Celebrating Mario Day by Ranking Mario Games

 

So today is Mar10 national Mario Day. This holiday was first made official by Nintendo in 2016. Since then Nintendo has given announcements and sales for Mario games on this day. There's nothing of note going on for the holiday this year except for a sale on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Mario is the most recognizable video game character in the world and set to have his second theatrical film released during the end of this year, but today I would like to highlight the games I'm most interested in playing from the brand, but haven't gotten around to yet.

An anime cutscene from Wario Land: Shake It

10. Wario Land: Shake It

This game out all the way back in 2008 for the Wii. I remember seeing a review for this by Adam Sandler on X-Play. The thing that immediately caught my eye was the sprite work. It has a nice hand drawn look to it and the platforming is more action based than a Mario game. It's really the graphics that drew me in and the fact I have not played any Wario games.

9. Mario Golf: Super Rush

This is the most recent Mario sports game to be released as it released on June 25, 2021. I have never played a Mario Golf game before or actually any golf game I think so this will be a fresh experience for me. When I first saw the trailer I loved the way it looked. The colors popped and all the characters had cute little golfing outfits. The thing that solidified my interest though was the Rush mode in which the game becomes sort of a racer as players compete to tee their ball off into the hole first.

8. Mario Tennis Aces

I loved Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64. It was my first and only Mario sports game and when this was announced I was looking forward to getting that same magical feeling that I had back in the 90s. A common complaint I hear about this on the internet is that the game is short on content, but I think I would be fine because I'm sure it still probably has more content than the original. I like the look of the game's story mode and the special shot feature looks like it can be fun and the roster looks quite nice as well.

7. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

I'm not sure if I should play this or the remaster that came out in 2019 that comes with Bowser Jr's Journey, but I remember this title getting high praise back in 2009 and not to mention I love RPGs and Super Mario RPG is one of my favorite games ever. This game has Mario & Luigi shrunken to microscopic size swallowed by Bowser and they must trudge their way through out of the innards of his body. There are also segments of the game where you play as Bowser too which is cool to me. I would love for the chance to play this game.

6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Still currently the best selling game on the Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is scheduled to get even more content this year after a five year release or eight years when the original released on the Wii U. It's actually incredible that this game has such longevity and a lot of that goes to the success of the Nintendo Switch. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe adds more courses and characters from the Wii U version along with the fan favorite battle mode from Super Mario Kart. While I have tried out this game I never had any extensive time with it since I don't own a Nintendo Switch. Deluxe's speed, characters, and tracks has me intrigued and the fact that there's going to be even more tracks added in the next year has me more interested.

5. Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World

This game I actually completely forgotten about until I was in the process of writing this article and was looking up Mario titles. I remember Yoshi's Woolly World, but I completely forgot about this port. Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World is a Nintendo 3DS re-release of the 2015 Wii U game. This port adds an easy mode that makes dying virtually impossible, Poochy can now sniff out invisible collectibles in the game, and there are additional Poochy centric levels added to this port. Yoshi's Island is one of my favorite games ever so this adorable looking game that maintains a lot of the gameplay of Island caught my attention. Also, some may be surprised I listed this title instead of Yoshi's Crafted World and that's because I completely forgot about that game and it would've felt weird to add a game I don't even remember on this list. If or when I play this I'll make sure to give Crafted World a try.

4. Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2

Gawd! I freaking want to play this game so bad! I love, love Little Big Planet and a Mario version of that is a dream come true. Super Mario Maker came out in 2015 on the Wii U and while I had a Wii U back then, I was extremely broke so I could never afford it. I'm a highly creative person and some of you might not know a game developer so the opportunity to show my skills and creativity and share it with others was the main draw. I also liked how weird the game was. You had the mystery mushrooms that could make Mario tall and lanky or turn him into other characters. It was disappointing they dropped a lot of the weirdness in the sequel and that the servers for the original or no longer up, but the sequel is still there and it has a lot of improvements from the original. I say though the stylus is probably more intuitive for making levels than a Joy-con or pro-controller. I would love to get my hands on either game and explore the many creations from other players and share my own with the world.

A historical moment.

3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

So I've loved Mario's fighting game franchise ever since I played the first back on the Nintendo 64.  Mario and Luigi fighting the likes of Link, Donkey Kong, and Pikachu? That's something I never thought I wanted, but now I need it. The last Smash Bros. title I played was Brawl back on the Wii and despite what the competitive scene says about it, it is still a good ass game. It's been so long since I've played a Smash Bros. that I'm bubbling with excitement to get my hands on Ultimate as soon as possible. It's also hard to maintain that excitement if you've watched all the marketing and followed all of the directs and DLC for this game since its release. Ultimate has the right name because in terms of a fighting game crossover this is the penultimate. Not only does it have characters from Nintendo's franchises like Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Metroid, but it also has Metal Gear Solid, Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania, Bayonetta, Persona, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Tekken, and most crazy of all Sora from Kingdom Hearts! When that reveal happened my jaw dropped. I know people have been wanting Sora I think since Brawl, but I never thought he actually had a chance to get in until the very last minute and they did it! It's still feels weird that it actually happened. And I got Banjo-Kazooie too who I've wanted since the N64 game. It's astounding!

Whenever I get around to buying a Nintendo Switch OLED the first two games I'm getting are The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

2. Super Mario Odyssey
It's hard for me to talk about why I want to play it so much beyond it being a mainline Mario game because I have been avoiding watching footage and reading about this game as much as I can. I wanted to go into this game knowing as little as possible, but over the course of five years it's hard to remain completely in the dark about Odyssey. So I like the New Donk City environment I saw in the initial reveal trailer and the hat mechanic looks cool and bringing back Pauline from the original Donkey Kong is a move too. There's just not much else for me to say, but with the amount of praise this gets I hope I feel the same.

Honorable Mentions:

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, Paper Mario, Super Paper Mario, Mario Party Superstars

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2

Uh... Where do I start? Super Mario Galaxy was one of the best games I played on the Wii and ever. It brought Mario more into Z-axis than Mario 64 and added a ton of creativity in the game and level design. Galaxy was also a spectacle too with it's grand soundtrack, vibrant colors, and level transitions. Galaxy was also the game that introduced fan favorite Rosalina into the brand. I spent a lot of time in Galaxy. I played it twice and even obtained all of the purple coins to unlock Luigi. I never got to use Luigi because my dumb ass little brother knocked over and broke the Wii before I could start a new file. To tell you I was hot is an understatement.

I heard Super Mario Galaxy 2 improved on Galaxy and the addition of Yoshi and the new power ups was enough to get me stoked to play it. I was surprised when it wasn't included in Nintendo's limited All-Stars release a couple years ago. I'll find a way to play this someday even if it means buying another Wii.

So that's my list. Are there any Mario games you guys wanted to play, but haven't gotten around to yet? Let me know in the comments below and what plans you may have for Mario Day.