Top Ten Best Mario Ports and Remakes
Mario games have occasionally gotten re-releases in the forms of simple ports, and sometimes even full-fledged remasters! And with Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury having been revealed in the last months, I decided to make a list of the best ports we've got when it comes to Mario. So with that being said here is the list.
As far as remasters of Mario games go, this is the closest we will ever get to perfection! Literally, this is game is so well done that I'm honestly kinda surprised that it even exists on the Nintendo DS of all consoles, and it actually looks better than the original despite being on that hardware! It keeps most elements from the original to not make it feel too different, while also adding in new content that feels natural to the game. The addition of a playable Yoshi, Luigi and Wario was such a marvellous idea that prevented you from boringly marathon through each course one by one, as some missions required certain characters now. Not to mention there are several new mini-courses, and each main course added at least one new mission..., what is there to complain about the game? Well, the controls are awkward, but they're easy to get used to and aren't infuriatingly unplayable unlike say Super Mario Sunshine, but other than that it's legendary!
The D-Pad doesn't bother me. The game is a classic in an out of itself. 4 playable characters with all the same classic missions and more, including the legendary... PICTURE POKER!
The New Super Mario Bros. series is the finest example of "Good, but not great". They control well and have decent music, but the originality is out of the window completely..., well except for in New Super Mario Bros. U, the best of the franchise. It has a few nice ideas, and this remake is basically that game alongside New Super Luigi U, which is a harder version of the game. So you get two games for it, plus the Peachette Crown as an item for Toadette. That's nice. But it's not that interesting of a remake.
This is just New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe but without the Mario-half of it. That makes it objectively worse, nothing more needs to be said.
Here's a game I'm just basing off speculations, because I haven't played the game but I need 10 items for the list. But, I have played Luigi's Mansion 2 and 3, both of which I enjoyed, and this is basically an enchanced port of the very first game, which has similarities to the third game. So I'll just let it slide in here.
Mario Kart 8 was a fine game on the Wii U. While I loved the graphics and course selection, I had a much less welcoming taste on the battle mode, character roster and overall item distribution. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the first Mario game on the Switch however, solves many of these problems, making it overall a much better game, possibly rivaling the legends like 7 or DD!. However, this is also the game that started the trend of super expensive Mario games, which is a negative, but the game itself? It's great!
So far my favorite game on the Switch. Then again, I haven't considered buying any more games for it. The only downside for me on this game is the handling but maybe it's just me
My absolute favourite Mario sub-franchise is the Mario & Luigi quintology. As a 3DS owner who got interested in the series in late 2018, I managed to buy the 3DS versions for all of the games excluding Partners in Time which was DS but still compatible. This was my first M&L game and while I think Dream Team was SLIGHTLY better, I can't deny all the memories I have with this game, plus that it's the quickest and most smooth game. So many memorable areas and storylines..., this is without a doubt one of my favourites. Not to mention that as a remake, it added a side quest titled Minion Quest where you control as a Goomba. I adore thsi game!
This is the only one I've played (although I have played most of the other games in their original forms). It's worth noting that this is practically the only way to play Lost Levels legally (it was never released in the US). As for All-Stars itself, I love three of the games on it (Mario 1-3) and even the fourth one (Lost Levels) is decent.
Back when Nintendo bothered to create video game compilation-remakes from scratch, this is basically the first four Mario platformer games (1, Lost Levels, 2 and 3) but with updated graphics and music, what's not to love? Mario Bros. 3 is one of the greatest Mario games of all time, and 1 and 2 are pretty great as well. Lost Levels kinda sucks but hey no one forces you to play it.
Unpopular opinion incoming but Bowser's Inside Story is only the third best of the series. That's not to say it's bad, because it's a solid masterpiece as well! Bowser is the main protagonist here, and he has a whole different moveset from the Mario Bros., making it a fresh and interesting experience. Of course you control the Mario Bros. as well, but mostly inside of his body. It's really interesting and unique, and like Superstar Saga, this remake adds a side-mission where you play as Bowser Jr. As a remake itself though, it's not nearly as great as Superstar Saga, seeing as this one took away some of the charm of the original. How? New title theme, to start off with. And it runs a little slower than the original, but it's still amazing!
As you know, I technically haven't played Super Mario Maker 2, but I have played its predecessor on the Wii U, and my opinion on that was that it was "good". There were loads of features missing, but the idea of creating levels and sharing them worldwide was a very pleasing time-breaker. And it received a sequel on the Switch. And I mean it's the original but better, with much more features such as slopes, more settings and a Super Mario 3D World style. And since I liked the original, I can still somewhat judge this game, so it will be in the top two of this list. This is exactly how Nintendo should do with sequels in the future because this turned a decent game into one of the best!
It was a great sequel, added multiplayer and even more features such as more enemies and slopes, but I do miss the 100 Mario Challenge.
By far one of the most anticipated while also most controversial Mario games ever. This is basically Super Mario 64, Sunshine and Galaxy in one game..., except Nintendo couldn't be bothered to actually update the game with new graphics or features (Music List doesn't count). Yeah Nintendo got that lazy..., we didn't even get the DS version of Super Mario 64..., it's like Nintendo doesn't pretend it exists. On the flipside, at least it's three (well two) amazing games for just 60 bucks, which is pretty nice for a price, but the fact that Nintendo couldn't be bothered to update this game makes it feel very clunky, especially in Super Mario 64 because Mario is as slippery as ever. Heck they didn't even update the resolution for that game... All in all, "So long gay bowser".
All I'll say here is that 3D graphics don't age that well...early 2D graphics have that nice retro feel to them (pixels and stuff), but early 3D can look horrifying (the DKC cartoon, enough said).