In honor of MAR10 Day, I'd like to repost my list of the 5 Mario games to truly blow me away - not necessarily my all-time favorites mind you, hence no Mario Odyssey, Mario Maker 2 or Paper Mario: TTYD. But since I sometimes don't give the early breakout games enough credit compared to their more polished, refined sequels, I thought this was a worthwhile trip down memory lane. So anyway, here are the Mario games that truly made me go WOW:


Mario World - "Wow, so this is what a video game is? Holy shit, this is awesome - and OMG, what did that key just do?!"

Paper Mario - "Wow, a friggin' Mario game can have such a good story, witty writing and a wonderful cast of characters? This just gives me a whole new perspective on the whole Mario universe!"

Mario Galaxy: "Wow, a mainline Mario platformer IN SPACE? How can a Mario platformer be THIS epic, have such a grand orchestrated soundtrack, and be THIS full of variety and original ideas?"

Mario Maker: "Wow, so people can really make all these crazy levels out of just a basic 2D Mario toolkit, this is so wild - wait, is that a fucking Puzzle level?!"

Mario Bros. Wonder: "Wow, a 2D Mario platformer that looks THIS good, and which keeps surprising you at every turn, is this even legal?"


Mario 64 for some reason never Wowed me outside of the advertisements I saw on TV, I dunno why (beyond the game itself not being the masterpiece it's cracked up to be), I guess I really just took the 3D transition for granted as a kid.