It’s the special time of year when Nintendo actually offers discounts on its games! March 10 became “MAR10” at some point, and since then we’ve seen all kinds of silly celebrations.
From in-game content to even things like new hardware sometimes, there’s always something happening for the Mario fans. This year at Prima, we’ve opted to make a few of our collab features, because we sure do like those Marios.
First up is a more general and breezy topic, Our Favorite Mario Games. Morgan, Jesse and Myself have spent a fair amount of time (at least five minutes) considering our favorite Mario joint ever, and wanna share our thoughts with y’all.
There are plenty of games to choose from, but we have to settle on one. This can be any game with “Mario” in the title, or something very obviously connected. Who knows, I might bust out a hot take on Yoshi’s Safari. You’ll have to keep reading to find out.
Morgan: As much as I love the newer Mario games, and have played a ton of fantastic Mario games over the years, if I had to pick a favorite it’d be Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and I’m an extremely sentimental person.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was the very first Mario game that I got as a kid in the sense that I bought it using my own allowance money. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color were also what I played most of the games that laid the foundation of me being a lifelong gamer on, if that makes sense.
I fell in love with Mario by putting in way, way too many hours into 6 Golden Coins and because of that, I have to honor it as my favorite Mario game.
Jesse: Super Mario Odyssey is easily my favorite Mario game. Maybe it’s a safe answer, but I don’t really care. The sense of exploration found in this game is incredible. Each moon found is a straight shot of dopamine into my cerebral cortex and I’m cool with that.
Not only do you visit some incredibly beautiful worlds, which all feel unique and distinct from one another, but you also fight a Dark Souls dragon boss battle in the middle of the game. It was clear the team knew what fans loved about the older 3D games and wanted to revive that feeling.
Some people might say that Super Mario Sunshine is their favorite Mario game, and those people are never to be trusted in their life.
Related: On Mar10 Day We Choose To Celebrate The Real Hero, Luigi
My absolute favorite thing about Super Mario odyssey though is the moral quandary of taking over another sentient being.
Sure Mario takes control of non-living things like a Taxi Cab or street pole, but what about a Hammer Brother? Where does the hammer brother start and Mario begin? it’s some real Jujutsu Kaisen stuff and I’m all for it.
Lucas: My favorite is Super Mario 35, which is a real damn bummer considering it’s being wiped from existence in like two weeks!!! Nah just kidding. This is a tough one because, like Morgan, Super Mario is a phrase that’s so closely weaved into my formative years it’s hard to figure out which one is The One.
I can say with confidence I think the title I respect the most is Super Mario RPG, for reasons we visited on its 25th birthday yesterday. But for my favorite? The one I keep going back to is another Game Boy joint, Donkey Kong.
Related: Super Mario RPG Was My Gateway Drug
We call it Donkey Kong ’94, but the dang box says Donkey Kong. This game hit me in so many different ways, from its appeal to my young interest in games I wasn’t around for to its quick gameplay and creative, silly animations.
The team here took a very simple, classic concept and blew it up into something that easily sustained itself over dozens of levels. I don’t replay games all the way through often, but Donkey Kong is an easy space to revisit for at least a few minutes.
That’s it for this piece, but we got more MAR10 content on the way, baby. At Prima Games we get hype for collab opportunities and there’s no better topic (like, there’s a lot of stuff to mine from) than our ol’ pal Super Mario.
If you like our goofy whatever these are, hit us up and give us a shout on the Prima Games Twitter or Facebook!
