Poll: Favorite Mainline Mario game? (The platformer ones)

[MetalDooley]

2D - SMB3. I remember being blown away the first time I played this as it was such a massive improvement on the first 2
3D - Probably a tie between 64 and Galaxy

I really don't get the appeal of Mario, like at all. I'll go with he was popular 20+ years ago when his competition was pong, the Atari2600 and internet porn wasn't a thing, but we have real games now.

Can I ask what constitutes a "real game"?

 

[Igor-Rowan]

Snip

Oh, oh, I know this one. It's game that are story-heavy and have cutscenes to halt any and all gameplay, it's games that have a third-person perspective, using the default RE4 controls with all of Gears of War cover-based shooting and the tacked on stealth of non-stealth games; a "real game" doesn't have a main mechanic and doesn't bother with atmosphere, because it's too busy showing off how deep its characters are and how relatable its narrative is.

\sacarsm off
Okay, I might have gone a little overboard there

 

[Hawki]

Super Mario 64, but only by virtue of it being the only Mario platformer I've played to a significent extent, alongside Sunshine and Super Mario Land. To be honest, I fought for Sega in the console wars, and Sonic's was my preferred platforming franchise up to the last console generation.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6WwtmDKOJI

(A gift for anyone who nominated Sunshine ^_^)

 

[Drathnoxis]

I get that. I get its a platformer, and if you like platformers fair enough. But the reason that type of game was so popular was because it was so easy to program. Same with space games on Atari. Black background, white dots. Easy.
Or zombies in indie steam games. No AI or weapons needed. Just red jam and movement.
Platformers...just having the character model move right and jump is very easy to program.

To me Mario is an expression of limitations, and its very dated. Even modern Mario games look obsolete, like a remastering of a 50s B sci-fi movie where, thanks to modern technology, you can see all the zippers on the monster costume, the terrible negative effects used for lasers, the awful lip syncing and straight up cartoony props.
Mario should never have been in 3D, and ideally should have stopped when 3D became a thing.

Really. You're taking the Karutomaru position that anything before the Gamecube wasn't a real game.

Actually were you even here before he was banned? *checks* Man, he was banned in 2012, was it really that long ago?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Super Mario World. It's the culmination of a formula that was being perfected until that point. I guess Galaxy is to the 3D Marios what SMW is to the 2D Marios, in that sense.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Super Mario World. It's the culmination of a formula that was being perfected until that point. I guess Galaxy is to the 3D Marios what SMW is to the 2D Marios, in that sense.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to so say. I also feel that Super Mario World and Galaxy both represent the peak of their respective styles of Mario gameplay.

I know a lot of people complain Mario doesn't change or innovate enough, and in a sense they are arguably right, but that basic gameplay and design is so solid and refined that even to this day there aren't a whole lot of platformers that can match its degree of polish.

 

[Yoshi178]

Sunshine shits on all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrSX_SmuUZk&t

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Sunshine shits on all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrSX_SmuUZk&t

I beg to disagree:

 

[Souplex]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

 

[Souplex]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

Then why does your list include Mario 3, a game that is only favored by old people with excessively thick nostalgia goggles?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

Then why does your list include Mario 3, a game that is only favored by old people with excessively thick nostalgia goggles?

Why not? I included every relevent game.

If this site can let me list more than 8 games I would have listed "New" Super Mario Bros games for DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii-U and 3D Land and World.

But all these games sort of blend in with each other. Nothing that makes them truly unique, especially 3D Land.

Personally I think New Super Mario Wii-U is the pinnicle of 2D side scrolling games, if only it had the Cape from Super Mario World and more Yoshi rides.

 

[CaitSeith]

I'll go with he was popular 20+ years ago when his competition was pong, the Atari2600 and internet porn wasn't a thing, but we have real games now. And porn.

How is Mario still relevant?!

That's was a Pixels level of joke. Every part of it oozes uncaring contempt.

Seriously though, Nintendo has taken care of Mario as their main mascot. They don't miss opportunity to remind us that Nintendo and Mario come together, and they have made Mario games for decades that have been known for their solid gameplay and colorful aesthetics (unlike real games). Not everything that has Mario in it is good; but most of the main games are well made, and they are always recognizable (you can't mistake a Mario game for any other IP).

 

[Drathnoxis]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

Then why does your list include Mario 3, a game that is only favored by old people with excessively thick nostalgia goggles?

Why not? I included every relevent game.

If this site can let me list more than 8 games I would have listed "New" Super Mario Bros games for DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii-U and 3D Land and World.

But all these games sort of blend in with each other. Nothing that makes them truly unique, especially 3D Land.

Personally I think New Super Mario Wii-U is the pinnicle of 2D side scrolling games, if only it had the Cape from Super Mario World and more Yoshi rides.

No mention of the Super Mario Land Game Boy games! Enough with your young whippersnapper bias!

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

Then why does your list include Mario 3, a game that is only favored by old people with excessively thick nostalgia goggles?

Why not? I included every relevent game.

If this site can let me list more than 8 games I would have listed "New" Super Mario Bros games for DS, 3DS, Wii, Wii-U and 3D Land and World.

But all these games sort of blend in with each other. Nothing that makes them truly unique, especially 3D Land.

Personally I think New Super Mario Wii-U is the pinnicle of 2D side scrolling games, if only it had the Cape from Super Mario World and more Yoshi rides.

No mention of the Super Mario Land Game Boy games! Enough with your young whippersnapper bias!

Again I wish for more options than 8.

 

[Nazulu]

I prefer Mario World, mainly because I prefer the game play, for the freedom to move around the map, the castle levels are cool while the haunted house stages always make me panic, how it took me awhile to perfect my flying, and I prefer the Bowser fight too.

But! I feel the other games had just as creative level designs too. I really would like to see the army stages in SMB3 explored again.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I'd probably go with SMB2 (the international release, not Lost Levels). An unusual choice maybe, but the Mario games that I grew up on were Super Mario Land 2, Wario Land 2, and Super Mario 64. All quite different from each other so I never really had any preconceptions about what a Mario game was supposed to be, and I love all of the things that make SMB2 different. Level design might not be on par with SMB3 or Mario World, but SMB2 just clicks with me.

Mario 3D land. Your old person favoritism in your poll is silly and wrong.

Coming from someone that is a year older than me

Then why does your list include Mario 3, a game that is only favored by old people with excessively thick nostalgia goggles?

I have no nostalgia for the NES and SNES not having grown up with them (my first console was a Mega Drive) and I love Mario 3. Mario 3D Land on the other hand I found decent but forgettable (which is also how I feel about 3D World and the New SMB games).