So the Super Mario series is pretty broad and complex, having spawned spinoffs that sometimes share part of the title ("Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island", "Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land"). The series itself arguably began as the Donkey Kong series as that was Mario's first appearance. However, the most famous and iconic game defining the series seems to be SMB1.
With that concept in mind, I decided to try ranking which official games are the most similar to SMB1.
By similarity to SMB1, I mean considering such factors as:
- How similar to SMB1's concept of a "go right" 2D sidescrolling platformer is it
- How complex are the powerups / items / ridable characters or other such control mechanics in the game
- Do you primarily defeat enemies by jumping on them / doing something akin to kicking a koopa shell at them / something like shooting fireballs and invincibility
- How much more control over stage order is there beyond SMB1's warp zone system
- How comparable in size and scope is it to SMB1
- How much does it "feel" or look and sound like SMB1 in a vague ethereal sense
...etc.
But this also brings up the question of what counts as a Super Mario platformer series game at all, or what warrants comparison. I will be listing some spinoffs, and even starting to edge out of the right genre near the bottom of the list.
With all those factors it becomes a subjective matter of opinion. Here's what I came up with, starting with SMB1 and gradually getting less similar overall:
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Titles marked in red are ones I haven't played, and are only guesses.
Titles marked in gray are ones I've played but not completed the main story/"final" boss.
Titles in bold are what I'd count as a "Super Mario" game in a technical series sense.
Titles which are both bold and underlined are ones I'd count as "Super Mario sideview platformers".
(Longplay videos are linked for obscure games.)
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1. Super Mario Bros (& All-Stars SMB1, SMB DX)
2. All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros (video)
3. Super Mario Bros VS (video)
4. Super Mario Bros 2 Japan (& The Lost Levels, SMB DX "For Super Players")
5. Super Mario Bros Special (video, and a video of a cool NES recreation romhack)
6. Super Mario Land
7. New Super Mario Bros
8. New Super Mario Bros Wii
9. Super Mario Land 2
10. Super Mario Bros 3 (& All-Stars SMB3, Super Mario Advance 4)
11. New Super Mario Bros U (& New Super Luigi Bros U, NSMBU Deluxe)
12. New Super Mario Bros 2
13. Super Mario Bros 4: Super Mario World (& All-Stars SMW, Super Mario Advance 2)
14. Super Mario Maker
15. Super Mario Maker 2
16. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
17. Virtual Boy Wario Land
18. Donkey Kong Country (& DKC GBC, DKC GBA)
19. Donkey Kong Country 2 (& DKC2 GBA)
20. Donkey Kong Country 3 (& DKC3 GBA)
21. Wario Land 4
22. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (& Super Mario Advance 3)
23. Yoshi's Island DS
24. Yoshi's New Island
25. Wario Land 2
26. Wario Land 3
27. Wario Land: Shake It (I extra know nothing about this one though)
28. Wario: Master of Disguise (Likewise)
29. Super Mario 3D Land
30. Super Mario 3D World (and Bowser's Fury)
31. Donkey Kong Country Returns
32. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
33. Super Mario Bros 2 USA (& All-Stars SMB2, Super Mario Advance)
34. Super Mario Run
35. Yoshi's Story
36. Super Paper Mario
37. Mario Clash (video)
38. Mario Bros (& Mario Bros NES)
39. Punch Ball Mario Bros (video)
40. Donkey Kong (& Donkey Kong NES)
41. Donkey Kong Jr (& Donkey Kong Jr NES)
42. Donkey Kong '94
43. Mario vs. Donkey Kong
44. Wrecking Crew
45. Donkey Kong 3 (& Donkey Kong 3 NES)
46. Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack (video)
47. Donkey Kong Game & Watch (& Game and Watch Gallery 2 Donkey Kong)
48. Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch (& Game and Watch Gallery 3 Donkey Kong Jr)
49. Super Mario 64 (& Super Mario 64 DS)
50. Super Mario Sunshine
51. Super Mario Galaxy
52. Super Mario Galaxy 2
53. Super Mario Odyssey
54. Wario World
55. Donkey Kong 64
56. Wrecking Crew '98 (video. Note: this game is very different from Wrecking Crew and has very little platforming. It is almost a Tetris-type game but you do walk and jump and go up platforms sometimes. We're starting to wander out of the platformer genre entirely at this point, though.)
57. Mario Bros Game & Watch (& Game & Watch Gallery 3 & 4 Mario Bros)
58. Donkey Kong King of Swing
59. Mario's Time Machine (& SNES version. Definitely not the same genre anymore, but it's based on SMW very loosely and you sort of platform so I'm counting it.)
60. Mario is Missing (& SNES & PC versions. Also, likewise.)
61. Donkey Kong Jr. Math (Note: this actually uses a variant of the DK Jr gameplay engine.)
62. Mario Teaches Typing
63. Mario Teaches Typing 2
64. Mario's Early Years / Fun With Letters / Fun With Numbers / Preschool Fun
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If you actually read all this nonsense, uh, thanks / I'm sorry!
But if you find this sort of subject fun to consider and have your own opinions, it could be fun to debate or see what other people think. I'm definitely a little vague on some of these choices lower on the list (and I wasn't sure if SMB2 USA should be a bit higher, like above 3D Land maybe?), especially the red-marked games I haven't played, but it's an interesting thought experiment (to me, and probably very boring to most people, understandably so).
I should note these are NOT listed in order of my favorites. Offhand I think I like SMB3, SMW, SML2, and SML1 the most? SMB1 is nice though, and I don't really hate any of these games except maybe some of the edutainment ones (but even then they have a strange derpy charm).
I also figure it could use one of those 3x3 grid metric memes for what counts ("a wing is an airplane", etc), but couldn't decide on how to define one of those.
(I also really ought to go back and complete Virtual Boy Wario Land, that cool new SMB Special 35th anniversary NES romhack, All Night Nippon SMB, SMB Special, Wrecking Crew, Mario Clash, and Punch Ball Mario Bros. The other gray/red ones I'm not as sure about.)
How would you compare and rank all this nonsense?
Edited by Mitsukara, 08 August 2021 - 06:49 AM.