Ranking all 3D Mario games - A Jump through Time

It's-a Us! Mario! 

You know what I realised after finishing Super Mario Galaxy 2 last year? That I have now played every 3D Mario game Nintendo made up until this point! It's not a great feat, this 'sub series' of Mario titles only has 7 games in it not counting re-releases, but it's still an interesting achievement for me personally. I was a 'Nintendo kid' growing up. Where my brother had a PlayStation 2, but I had my trusty white Nintendo DS Lite to game on. A great love for many of the Big N's games were born on that old thing, chief among them Pokémon, but Nintendo's mascot wasn't one of them.

Sure, I played New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 DS and Mario Kart DS on that R4 card I had (way before I understood what 'piracy' was), but I never fell in love with those games. Mario Kart was, and still is come to think of it, a party game I played with friends and not much else. New Super Mario Bros. was just something to pass the time, and I never figured out how to get past Bob-omb Battlefield in 64 DS.

It wasn't until Super Mario Odyssey that I 'got' why people love Mario so much. That game was a Christmas gift that I spent the entire winter holiday playing. That's why I'm surprised I've gone through all the 3D games already: it doesn't feel like I've been a playing Mario games for all that long.

With the Super Mario Galaxy Movie just around the corner, this is as good a time as any to do a proper ranking of my experience with all the 3D Mario games. To take a trip down memory lane, recent as it may be, play them again for a bit and see how they stack up. Oh, and as it goes with all these rankings, this list is not an objective list of each game's worth, but simply a reflection of my time with each title. How much I personally enjoyed them.

So without further ado, let's talk about how I'd rank all the games in Mario's 3D catalogue!

7. Super Mario 64

At the very bottom of the list is the very first 3D Mario game. A game that started an entire genre. A title that, as you can guess by its place on the list, I don't like very much. If you click on the purple header and read my review of the game from 4 years ago, you can read that while the title frustrated me to no end, I still gave it the proverbial thumbs up. Right after finishing Super Mario 64, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Over time though, and after playing many more 3D platformers, that perspective has shifted. I still recognise the good but the bad has grown to outweigh it. Booting this game up again in preparation for this list immediately made it clear as to why.

The controls just don't feel very responsive, like Mario is constantly wading through mud. That makes the higher difficulty, thanks to its more unforgiving nature and rough edges, a harder pill to swallow. The camera controls were revolutionary back in the 90's, but far too limited for my more modern tastes. All of this can make a simple jump around a corner an excersise and patience and tediousness.

Sure, there is a lot of fun packed into this title that has resonated with lots of people in the last 30 years, from the level design to the world itself, but to me, this game is more frustating than it is fun. I'm glad that the 'All-Stars' bundle gave the the opportunity to experience this piece of gaming history, but I don't ever see myself playing it again. 

6. Super Mario 3D Land

When mapping out this list and I decided to include 3D Land and 3D World on it, Mario's first adventure on the 3DS was actually a little higher up the list. After actually playing each game again for a bit though, 3D Land dropped down to the second-to-last place.  The reason for that is quite simple; i's not because it's a bad, broken or frustrating title, but because it's a rather forgettable title.

Super Mario 3D Land is a competently made game and was a much-needed win for the then struggling Nintendo 3DS. By translating the original side-scrolling Super Mario to the 3rd dimension, it gave the system a game that made clever use of that defining 3D gimmick. The problem? That's all she wrote. Beneath all of that, 'this is a 3D game that plays like a 2D title' design philosophy, it doesn't have much going for it. It is a very standard Mario game in every other way. Well-made and fun like all Mario games are, but unremarkable in every other aspect. Other Mario games might be more flawed but are more remarkable for, say, the crazy ideas they put on the table.

The existence of Mario 3D World, a game with the same design philosophy but with a lot more heft and personality, really makes this game kind of obsolete. There really isn't any reason to play it these days when there's a bigger, better and more easily accessible alternative out there.  

5. Super Mario Sunshine

Coming in at number 5 is the black sheep of the 3D Mario family: the GameCube's Super Mario Sunshine. The reason for this is mostly due to two tings. Because of its high difficulty, and that when you do finally collect every single Shine, it's a 'stench for thanks' situation, as we Dutch like to say. I can still vividly remember, very bullishly, trying to finish a challenge involving traversing below the level, and it taking a frustration filled hour to do so. If not for this stubbornes I probably would've dropped the game right then and there. That wasn't a good sign and that level was far from an exception. 

Despite off, or perhaps because off, these issues, Super Mario Sunshine is a game that stuck with and will propably stick with you should you choose to play it. The water pack that is F.L.U.D.D. is a very useful platforming tool that gave me some welcoming leaway whent it came to making difficult jumps. The the game's island setting givse the game a unique vibe and environment and they even went that extra mile to redesign each character to match the tropical aesthatic. Give them a change of clothes like you'd expect from people going on a summer vacation.

It's also the first game to feature Bowser Jr., who went on to become a series mainstay and is one of the badguys in that movie I mentioned in the opening. What I also want to point out is that, so far, this is the only Mario game with full voice acting. They never did it again after this game, which is a bit weird, isn't it?

Last, but not leaast, the core Mario gameplay remains a lot of fun. From all those platforming challenges, to exploring the levels, trying to find all the (blue) coins, and winning those races. When you put the flaws aside, Super Mario Sunshine, well, 'shines'. You just have to get through quite a lot of issues to get to it.

4. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Now we've arrived at that 'sequel' I talked about during the Super Mario 3D Land portion. It's also the point of the list where I can say that I can recommend you play the game without any ifs, whats or buts about it. 

3D World is one of those games that first came across my radar thanks to a YouTuber, Scott the Woz, who made multiple videos about his changing opinions on this game. When it was announced that 3D World would be coming to the Nintendo Switch, with extra content to boot, I was chomping at the bit to play it for myself.

And I was not disappointed when I did. 3D World took that 'a 3D Mario that plays like a 2D title' thing and made it both bigger and better. The levels are larger and put more emphasis on the 3D than the 2D, making them feel less guided and more open. There are multiple playable characters, each playing slightly differently, giving you different ways to tackle the game. Each level can be played with up to 4 buddies, making 3D World a fun 'party game' aside from it being a great singleplayer title. That last bit isn't something that I've had the pleasure to experience much, I really only played it with a friend once, but that was a great afternoon of gaming fun. 

Because of its much more open level design, more varied theming and some really neat powerups, Super Mario 3D World quickly became one of my favourite Mario games. It's just a whole lof of fun to play and a great title to just pick up, play a couple of levels, and then move on again. More so than something like Super Mario Bros. Wonder which, as creative as it is, lacks that little bit of freedom this game gives me while still being a 'sidescroller' Mario game.

But what about Bowser's Fury, you ask? It's is a neat piece of extra content. A small 'what if' when it comes to the direction that 3D Mario can take. Short, a little repetitive but a sweet appetizer to a great port. 

3. Super Mario Odyssey

The first of the 'podium' titles, so to speak, is the Mario game that finally made me go 'get' Mario. It was the game that introduced me to the 3D Mario playstyle, which treated me a lot better than the 2D style I was used to from my DS days ever did. There was no timer telling you to hurry so if you think you missed something, you could always turn around and take another look. Mario could also do a ton of different moves to traverse the levels and that isn't even accounting for the capture mechanic. Mario throwing Cappy to 'take over' everything from Goomba's to T-Rex's.

There was a ton, really a ton, of things to collect, which I did a lot. There was no world that I didn't leave with many more moons than I needed. I can even remember that one time, I had collected enough moons I could, in theory, skip a world. I didn't do that but it's funny to think that I could've. Speaking of those moons, the way they are handled in Odyssey has kind off spoiled me for all the other 3D Mario games. Those who use the '1 star per mission' system which I don't like all that much. I prefer the more freedom-oriented approach of Odyssey, where you don't have to pick a specific mission to get a certain star. Where you're not thrown out of the level when you find it but can look for them at your own pace.

And, of course, you just have the scale and vibrancy of this game. The, for the series' norms, more involved narrative with Bowser capturing Peach and holding a wedding for her. Travelling all across the world in that neat looing hat-copter means you have a lot of different worlds to visit, each with its own flavour. Sometimes quite literally! It didn't do everything right but it was an excellent 'first' game for me. I enjoyed it a lot and it was all I played for the Christmas holidays. 

2. Super Mario Galaxy 2

It wasn't difficult for me to decide that both Galaxy games would fill out the top two spots. What was hard for me to decide was which of the two would get gold and which one would have to settle for silver. In the end, I put the sequel below the original. Why the original ended up getting the big price, I'll leave for later. Here, I want to focus on why exactly Galaxy 2 made that choice a tough one.

Galaxy 2 is more Galaxy 1. It started life as DLC to its predecessor and it shows. There are no new big gimmicks, not courning a returning Yoshi, no reworking of mechanics or changed graphics or the like. It is just another game full of anti-gravity mechanics in a planetoid filled space and that isn't a bad thing. Galaxy 1 is a good game, it's anti-gravity 'walk across these entire planets' was a very fun gimmick that still had some room to grow.

When I played this game last year, after it got ported to the Switch, it took me absolutely no time to get back into the Galaxy groove, even though it had been 4 years since I last played that game. Flying through space, well, sky actually, was as fun as always. The little space ship you fly around in might be small but it's packed with useful one-up mushrooms. I made sure to get as many as I could every time I booted up the same so I had some extra lives in my corner. Being able to afford an extra mistake or two is always nice in games like this.

Yoshi was neat to use too, with the levels in which you had to use the spicy pepper to run as fast as you could through a level being my favourite Yoshi stage. I liked the chance to play as Luigi during the campaign portions and make things just a tad more challenging for myself. I also liked that the levels were shorter overall but that there were more of them. Makes it easier to play for shorter session which, as an adult, is something I appreciate the more time goes on.

That didn't stop me from overshooting my planned play time more than I care to admit, especially when a new galaxy opened up with a theming that looked oh so neat, but I digress. There is a lot to love here is what I'm saying, but there is one game I love just a little bit more...

1. Super Mario Galaxy

After talking so much about its sequel, I'll jump straight in with the reasons why I'm, when it really comes down to it, I put it above Galaxy 2. It's a combination of that 'first time magic' and a couple of other little things.

I can tackle that former point rather quickly: this is the first time I played its anti-gravity mechanic. That I saw Bowser came crashing down on the Star Festival, in a massive spaceship no less, and plucked the entire Castle away and flew into space with it. That I listened to the excellent music which I still listen to this day, mostly while writing. That makes this title stand out more in my mind than its sequel.

Maybe because of that, I can more easily recall my memories of plahying this game than I do its sequel, even with me having played the latter oh so recently. I can do the first Galaxy, the Gateway Galaxy, practically blindfolded at this point. I remember my fights against Bouldergeist, Dino Piranha and King Kaliente and how the latter actually gave me some trouble (I was terrible at judging the distance of the boulders he spewed). I can even still remember how the rolling ball gyro levels made my hands hurt and may or may not have contributed to the death of one of my nunchuks. Not a great memory, but it is tied to this game that I propably will never forget nonetheless.

What also makes it stand out more is the skybox, which is actual space instead of a vast blue sky, and the hubworld. The Comet Observatory is large enough to be its own (mini) level. There are multiple biomes with different looks, plenty of secrets to find and picking a level by 'observing' them through a space telescope is more interesting than simply picking them from a standard map.

This is also the game that has plenty of Rosalina in it. That has the original storybook with her excellent backstory and has her chilling at the Comet Observatory throughout the game. As my top pick in Mario Kart, her constant presence here is much appreciated.

Because of all of this, I prefer the original over its sequel even if the latter addresses some of the issues of this game such as the gyro controlled gimmick levels.

As a closing bit of trivia: Super Mario Galaxy is one of the few games of which I own multiple versions. I have both the Wii original, 3D All-Stars Collection and the Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 dual pack. This isn't something I ever planned on doing; I never went 'I want to own all Galaxy releases' but it is very fitting. It's is my favourite Mario game after all!