IGN makes a list of the 13 best 2D Mario games.

ThunderBoy

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13: SMB: The Lost Levels
12: New Super Mario Bros 2
11: Super Mario Land
10: New Super Luigi U
09: Super Mario Bros 2
08: New Super Mario Bros Wii
07: Super Mario Land 2
06: Super Mario Bros
05: New Super Mario Bros (3DS)
04: New Super Mario Bros U
03: Super Mario Bros 3
02: Super Mario Bros Wonder
01: Super Mario World
 
Donkey Kong (arcade)
Donkey Kong Jr. (Mario is the badguy here but still)
Mario Bros. (arcade)
Mario Bros. (GBA via the Super Mario Advance series and Mario & Luigi)
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2/The Lost Levels/For Super Players (via Super Mario Bros. Deluxe)
Super Mario Bros. 2/Super Mario Bros. USA/Doki Doki Panic
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario All Stars
Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World (yes there is a slight variation with Luigi's gameplay)
Super Mario World/Super Mario Bros. 4 (Japan)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (if that counts)
Donkey Kong '94
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (again this probably doesn't count)

Those are the best ones to me.
 
I can't get on board with any list that ranks Super Mario Land 2 higher than the first one. "But SML is so short and the sprites are so tiny." Yeah, and it doesn't have weird ass floaty jumps and jittery enemy animations and anywhere near as much slowdown and it's trying to do its own thing rather than replicate a SNES game badly. :nose up:
 
my-image (1).png
 
They gave "Sticker Star" a "7" several years back. They have no credibility whatsoever.
 
Wonder really mogs the older games, aside from 3 maybe. World is probably third for me.
 
who gives a damn what IGN says ????? I mean their taste is like ass full of shit and they manage to hire people with no brains only.
 
who gives a damn what IGN says ????? I mean their taste is like ass full of shit and they manage to hire people with no brains only.
Yeah, especially since they gave M&L Brothership a 5/10 and God Hand a 3/10 for literally stupid fucking reasons. Maybe they should hire people who actually know how to play video games next time.
 
I think they get too much shit for God Hand. It has really annoying controls and the level die system is obnoxious. Ugly graphics too and I can't remember a single piece of music from that game. You can justify a low score for that game. God Hand has become one of those internet darlings that no one has the balls to criticize. The Brothership score is bullshit though.
 
Tough to rank them as most 2d Mario games are quality games. I will give it a shot though just for fun.

Super Mario Bros. 2 - Some of this may be nostalgia but I really loved this game and it really stands out from other Mario games still to this day. Doki Doki Panic was so impressive that not only was it allowed to pretend to be a Super Mario Bros game but the franchise even borrowed elements from it that we still see to this day.

Super Mario Bros. 3 - If Doki Doki Panice didn't exist, this could have been the perfect SMB 2. It's a bigger, badder, better in every way version of the first game. Whereas Doki Doki Panic was a fresh game that took the series in new directions, this was the tried and true formula of the first game ramped up to 11, honed, refined, and perfected. Even Super Mario World wasn't THIS good.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - A fantastic, fun game that laid down the mechanics that would become the foundation of the Yoshi games.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - The best of the more modern 2d Mario games by far and I'm actually tempted to rank it higher because it's just that fucking good.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong - Addicting puzzle/platform gameplay that reminds you of the old days of Mario and DK fighting it out in the arcades with rolling barrels and invincibility hammers. It's a wonderful throwback and it paved the way for what's next on my list.

Any of the Mini-Mario games - I love all of them and they are ridiculously addicting.

Super Mario World - It's low on this list I know, but I'm sorry. When Sonic came out it was hard to give a shit about SMW, especially since it was mostly just rehashing the same old stuff. It also wasn't as impressive as Super Mario Bros. 3. SMW 2 blows its predecessor out of the water too. Even the Donkey Kong Country games impressed me more than SMW back in the day. I'd rather pick up one of them and play it again than play SMW again. Mario got his ass handed to him in the 16-bit era by both Donkey Kong and Sonic and it took Yoshi's help to make me care about the fat little plumber again in SMW 2.

GdtyOX.gif


Super Mario Land - Lots of nostalgia here as this was one of the earliest games I played the GB, but it's pretty medicore when compared to other 2d Mario games.

Super Mario Bros. - A classic and one of the most important video games ever made, but not very impressive nowadays.

I think those are all of the ones I've played
 
Can’t speak ignorance without IGN.
 

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