Super Mario has long been Nintendo’s flagship franchise with the iconic plumber featuring in over 100 games over the past 40 years. When it comes to 3D games, many are often hailed as some of the greatest video games of all time and are still played and beloved today. Here are the five best 3D Super Mario games of all time.
5. Super Mario 3D World
Super Mario 3D World brings what makes the New Super Mario Bros. series great and turns it into a 3D game. The game is very co-op-focused, with up to four players being able to jump into the game and explore the vast variety of fun levels.
Although it is one of the easier 3D Super Mario games out there, it is worth playing whether alone or with friends/family. If you didn’t own a Wii U, and you likely didn’t, Super Mario 3D World was ported to the Nintendo Switch with a brand new expansion called Bowser’s Fury so it is much more accessible than most previous games today.
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4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Galaxy 2 follows on from the first game and largely feels like an expansion rather than a fully-fledged new title, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fantastic in its own right. The gameplay and mechanics are largely identical to the first game, but with the addition of Yoshi which allows for more variety in the level design. Nintendo found a winning formula with Super Mario Galaxy, there’s a reason why players have been requesting Super Mario Galaxy 3 for more than a decade, although it has fallen on deaf ears as of right now, hopefully, one day Nintendo will give gamers what they want.
3. Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey launched one month after the release of the Nintendo Switch in April 2017 and is currently the latest 3D Super Mario game at the time of writing. It is one of the largest entries in the series in regards to completing the game 100% with over 1,000 Moons to collect which allows for endless replayability.
Super Mario Odyssey features some of the best world designs in any 3D Mario game, including New Donk City, whose theme song will leave you smiling throughout your time playing it.
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2. Super Mario Galaxy
The Wii is often remembered for its party titles and sports games, such as Wii Sports, but it also features an incredible library of games from Nintendo’s key IPs, including Super Mario. A motion-controlled Super Mario game might sound like something that wouldn’t work, but the end result was one of the smoothest and best-playing games in the series. Super Mario Galaxy takes the plumber to outer space as he navigates different planets in order to collect Stars to help rescue Princess Peach.
1. Super Mario 64
After over a decade as a 2D franchise, Super Mario 64 brought the iconic plumber into full 3D and allowed players to save Princess Peach like never before. Super Mario 64 took everything that made the 2D games great, such as the central overworld and unique worlds, and made one of the greatest 3D platformers of all time that helped to set the standard that games would be compared to for many years to come. Despite being over 25 years old at this point, Nintendo has yet to top Super Mario 64.
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