feature that sent the Internet into a spiral.—C.S.
14. Super Mario 3D World (2013)
Fusing the manic gameplay of the New Super Mario Bros. series with the interesting platform landscape of 3D Land, 3D World was a much-missed gem. Players could choose a variety of characters and scour 3D platforming worlds with some of the most inventive obstacles, power-ups, and enemies in the series thus far. With the new Mario Maker, some of those power-ups are even making their way to 2D Mario. What we wouldn't give for a port, or better yet, a new title on Switch. Here’s to you, cat Mario. Hopefully we meet again soon.—C.S.
13. Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)
Not many games let you poke around in the back-end. Hardcore fans get to do just that in Super Mario Maker 2, a game where you can design your very own Mario levels. Naturally, they are incredibly difficult. It’s like if I gave you, the reader, the reins to write an Esquire article and you made a puzzle where are the vowels and consonants traded places. Super Mario Maker 2 can be a hell world like that, but it’s also an amazing place to learn about what makes good game design. Sometimes, the exact spot you put that little Goomba on the map really makes all the difference.—J.R.
12. Mario Party 3 (2000)
Listen, this was a tight battle between Mario Party 3 and Mario Party 8. But you haven't so much as experienced the true chaos of the already-batshit-enough Mario Party format until you've played it on N64. You'd nearly breaking your hand trying to button-mash that damn controller! Once Mario Party continued the franchise over on the Gamecube, just a little bit of its original charm vanished.—B.L.
11. Mario Kart 8 (2014)
After arguing with Josh about the GOAT Mario Kart for far longer than what is professionally responsible, I surrender. Pay no mind to the fact that Mario Kart 8 is so damn good that we haven't needed a new Mario Kart for nine years and counting. (The game's 2017 Nintendo Switch facelift, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, doesn't count.) Just totally ignore that—when the DLC dust settles—Mario Kart 8 will have 96 tracks. 96! Nope. Josh loves the Mario Kart where two characters can cram into one buggy. His word goes.—B.L.
10. Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003)
Many people (read: Brady) will say that Mario Kart 8 provides the best karting experience. I have no problem dying on the hill that says Mario Kart: Double Dash is the far superior product. You get to play as not just one driver, but two operating the same car—with the ability to switch between them for even more item grabbing. Double Dash had insane special abilities for characters that made being in first place way less of a lock if you were good—and it also served as the introductory game for Toadette. And who didn’t love Toadette?—J.R.
9. Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Ready... GO! Remember when I wrote that Mario Party 3 lost some of its charm when it left N64? Well, it goes the opposite way in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. 1999's Super Smash Bros. showed us that, yeah, it's fun to see Link smack Mario in the face. Its sequel, Gamecube's Super Smash Bros. Melee showed us that we'd enjoy this particular brand of multiversal throwdown well into 2023. Super Smash Bros. Melee nearly doubled its predecessor's character total, and presented a new-and-improved (and weirdly memorable?) single-player campaign. And if you were wondering, reader, I will kick your ass by spamming Kirby rock drops..—B.L.
8. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
After becoming 64-bit and hopping into the third dimension, fans of the franchise wondered where the heroic plumber could go next. With the Galaxy series, Nintendo served us the true successor to Super Mario 64 by launching the whole gang into space. And it really, really worked. —D.N.
7. Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
There are some video games that feel totally normal to me, but require some rich explanation to the uninformed. A game like Super Mario Sunshine—where Mario has to clean up some polluted islands with a robotic Camelbak that squirts water and talks—is easily near the top of that list. Who would have guessed that such a wacky idea would have made for (arguably) one of the best video games of all time? Mario games are known for smooth movement, but it’s still hard to find games that feel this good just jumping around and spraying a water gun.—J.R.
6. Super Mario Bros. (1985)
This was the game that started Mario Mania, launched as a bundle with Duck Hunt for the NES. While it was not Mario’s first appearance, it certainly served as the starting pistol. This title was responsible for giving Mario the mushrooms, the fire flower, his jumping and platforming style, and so much more that identify him as the hero plumber we all know today.—C.S.
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