Best Super Mario Games

Super Mario games have a long, proud history, and not all of them even involve rescuing a princess! Here we present the best games of the series.

While Super Mario Bros was a great start to the series, and Super Mario Bros 2...well, we won't talk about that one... Super Mario 3 was hands down one of the greatest games available on the original Nintendo system. By this time, all the elements that make the Mario series so much fun were in place, as Mario 3 built on the first game by adding various suits to give the player more options over how to defeat the enemies of the Mushroom Kingdom, including the newly introduced Koopalings.

Super Mario 3 introduced the map that would become standard on later games, allowing Mario to choose the world he wished to attempt.

With Super Mario Kart, Mario left the world of platformers to expand into race games; the success of the series eventually lead to Mario starring in many different types of video games, from fighting games to sports to RPGs. Players could race as any of the main characters in the Mario franchise, but it wasn't a simple racing game; you could also throw turtle shells and (if you were lucky) lightning bolts at the competition! This game paved the way for Mario's eventual dominance over all types of video games.

The second game in the Paper Mario series isn't even close to being the first Mario RPG, just the best. The game features turn-based combat, a strong storyline, and lots and lots of text, as Mario explores the island in search of the seven stars.

This series takes an interesting idea - what if Mario was made of paper? - and explores the consequences. Mario learns such tricks as folding himself into a paper airplane, rolling into a tube, turning sideways to fit through narrow gaps, etc. Of course, being made of paper isn't all fun and games, as Mario now has a new enemy: the electric fan!

Like pretty much all modern platformers, you don't have to get everything to beat the game, but hardcore players have more options available to them. In this case, it's the Pit of 100 trials, which is a one-way sequence of 100 battle rooms, where you get the chance to give up and return to the surface every ten rooms. Of course, if you do that, the next time you try you have to start again from the beginning! When the later levels have characters that can practically kill you with one hit, completing the pit is an option that most casual players will opt to skip, but hardcore players will just have to attempt. And attempt. And attempt. It's not easy!

Never one to abandon a successful series, Nintendo gives us more Mario Kart! This game, like the others before it, is essentially the same as the original Super Mario Kart, only more so: more characters, more levels, more options. You can race karts or bikes, hit the front-runner with the dreaded blue turtle shell, and unlock quite a few hidden characters.

This game comes packaged with a steering wheel, allowing you to ignore the buttons and concentrate on driving!

Like the Wii version of Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros Wii takes a great thing and gives you more of it. This game plays like a remade version of Super Mario Bros 3, with more suits, enemies that return from all of the past games, more hidden items...in short, everything you love about the Mario series.

It also adds in the ability for up to four players to work together to beat the game. Sometimes this is helpful, as players can throw each other, team up to do a massive ground pound, or bubble while the best player gets through a difficult section. Sometimes it can also be a pain, as players accidentally shove each other into pits!

While New Super Mario Bros Wii had earned a reputation, even before release, as being the most difficult Mario game thus far, the developers did put in an option to skip a world if needed, after watching Luigi play through it. Of course, there's an Easter Egg at the end for anyone who manages to play through the game and collect everything without after dying enough times to be offered Luigi's help..

There you have it - the best Super Mario games of all time. Which one is your favorite?