LogFAQs > #978968312

- Cape Feather Tier
Mario Kart (Series)
Super Mario World
Cape Feather
Admiral Bobbery
Super Mario Odyssey

- Kuribo's Shoe Tier
Rosalina
Luigi Wins Without Doing Anything
Kuribo's Shoe
Bowser (RPG Versions): I don't think I need to say much, so I will. RPG Bowser is like if you take regular Bowser, and then turn him into an actual character. He's lightning in a bottle, he's an earthquake in a can. Normally, Bowser is a big monster who laughs a lot and wants to marry Peach. But in the RPGs, he's allowed to show us that he's a big monster who laughs a lot and wants to marry Peach... and is insecure that people don't fear him enough, or doesn't want to be associated with Mario, or can't figure out why Peach isn't into him, or is flabbergasted that Luigi defeated him (not really, but he thought so at the time). It's kind of amazing that this carried over from Mario RPG into the Paper Mario games, too, this one aspect of the games remained unchanged: that Bowser would be an actual character who sort of has depth to him. He's at his absolute best in Mario RPG and TYYD, of course, but everyone is, because Mario RPG was written by Square, and TYYD was written after PM did the hard work of setting up the premise. I wonder what a real Bowser character in another RPG today would be like, like if they had to write in his stupid son and the Koopalings. Oh, I should specify that I'm referring only to Mario RPG and Paper Mario Bowser. I only played one M&L game, and that was so long ago that I don't remember anything except Luigi having lightning powers, so I have no idea what Bowser is like in them. I assume not as good.
Fire Flower
Super Paper Mario
Mario Tennis (N64)
1-1 Theme
Yoshi
Super Mario 64 DS
Minus World
Stretchy Mario Face (Mario 64)
Culex
Count Bleck
Bowsette
There Will Be Brawl
Luigi
Bayonetta Nintendo Content
Thwomp
Charles Martinet
Hammer Bros.
Brawl in the Family: One of the definitive late 2000s webcomics, though it went on for a really long time. I find that a lot of its jokes don't exactly land, but it did contribute in a major way to the Mario series. Specifically, this is what I think redeemed Waluigi in a lot of peoples' eyes. Like, if you play Mario games, he really doesn't say WA that often, or at all really. He speaks like other human characters do. I don't know what prompted the comic to make WA his catchphrase, but it was definitely the right call. And whoever wrote it really went all-out. There are multiple youtube videos starring Waluigi singing with complete art accompanying them, like this was a real labor of love.
Glitzville
Pirahna Plants on Parade (Level)
Super Mario Maker 2
Hexagon Heat
Mario vs Chrono Rivalry

- Hammer Suit Tier
Paratroopas
Dire Dire Docks (Theme)
Link (Mario Kart): If you're going to have a Nintendo crossover on Mario Kart, it was always going to be Link. You can argue Pikachu, MAYBE, but Link is the obvious choice. I appreciate that he has a bunch of little animations with his sword, and the Hyrule stage replacing coins with rupees is a great little piece of detail. I love how you can hit the three little thingies as you drive to open up a "secret" way to skip part of the stage and finish faster, that's a very Zelda concept in contextualized for a racing game. I don't know how good the attention to detail is with Villager and Isabelle, though, because I've never played an Animal Crossing game. Actually... Is Link the first normally-proportioned human in a Mario game? This does predate Odyssey. Someone tell me if I'm right about this.
Dr. Goomba Tower
Italians
Chris Pratt
Triple Jump
Super Mario Bros. Movie
SupperMarioBroth
Super Mario Bros.
Isle Delfino
Beep Block Skyway
Vivian
Bowser
Hell Valley Sky Trees
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Shy Guy
Valentina
Smash 64 Commercial
Pirahna Plant (Smash Bros)
Mysterious (Mario Paint)
Mini-Yoshi (TTYD)
Koopa Bros
Tubular
Koji Kondo: Is this the music guy? Ah yes, the Nobuo of Mario. Well, I can't fault his skill at making goofy Mario music. I do like his Zelda stuff better, though. But if you're going to ask me for specifics, sorry. I am very much not a music guy. You'll notice he's above Miyamoto, though, that WAS intentional.
Staff Roll (Mario Kart 64)
Fawful
Axem Rangers
Mario Lemieux
Swapping Cartridges
Tanooki Suit
Super Mario Bros Plumbing Commercial
Warp Whistle
Shigeru Miyamoto: Like everyone, I've got mixed feelings on this guy. He created some of the best video games ever, and improved on a lot of the ones he didn't create... but he also ruined a lot of games by being too conservative, or by wanting to try ideas that were clearly terrible. There's no doubt that he's done more good than bad, but you do have to wonder what Nintendo would be like today if he'd retired in like 2006... By the way, he was absolutely correct to shut down Wapeach immediately. That design is terrible, and it would have completely changed the dynamic of Wario and Waluigi.
Super Mario Land 2: This was the defining Gameboy game for me before Pokemon. It's not great. It's way better than SML1, it's nowhere near as janky and bad, and it has a lot of weird, kind of cool ideas (the Rabbit power-up, the space level), and it even has an overworld. An overworld for a Gameboy game from 1992. It's got cute little things in it, too, like the giant turtle who swallows you to transport you. The jump in quality from SML1 to SML2 is really high, but that doesn't mean the game really compares to the console Marios. Mario is not a series that's sort of defined by its console vs handheld games in the way Zelda is, where you could depend on Zelda to have a big epic adventure on the console and then one or two lesser adventures on the Gameboy each generation. Mario just got these two games for the Gameboy, then nothing until SM64DS, and then the New series later on. I don't really know why Nintendo sort of slept on handheld Marios for fifteen years, but it did.

- Super Mushroom Tier
How Many Super Mario Games Are There? (Video)
Metal Mario: Oh God, did you mean the power-up, or the boss in Smash and variant in sports spinoffs? Well, whatever. As a power-up, it's great... for its time. It's the kind of thing that would not have worked in 2D. You need to feel that power, that slow build-up of energy and strength tha enemies can't stand against, and you need it to make you immune to environmental hazards. It's like Metal Gear, you know? The idea of a stealth game was always good, but in 2D, it was never, ever going to be as good as in 3D. This, to me, along with the wing cap are the ultimate examples of Mario power-ups that take advantage of new technology. The nearest recent example I can think of is the hat in Odyssey that lets you control enemies, which was probably doable on the Wii or Wii U, but the Switch really let them try all kinds of crazy gimmicks with it. Oh, and as a Smash boss, whatever, he's fine.
Luigi's Up-Taunt
Staff Roll Theme (Mario 64)
Super Mario Strikers (2005)
Shellcreeper
Bowser Meets Bowser
Sammer's Kingdom (Theme)
Hide and Seek mods
Bowser Theme (Super Mario World 2)
Mario Quiz Cards
Puzzle Plank Galaxy (Theme)
Bah (NSMB Music)
Super Mario Galaxy 2: It's like... I'm sorry, SMG and SMG2 are fine, they're good, but outside of Rosalina's spaceship, it's REALLY hard to remember any location in either game. It's hard to remember any setpiece. It's hard to remember anything that happened at all, except for "WELCOME NEW GALAXY." It's like I retained nothing besides the general feeling of being satisfied after playing them, and having no desire to replay them. Although that's kind of a lie, because I did beat SMG1 a second time with Luigi.