Super Mario. He’s Italian, he wears overalls, he’s got an M on his hat, and he’s go♉t one stylish mustache. Everyone knows him, from the most hardcore gamers to the casual fans who barely even play. He’s just as♏ much an icon as he is a character and odds are he’ll remain that way.

It’s not hard to see why, as Nintendo has had a fantastic track record with the red plumber. His worst titles tend to have redeeming qualities that make them worth playing and his best have completely changed the video gaming world. He’s played tennis, he’s gone go karting, and sometimes he plays baseball, but more than anything else, he’s saved the prin🐠cess and will keep doing so until Nintendo’s done making games.

Despite Mario’s impressive resume, it’s really the platforming gig that helps him pay the bills and also theဣ one where he shows off the most consistent quality. But even that quality wavers sometimes. Never too harshly like with Sonic or Mega Man, but more in line with The Legend of Zelda, where the 🧸quality is usually so incredibly high that the lesser titles stand out all the more prominently.

Co♒mpletely disregarding spin-offs, expan💜sion packs, ports, and remakes, this is a look at every Super Mario gam🍃e ranked from the worst that didn’t manage to influence the genre to the very best tꦕhat revolutionized gaming.

17 New Super Mario Bros. 2

What happens when you find a premise so perfect for Wario the game practically makes itself? You get Nintendo squandering serious potential by w𝓡asting it on another New Super Mario Bros. title. The thing is, the New Super Mario Bros. subseries isn’t even bad. It’s a bit homoge🍌nized, sure, b🌠ut there’s some stellar level design there. New Super Mario Bros. 2 though? That’s a different story.

It isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t quite live up to the series’ reputation. Themed around collecting as many coins as possible, Mario (not Wario ♍for some bizarre reason) is thrust into one of the easiest games in the series to date. Even the post game, which has consistently been difficult, fails to make up for the weak balance.

Throw in some sk𒐪etchy DLC practice🌞s and level design that’s neither challenging or engaging and New Super Mario Bros. 2 is fine for the occas💞ional short burst of gameplay but not ꦡmuch else.

16 The Lost Levels

Super Mario sequels have always been kno🐭wn for their innovation and refusal to play itꦯ safe, but it didn’t start that way. Originally titled Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan, The Lost Levels was Ninte💧ndo’s followup to their massivelಞy successful Super Mario Bros. Very little is different at first glance, but The Lost Levels’ newf꧑ound difficulty rears its ugly h✃ead rather quickly.

For seasoned veterans of the series, The Lost Levels’ unforgiving design philosophy can🃏 make for a decent challenge, but that doesn’t mean the game is particularly well designed. Poison mushrooms, invisible blocks, and cruel warp ꦺpipes that send you back to previous worlds are only some of the frustrations found in The Lost Levels.

While there’s really no such thing a♑s a bad Super Mario ෴game, The Lost Levels does feel somewhat misguided, feeling more ༺like an encore of the original Super Mario Bros. with the difficulty amped up t♎han an actual sequel that tries to build on Super Mario Bros.’ game design.

15 Super Mario Bros. 2

Based off of the Japan-on✨ly, Arabian Nights inspired platformer, Doki Doki Panic, Super Mario Bros. 2 was quite the🍌 departure from Nܫintendo’s classic series. Where The Lost Levels played it too safe with its execution, Super Mario Bros. 2 perhaps went too far in the other direcꩲtion, experimenting a bit too much with its game design.

Being able to choose from Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad is certainly a treat, but the actual level design tends to be quite dull for the most part. On top of that, the game clearly isn’t balanced with every character in mind, which can cause lead to strange spikꦬes and dips in difficulty depending on who the playable character is.

Most importantly, however, despite introducing s🍸everal enemies that would end up being staples, it would be decades before Ninteღndo revisited any design concept from Super Mario Bros 2. and🥃, even then, it would only be the multiple playable characters concept instead o🐭f any actual level design.

14 Super Mario Land

Directed by the man who created the Game Boy, Gunpei ꦓYoko’s Super Mario iteration is certainly interesting to say the least. Perhaps the str𒈔angest entry in the series barring the Doki Doki Panic version of Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Land completely flies in the face of Super Mario’s genera✨l design philosophy.

There are four worlds instead of eight, rescuing Daisy instead of Peach, and facing off against ali🐼ens instead of Koopas. The lack of Miyamoto’s creative touch is certainly present, but there’s plenty of good to be found in Yoko’s handheld Mario. The short length makes for great bursts of gameplay and the soundtrack is as iconic as any other game in the series.

Super Mario Land suffers from being relatively easy and being all over the place in terms of level to level quality, but as far as Game Boy platformers go? It’s a nice, if a tad unpolished attempt at🌊 bringing Mario to the little screen.

13 New Super Mario Bros.

You can criticize🦩 the 2.5D graphics as bland and the music as repetitive, but the original New Super Mario Bros. was quite the game back in 2006. The DS platformer managed to bring platformers back into the spotlight in a big way. It had been years since a 2D S🍒uper Mario had been🥂 released, let alone made the waves the rebranding did.

Nowadays, of course, the sub series is looked at with a far harsher lens, as many fans consider it a prettied up rehash of the original 2D titles without any of the flair. Even Miyamoto has regret𒈔s over the game, stating he made it far too easy.

New Super Mario Bros. really is a mixed bag, perhaps the most mixed of any Supe𓆉r Mario game. When it’s good, it’s fantastic and really shows off what makes Super Mario so great. When it’s not, it shows what💖 can happen if Nintendo’s quality control went out of whack.

12 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

It doesn’t really improve on Super Mario Land’s length or difficulty, but Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is one impressive sequel. The weirdness is still present, but it feels a lot more cohesive this time around thanks to themed worlds that really play around with the Super Mario formula in very creative ways. Mario can trav🌟el through outer space, a giant turtle, and even a mechanical version of himself in search of 6 Golden Coins, so that he can do battle with Wario and reclaim his castle.

Also, M😼ario has a castle and Wario’s first appearance in 🔥Super Mario history is stealing said castle. Overall, Super Mario Land 2 does suffer from🧸 its short length and easy difficulty, but it’s so wildly creative that it’s easy to look over those flaws. Plus, any Super Mario game that features Wario in a prominent role is ꩵone worth playing.

11 Super Mario 3D Land

Take the 2D Super Mario gameplay, g෴rab the 3D Mario assets, ignore the♊ fact that this combination is basically New Super Mario Bros. and you get Super Mario 3D Land.

In terms of design, Super Mario 3D Land is a mix of 2D and 3D Mario, jum♌ping between the two very distinct styles to make one very♋ distinct game. This is both a blessing and a curse for the portable platformer. Because of its handheld nature, levels can’t be as long as in the 3D Marios and are confined to the time limits often found in 2D Super Mario titles, but the 3D design is still trapped in a realm where Nintendo still doesn’t quite know what to do with the limitations of time.

That said, Super Mario 3D Land more than makes up for that with a respectable amount of content for a h🧔andheld Mario and by being genuinely fun. It’s on the short side as most handheld Marios are♚, but the core level design is there and the Super Mario Bros. 3 homages🍌 🎶are tastefully done and an absolute highlight.

10 New Super Mario Bros. Wii

What do you get when you add four player multiplayer to a single player Mario game? A whole lot of chaos. Introducing co🐈-op to the Super Mario series and featuring Toad as a playable character for the first time since Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii made sure everyone and their ꩲmother ❀knew the sequel to the DS bestseller was going to be a multiplayer romp.

Ramping up the difficulty from the previous New Super Mario Bros. and really just busting out the best of the best in terms of🍸 level design, New Super Mario Bros. Wii more than made up for its DS predecessor's shortcomi꧃ngs.

It’s a bit disappointing that Nintendo opted for two variations of Toad as playable characters as opposed to literally any other character in the ever growing Mario roster, but the fun levels, tough yet fair difficulty⛄, and pure mania of multiplaye🦹r make New Super Mario Bros. Wii a very fun way to kill an afternoon.

9 Super Mario Sunshine

The tropical sequel to Super Mario 64 nobody knew they wanted, Super Mario Sunshine is, by far, the most mechanically complicated of the 3D Super Mario games. And that’s a good thing. It’s easy to pick up at first, difficult to master, and incredibly rewarding gameplay wise. So why𝄹 isn’t it higher on the list?

It seems Nintendo wasn’t confident𝐆 withꦬ the longevity of Super Mario Sunshine and the level design unfortunately shows﷽ that, as one of the best quality of life features from 64 has been removed for no reason other than to force players to dredge through the sa🦩me level seven times. In 64, pl♕ayers could gཧet multiple stars in a single run, but Sunshine opts for a more tedious approach.

Is it enough to ruin the game? Not a chance, but it does bog it down. It st🎉ill has the best core gameplay in🉐 the Super Mario series and that alone is reason enough to give Super Mario Sunshine the time of day.

8 Super Mario Bros.

Video games are 💎all about progress, so it’s only natural tha🧔t the original Super Mario Bros. has ⛎been topped since its inception in 1985, but that doesn’t change just ho♕w brilliant and innovative it was back then and how incredibly well it’s managed to age in the past three decades.

There𝓀’s so much thought put into every stage, from low long they are to where enemies and powerups are placed. Nintendo really made a fantastic first impression with their Italian Plumber. Now granted, Super Mario Bros. wasn’t Mario’s first appearance, but i༺t was the one that ဣwould solidify what his series would ultimately be.

Better games have come out since then and ♈it’ll con🤪tinue to be topped, but Super Mario Bros.’ influence 𓆏and quality is undeniable. It spawned a franchise and defined a genre, all the whi🍷le managing to hit the right notes necessary to help it stand the test of time.