Skyler Orton
Mario has had a long and successful history quickly growing into the most recognizable mascots in gaming history. Over 40 years Nintendo has released countless titles featuring the world’s most famous plumber, but the cream of the crop is his suite of 3D platformers. Every 3D Mario game is a fantastic experience, but some are still better than others. Let’s rank them!
7. Super Mario 3D Land
The 3DS’ only 3D Mario game, Super Mario 3D Land is still a fantastic game. It doesn’t try to have the expansive gameplay of Mario 64. It instead takes the style of gameplay present in the 2D games and translates it neatly to 3D. The result is nice but it doesn’t feel as distinct as every other 3D Mario title. Part of that is because it is held down by the 3DS hardware which isn’t able to be as ambitious as other titles.
Not only that, Super Mario 3D Land plays it relatively safe compared to other titles. Its level design is fairly basic and mostly feels like one of the 2D games stretched out to fit the new perspective. This isn’t a bad thing by any means but it does sometimes feel that it lacks originality. This even comes down to the choice of power ups used. 3D Land’s signature powerup is the Tanooki suit which was already featured back on the NES in Super Mario Bros. 3. Not having an original item that the game is centered on like New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s propeller mushroom really hurts it. Still this game is a great time that’s more than worth playing.
6. Super Mario Sunshine
No matter how many more Mario games are released, Super Mario Sunshine will always feel like the black sheep of the series. The concept is fairly simple. Mario’s tropical vacation to Isle Delfino is ruined after new character Bowser Jr. vandalizes the city framing Mario for the crime. Mario must clean up the city in a bizarre community service ritual with a new contraption called F.L.U.D.D. which is both a water gun and traversal tool.
The mechanic is really interesting and on a conceptual level it’s great. Unfortunately the focus on the F.L.U.D.D. is more of a gimmick than a true mechanic. Controlling it isn’t the most intuitive experience in the world and it has a steep learning curve. That means it’s often more frustrating than fun and feels more like a strange experiment than a new step forward for the series. This doesn’t mean that Super Mario Sunshine is a bad game at all. It’s just that compared to the other amazing high quality games in the series, its flaws hold it back a bit.
5. Super Mario Galaxy
It’s hard to convey just how revolutionary the original Super Mario Galaxy was on release. Mario’s gravity bending Wii adventure is delightful for every second of its runtime. At this point in Mario’s history it felt like the plumber had been everywhere so the wilds of outer space were the natural fit. The result has been both incredibly fun and timelessly iconic.
Hopping from asteroid to asteroid and circling miniature planets is still as exciting as ever. It’s also still impressive the way the physics work and even how the graphics look. Truly Super Mario Galaxy helped push the Wii to its limits. That’s all without mentioning the powerups which are some of the most interesting in series history. They encourage thinking outside the box in a way that was never seen before in the series.
This is all without mentioning the excellent characters and classic Nintendo charm that makes this game what it is. Rosalina and the Lumas are easily the most iconic Mario characters from the 2000s and it’s not hard to see why. From Rosalina’s iconic storybook and the Lumas’ undeniable marketability it just makes sense why these characters have stayed in our minds all these years. That’s without mentioning the host of smaller characters and enemies that have since become series mainstays like Captain Toad for example. And how can we forget the breathtaking score that has been in my head since I started writing this piece. Since the game is now being adapted into the next Mario movie by Illumination it sure looks like Super Mario Galaxy isn’t going anywhere and I couldn’t be happier.
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
I just spent several paragraphs explaining how fantastic Super Mario Galaxy is. It’s rare to see a sequel that is better than the original game but Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the superior game out of the Mario Galaxy duology. Every fantastic element of the first title is present here and simply expanded on. The score, characters, gameplay, powerups all make a return here and are more defined. However, the new additions are what truly make this game special.
The three new suits are fantastic and make excellent use of the 3D space. Burrowing through asteroids with the drill suit is especially interesting and shows how the space setting can lead to one of a kind gameplay. The star of the show is Mario’s dinosaur sidekick Yoshi. Yoshi is always delightful whenever he appears and he fits perfectly into the world of the Mario Galaxy series. I also have to give a shoutout to the Starship Mario hub that replaces the Observatory from the original game. I adore the Observatory, but Starship Mario is the winner in my opinion although that might be a fiery hot take among the fandom. It feels like simultaneously a joke and one of the best hub worlds in gaming history.
3. Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 is one of the most foundational games in history. It brought the industry into 3D and the gaming world has never looked back. What’s most remarkable is just how well Super Mario 64 has aged. Many platformers of that era show their age with janky gameplay and eyesorish visuals. But I never feel that way returning to Super Mario 64. It’s easy to jump in at any time.
Not only has it not aged a day, the gameplay feels fresh as ever. Controlling Mario, especially playing on an N64 controller instead of a modern port, is natural and his wide array of jumps, slides, and flips is still a joy to use. Plus the joy of exploring Peach’s castle to discover new levels instead of a world map is still an impressive format. This is not to mention discovering alternate goals in one level which is a format that was a landmark for not just the Mario series but all 3D platformers. While other games have iterated on the formula set up by Super Mario 64 the original still has its pedestal as one of the greatest games of all time.
2. Super Mario 3D World
Some may criticize me for putting Super Mario 3D World so high while its predecessor Super Mario 3D Land has the bottom spot. This is yet another case where the sequel entirely outshines its predecessor and despite superficial similarities, 3D World and 3D Land are entirely different games. 3D World takes the same design ethos of stretching the basic gameplay and movement of a 2D title into the 3D realm. However, every single element of the game works better than the 3DS original. Levels are more expansive and the new setting of the Sprixie Kingdom lets the designers get more out there aesthetically. One of my major problems with 3D Land was the lack of a defining power up but that’s undeniably solved in this game. The cat suit is incredibly iconic and fits perfectly with all of Mario’s other abilities.
The other items are no joke either. The double cherry (creates a clone of your player character) has quickly become one of my favorites in the series and creating a small horde by getting several of these items is delightful. The level design is also more challenging and creative than ever before. Almost every level throws some new creative application of mechanics or a brand new enemy that you’ve never seen before. Considering there are 117 levels spread across main worlds and postgame content this is undeniably impressive.
Speaking of postgame content this game has four impressively sized bonus worlds that scale the challenge way up. Even without those levels the game has a lot of content especially for the collectathon fans here since each level has a wide array of collectibles and secrets to get. All of this is great but the real thing that elevates 3D World is the multiplayer. Nintendo games are often at their best as couch co-op titles and this is no exception. Every character has a special ability like in Super Mario Bros. 2 and being able to play with four people on one map is ridiculously fun. Maybe it’s childhood nostalgia from countless hours spent playing it’s best level but I think it’s fair to count Super Mario 3D World among the best games in the series.
1. Super Mario Odyssey
What is there to say about Super Mario Odyssey that hasn’t been said before. Mario’s most recent 3D outing on the Nintendo Switch is an enormous step up for the series in both scale and gameplay. Featuring 17 fully realized open world Kingdoms with 999 collectible moons to find, it’s clear that Super Mario Odyssey has the most content of any Mario game. Just jumping around these worlds feels like a dream come true, but Nintendo being Nintendo there’s additional gimmicks too.
That gimmick is of course the brand new character Cappy who is a hat spirit that inhabits Mario’s iconic hat. Throwing that hat at an enemy lets Mario transform to possess that enemy creating a wide variety of gameplay opportunities. This lends itself equally to both moments of creative puzzle solving and pure chaos. Both sides are delightful and prove that the mechanic is more than just a gimmick but a clever foundation for gameplay.
Overall, it’s clear that Super Mario Odyssey is a new step (well not new it’s been a frustratingly long time since its 2017 release) forward for the series and will be the new foundation for the 3D platformer genre for years to come. It combines the best pieces of discovery that open world games have with the relative small scale and structure that comes with a platformer. Overall every second is a joy to play and I can’t recommend it enough to anybody on the fence.
That’s our ranking! Are there any hot takes you’d disagree with? Let us know in the comments below.
