I could never list my favorite video games. It can't be done because there's just too many and too much diversity. It would be like a drunken Vietnamese wh0re trying to list her ten most exciting....uh, "experiences". There are fun games, and there are great games. Some games we love right now are going to suck by the end of the year. I've played a few games for Playstation 2, that in a few years people will wonder how they could have ever enjoyed them without being dangerously high.
In the wonderful world of video games, no character is more recognized than Mario. But if you think about it, does Mario have any actual competition? The other systems don't have any strong mascots at all. There's Sonic, the hyperactive blue hedgehog who wears red shoes. He represents Sega. Then there's Crash Bandicoot, who represents Sony. I'm not sure what a bandicoot is, but it appears to be some sort of Australian mammal with a triangular-shaped body who likes to run. If you really want to venture into the past, try to remember Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGraphics 16. He was a bald caveman who liked to hit things with his head and used his teeth to climb walls. You might say Lara Croft and Crash Bandicoot equally represent Sony Playstation, and perhaps they do. This is something I have to bring up. Lara may be a hot chick with uproportionately large breasts who makes sexual noises when she dies, but nonetheless she's a character in a VIDEO GAME. She's nothing more than textured polygons. There is something seriously wrong with people who buy Tomb Raider games just to see the various body movements of an animated British woman. More importantly though, she's not nearly as original as Mario. Counting the first Donkey Kong game, Mario is now 20 years old and has been in some great games over the years. Link from the Zelda series has his strong points, but Mario is definitely the official mascot of Nintendo and always has been. And here I give to you, the ten greatest Mario games ever made.
10.) Wario Land
There's something oddly satisfying about getting to play the bad guy in a video game, and in Wario Land that was exactly what you got. Wario looks a lot like Mario, except for being bigger with a yellow suit and crooked mustache. This was a fun game for two reasons. First of all, you could be a bully. You had to steal pirate gold as the object of the game. You also got to tackle little ball-shaped people that walked around and held spears, with which they used to poke you in areas below the belt if you weren't careful. Secondly, there were all sorts of nifty hats you could try on that gave you different abilities. Eventually they came out with Wario Land 2 and even a 3, but for some reason I decided to only include this one in my list.
9.) Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
For the first time ever, Mario starred in a game that not only made you think, but forced you to READ too! Despite such unpleasant drawbacks, it turned out to be a fun game that included a lot more action than most RPG's. One of the best parts was the cool characters who accompanied you on your journey, although Bowser and Geno were the only ones who really helped in battle. Not only that, but there were dramatic scenes such as Bowser and Mario joining forces, and it had a plot that involved more than just saving a princess from dragon rapage. Unfortunately, it was a short game without much depth and I was able to beat it in six days.
8.) Mario Paint
Not being able to snag an SNES until two years after its release, this was one of the games I was most upset over not being able to get. There were so many things you could do. You could create comic books, animations, music, color stuff, or even swat flies. It's not really a game, but is a fun thing to go back to for SNES old-timers like me.
7.) Mario Kart 64
When the Nintendo 64 made its debut, it came along with some powerhouse games and this was one of them. This had everything Super Mario Kart had, only this time it was cooler and better. You could choose from several characters with different abilities, and the tracks had lots of variety. Then there were the awesome weapons, like banana peels, the starman, and the lightning bolt, which would miniaturize all the racers on the track except you! There's nothing like nailing your best friend with a red turtle shell when he's inches away from the finish line so you can claim victory for yourself.
6.) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
You could find some rad stuff in this game that was never in any Mario games of the past. It took four years from the time they started making YI to the time it came out on store shelves, so you knew it was gonna be good. It was, and included bonus levels, watermelon seeds, edible monkeys, and a cute dog named Poochie. Plus, it gave the story of the birth of Mario and Luigi. It's a large, innovative game with lots to do and at the end you might even get some nostalgic thoughts and decide to play an old Mario game.
5.) Super Mario Bros. 2
Not too many people liked this game and I don't know why. Maybe because it was so much different from the original Super Mario Bros. where you could get lots of points and could only choose one character. I'm going to sidetrack myself for a minute here. In almost every Mario game, you get points every time you do something. But no matter how many points you get, NOTHING happens. It'd be nice to get an extra 1-up mushroom, a fire flower, or get to see Princess Toadstool flash her royal boobies for every 10,000 points or so. But you get none of that, just a large amount of pointless numbers that keep tallying as you go. Anyway, this was one of the first games ever to make use of different characters with different abilities, such as some being able to run faster or jump higher than others. This led to much arguing among my friends and I as to who was the best character. Luigi could jump highest, but when the Princess jumped, she could stay in the air for 1.5 seconds! And then there was Toad, the speedy little bugger who could pull a vegetable out of the ground faster than anyone. I don't think anyone liked being Mario, since he didn't bring anything special to the party and was a disliked character, much like Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Actually, this was exactly the same as a Japanese game called Dream Factory, only the characters were changed in accordance with Mario & Co. Either way, at the time this was one of my favorite games and is an all time classic in my mind.
4.) Mario Tennis/Mario Golf
These are two different games that came out over a year apart, but they're basically the same, only one is tennis and one is golf. Mario Golf was probably the first golf game ever that played like a role playing game. You opened up new courses, had to face club champs, and even obtained experience points as you golfed more. And it had that colorful Mario-style touch that made it even better. Personally, I found Mario Tennis to be a lot more exciting, but both games make use of the N64 transfer pack, so you can upload your Mario Tennis character onto your Nintendo 64. Leave it to Nintendo to spice up sports like these, by adding bonus stages, arrogant opponents, and a big gorilla who wears only a tie.
3.) Super Mario Bros.
This is what started it all. In the fall of 1985, this was THE game. Back then if you didn't own an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros, it would be like not having cable or air conditioning. Sure, you might be able to survive without it, but it wouldn't be much fun. This wasn't the first Mario game, mind you. There was Mario Bros. for Nintendo, which pretty much consisted of going through the same stage 100 times. In the early 1980's there were those Game & Watch Nintendo games but those were pretty dull, even at the time. If you spent more than five minutes with one of those hand held boredom machines, you'd start wishing you had a wooden "ball and cup" toy instead. And don't ever bring one to school with you to play during class, or you may become suddenly fascinated by organic biology. But forget about those early Mario games, this is the one to remember. It had lots of nonstop point-collecting, fireball-shootin', goomba-stompin' action, with a semi-mobile Bowser you had to defeat at the end of each world. One thing I should bring up is that Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels aren't on this list because they were quite similar to this one, but I thought they deserved a sentence or two of recognition. Much like Super Mario Bros., there was lots of jumping, shooting, and killing orange mushrooms with teeth. This is a true classic I'll be playing until the day my fingers become too arthritic to pick up a controller.
2.) Super Mario 64
The contest between #1 and #2 on this list was even closer than the most recent election, and the candidates were a lot less boring. Shigeru Miyamoto (the Japanese guy who made all the Mario games) really did it this time. This was the first ever "complete" game, where you can do just about anything. As in the traditional Mario games, you could jump on stuff, collect coins, swim, and kick Bowser's ass. But there was so much more this time, because there were all sorts of new actions for Mario: he could climb trees, punch, kick, and run around in circles with no particular goal in mind. Another thing that should be noted is that this was the first game to give Mario a voice, and I was shocked to find he had an Italian accent. For over 10 years, it had been up in the air as to what culture the Mario brothers really were. Their names were Mario and Luigi, so obviously they had some sort of Italian background. But in the cartoon they were portrayed as two plumbers from Brooklyn who happened to slip down a shower drain one day and somehow end up in the Mushroom Kingdom. Yes, if you remember the opening credits, that is what actually happened. So with the uprise of the Nintendo 64, Mario's phrases changed from "Yo Luigi, Mama broke the toilet again, we gots to fix it" to "Mama-mia!" and "shut up-a your mouth!". But other than that, you had just about anything you could ever want from an action/adventure game in Super Mario 64. It would have been nice to have a 2 player option, but this was way back in 1996 with state of the art 3-D graphics, so I guess there's no point in getting greedy.
1.) Super Mario World
It took a lot for SMW to beat out SM64 on this list, but what won the race is this game's long lasting appeal. You can't help but love a game where you sit on top of a cute dinosaur who eats just about anything and occasionally poops out a mushroom. Back in 1991 I acted as though playing this game was a spiritual experience, and was as much fun as I'd have in my life. Of course, back then I thought it was called "Super Mario Brothers 4" so things have changed a little since then. But it seemed huge and could never end. There was some sort of majestic quality about it that made you want to go on a journey and become the best, not unlike becoming a Pokémon master in today's world. Alas, now I am able to beat it in one sitting, without even having to save it and begin where I left off on the next day. All it takes is some wide open time when I'm not busy, such as Saturday Night. Within a few short hours I'll make Bowser my b!tch and will restore peace to Dinosaur Land. Fortunately, I don't play SMW anymore for the adventure or challenge, I play it for the fun factor, which will always be there. As long as video games are made, none will capture the fun of jumping, eating, running, and flying as much as this one has. So play the damn game, please. You'll be glad you did.
There they are, ten great games staring Mario. In case you were wondering if there even were ten Mario games, I'll have you know that at the time I'm writing this there are exactly 46 games starring our favorite Italian plumber. When the GameCube rolls around there'll probably be some more great Mario games, but until then these are the best. All this writing about classic video games has made me nostolgic, so if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go play Nintendo for about eight hours or so.
~Poopflinger