I know that it's only been out for about six days, but I'm five hundred moons deep and feel pretty good about talking about this. I don't think we need to necessarily rank them all (though you can if you want to), but I think that it's worth talking about this and explaining how and what we value in these games.
I'll just do my top five, which I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about when I've thought about video games this week.
1. Super Mario Bros. 3: It was hard to pick the best Mario mainline platformer, and I do feel that this and my #2 Mario game are the legitimate "Best Game Ever Made" contenders on my list. I think what this came down to for me is that SMB3's level creativity is even better than SMO's. By the time you hit World 5 or so, this game throws a crazy amount of level types at you. Levels scroll vertically, levels scroll horizontally, levels wrap around, there are mazes, there are big enemy worlds, there are levels that force you to go from Starman to Starman to run across the completely hazardous ground, and the airships manage to stay fresh even though they're all really "dodge the cannons and Bullet Bills" in the end. The number of powerups is insane, probably only rivaled by Odyssey's variety of enemies that you can capture. I just can't place another Mario game above this one at this point. I honestly could change my mind on this some day, whereas in the past, I was dead sure that this was the best Mario game ever made.
2. Super Mario Odyssey: Everything that SM64 does, this does better (as it should), and the joy of finding moons both hiding in plain sight and that are tricky to get to alike never wavers. The creativity this game utilizes in giving you so many different ways to get moons is astounding, and even repeat ways (like catching the dang rabbits) changes slightly based on which Kingdom that you are in and the specific physics or areas that are common to that Kingdom (without spoiling too much). If someone argued this game as the best Mario game, I'd be cool with that. If someone wanted to argue that this was the best game period, sure, I think that you can make that argument convincingly.
3. Super Mario 64: I like World more personally, but 64 is a better game. It allows for more creativity and actually has difficulty (even outside of the C-stick camera controls) in the last couple of worlds. I also prefer Mario games that intersperse difficult platforming into a more open world full of puzzles at this point than I like all-linear platforming, all-the-time Mario.
4. Super Mario World: The cape and the cape bounce are too powerful and unbalance the game itself, but the platforming itself is varied and the key/lock and secret goal system is a great way to add exploration to a linear platforming game.
5. Super Mario Land 2: I know that this is out of left field, but the leap in art design from the first game to the second one plus the batshit insane level design (hey, let's have levels set inside a clockwork Mario!) really do it for me. It's not particularly hard, but it is full of ideas that are interesting and are fun and surprising to encounter. It also, for my money, is the best purely-handheld Mario platformer ever made (of course, Odyssey is the best handheld Mario overall).
My number five, I'm sure people would quibble with, but I think it deserves representation on this list. What say y'all?
I'll just do my top five, which I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about when I've thought about video games this week.
1. Super Mario Bros. 3: It was hard to pick the best Mario mainline platformer, and I do feel that this and my #2 Mario game are the legitimate "Best Game Ever Made" contenders on my list. I think what this came down to for me is that SMB3's level creativity is even better than SMO's. By the time you hit World 5 or so, this game throws a crazy amount of level types at you. Levels scroll vertically, levels scroll horizontally, levels wrap around, there are mazes, there are big enemy worlds, there are levels that force you to go from Starman to Starman to run across the completely hazardous ground, and the airships manage to stay fresh even though they're all really "dodge the cannons and Bullet Bills" in the end. The number of powerups is insane, probably only rivaled by Odyssey's variety of enemies that you can capture. I just can't place another Mario game above this one at this point. I honestly could change my mind on this some day, whereas in the past, I was dead sure that this was the best Mario game ever made.
2. Super Mario Odyssey: Everything that SM64 does, this does better (as it should), and the joy of finding moons both hiding in plain sight and that are tricky to get to alike never wavers. The creativity this game utilizes in giving you so many different ways to get moons is astounding, and even repeat ways (like catching the dang rabbits) changes slightly based on which Kingdom that you are in and the specific physics or areas that are common to that Kingdom (without spoiling too much). If someone argued this game as the best Mario game, I'd be cool with that. If someone wanted to argue that this was the best game period, sure, I think that you can make that argument convincingly.
3. Super Mario 64: I like World more personally, but 64 is a better game. It allows for more creativity and actually has difficulty (even outside of the C-stick camera controls) in the last couple of worlds. I also prefer Mario games that intersperse difficult platforming into a more open world full of puzzles at this point than I like all-linear platforming, all-the-time Mario.
4. Super Mario World: The cape and the cape bounce are too powerful and unbalance the game itself, but the platforming itself is varied and the key/lock and secret goal system is a great way to add exploration to a linear platforming game.
5. Super Mario Land 2: I know that this is out of left field, but the leap in art design from the first game to the second one plus the batshit insane level design (hey, let's have levels set inside a clockwork Mario!) really do it for me. It's not particularly hard, but it is full of ideas that are interesting and are fun and surprising to encounter. It also, for my money, is the best purely-handheld Mario platformer ever made (of course, Odyssey is the best handheld Mario overall).
My number five, I'm sure people would quibble with, but I think it deserves representation on this list. What say y'all?
