Mario is the most important video game character of all time. His release with the NES saved the video game industry. He has a lot of amazing adventures under his belt, but not all of them are great. Here is every Mario game I have played, ranked from worst to best.

14: Super Mario Bors. 2: (The Lost Levels for Americans) This is a Japan only sequel of the original Super Mario Bros. game. This time Nintendo said, “Hey, you know what would be great? If we made this game hard, cruel, and graphically worse! That’s a good idea!” This game is a joke. You can warp backwards if you enter the wrong warp zone, and laggy mechanics make this a painful experience.

13: Super Mario Sunshine: Please put down your pitchforks and let me explain. Some people think 3D Mario games are amazing. But I am not one of them. If I want a massive 3D game, I play Zelda, as it works far better than Mario in 3D. Mario is a fun adventure where you jump around, collect power ups, stop enemies, and make your way to the end of the level. Mario Sunshine is not that. You use a water pump to clear paint made by Bowser Jr. The graphics are weird and the voice acting cutscenes are so bad that it’s funny.

12: Super Mario Land: This is a low level, poor quality, and short game. It does run on the Game Boy, but Super Mario Land 2 proved you can do more than this. The physics are bad, and there aren’t any original Mario enemies in it. You also save Daisy, who is worse than Toadstool. Not a terrible game, but definitely a bad one.

11: Super Mario Land 2: This game has great graphics for being on the Game Boy. The problem is that it means there is less space to work with. It's cramped and a bit laggy, but it’s still fun. One bad thing is that if you get a carrot power up, you can fly over the whole level. Sometimes this game can be broken.

10: Super Mario 64: Once again, I don’t enjoy 3D Mario much. This game, however, has brilliant level design and god tier music. But it’s hard to appreciate that when the camera is terrible and the graphics looked like you used a bad ai to generate blocky 3d models. Still a little fun though.

9: Super Mario Bros 2. : (USA for Japanese players)  A fun 2D Mario game with amazing music, mechanics, and level design. Being able to choose which character is also awesome. This game is near perfect. Then why is it so far down? Because it’s not a Mario game. This is a reskin of another Nintendo game, Doki Doki Panic, because Super Mario Bros 2. (Lost Levels) Didn’t release in America. It is fun though, earning this spot.

8: Super Mario Bros. : The game that started it all! A fun title, even 40 years later. 2025 is the 40th anniversary, and I can’t wait to see what Nintendo cooks up. This game has great music. Never before seen mechanics. Amazing graphics. It is a very fun game, but it just doesn’t age that well today. I do find myself playing it, but not for long. But because it was so innovative, I can’t put it any lower.

7: Super Mario Galaxy: An adventure through the stars! This is a fun 3D Mario game. The music is really good and I like the story. Most of the levels are fun, but not all. Wandering on the spherical planets is weird and motion controls in 3D Mario are uncomfortable. Because the other games are so good, I can’t give this a better rank.

6: Super Mario Bros. 3: A very innovative game that created a lot of stuff that still remains. Its level design is good and has a fun world map. This game was the perfect 8 bit game right before the switch to 16 bit. A fun adventure and a nice experience. 

5: New Super Mario Bros. U: A fantastic 2D Mario game. It has the acorn power up which I love. It also has good, replayable levels. The challenges also make this game fun. There is so much to do in this game that makes it a good time, especially in multiplayer.

4: Super Mario Odyssey: The first game I played on the Switch. It’s a really fun game and boosts 3D Mario a lot. Capturing things with Cappy makes traversing the vast, open world kingdoms unique. The story is great and it has some of the best video game music of all time. You can also customize your outfit and your ship which I love to do.

3: Super Mario World: This game is like Mario 3 but 10 times better. It has a clean SNES look and great music. The level design, like always, is great. Yoshi also appears in this game. What more needs to be said?

2: Super Mario Bros. Wonder: I wrote a review on this game in 2023, and everything in there still holds true. A medium difficulty, fun, and long game. The wonder flower changes up every level in unexpected ways and brings joy to the player. This is the best 2D Mario game and it is not close. The music is awesome too.

1: Super Mario 3D World: The superior game. Fun level after fun level after fun level. The linear design is amazing. Everything I hated about Mario Sunshine is fixed here. You do dash through levels, collecting power ups and stomping on enemies. This is a 2D Mario game that was brought into the third dimension. There is not a strong enough word to describe how perfect this game is. A must play if you have a switch or Wii U.