Warning: autism ahead
8. Super Mario Odyssey
This game is the epitomy of laziness. Unlike previous Mario games where the majority of missions were substantial and unique, Odyssey opts to copy and paste and paste a handful of objectives hundreds of times. There's only a minority of missions in this game that are actually unique.
Furthermore unlike in prior 3D Mario games where missions were the main focus and stars/shines were motivation to partake in these missions, in Odessey the main focus is on the act of collecting itself.
Thus Odessey ends up being nothing more than a mindless and worse version of Banjo Kazooie. It really has nothing to do with 3D Mario at all.
7. Super Mario 3D Land
There's nothing more boring than a braindead easy platformer. Besides of course an easy platformer with no viraity! And that is why Mario 3D Land sucks. The game is so brainless it becomes tedious to continue playing it. There's nothing fun about its levels. There's no interesting gimmicks or fresh mechanics that allow the game to be exciting. The few gimmicks it has are directly stolen from the Mario Galaxy games and regurgitated repeatedly to ad nasium.
As a rotten expired cherry on top of the expired cake the game forces you into collecting tokens splattered across the level to pad itself out more than even the sandbox games did. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't so damn boring that its a struggle to even pay attention to what's happening while you play levels!
6. Super Mario 3D World
While still a bit too easy 3D world escapes being bad by having actual unique level gimmicks. It certainly isn't anything special but it's not horrible. I don't have much to say on it. It's as generic as a Mario game can get without being bad.
5. Super Mario 64
The best parts of Mario 64 are missions that focus on engaging in platforming. The worst parts of Mario 64 are missions that focus on killing a certain number of enemies, discovering 5 secrets or completing a stupidly easy task. Mario 64 is a good game but it is held back by the latter forementioned set of missions wich make it tedious to finish.
Despite these flaws it is a quality title. It's highest achievement imo is the creativity of the worlds it presents. There's only a few that I can really say are completely generic. Most of them have some kind of clever twist that sets them apart from typical video game fair. Be it the games grass level being a battlefield or the games underground level featuring a construction site. 64 is a very unique game. Nothing really captures the same feels like it.
Definitely a classic worth playing.
4. Super Mario 64 DS
The levels I had the most fun with in 64 were the Bowser levels. 64 DS adds more levels styled like these in the form of the levels for the new secret bosses you need to defeat to unlock new characters. Because of this I enjoy DS a tad bit more more than the original.
Some complain about the controls but I really don't think they're that bad. If they bother you too much you can always install a mod nowadays anyways.
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Galaxy 2 like 1 features some of the best level design in any platforming game. While it is undeniably more linear than 1, this linearity let's Galaxy 2 go all out with creativity and making almost every mission feel unique. My only criticisms of 2 would be the music and atmosphere not being as good as 1. Outside of that it's an amazing title.
2. Super Mario Sunshine
I believe the primary reason Sunshine is negatively regarded is because people misunderstood 3d Mario.
The main focus of 3d Mario was never intended to be the freedom or collectathon elements. 64 itself only turned out how it did due to technical limitations. The intention was always meant to be on the missions and activities you partook in inside levels.
This is something sunshine greatly improves upon. It doesn't kick you out of levels to pad out the game. It kicks you out of levels so the world is allowed subsequent change each time you enter the level again. It's something 64 did to a minor degree but not to the same extent sunshine does.
This allows sunshine to have a massive level of viraity you don't see in other sandbox Mario games. Each mission tells a different story and you genuinely feel like you're visiting living worlds that are experiencing their own passage of time.
I wish more people would discuss this instead of focusing on the blue coins or handful of wonky levels. Is sunshine flawed? Yes. However it doesn't deserve the level of disdain it receives and I suspect most of it is people who've been brainwashed by YouTube "critics" Sunshine at it's best is easily the peak of sandbox 3D Mario.
1. Super Mario Galaxy
There's really not much to say about Galaxy 1 that hasn't already been said a million times over. A perfect combination of platforming, music, atmosphere, puzzles and creativity. Each mission brings new platforming sections and gameplay to levels. There's very little repeating content. In this way it's far closer to the classic 2d games than previous 3e Marios. It's what 3D Mario was always intended to be but was unable to be due to technical limitations.
8. Super Mario Odyssey
This game is the epitomy of laziness. Unlike previous Mario games where the majority of missions were substantial and unique, Odyssey opts to copy and paste and paste a handful of objectives hundreds of times. There's only a minority of missions in this game that are actually unique.
Furthermore unlike in prior 3D Mario games where missions were the main focus and stars/shines were motivation to partake in these missions, in Odessey the main focus is on the act of collecting itself.
Thus Odessey ends up being nothing more than a mindless and worse version of Banjo Kazooie. It really has nothing to do with 3D Mario at all.
7. Super Mario 3D Land
There's nothing more boring than a braindead easy platformer. Besides of course an easy platformer with no viraity! And that is why Mario 3D Land sucks. The game is so brainless it becomes tedious to continue playing it. There's nothing fun about its levels. There's no interesting gimmicks or fresh mechanics that allow the game to be exciting. The few gimmicks it has are directly stolen from the Mario Galaxy games and regurgitated repeatedly to ad nasium.
As a rotten expired cherry on top of the expired cake the game forces you into collecting tokens splattered across the level to pad itself out more than even the sandbox games did. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't so damn boring that its a struggle to even pay attention to what's happening while you play levels!
6. Super Mario 3D World
While still a bit too easy 3D world escapes being bad by having actual unique level gimmicks. It certainly isn't anything special but it's not horrible. I don't have much to say on it. It's as generic as a Mario game can get without being bad.
5. Super Mario 64
The best parts of Mario 64 are missions that focus on engaging in platforming. The worst parts of Mario 64 are missions that focus on killing a certain number of enemies, discovering 5 secrets or completing a stupidly easy task. Mario 64 is a good game but it is held back by the latter forementioned set of missions wich make it tedious to finish.
Despite these flaws it is a quality title. It's highest achievement imo is the creativity of the worlds it presents. There's only a few that I can really say are completely generic. Most of them have some kind of clever twist that sets them apart from typical video game fair. Be it the games grass level being a battlefield or the games underground level featuring a construction site. 64 is a very unique game. Nothing really captures the same feels like it.
Definitely a classic worth playing.
4. Super Mario 64 DS
The levels I had the most fun with in 64 were the Bowser levels. 64 DS adds more levels styled like these in the form of the levels for the new secret bosses you need to defeat to unlock new characters. Because of this I enjoy DS a tad bit more more than the original.
Some complain about the controls but I really don't think they're that bad. If they bother you too much you can always install a mod nowadays anyways.
3. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Galaxy 2 like 1 features some of the best level design in any platforming game. While it is undeniably more linear than 1, this linearity let's Galaxy 2 go all out with creativity and making almost every mission feel unique. My only criticisms of 2 would be the music and atmosphere not being as good as 1. Outside of that it's an amazing title.
2. Super Mario Sunshine
I believe the primary reason Sunshine is negatively regarded is because people misunderstood 3d Mario.
The main focus of 3d Mario was never intended to be the freedom or collectathon elements. 64 itself only turned out how it did due to technical limitations. The intention was always meant to be on the missions and activities you partook in inside levels.
This is something sunshine greatly improves upon. It doesn't kick you out of levels to pad out the game. It kicks you out of levels so the world is allowed subsequent change each time you enter the level again. It's something 64 did to a minor degree but not to the same extent sunshine does.
This allows sunshine to have a massive level of viraity you don't see in other sandbox Mario games. Each mission tells a different story and you genuinely feel like you're visiting living worlds that are experiencing their own passage of time.
I wish more people would discuss this instead of focusing on the blue coins or handful of wonky levels. Is sunshine flawed? Yes. However it doesn't deserve the level of disdain it receives and I suspect most of it is people who've been brainwashed by YouTube "critics" Sunshine at it's best is easily the peak of sandbox 3D Mario.
1. Super Mario Galaxy
There's really not much to say about Galaxy 1 that hasn't already been said a million times over. A perfect combination of platforming, music, atmosphere, puzzles and creativity. Each mission brings new platforming sections and gameplay to levels. There's very little repeating content. In this way it's far closer to the classic 2d games than previous 3e Marios. It's what 3D Mario was always intended to be but was unable to be due to technical limitations.
