In the first four decades of the Super Mario series, Mario and his friends appeared in hundreds of titles, but in the core "Super Mario" series, the plumber was present in just 22 titles (if you include Lost Levels, Bowser's Fury, and Super Mario Run). While the series has some entries that are stronger than others, the Super Mario series doesn’t have a bad entry to date, so this list proved difficult to put together in an order we all felt comfortable with.
In 2018, we ranked the top 300 games of all time in our 300th issue. While that list was more about ranking games in terms of quality, importance to the industry, and cultural relevance, this list is just about our favorite games. So check out our rankings of the 22 core Super Mario games below!
Our Top 300 Games of All Time
In our April 2018 issue, we ranked the top 300 games of all time. As you may have guessed, Mario’s core series made several appearances on that list. That list may have had different criteria than this one, but now you can check out where Mario fell on our list of the top 300 games of all time in 2018.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
26. Super Mario World
66. Super Mario Bros.
69. Super Mario 64
98. Super Mario Galaxy 2
181. Super Mario Bros. 2
224. Super Mario Odyssey
239. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
22
Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels
Following the success of the original Super Mario Bros. in both North America and Japan, Nintendo opted to rebrand a Japanese game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic as Super Mario Bros. 2 in the United States. The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 eventually made its way to North American stores with enhanced graphics through the Super Mario All-Stars package on SNES (pictured), but aside from an increased challenge from the original, it does little to elevate itself over the game that came before it.
21
Super Mario Run
As perhaps the tentpole release of Nintendo's mid-2010s push into the mobile market, Super Mario Run delivers an auto-runner experience that can be played with one hand. With the art style and many of the conventions of Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. subseries, plus side modes, plaza customization, and levels meant to be replayed, Super Mario Run excelled at being a mobile auto-runner. However, amid the superb lineage of Super Mario titles as a whole, it falls short in terms of the iconic namesake.