A Mario Noob's Journey

[chowington]

I've been on a now yearlong journey to play as many Super Mario games as I can get my hands on (namely, those I can access on the Switch).

I grew up as an Xbox kid with mainly Xbox friends and never really owned a Nintendo console, with the brief exception of a Game Boy Advance, and even then I don't think I owned a single Nintendo first-party game for it for some strange reason. I did have a brief stint when I was quite young where I was able to play Super Mario 64 at my sister's friend's place, but I was young enough and it was brief enough that it bred more a vague sense of nostalgia for that game in particular (which is quite cool to have, seeing as I was barely born when it came out) rather than a sense of familiarity with the world of Mario writ large.

My interest for Mario began a couple years ago when I, on a whim, started watching the streamer Ryukahr play Super Mario Maker 1 & 2. Having (essentially) never seen a Mario game before (and certainly no 2D one), I was delightfully bewildered by the gameplay mechanics and player-enemy-object interactions, which make absolutely ZERO sense if you have no reference for them (why can you jump on some enemies but not others? And why does spinning allow you to jump on more, but still not all enemies?? Is the sprint button really ALSO the hold items button?). This was exacerbated by the fact that Mario Maker throws together separate Mario game styles which all have unique and often conflicting mechanics (why can you touch Thwomps in some game types but not others? Which games exactly let you wall jump, spin jump, twirl, or hold items??). Even the names of the characters and enemies were entertaining and often nonsensical (Toad!?!). To me, it was like trying to understand a foreign language, but in video game form!

Eventually I had watched enough that I felt I wanted to try out Mario for myself, and further realized that there was a whole world of Nintendo content that I had never been introduced to, so near the end of 2023 I finally bought myself a Switch. Most of my solo Switch playing from then on has been Mario games (with the exception of a few Zelda games; I hope to give the Zelda series the same treatment soon!). I started with Super Mario Maker 2 before deciding that I wanted to understand and experience the full context of Mario's platforming history.

I've tried as well I could to stick to the original release order of the Mario games I can play on Switch. As I got well into the backlog, it got more complicated due to the fact that for some games, only expanded rereleases or sequels are available on the Switch. In those cases, I tended to slot in the rereleases or sequels where the original games would have gone in the release order; I felt this resulted in a better alternation between 2D and 3D games as well.

Here is my Super Mario journey in order up til now, along with some cheeky three word reviews thrown in

• Super Mario Maker 2 (Story Mode + user levels) - Challenging for newbie
• Super Mario Bros. - Cool genre definer!
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels - Save states galore
• Super Mario Bros. 2 - Harder than expected
• Super Mario Bros. 3 - Whole new feel!
• Super Mario World - Such precise control
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - Great handheld Mario
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Lovely but long
• Super Mario Land (played amidst Yoshi's Island, as it was just released on NSO) - Janky but short
• Super Mario 64 - Incredible 3D fun
• Super Mario Sunshine - Why, blue coins?!?
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Fun but easy
• New Super Luigi U - Went by quickly
• Super Mario Galaxy - Timeless space gem
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Not on Switch
• Super Mario 3D World - Great style blend
• Super Mario Maker 2 (Story Mode again) - Much easier now!
• Super Mario Odyssey (in progress) - Gorgeous 3D masterpiece, somehow tops Galaxy??
• Bowser's Fury - TBD
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder - TBD (though I have actually seen quite a bit of it already)

I've been following along with the relevant Cane & Rinse episodes the whole way through; the podcast has been a great companion

Does anyone else have similar story about coming to Mario relatively late? Did I miss any of your favorites (Galaxy 2 )? Or has anyone else just been playing lots of Mario recently?

[Alex79]

This is amazing to me that someone could have come at Mario now, brand new! I'm fascinated - which have been your favourites? For me, 2D favourite is Super Mario World on the SNES and Super Mario Odyssey is my favourite of the 3D games.

I did notice you seem to have missed out Yoshi's Island on SNES which is an absolute must play (and on the Switch Online service). I think it was subtitled as Super Mario World 2.

EDIT: Nope. I clearly can't read. You blatantly said you have played that one!

[chowington]

Yeah, it's crazy to me that I never really played Nintendo stuff until now, even though I got into games at a young age!

Hmm, favorites are always hard to pick! I tend to lean towards the newer games, to be honest, due to their greater approachability. For the 3D games, I'd have to agree that Odyssey so far takes the cake (like Bowser!), even though at the time I felt both 64 and then Galaxy topped almost everything before them. Nintendo somehow made Odyssey feel like a step above Galaxy in scope, despite the exploration "constraint" of moving from multiple galaxies to one world. Its graphics are stellar and the amount of polish and charm is off the charts. The unique currency and souvenir items for each kingdom are fun, while being restrained enough that the game doesn't feel like it's bloated by collectibles. Also, the classic SMB 2D panels complement the standard 3D gameplay perfectly, including (in my opinion) the "Jump Up, Super Star!" scene

As for the classic 2D games, I'd say SMB3 edges out SMW for me, because it felt like such a large step up from the previous three games. It was also the first game which I completed without leaning on save states (for the older games I tried to use them judiciously, without removing all difficulty). Yoshi's Island is also a unique and charming gem, but it's hard to compare it to the rest, for obvious reasons. Super Mario Land 2 gets kudos from me for feeling remarkably good in the handheld context (I played it mostly in handheld mode). And I personally enjoyed each of the newer 2D games I played, that is, NSMBU, Luigi U, and SMM2.

[RetroClarence]

I did the same thing with a group of peole during 2020. I had played quite a few Mario games at that point (Galaxy is my favourite game of all time) but not all. I started with Super Mario Bros and worked my way through "the main" series (so no spin offs featuring Mario and none of the RPGs).

I still have to play Wonder. It's always my next game but I never get to it! I love the series and I'm hopeful for a true sequel to Odyssey with the Switch 2.

Once the Mario series playthrough was complete, we moved onto Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy and Castlevania. Since mid 2021 we've been alternating between the series, playing one game a month (with the occasional two months for the longer Final Fantasy games). The next games in each series are Wind Waker, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metal Gear Acid 2, Final Fantasy 8 and Castlevania Rondo of Blood. It's quite the endeavour!

[Alex79]

This is great, I do like a good series play through now and then.

I did it a few years ago with Metal Gear Solid. I'd only ever played the first game back in the day, so decided to go through the entire series and absolutely loved it. All the way from the first game up to Metal Gear Solid V, including Metal Gear Rising.

I then did it with Assassin's Creed, all the way up to Odyssey. Haven't played Valhalla yet but looking forward to it at some point.

Then a couple of years ago when I got a current gen Xbox I did it with Halo. Again, I'd only ever played the first game but had an absolute blast playing the entire series from 1 to Infinite, including ODST and Reach. I enjoyed aspects of all the games but felt 2 and 4 were the weakest, with Reach and Infinite being my personal highlights. I really loved the jazz noir city sections of ODST, too. What a great series.

Recently I went through most the early Castlevania's too, stopping before the series reached the 32-bit era. Again, much fun was had.

Not sure where I'll go next. I feel like I've played most the 'big' series of games by this point and I can't think of any long running series I've not already done that I'd like to dive in to.

[RetroClarence]

How about Mega Man or Kirby?