LogFAQs > #949438759

78. Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)

At the outset of making this list, I had no intention of trying to reward games for being "important" or "influential". Somehow, this managed to sneak its way onto the list anyway, for two particular reasons. One, Mario platformers are one of my favorite all-time series, many of whom I have played and replayed and replayed again over the course of 30 years of gaming. In my mainline Mario game ranking this one is the big delineation point between the "good" and the "great" games, perhaps occupying a space on either side depending on what perspective I'm taking. There's a degree to which putting down the path for so many games (in and out of the series) that will be on this list later is of indisputable worth.
Second, just playing the hell out of Super Mario Bros. 35 for the month after its release went a long way toward increasing my fondness of the game and, most of all, its level design. Turns out the folks making the original Mario Bros. were very good at making smart platformer levels, and getting to know each of them a little more intimately than I had ever bothered to do before made them feel a lot better. Mario 1 also stands out especially well compared to its sequels, either American (SMB2/Doki Doki Panic) through its simplicity and ease of play, or Japanese (Lost Levels) because it doesn't overstep the difficulty to a frustrating place. It's a game that, despite controls a little tight by modern platformer and Mario-platformer standards, holds up well and is especially playable. And maybe there's a teeny bit of me that wanted to channel the spirit of "praise the important historical artifact" within this list.

77. Mario Tennis (N64, 2000)

Despite the name, what really made this game stand out is its quality as a really really good and simple tennis simulation. The Mario-based gimmicks are pretty much limited to the Bowser court, which has items and tilts and isn't very good, and if we're stretching, the degree to which characters like Boo and Shy Guy cause the ball to spin. Otherwise, it's just Tennis, baby! And it feels very satisfying. Controls amount to a couple of basic types of swings, and a couple of more complex inputs for lobs and drop shots, but you're basically just tasked with trying to position yourself and fake out your opponent. It's perfect! Later Mario Tennis games leaned into Marioified special moves and I wasn't interested in any of that. As someone who has played...enough real-life tennis, I just enjoyed the purest experience of that in game form, and of course it was Mario (or maybe more fairly, Camelot) that nailed it.

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