The 40 best Super Mario games of all time

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, so to celebrate VGC is counting down the 40 best Super Mario games of all time.

Everyone’s definition of a Mario platformer is different, so we’ve added a few rules for our list to determine what qualifies and doesn’t.

Firstly, each game has to star Mario as a playable character. The only exception to this is New Super Luigi U, because it’s clearly a Super Mario Bros game despite Luigi being the main hero.

This means the Wario Land, Yoshi’s Island and Donkey Kong Country series don’t count in this list, we’re strictly looking at Mario games.

Secondly, each game needs to have at least some sort of platforming element, so there’ll be no Mario sports games, puzzle games or RPG games in this list.

Finally, remasters and re-releases don’t count unless they add something substantially new in the process. This means Super Mario All-Stars on SNES counts (since it remade the NES games with new graphics), but the later released Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World cartridge doesn’t (because it’s essentially just the same games repackaged).

This countdown is available in three different formats – written, video and audio.

In the video and audio version, VGC’s Chris Scullion and Andy Robinson are joined by former Nintendo: The Official Magazine UK writer Mike Jackson to discuss all 40 games in the order they appear on the list.

The first 65 minutes of the video, in which we cover entries 40-20, are available on our YouTube channel and can be watched above.

The full video and audio version including all 40 games, which clocks in at around 135 minutes, can be found on the VGC Patreon page on all paid tiers.

Before we start, the voting process is as follows. We put together a list of qualifying games, then each of the three participants – Chris, Andy and Mike – ranked them in order from 1st to 40th.

Chris then assigned points to each person’s list – 40 for 1st, 39 for 2nd and so on – and added them up to get a definitive score out of 120 for each game.

Here, then, is our full list of the 40 best Super Mario platformers of all time. Happy birthday, Super Mario Bros – here’s to another 40 years.

40) Mario’s Time Machine

(1993, SNES)

Mario’s Time Machine only just sneaks into the back door of this article because Mario can jump in it, but in reality it’s here to make up the numbers and ensure a round 40.

An edutainment game from The Software Toolworks, Mario’s Time Machine is a sequel of sorts to Mario is Missing, but because he didn’t star in that one (hence the name) only this follow-up is valid for this list.

It sees Mario travelling around the world and across time to return the priceless artifacts that have been stolen from Bowser, including Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook, Beethoven’s music and Mahatma Gandhi’s flag.

It seems unlikely that hundreds of years from now a similar game will involve travelling to 1993 and recovering a copy of Mario’s Time Machine, because priceless it ain’t.

Best way to play it now: Mario’s Time Machine has never been re-released so you’ll need to track down an old SNES copy.

39) Hotel Mario

(1994, CD-i)

One of the infamous offspring of Nintendo’s ill-fated deal with Philips, this puzzle platformer is notorious for its astonishingly bad cutscenes which have been the stuff of internet memes for decades now.

The actual game itself, however, isn’t quite as awful as the internet may have you believe. Mario has to make his way through seven Koopa hotels and close the doors on every floor, while Bowser’s minions try to re-open them.

Quite why the doors all need to be closed isn’t clear – maybe Mario just doesn’t want to catch a cold – but it at least results in a passable if unremarkable game.

Best way to play it now: Unsurprisingly, Hotel Mario has never been re-released so you’ll need to get a Philips CD-i and a copy of the game.

38) Wrecking Crew

(1985, NES)

Arriving on the Famicom just three months before Super Mario Bros, Wrecking Crew saw Mario and Luigi taking on a different trade before settling on his plumbing role full-time.

The brothers are working on a demolition site, and the aim is to destroy all the walls in each stage while avoiding enemies.

Although the game is technically a platformer, there’s a strong puzzle element here because most stages can only be cleared in one or two ways. If you knock down some walls before others, you might end up destroying your only route to them, making it impossible to clear the level.

Some stages are also patrolled by Foreman Spike, who tries to break walls to mess up your job. Spike would appear decades later in The Super Mario Bros Movie.

Best way to play it now: Wrecking Crew is in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

37) Wrecking Crew ’98

(1998, Super Famicom)

This Japan-only release was originally released for the Nintendo Power service (unrelated to the US magazine), where Japanese players could take rewritable cartridges to a shop and download new games onto them. A few months later, it then got a normal release.

When Mario realises that Bowser is building a bunch of high-rise flats in the Mushroom Kingdom and blocking out all the sunlight, he decides to head out and demolish them all.

A bunch of enemies get in Mario’s way – including the returning Foreman Spike – so he takes them on in a series of one-on-one competitions which play like a cross between the NES Wrecking Crew and Nintendo’s Panel de Pon puzzle series.

It’s an interesting enough concept but didn’t go down as one of the great Nintendo puzzle platformers.

Best way to play it now: Despite originally only being released in Japan, Wrecking Crew ‘98 is in the SNES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library (though it’s still in Japanese).

36) Mario Clash

(1995, Virtual Boy)

The Virtual Boy was such a disaster for Nintendo that only 22 games were released before Nintendo drew a line under it and moved on.

This didn’t stop a couple of Mario games making it to the Virtual Boy before it was killed though, one of which was Mario Clash.

This is essentially an upgraded, 3D version of Mario Bros in which Mario has to clear the enemies from 99 single-screen stages. Mario has one form of attack: jumping on a Koopa Troopa, picking up its shell and throwing it at enemies.

Because of the Virtual Boy’s 3D gimmick, the main twist here is that the stages play out over two layers, meaning Mario can not only throw shells to the side but also towards and away from the screen.

Best way to play it now: Hold fire, because Virtual Boy is coming to Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library in 2026, and Mario Clash is confirmed as one of the titles included.

35) Super Mario Bros 2 (aka The Lost Levels)

(1986, Famicom Disk System)

Super Mario Bros was such a monumental success that a sequel was a no-brainer, so Shigeru Miyamoto and his team decided it would be fun to make harder levels and release them as a sequel for players who had mastered the first game.

“Of course it was fun [for us] because we made the game and were used to playing it,” Miyamoto said in an official interview in 2010, “and we weren’t sure if this would be fun for people who never played.”

Sure enough, the ‘For Super Players’ badge on the game’s cover wasn’t just there for fun: this was an exceptionally difficult game and anyone new to Mario would have struggled massively.

Still, as a game for experts the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2 had plenty of interesting new quirks, most notably the option to play as either Mario or Luigi in single-player mode.

The two controlled differently too: Luigi had a higher jump, but was more slippery and harder to control.

All manner of nasty tricks were added to this game to fool players who thought they knew what to expect: poison mushrooms that would harm them, windy stages that would throw their jumps off balance and even fake Warp Zones that would actually send them backwards.

It’s easily the hardest game in the series, but for that reason it has its own very specific fanbase.

Best way to play it now: The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros 2 is in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

34) Super Paper Mario

(2007, Wii)

There had already been two Paper Mario games released until this point on the N64 and GameCube, but these were more RPG-like in nature.

The third game played like more of a platformer adventure (hence the Super in the title), but it kept its predecessors’ wonderful art style in which all the characters are paper-thin.

The plot revolves around the evil Count Bleck, a mysterious chap who’s kidnapped both Princess Peach and Bowser and plans to force them to marry so he can summon the Chaos Heart and use that to open The Void, which destroys all dimensions (I’ve been to worse weddings, to be fair).

Mario is sent to Flipwise, another world where he’s befriended by a Pixl (a small fairy) called Tippi. The pair set out to collect the eight Pure Hearts which are needed to undo the damage Bleck’s caused

At its core Super Paper Mario is a platformer split into stages, but it has far more puzzle elements than most platformers. The most impressive of these is the first ability Mario receives, which lets him flip the 2D camera 90 degrees and turn it 3D, allowing him to find items and doors that were previously hidden by scenery.

Like other games in the series, Super Paper Mario is an entertaining adventure that allows its writing to often take centre stage: it’s one of the funnier Nintendo games you’ll play. In juggling platformer and RPG elements, though, it never truly nails either.

Best way to play it now: Super Paper Mario hasn’t been re-released yet, so you’ll need to dig out the Wii and play it on that.

33) Mario Bros.

(1983, Arcade)

After making him the star in Donkey Kong then turning him into a villain in Donkey Kong Jr, Nintendo wisely realised that making Mario a bad guy probably wasn’t the best move in the long run.

It therefore decided to pretend Donkey Kong Jr was just a bad dream and made Mario a hero again, this time in a game where he was the star, not the ape he was fighting. The spotlight wasn’t his alone, though: as the title suggests, Mario Bros also marked the debut of Mario’s brother Luigi, who was basically created to allow the game to have a simultaneous two-player mode.

This was the first time Nintendo declared Mario to be a plumber, and as such the game has Mario and Luigi working together to rid the New York sewer system from a variety of enemies.

These include Shellcreepers (turtles that ended up being the inspiration for Koopa Troopas), Sidesteppers (crabs that take two hits to beat) and Fighter Flies (which jump up and down, making them harder to hit).

At this early stage in Mario’s life the act of jumping on enemies’ heads hadn’t been established yet: attempting it will result in death. Instead, players have to hit enemies from underneath by standing under the platforms they’re on and leaping up. This flips them onto their back, at which point Mario or Luigi can then hop up and run into them to kick them off the stage.

Although the game is fairly basic by modern standards, it still introduced a number of elements that remain in Mario games to this day, particularly the need to collect coins and the presence of giant green pipes.

Best way to play it now: The original arcade version of Mario Bros is available on Switch eShop as part of Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives series. The subsequent NES port is also in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

32) Super Mario 64 DS

(2004, Nintendo DS)

Just as the Game Boy Advance was considered a souped-up handheld SNES, the Nintendo DS was considered slightly more powerful than the N64.

To note this, Nintendo booted up its old remake-o-matic and launched its new handheld alongside a shiny new port of Super Mario 64.

To its credit, the DS version has some interesting new features, the most obvious being the ability to play as four characters instead of just Mario. Luigi, Wario and Yoshi were added to the mix, each with their own special abilities.

The game also featured 36 mini-games, almost all of which made use of the touchscreen. These were unlocked as you collected Stars with each character, and some were so popular that they ended up being played more than the main game itself.

In a sense, that speaks volumes about the quality of the main game. While ‘Super Mario 64 plus more stuff’ is a killer selling point on paper, the lack of an analogue stick really affects things (especially given how important the N64 version was for introducing analogue controls to many players) and the touchscreen alternatives aren’t great.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario 64 DS was re-released on Wii U Virtual Console but since the Wii U eShop has now permanently closed, you’ll need to get the original DS cart until Nintendo decides to add DS games to Switch Online.

31) Mario Vs. Donkey Kong

(2004, Game Boy Advance)

There may not have been an original traditional 2D Super Mario Bros game on the Game Boy Advance, but Mario vs Donkey Kong was a perfectly acceptable alternative, if a slightly underwhelming one.

The game was a spiritual successor to the 1994 Game Boy Donkey Kong game which, as this list will later show, was a fantastic title in its own right.

In this follow-up, Donkey Kong has infiltrated Mario’s toy factory because he’s fallen in love with its newest product: a series of wind-up figures called Mini Marios. When Mario discovers that Donkey Kong has broken in and pinched all his stock, he decides to make his way through the toy company and get it back.

Much like its Game Boy predecessor, Mario vs Donkey Kong is a puzzle platformer where each stage is a small self-contained area and the player has to figure out how to help Mario navigate it in order to reach the goal.

Most of the stages take one of three forms: either grab a key and take it to a locked door at the end of the stage, guide some Mini Marios to a toy box while protecting them from a variety of hazards, or boss battles where you get to take on big old Donkey Kong himself head to head.

Best way to play it now: The GBA version of Mario vs Donkey Kong isn’t currently available on Switch Online, but that’s likely because the game received a Switch remake last year. The remake plays exactly the same (for better or worse) and has a much better art style so it’s probably your best bet.

30) Super Mario Bros. Deluxe

(1999, Game Boy Color)

While the Game Boy Color ultimately wouldn’t receive a brand new adventure starring Mario during the course of its life, it did get an interesting port of the original NES Super Mario Bros, with a lot of extra features included.

Because the GBC’s screen resolution was only 160×144 compared to the NES’s 256×240, the screen is zoomed in quite a lot to make sure the game’s sprites remained unaltered: while this makes for an impressively accurate port, it does make the game a bit harder to play on the handheld since you can’t see very far into the distance.

What it lacked in this respect it gained in many others: a new Challenge Mode has you trying to collect five red coins and find a hidden Yoshi egg in all 32 stages.

Players could also unlock You vs Boo, a head-to-head mode where Mario has to race a Boo to the flagpole in each stage (taking the idea of a ghost opponent in time trials a bit too literally).

Perhaps most impressive of all, though, was the ability to unlock the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2, aka The Lost Levels (albeit just the first eight worlds), essentially doubling the number of stages.

Other extras include a built-in calendar, a gallery of unlockable artwork and even the ability to plug in a Game Boy Printer and print little banners with Mario shapes on them. While not necessarily the best way to play Super Mario Bros, then, there’s no denying it’s still the most feature-heavy version of the game to date.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Bros Deluxe hasn’t yet been added to Switch Online’s library of Game Boy titles, so until that happens you’ll need to find the original Game Boy Color cartridge. It was released on the 3DS Virtual Console, but that eShop has now shut down.

29) Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS

(2016, Nintendo 3DS)

When you’ve got a creation tool that’s as interesting as Super Mario Maker and you’ve got a handheld sitting there with a touchscreen just asking to be used, the next step is obvious.

The 3DS version of Super Mario Maker is almost a fully featured version of the Wii U game: the only major removal is the wide selection of amiibo characters which were in the console version.

Since playing 3DS on the move means that connecting online download levels isn’t always a possibility (not to mention the fact that you can’t actually upload levels you’ve made on the 3DS), the handheld version includes a new mode called the Super Mario Challenge which includes 100 stages developed by Nintendo itself.

This essentially adds a more interesting single player component to the game, but the smaller 3DS screen still means the Wii U version is more suitable for making your own levels.

Best way to play it now: Since the 3DS eShop has now closed, you’ll need a 3DS and the physical cartridge.

28) New Super Mario Bros. 2

(2012, Nintendo 3DS)

When Mario and Luigi return from a coin-collecting spree, they see the Koopalings flying off in their giant Koopa Clown Car with Peach in tow. Time for another rescue mission, then.

New Super Mario Bros 2 shares a lot in common visually with its DS and Wii predecessors but there’s a much heavier focus on collecting coins this time around.

While the typical ‘100 coins for an extra life’ rule still applies, your total coins are also logged on the title screen, with an overarching goal to max out the coin meter at 9,999,999 coins to truly ‘complete’ it.

There are some new power-ups designed to make this goal easier, from gold rings that make enemies turn golden (leaving trails of coins behind them), to a Golden Fire Flower which lets Mario throw explosive gold fireballs and gain huge coin bonuses for stomping on multiple enemies. There are even special gold blocks that can get stuck on Mario’s head, spitting out a stream of coins as he runs.

A new mode called Coin Rush takes this idea to its limits, with players running through auto-scrolling stages, trying to collect as much money as possible (new Coin Rush stages were added as downloadable content).

While the game is just as entertaining as the DS and Wii New Super Mario Bros titles, the new focus on coins – and the countless extra lives that come as a result – make it one of the easiest games in the series, and once the dopamine hit wears off it can get a little wearisome.

Best way to play it now: Again, since the 3DS eShop has now closed, you’ll need a 3DS and the physical cartridge.

27) Super Mario Maker

(2015, Wii U)

If you’ve ever played through a 2D Mario game and thought “I could make something like this”, then Super Mario Maker is your chance to put your money where your mouth is.

Players are given access to a detailed creation suite where they can place blocks, enemies, gaps, pipes, anything you would typically expect to see in a traditional side-scrolling Mario game.

Players can then apply one of four styles to the game to make it look and play like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros U, then save their stages and upload them online for others to attempt.

To keep things entertaining a host of other features were included, such as the ability to scan amiibo figures and unlock other characters to play as: even non-Mario ones. So if you ever wanted to play as Mega Man, Pikachu, Chrom from Fire Emblem or an Inkling from Splatoon in the NES-era Super Mario Bros, this could make those dreams a reality.

Super Mario Maker’s easy-to-use tools and its wealth of online user-created content made it an absolute treat for both creative minds and those who simply wanted a near-endless supply of Mario levels to play through.

Above all else, though, it proved that while making Mario stages was easy enough with provided tools, making stages that showed the same level of ingenuity shown by Nintendo’s own level designers was much, much easier said than done.

Best way to play it now: You’ll need the physical disc to play this one on Wii U now, and a bunch of amiibo if you want to make use of the bonus characters.

26) Super Mario Run

(2016, iOS and Android)

After years of resisting the lure of mobile gaming Nintendo finally hit the iOS and Android marketplaces with Miitomo 2016, and shortly afterwards brought Mario to mobile for the first time with Super Mario Run.

Although the game looks and sounds like your typical New Super Mario Bros game, here Mario automatically runs and players simply tap the screen to make him jump.

There’s also an interesting Toad Rally multiplayer mode where players compete against the ghosts of other players, collecting as many coins as they can along the way.

Nintendo implemented a ‘free to start’ system for Super Mario Run in which players could play the first four stages for free, but then had to spend $9.99 on the full game to access the other 33 levels.

This led to a bit of backlash from those who felt that ten bucks was a bit steep for a mobile game, but there’s still a core following of players (including me) who continue to play it to this day.

Besides, playing Toad Rally every day is a very easy way to build up My Nintendo Platinum Points which can be redeemed for free merch.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Run is still available on iOS and Android.

25) New Super Luigi U

(2013, Wii U)

A year after the release of New Super Mario Bros U, Nintendo decided to hold the Year of Luigi celebration.

As part of this, it released New Super Luigi U, special paid DLC for the game which essentially doubled the number of stages.

These new levels are harder than those in the standard game, with a 99-second time limit and much harder obstacles to overcome.

In that sense, New Super Luigi U is something of a modern Lost Levels, but certainly not as frustrating as that was.

Best way to play it now: You can no longer buy New Super Luigi U in its original Wii U form, because it was only ever DLC and the Wii U eShop has now closed down. However, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe on Switch includes New Super Luigi U, so that’s the way to go.

24) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

(1992, Game Boy)

Super Mario Land 2 was the Game Boy’s equivalent of the third NES game, in that the system was capable of so much more than it was when Mario first appeared on it, and so the resulting sequel was significantly more impressive on a technical level.

It turns out that while Mario was away rescuing Daisy in Sarasaland in the first Super Mario Land, Mario’s personal island was being taken over by a nasty chap by the name of Wario (this game marked his debut).

Wario has scattered the six golden coins that act as keys to Mario’s castle and scattered them around Mario Land, so it’s up to Mario to get them all back then head to his castle and punt Wario out.

The game’s made up of six separate themed ‘zones’ – Tree, Space, Macro, Pumpkin, Mario and Turtle – each of which has its own map screen (another parallel with Super Mario Bros 3), and as ever, Mario can collect power-ups along the way.

The strange Superballs from Super Mario Land have been ditched in favour of the more traditional Fire Flower, while the new Carrot power-up gives Mario a rather fetching pair of bunny ears that let him float slowly downwards when he’s in mid-air.

Super Mario Land 2 went on to sell over 11 million copies so its impact is obvious, but for many the game’s most important legacy wasn’t the quality of the platforming (which was only passable), but the introduction of Wario to the Mario universe – especially given that the series would eventually evolve to Wario Land.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Land 2 is in the Game Boy app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

23) Super Mario Sunshine

(2002, GameCube)

Super Mario 64 was so revolutionary that the next 3D Mario platform game was always going to invite comparisons, but Super Mario Sunshine’s decision to go with such a drastically new gameplay mechanic clearly meant it was all too happy to celebrate its differences.

The game follows Mario and his chums as they arrive at the sunkissed Isle Delfino for a well deserved holiday. When they get there they realise that someone who fits Mario’s description has been covering the island with graffiti.

It’s up to Mario to initially clear his name and then find out who’s actually behind this tomfoolery. Before long it becomes clear that the culprit is none other than Bowser Jr, making his debut appearance, and before you know it Peach has been captured yet again.

Sunshine’s main new feature is F.L.U.D.D., an interesting water-squirting device that supports a series of nozzles which allow Mario to pull off a number of different tricks. The hover nozzle, for example, lets him use a pair of water jets to float in mid-air for a few seconds, while the rocket nozzle lets him build water pressure for a while then blast into the sky.

Super Mario Sunshine proved to be somewhat divisive – some players didn’t like the F.L.U.D.D. mechanic and wished the game had been a little more traditional in nature, whereas others appreciated the fact that the game took risks and didn’t just try to be a more graphically impressive Super Mario 64.

Best way to play it now: Sunshine was included in Super Mario 3D All-Stars on Switch. Although that game is now delisted, the cartridge is easy enough to get second hand. Alternatively, if you have a Switch 2 hold fire, because Nintendo has already confirmed it will be coming to the GameCube library on Switch Online.

22) Super Mario Maker 2

(2019, Switch)

The sequel to Super Mario Maker is more of an evolution rather than a complete overhaul.

A new fifth art style was added based on Super Mario 3D World, giving players access to Cat Suits and the like, while players looking to create something a bit meatier could also use the new World Maker mode to create their own overworld maps with up to eight separate stages.

There’s also a new single-player Story Mode where Mario has to rebuild Princess Peach’s castle by playing through 100 Nintendo-created courses.

Super Mario Maker 2 is a positive improvement on the original, although fans of the Wii U game may have preferred using that console’s stylus to create stages, rather than using a Switch controller or jabbing the touchscreen with their finger.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Maker 2 is still available on Switch.

21) Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka Super Mario USA)

(1988, NES)

The story of the western version of Super Mario Bros 2 is well-trodden territory, and if you don’t know by now that it’s a repurposed version of the Miyamoto-led Famicom Disk System game Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic then… well, now you do.

The game gives access to four playable characters for the first time, as Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool try to save the world of Sub-Con (it’s all a dream, you see) from the nasty frog monster Wart.

Because it was originally nothing to do with the Mario series, the game naturally plays nothing like Super Mario Bros – players can no longer kill enemies by jumping on them, but can instead pick them up (or alternatively uproot some nearby vegetables) and throw them at other bad guys.

None of the previous Mario enemies were there either: gone were Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Spinies, and replacing them were ‘new’ enemies like Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, Pokeys and Birdo.

This was also the first game to introduce different abilities for each character. Mario is an all-rounder, Luigi can jump high, Toad is fast and Peach can float.

Despite all its differences, Super Mario Bros 2 was a huge success in the west, to the extent that in 1992 it was finally ported back to Japan as Super Mario USA and became part of the official series canon, with the aforementioned enemies continuing to appear in future games despite having never originally been intended as Mario characters.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Bros 2 is in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

20) Super Mario 3D Land

(2011, Nintendo 3DS)

When the Nintendo 3DS launched in early 2011, the big selling point was its impressive ability to show stereoscopic 3D without the need for special glasses.

Although this feature became less popular over time and many players started turning it off, Mario’s debut on the handheld was widely believed to be one of the best examples of it actually having a positive effect on gameplay.

Rather than being a 2D side-scroller like the New Super Mario Bros games or a free-roaming 3D affair like 64, Sunshine and Galaxy, Super Mario 3D Land sits somewhere in the middle with stages that are linear but still let the player run in all directions.

It’s yet another Peach rescue mission, and this time the big power-up is the Tanooki Suit from Super Mario Bros 3, a fan favourite making a return after 23 years. New to the series, meanwhile, is the Boomerang Flower, which turns Mario into a Boomerang Bro and lets him take out enemies from afar.

The 3D gimmick comes into its own in certain special rooms that are almost built to be optical illusions. While it’s perfectly playable to navigate these rooms with the 3D turned off, once you move the 3D slider up and give the blocks added depth there are moments where blocks that appeared to be next to each other reveal themselves to be on different planes.

It’s a neat effect that was sorely underused by other developers, causing the 3D to generally be considered more of a gimmick than a useful gameplay feature.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario 3D Land has yet to see a re-release or remaster, meaning a 3DS cartridge is currently the only way to buy it.

19) Donkey Kong

(1981, Arcade)

Although today’s anniversary marks the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, it’s important to remember that Mario was around for four years before it arrived (meaning next year is the 45th anniversary of the character himself).

Donkey Kong wasn’t only the first Mario game, it was also the first platform game that allowed players to jump, which means many believe it’s the first ‘proper’ example of the genre.

Playing as Jumpman (later renamed Mario) it’s up to the player to clear four distinct levels in order to rescue Lady (later renamed Pauline) from the clutches of Donkey Kong (later renamed… actually, no).

The mean monkey’s taken Pauline to the top of a giant construction site, so each of the four stages has Mario climbing upwards to reach him, ultimately reaching a height of 100m.

Each stage has its own separate obstacles for Mario to deal with: rolling barrels in the first one, piles of cement in the second, moving platforms and pesky jumping jacks in the third and giant fireballs in the fourth.

The game is therefore extremely short by today’s standards, ending with a final confrontation in level 4 where Mario has to remove rivets from the platforms Donkey Kong is standing on: if he manages this, the ape crashes to the ground and Pauline is saved, then the whole thing loops again.

The importance of Donkey Kong’s success can’t be overstated – not just because it basically wrote the rules of the platformer genre, but because if it had been a failure Mario’s career may have ended there and then.

It’s difficult to imagine a world where video games exist and Mario doesn’t, but had Donkey Kong failed to win over the public that could be the situation we’d be living in now. In which case you’d be reading thin air at this very moment, and looking very silly.

Best way to play it now: The original arcade version of Donkey Kong is available on Switch eShop as part of Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives series. The subsequent NES port is also in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

18) New Super Mario Bros.

(2006, Nintendo DS)

It’s crazy to think about it now but New Super Mario Bros was the first 2D Super Mario game to star Mario as the main character in 14 years (since Super Mario Land 2 on the Game Boy).

As such, its arrival was a huge occasion for longtime Mario fans and it’s safe to say it had been worth the wait.

New Super Mario Bros uses the DS’s polygon-pushing power to create fully 3D environments despite staying locked on a 2D plane. All the classic powerups from the original Super Mario Bros also return, along with some all-new additions.

The most notable of these is the Mega Mushroom, which makes Mario temporarily grow to an immense size filling the entire screen, during which time he can wreck anything he runs into (including blocks, pipes and even the final flagpole).

Others include the Blue Shell, which turns Mario into a makeshift Koopa Troopa and lets him slide around inside the shell (useful for breaking blocks), and the Mini Mushroom, which marks Mario miniscule and lets him run on the surface of water and run through tiny gaps to secret areas.

New Super Mario Bros was an enormous success, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and becoming the best-selling DS game ever.

This would ensure – as the rest of this list shows – that 2D Mario games certainly weren’t going to disappear for another 14 years. On the contrary, in fact Nintendo was about to go back to this particular well numerous times, stretching the definition of the word ‘New’.

Best way to play it now: Since DS games aren’t yet on Switch Online and the Wii U eShop is now closed, you’ll need to get the original DS cartridge to play New Super Mario Bros for now.

17) New Super Mario Bros. Wii

(2009, Wii)

The enormous success of New Super Mario Bros on DS meant that Nintendo was all too happy to try the formula again on the Wii, thereby giving Mario his first starring role in a 2D console platformer since Super Mario World (which is crazy when you think about it).

The plot remains as simple as ever: Bowser has kidnapped Peach yet again, and as always it’s up to Mario to head out and rescue her.

Much of New Super Mario Bros Wii looks and sounds like the DS version, albeit at a higher resolution – the game uses the same polygonal graphics engine, the soundtrack is similar and the general feel is almost identical to its handheld predecessor.

There are, however, some new power-ups, including a Propeller Mushroom (which gives Mario a special hat that lets him spin miles into the air), an Ice Flower (which lets Mario throw ice balls and freeze enemies) and a Penguin Suit (which does the same as the Ice Flower but also lets Mario slide down hills on his belly.

The biggest new feature by far, however, is the ability to play a Super Mario Bros game in co-op for the first time.

Up to four players taking control of Mario, Luigi and two Toads (because God forbid Peach could get involved) could play through the game together, adding to the chaos by forcing players to share the same space, navigate the same platforms and, should the need arise, pick a partner up and chuck them out of the way.

Best way to play it now: New Super Mario Bros Wii has yet to be re-released, meaning you’ll need a Wii (or Wii U) and the original disc to play it. It shifted more than 30 million copies so you should be able to find one.

16) Super Mario All-Stars

(1993, SNES)

After the release of Super Mario World, it was going to be a while before Nintendo was able to release another full Mario adventure on the SNES.

To fill in the gap a bit, Nintendo released Super Mario All-Stars, a compilation cartridge consisting of all the Super Mario games released to date: Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3 and – for the first time in the west – the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros 2 (renamed The Lost Levels here for the first time).

Rather than straight ports, each game was recreated with 16-bit graphics to make them worthwhile purchases for anyone who already owned the NES games. Sprites were completely redrawn, background detail was added (no more flat single-colour skies), and Luigi looked unique rather than just a recoloured Mario.

The music for each game was also recreated, giving it a richer sound, while each game was given a few tweaks and changes to make them a little more user-friendly, such as a new battery back-up that let players save their progress (as in Super Mario World) instead of having to start from scratch each time.

Other changes included starting players off with five lives instead of three, the removal of certain bugs and Princess Toadstool getting blonde hair instead of brown (look, it’s important stuff).

Although most fans still swear by the original versions of each game these days, at the time Super Mario All-Stars was praised as a great way to have the Super Mario series (up to that point) on a single cartridge.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario All-Stars is in the SNES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

15) New Super Mario Bros. U

(2012, Wii U)

The launch of the Wii U saw Nintendo once again going with the New Super Mario Bros format, for the fourth and final time (if you don’t also count the Deluxe re-release on Switch).

Deciding that grabbing Princess Peach and taking her away to some far-off land is beginning to become a bit of a hassle, Bowser comes up with a better idea: he attaches a giant mechanical hand to his airship and uses it to punch a hole through Peach’s Castle then flick Mario, Luigi and a pair of Toads miles away into the distance.

Instead of kidnapping Peach, you see, he’s simply stormed and taken over her castle instead, meaning this time it’s up to our heroes to head back to Peach’s Castle to win it back.

While many power-ups from previous New Super Mario Bros games return here (including the Propeller Mushroom, Ice Flower and Penguin Suit), the big new addition this time is the Super Acorn, which gives Mario a special squirrel suit that lets him glide through the air.

Another new feature in the Wii U version is Boost Mode, which lets an extra player use the touch screen on the Wii U’s Gamepad to create platforms for other players and stun enemies by tapping them.

It’s the game’s new Challenge Mode, however, which gradually unlocks a series of extremely difficult time trials and other missions, which finally provides the extra difficulty long-time Mario fans had been requesting ever since New Super Mario Bros first arrived on DS.

Best way to play it now: New Super Mario Bros U was re-released on Switch as New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, which includes the main game and the New Super Luigi U DLC. It also has a free Switch 2 update which improves image quality.

14) Super Mario Bros. 35

(2020, Switch)

Nintendo celebrated the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros with this fantastic attempt to turn the original classic into a 35-player battle royale game.

Players run through an endless series of Super Mario Bros stages, and as they kill enemies on their screen they appear on opponents’ screens instead.

If a number of skilled players end up in the same game the results can be chaotic, with hundreds of Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Spinies and Bowsers littering the stages. This makes it all the more satisfying when the player picks up a Star and ploughs through them all, scattering them to their opponents’ screens and creating even more anarchy.

Devastatingly, Super Mario Bros 35 was killed at the end of March 2021 when Nintendo turned off the servers, something it had warned all along that it was going to do.

Best way to play it now: Tragically, you can’t. It was an online-only game and Nintendo killed the server after six months, as was always the plan.

13) Bowser’s Fury

(2021, Switch)

With Nintendo porting Wii U games to the Switch left, right and centre, it was only a matter of time before Super Mario 3D World – arguably the game most deserving of a second chance, as you’ll see later in this list – would also make the jump to the Switch.

The main game itself only has a handful of tweaks made to it – the characters’ running speed has been improved slightly to make things flow a bit smoother, and the Cat Suit now lets you climb a little higher.

The big addition, however, is Bowser’s Fury, a completely new adventure that was created exclusively for the Switch version. In it, Bowser has grown enormous and become Fury Bowser, and is terrorising the small island paradise of Lake Lapcat.

Bowser Jr asks Mario to help him defeat Fury Bowser to try and get him back to regular old Bowser, so Mario has to travel through Lake Lapcat’s various islands (each of which are their own self-contained stages), collecting Cat Shines along the way so he can eventually become Giga Cat Mario and fight Fury Bowser head-to-head.

Bowser’s Fury is an interesting proof of concept of what it could be like to turn the 3D Mario genre into a larger open-world adventure similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where each of its individual stages was part of one huge world and players were able to travel between them with no loading times.

Could this be the future of Mario games? We’ll have to wait and see, but based on this we’d be all for it.

Best way to play it now: Bowser’s Fury is part of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, which is still available on Switch. It also has a free Switch 2 update which improves the resolution and frame rate, the latter of which is particularly welcome in Bowser’s Fury given its slightly stuttery nature thanks to the open world.

12) Super Mario Land

(1989, Game Boy)

When Nintendo decided to make a new handheld console with interchangeable cartridges, it was a foregone conclusion that a Mario game would have to be developed for it.

Truth be told, the Game Boy didn’t actually need Super Mario Land at launch – Tetris was the system’s killer app – but it certainly benefited from the game’s presence anyway, especially because it was so different from the console entries.

This time Mario has to explore a new world called Sarasaland to rescue Princess Daisy from the evil alien Tatanga. To do this he has to travel through four kingdoms, which bear a striking resemblance to real world location: Birabuto (Egypt), Muda (Bermuda), Easton (Easter Island) and Chai (China).

There may only be 12 stages in this game (compared to, say, 32 in Super Mario Bros) but there’s plenty of variety in that short trip, including two shoot ‘em up stages where Mario pilots a small submarine and biplane.

Other elements appear to be similar to the main series at first glance before exposing themselves to be very different: the Koopa Troopa like enemies are actually called Nokobon and their shells are bombs that explode when you jump on them, while your fireballs have been replaced by ‘Superballs’ which that bounce all over the place.

The game is still fantastic in its own right – it’s a very different experience to the console titles and it’s very easy so some players bounced off it for this reason, but it’s their loss. How many other video games could inspire a rap which could reach the UK Top 10 singles charts?

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Land is in the Game Boy app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

11) Donkey Kong

(1994, Game Boy)

The Game Boy version of Donkey Kong (known among fans as Donkey Kong ’94 because that was its name during development) is one of the most pleasant surprises in gaming for anyone who doesn’t know what they’re about to play.

At first glance it appears to be a straight port of the original arcade Donkey Kong, but once you clear the fourth stage and send Donkey Kong falling to his doom as normal, something changes: he gets up, grabs Pauline and runs off.

It soon becomes clear that this arcade Donkey Kong remake was Stage 0, a mere prologue to an enormous adventure with 97 more levels to play through.

Mario has plenty more moves up his sleeve now too, including the ability to perform handstands and backflips to reach higher platforms, the ability to throw the mallet power-up to higher levels, and the ability to pick up and throw certain items as in Super Mario Bros 2.

The result is one of the finest games on the Game Boy and a brilliant platformer that even introduces puzzle elements as the stages get more complex. Very few handheld games of this era were as packed as Donkey Kong was – it’s an absolute must-play.

Best way to play it now: Donkey Kong is in the Game Boy app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

10) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

(1995, SNES)

“It’s just my personal opinion, but I felt like with Super Mario World we had done everything we could with a side-scrolling jumping game.” These were the words of Shigefumi Hino, one of the four directors of what would become Yoshi’s Island.

Rather than making another straight sequel where Mario was the hero once again, the sequel to Super Mario World – or technically Super Mario Bros 5 if you’re keeping count – instead puts multiple Yoshis in the starring role.

The game’s a prequel of sorts, and is set in the past when Mario and Luigi were only newborn babies. When a stork delivering them to their parents is ambushed by Kamek the Magikoopa, Luigi is kidnapped while Mario falls from the sky and lands on Yoshi’s Island.

A group of Yoshis decide to reunite Baby Mario with his brother by operating a relay system: one Yoshi will carry him across a stage, then at the end he’ll pass him to another Yoshi, and so on until they reach Kamek and get Baby Luigi back.

Much like Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi’s Island was most fondly remembered for its incredible visual style, but unlike Rare’s realistic pre-rendered look, the opposite was the case here: everything looks like it’s been drawn with markers and crayons.

In case you’re concerned, don’t worry: Baby Mario and Baby Luigi do get reunited at the end and are successfully delivered to their parents… but we never get to see who they are. Mysterious stuff.

Best way to play it now: Yoshi’s Island is in the SNES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

9) Super Mario 3D World

(2013, Wii U)

After attempting to merge the styles of 2D and 3D Mario games in Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, Nintendo decided to try the technique again, this time in high definition with this Wii U follow-up.

Super Mario 3D World isn’t about rescuing Princess Peach for once: instead, Mario and chums have to travel to the Sprixie Kingdom and rescue a bunch of Sprixie Princesses, little fairy creatures who have been kidnapped by Bowser.

The reason Peach isn’t the damsel in distress this time is because she’s actually one of the four playable heroes: players can now choose between Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach (or any combination of them in up to four-player co-op) as they play through each of the game’s 117 stages.

This isn’t purely cosmetic: as in Super Mario Bros 2, each character has their own distinct abilities. Mario is your typical all-rounder. Luigi has a higher jump but is harder to control, Toad runs extremely quickly and Peach is the slowest but has her trademark floating jump.

As with its 3DS predecessor, each stage combines the open world feel of 3D Mario games with the linear confines of the 2D titles, meaning although players can move in eight directions, there’s still a clear path to follow.

Because it was released on the struggling Wii U Super Mario 3D World didn’t sell as many as it could have, leading many to believe it was one of the entire series’ hidden gems at the time. That would eventually be remedied with a Switch re-release.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is available on Switch, with a free update for Switch 2 owners which improves the resolution.

8) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

(2023, Switch)

With its focus on new ideas over nostalgia, tight design and striking presentation, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is undoubtedly the plumber’s most memorable 2D outing since the 1990s.

Just like those classic games, Wonder oozes a confidence lacking in the more recent New Super Mario Bros. games, which seemed more concerned with sticking tightly to the existing formula than surprising players with new ideas.

Wonder is the first 2D Mario to match the throwaway inventiveness of Mario’s modern 3D entries, which means it’s absolutely packed with imagination.

Thanks to its Wonder Flower gimmick, virtually every level here introduces a brand-new mechanic – they transform players into floating balloons, summon a stampede of rampaging bulls, flip gameplay to a top-down adventure, and numerous other unexpected effects that always surprise and rarely leave you without a beaming grin on your face.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is lovingly crafted, consistently surprising, and a delight to play alone or with friends. If this is what the future of Mario side-scrolling looks like, then we can’t wait to see what’s next. Especially if future games are assembled with this much heart.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Bros Wonder is available on Switch.

7) Super Mario Bros.

(1985, NES)

Although Mario made his debut in Donkey Kong and got his first starring role in Mario Bros, he will forever be associated with Super Mario Bros by anyone with even the slightest knowledge of gaming (hence its 40th anniversary being marked today).

The game is so ingrained in popular culture that even people who don’t really play games recognise the theme tune, know mushrooms make him bigger, know he can go down pipes, and so on.

The game that completely rewrote the rules of platforming and overshadowed everything that came before it, Super Mario Bros is simply one of the most seminal works in the history of the entire medium.

It stars Mario and Luigi as they run through 32 stages of the Mushroom Kingdom, defeating enemies and destroying blocks as they try to rescue Princess Toadstool (as she was known in the West at the time) from the evil Bowser, King of the Koopas.

Every aspect of Super Mario Bros has influenced the genre in some way, from collecting 100 items – coins in this case – for an extra life, to underwater stages, to the concept of jumping on enemies’ heads to kill them. Crammed into that 32KB cartridge is the guide book for decades of games that would follow.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s still a hugely playable game to this day: while many games of its era perhaps haven’t aged so great, Super Mario Bros still has perfectly weighted jumps, brilliantly designed levels and feels responsive enough that every moment remains satisfying decades after its release.

Assuming there are no global extinction events or anything like that, people will still be playing this game another 40 years from now. We’ll see you for our updated list on its 80th anniversary in 2065.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Bros is in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

6) Super Mario Odyssey

(2017, Switch)

The Switch launched alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which completely transformed the Zelda series by putting players in an enormous open world and giving them free rein to explore it as they saw fit.

Although Super Mario Odyssey didn’t quite go to those lengths, it did have a similar vibe in that each of its 17 kingdoms were practically begging to have every nook and cranny explored.

The game begins with Mario being thrown off Bowser’s Airship during another Peach kidnap attempt. He lands in the Cap Kingdom where he meets Cappy, a sentient cap who Mario can throw at enemies to possess them and take control of them.

Each of the game’s kingdoms has a host of Power Moons hidden away, and the player is actively encouraged to try anything and everything to find them. One minute you could be finding band members to take part in a concert to celebrate the anniversary of Donkey Kong, the next you could be simply keeping a lonely man company by sitting next to him on a bench.

The game rewards players for experimenting, and if at any point you think “I wonder if this works”, you’re likely to discover that 95% of the time it does.

There may not be another game like it in the future, but the sheer diversity of the tasks involved means it stands tall as one of the most inventive, unique and consequently utterly fantastic games in the Super Mario series.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Odyssey is available on Switch. It also has a free Switch 2 update which improves image quality.

5) Super Mario Bros. 3

(1988, NES)

By the time Nintendo was ready to make a third Super Mario Bros game the company’s R&D teams were able to push so much more out of the system, both in terms of what it could pull off and the capacity of each cartridge.

The result was an adventure that completely eclipsed everything the original game managed to achieve on a technical level.

The most notable example of this was the introduction of maps for each world, which gave the player a better sense that they were making their way across the land rather than just taking on a sequence of unconnected stages.

A host of power-ups also gave the player new abilities, such as the Super Leaf (which turned Mario into a raccoon and let him fly for the first time), the Frog Suit (which let him swim more easily) and the Tanooki Suit (which let him not only fly but also turn into a statue to avoid enemies.

The game also introduced the Koopalings, Bowser’s seven children, each of whom was a boss in each world’s final stage (which was always set on a giant airship).

The leap in quality and scale compared to the original meant Super Mario Bros 3 went down in history as one of the most important games in the series, and while many others have since surpassed it in terms of detail, the fact many still consider it one of the best Mario games ever speaks volumes.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Bros 3 is in the NES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

If you already know it inside-out, try Super Mario Advance 4, a GBA remaster which is also on Switch Online. This version includes more than 70 extra levels which were previously only accessed by scanning e-Reader cards on the GBA.

4) Super Mario World

(1990, SNES)

As impressive as Super Mario Bros 3 was, Nintendo had to up its game once again when it came to the sequel because it was going to mark Mario’s debut on 16-bit hardware.

Super Mario World (known in Japan as Super Mario Bros 4) took the world map concept a step further by turning the entire game’s content into one enormous connected map that allowed players to walk from the very first stage right through to Bowser’s Castle in one trip once everything had been unlocked.

The major addition this time, though, was Yoshi, Mario’s dinosaur partner who made his debut here and added a new dimension to the gameplay with his ability to swallow enemies and occasionally gain new powers from them (such as spitting fire and flying).

Prehistoric pal aside, Mario’s main new power-up is a cape that lets him fly again, but what makes it different from Raccoon Mario in Super Mario Bros 3 is the fact that players can keep Mario in the sky permanently with skilful use of the cape’s swooping and soaring abilities.

Arguably the best thing about the game for those who completed it, however, was the sheer number of secrets it contained, such as the hidden Star World area and the even more elusive Special Zone, which had the ability to change the season to autumn, making some of the enemies look different.

Other launch games like F-Zero may have shown off the SNES hardware better, but in terms of pure platforming gameplay, Super Mario World was the definite proof that Mario was here to stay.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario World is in the SNES app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

3) Super Mario 64

(1996, Nintendo 64)

It was all well and good establishing the rulebook for the genre with Super Mario Bros, but to do it all over again with Super Mario 64 was something even more special.

Don’t be under any illusions that Super Mario 64 was the first 3D platformer – there were a few attempts before Mario’s polygonal presence, and some of them (such as Jumping Flash, Tomb Raider and Crash Bandicoot) were very good.

That said, it’s a testament to Super Mario 64’s quality that it’s still considered the proper start of the genre, since it was the first truly massive 3D platformer that made everyone stop and take notice.

This was partly thanks to the Nintendo 64 controller’s analogue stick which made moving around a 3D space far more intuitive.

The game’s open nature defined it too – not just in the way that each of its separate worlds (each contained within a painting in Peach’s Castle) allows you to freely roam around, but also in the way that the player has some say over which order they want to collect the 120 Power Stars needed to complete the game 100%.

There were some concerns at the time that making Mario 3D might not work – not to mention giving him a voice – but the resulting masterpiece put those fears to rest.

There was no better launch game to show off how the Nintendo 64’s third dimension could transform genres, and nearly 30 years later it still holds up surprisingly well, with only a temperamental camera giving away its age.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario 64 is in the Nintendo 64 app in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library.

2) Super Mario Galaxy 2

(2010, Wii)

How do you possibly follow up one of the greatest games ever made (as if we haven’t already given away what number one is on this list)? If you’re Super Mario Galaxy 2, you simply offer more of the same.

Set in a sort of alternate universe (which, without spoiling anything, is the result of what happens at the end of the first game), Galaxy 2 retells the story with Bowser once again kidnapping Peach and taking her into space.

This time Mario befriends a large purple star called Lubba, who takes a Power Star and turns it into Starship Mario, a large spaceship shaped like Mario’s head. The aim is to chase after Bowser by flying Starship Mario across space, blasting off to various galaxies along the way to gather more Power Stars to power the ship.

The previous power-ups from the last game are back here, but they’re joined by some new ones: the Cloud Flower lets Mario jump into the sky and make cloud platforms appear underneath him, the Spin Drill lets him drill huge tunnels into dirt, and the Rock Mushroom lets him turn into a huge boulder and roll into enemies.

The biggest addition, though, is the return of Yoshi, who wasn’t present in the first game. Although he doesn’t appear in every stage, when he does he has three new power-ups of his own, and the use of the Wii Remote’s pointer to direct his tongue is a stroke of genius.

Galaxy 2 may not have been as revolutionary as its predecessor, and was never going to have the same initial impact. It’s no less incredibly inventive, however, and although it’s second in this list there’s not a lot between it and the top spot.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Galaxy 2 is getting an HD Switch re-release on October 2, alongside the first Super Mario Galaxy.

1) Super Mario Galaxy

(2007, Wii)

With the bar set by Super Mario 64 and sort of wiggled a bit by Super Mario Sunshine, the big question was whether the third 3D Mario game would live up to its predecessors.

It did so and then some – Super Mario Galaxy remains one of the most critically acclaimed games ever made, with its 97 score placing it in fourth on Metacritic’s all-time chart.

Bowser hasn’t just kidnapped Peach this time, he’s uprooted her entire castle and flown off into space with it. Mario follows suit but ends up lost in space and finds himself on the Comet Observatory, a small planet that’s home to Rosalina and her star friends, the Lumas.

Bowser has stolen the Observatory’s Power Stars, so Mario has to get them back in order to power the Observatory and fly it to the centre of the universe for a final showdown.

Galaxy’s space setting is what makes it so truly wonderful – because each of the game’s stages is a separate ‘galaxy’, each can be wildly different and introduce their own mechanics, enemies or even gravitational pull.

18 years after its release, the game remains the absolute peak of Nintendo’s creativity, with power-ups, ideas and concepts which could fuel entire games introduced for just one or two levels before being replaced with something entirely different.

Galaxy is considered by many, including us, as the highest point in Mario’s entire history, and the full orchestral soundtrack is a particularly delicious cherry on top.

Best way to play it now: Super Mario Galaxy is getting an HD Switch re-release on October 2, alongside Super Mario Galaxy 2.

For the full video version of this list, visit the VGC Patreon, where all 40 entries are discussed in a 135-minute available on all paid tiers.

Some of the entries in this list are excerpts from VGC deputy editor Chris Scullion’s book Jumping for Joy: The History of Platform Video Games, available now in all major book stores.