Feature: Is Any Mario Game Genuinely 'Underrated'? - 10 Super Mario Games To Reconsider

The most underrated Mario game is Pikmin 3.

Color Splash and The Origami King are very good imo as long as you don't have the "It's not PM2"-mindset

mario sports games are fun but seriously lack content

Super Mario Land 2.
Being able to tackle the worlds in any order was very ahead of its time.

3D Land is better than World for me, level design is much tighter, World really suffers having to cater for so many players.

Aces is truly awful,
they hooked me in with the inclusion of Kamek damn them.

@anothergamer100

I presume you're referring to the modern iterations.

I'm interested in what was added to Mario Strikers post launch? On release, it had great potential but I didn't jump in as all the reviews panned it for being light on content. What changed?

Super Mario Bros 2 will always be one of my favorites. It's Princess Toadstool's floating ability that allowed toddler me to play a game and actually get far.
It's also why she holds a special place in my heart (despite her name and hair color change!)

I will forever hold the belief that, barring gameplay, Super Paper Mario is on the same level as the first two games. The soundtrack is one of the most creative and experimental Nintendo has ever put out, the writing is at its absolute peak (with a lot of the jokes and references being suprisingly ahead of their time), and the characters are genuinely among the most charming, memorable and endearing I've ever seen in any video game. All of this is topped off with a story that not only pushes the boundaries of what Mario is capable of exploring, but is so emotionally powerful that I still think about it to this very day.

I can understand disappointment over the shift in gameplay, though I don't think it's nearly as bad as its detractors make it out to be. The main problems are that the combat is overly simplistic and too easy, but at the very least, it isn't tedious, pointless or fundamentally broken, which is more than what I can say for the games that followed this one.

What I'm trying to say is, if people can't appreciate Super Paper Mario for all that it did right, I have to wonder if they ever truly understood what made these games special to begin with. Yes, the gameplay in 64 and TTYD was top tier, but the old Paper Mario games were always so much more than just good RPGs that played well, and Super Paper Mario is proof of that.

NSMBU, as has been said, is one of the best 2D games in the series.

NSMB2 was a ton of fun when you include the DLC. No idea why it gets so much hate.

The Origami King is my second favorite Paper Mario game after TTYD. (HATED Super Paper Mario, unfortunately)

3D Land is one of the best platformers on the 3DS.

And yes, Sparks of Hope blows pretty much every Mario RPG I've played out of the water.

Mario Picross GB and the GBC + GBA Mario Golf & Tennis games !
Mario 3D Land is also great, better than 3D World in my opinion !
Super Mario Maker 2 is close to perfection!
Except Nintendos support and online play !

@ everyone who wants a new Mario game :

Underrated or not rated at all !?
Sorry, my last try, cause nobody is playing it !

World ID : 62L-6MH-MQG

Super Mario and the 36 chambers

36 level with 36 chambers All styles and themes mixed & matched. No kaizo, no cheese, just traditional Mario with a Wu-Tang twist.

Took me around 1200h, so hope someone enjoys!

Mario Golf World Tour on 3DS would be my pick!

One of the finest modern Mario sports outings in recent years I think

Battle League Football is the most disappointing game I've ever played. It feels like it was made specifically to insult me personally. It's the only time I've ever regetted buying a game.

I always feel like the true most underrated game in the overall Mario series is Super Princess Peach. People usually forget it even exists, hopefully with Princess Peach: Showtime! we see a bit more of Super Princess Peach.

Either that or Mario Party Advance. If you don't see it the same way you see traditional Mario Party, you may get to like it. If the board dice is a problem, use save states. That made a world of difference when I played it on the Wii U Virtual Console.

About Mario Strikers: Battle League.
It's not a bad game per se, but it feels like it is now another Mario sports spin-off for the Switch (no content at launch) and it lost its unique personality and grit.
If that's hard to put in words, play Super Mario Strikers or Mario Strikers Charged, then play Mario Strikers: Battle League and you'll see what I mean.
I still get some enjoyment out of Battle League, but it never reaches the same level of Charged.

I will always defend Super Paper Mario. So fun. Be perfect for Switch one day...

I think Mario Party Advance is genuinely really underrated. It gets a lot of hate for not being a "true Mario Party" and for how much dialogue it has, but I think it's genuinely a really fun adventure game with charming writing that rivals the Mario RPGs. So many obscure characters and species from 64 and Yoshi's Island in particular get represented here, and some of the tasks you get to do are quite fun, like watching a dolphin's comedy routine, playing baseball with Mr Blizzard, and all the detective and Toad Force V quests. It's easily the best single-player experience a Mario Party game has to offer.

I literally just commented this in another article, but Partners in Time is a hidden gem.

Partners in Time >>> Bowser's Mid-Side Story

I said what I said.

I've always loved Super Mario Bros. 2 and rate it above the first.

I don't like Mario Strikers: Battle League. The best Mario football game is Smash on the GameCube. The gameplay is pretty much perfect and easy and fun but a skill to master like the best Mario games. The only downside is its lack of features.

@Mana_Knight I agree, Super Paper Mario is my second-favorite game in the series after TTYD. I would probably argue Paper Mario 64 is more fun, but I just love the story and the music of Super so much, as well as the abundance of post-game content. Count Bleck and his underlings are some of the most memorable Mario RPG villains to me, and it's one of the few games that made me get emotional in the end. I can't disagree more when people say it was the beginning of Paper Mario's downfall; it was a worthy conclusion to an absolutely fantastic trilogy of games. Would love to see a re-release someday.

NSMB2 will always be underrated. It’s pickup and play more so than the other NSMB games and it’s better for it. And Racoon Mario will always be the best.

I can't understand why people hate on new super mario 2 so much.....

I liked origami king, it was one of the few paper mario games I played through the whole game. I thought the battle wheel thing was kinda neat. Also Mario Tennis (switch) was pretty decent.

I wish people would quit buying into this sudden, stupid lie that SMB2 was unpopular just because a bunch of younger gamers who weren't even alive back then decided to start spreading that nonsense. It is one of the most beloved NES games, highly rated, and always makes top 100 best NES games. Generally ranked somewhere between Top 15-30. Thumbs down for this list.

I'm gonna say Super Paper Mario.
I remember it not being RPG enough for Mario RPG fans, and not platformer enough for Mario platformer fans

When it was easy to find an online opponent, Tennis Aces was absolutely superb.

NSMBW and Battle League on this list are a joke. Both were underwhelming. I also have to question why Land 1 is on here without Land 2. Even though I voted NSMB2, Land 2 deserves just as much love.

Edit: I would also put Mariokart Tour, Mario Party 8, and Super Princess Peach on this list.

Paper Mario Sticker Star is the most underrated Paper Mario game, Mario game, game, piece of software, and concept of all time.

Honestly these are the Mario games that I consider the least fun, so you guys might be up to something, including the main titles like Mario Wii and 3D Land

Content unfortunately wasn’t the problem for me with Battle League. They took a great system from the original and gave it layer upon layer of depth in Charged. Then they took all that away. No unique stages and no differences in characters (at least not effectively with gear switching) really hurts it too

Mario Golf Super Rush gets unfairly passed up.
It's like golf + Mario Kart, and it's a blast, especially in multiplayer. The traditional golf is as good as ever, and the story mode is a like a breezy version of Mario Golf GBC.

Plenty of them are definitely OVERrated cough Mario World ahem

@LadyCharlie Agreed. Wish it got more courses.

I don't think Super Mario Land is underrated, it just isn't that good for a Mario platformer. They did much better with the sequels.

3D World is underrated by the fan community. It’s often seen as lesser than because it’s linear, but it should be in the conversation for the best imo.

Not on the list, and I guest technically not a Mario game? But my choice would be Fortune Street on the Wii. It's a pretty good game.

I just voted for Mario Sports Mix though. But now that I think about it, I should have voted for Partners in Time.

Compared to other Mario games, I'd say Sunshine and 3D Land are pretty underrated.

Sunshine falls in an awkward position as the second 3D Mario game; seen as less revolutionary than Mario 64, but also less polished and streamlined than the entries that followed it. That being said, I consider it to have the best overall level design of any game in the series, and the best controls of any game until Odyssey, not to mention the coolest theming. It's the only entry where all the various areas feel like distinct parts of a greater whole, rather than just a mishmash of whatever environments they felt like throwing in. And of course the soundtrack is fantastic.

As for 3D Land, it's hard to say why, but it's the only one of the linear 3D games I fell in love with. If I had to give a reason, I think it's because it feels perfectly suited to the 3DS. With their linearity in both level design and overall progression, the Galaxy games and 3D World always seemed a bit too basic to be the AAA home console successors that 64 and Sunshine deserved. Their levels felt like obstacle courses to complete rather than worlds to explore. Even Odyssey still suffers from this a bit, though it is a significant improvement. Meanwhile, on the 3DS, those more linear, segmented levels were perfectly suited to portable play. Beyond that, 3D Land felt like it made full use of the 3DS. It was the absolute best game they could have made for the hardware, which, in my opinion, puts it head and shoulders above any of its linear counterparts.

@anothergamer100 I'm assuming you've just played the crappy new ones, not the amazing ones from 20 years ago.

Super Mario Bros 2 is one of my favorite Mario games. The different characters, different gameplay, and unique levels make the game a lot of fun and replayable. It is also a special game to me, since this is the very first game that I had finished.

Despite the game being Doki Doki Panic originally, I've always wanted Nintendo to make a new sequel to SMB2, returning to Subcon with the same gameplay elements and all.

Super Mario Sunshine is my choice for an underrated Mario game. It was the first Mario game I ever played, and I loved it. And I recently replayed it and I thought it was just as good as I remembered it.

I think it is the most "alive" of all the mainline Mario games, having a wealth of NPCs to talk to with great dialogue, contained in a cohesive world where all the levels feel very much like real locations, rather than the abstract series of platforms in other Mario games.

Also, while I understand people's complaints over being unable to do the level missions in any order like in Mario 64 (and I'd agree that being forced to do the first seven missions of each level to finish the game is rather limiting compared to just having to collect a certain number of Shine Sprites), I will heavily defend the episodic level structure.

It allowed the levels to have an evolving narrative as you progressed through them, from Gelato Beach looking towards the Watermelon Festival and Pianta Village preparing for the Fluff Festival. And because the same characters appear in each level across each episode (you can tell they are the same because NPCs have distinctive designs, unlike in Mario Odyssey), you can see their unfolding reactions to everything happening.

@batmanbud2 I assumed it wasn't on the list because general consensus (at least in recent years) seems to be that it is way better than 1 and therefore, appropriately rated. I see it on GB Top 10 lists all the time, but it's much more rare to see SML1 on there.

I agree with MP8 btw, great mario party that I never hear people talk about. Fun minigames, and even had that cool monopoly-like level!

My other two "underrated" favorites though would be SML1 and SML3D. Both are heavily representative of their respective consoles to me and they always put a smile on my face.

EDIT: oh, and mario baseball on gamecube! It's been well over a decade since I played so maybe it's just the nostalgia talking, but that was one of the rare games that my parents could enjoy with me as well.

Another Mario game I think it is underrated is the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, AKA The Lost Levels in the US. Yes, is it incredibly difficult, but I think its a fun kind of difficult, with entertainingly devious traps like the backwards Warp Zones. And I'd say it's still manageable once you get good enough, compared to some soul-crushing hacks out there like Kaizo Mario World.

The fact that Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is on this list makes me happy.
Honestly my underrated Mario game is Mario Tennis on the GBA pretty much no one talks about that game and it’s really unfortunate since the game takes the RPG mechanics from the GBC games and add in new customization options with the power and defense shots and added in new minigames to learn them. @mariomaster96 @SteveDaSteve THANK YOU so many people crap on them just because it’s “NoT TtYd” I played ttyd when I was little and I loved it and I have every intention on getting the remake but so many people treat the arts and crafts trilogy (my nickname for the games starting with SS) as garbage no matter how much they try to improve it just because it’s not like ttyd.

Dude, it's Lost Levels. It's for super players, you know? You have to expect the difficulty to be high going in.

Gonna be honest though, my very first playthrough was when I was six or seven so I don't quite remember how unfair it may or may not have felt for the average player. I've played the game a million times and more or less know it like the back of my hand so I don't find it overly challenging. That final Mario Wonder secret level was a thousand times harder and tedious-er than anything Lost Levels has to offer.

SuperStar Saga without a doubt, easily the most underrated Mario title.

It's been a long time since I've played NSMBW, but if I recall it's the multiplayer where it really shined. The madcap insanity that ensues trying to play with three other people was utterly hilarious. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard playing a game.

Just to get this out of the way, the whole thing of "underrated" and "overrated" comes down to simply having somewhat of an outlier opinion. For a game to be "overrated", a lot of people have to like it, and vice versa. I think Mario 3 is one of the best games of all time, but there will always be those who just don't get it for one reason or another. On the flip side, I hate Mario 64 and Sunshine.

But a underrated goes, the first game that popped into my mind is Super Mario Land. It's a short game. It's a small game(data size). The sprites are tiny. The control feels different. But I also think it was a fantastic effort on shrinking the gameplay of the first Super Mario game while adding new ideas. I had a ton of fun with it.

And I can agree with Super Mario 2 being on there. It was a huge deal when it came out, but I think it got hugely overshadowed by the third game. For a while, it seemed there were more people who didn't like SMB2 as much as they did back in the day. I was one of them. For me, part of the issue was trying to get back into it via the GBA. I revisited SMB2 a few times because it wasn't clicking. It finally did. The SNES Mario All Stars version of that one is a really good way to play it too.

Super Mario Sunshine is underrated.

I'll be the "bad uncle" and say that Paper Mario: Sticker Star gets my vote for the most underrated Mario game.

Look, I'll still take the first two Paper Mario games (and to a degree, Super Paper Mario) any day and I'll admit that this game wasn't the "Paper Mario 3DS" I expected...but I still had a bit of a blast with this game for whatever else it had on the table and I felt that its wide variety of stickers and puzzles (despite a few of them being a little too "vague" for me) did enough to excuse the removal of the many gameplay amenities that built the series from the start. I've even done nine playthroughs of this game, with some of those playthroughs entailing me in taking different paths (before fighting the World 1 boss).

That said, as much as I enjoyed this game (and its Wii U sequel, Paper Mario: Color Splash), I do hope Intelligent Systems does put Paper Mario back on the right road and even then, I do hope some of the recent three games' QoL features make their way into the formula of the first two games.

I put Mario Kart Wii as I think its the best Mario Kart but isn't really regarded as so. Id also put New Super Mario Bros U, 3D world, and Dream Team

@Tempestryke

yrs, i feel like i woke up one day last week and zoomers were everywhere acting like everyone hates smb2. 🙄

how an entire generation can misunderstand videogames so consistently, I'll never know.

I am firmly on team Color Splash. It is better than Super and Origami King for how playable it is! Origami king has some slightly improved visuals, and the writing for Super Paper Mario contains some higher highs, but both of those games are a chore to actually play. Meanwhile the battles in Color Splash are a breeze, and it makes it much easier to enjoy the fun story and delightful visual spectacular

@SuperBro64

I've often thought it would be cool if they did a SMB DX with "the lost levels" stuck on the back of smb, starting as world 9-1. they could even put a little story in there to explain the transition and new mechanics. ❤️

@StarryCiel That sounds good. Hope we get it on NSO online one day (re: Mario Party Advance)

If anything I would say most mario games are overrated. I loved playing them as a kid but nowadays I much prefer Zelda and Metroid because they have more depth.

Bonus Outlier Opinion

The Mario+Rabbids series is the best Mario RPG series. I will accept that TTYD may be the best MRPG, but that series as a whole does not come close to that game, or even the first. (See my previous comment about how the remaining 4 all have serious problems)

The series also surpasses the Mario & Luigi games. I believe that Superstar Saga was the height of that series, and that the preceding games are all too chatty and just not overly engaging. I can endure a game that is simple and does not wear out its welcome (Super Mario RPG!) but all of those Mario & Luigi games talked me to death and they just weren’t worth the effort.

Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, DK Adventure, and Sparks of Hope are all terrific and being strategy role playing games means that they are still RPGs. The writing is top tier, the characters are delightful, and they take risks where they need to. A++ all around

lost levels for me. still need to max out the stars on the title screen, only a few more to go.

People look at New Super Mario Bros. 2 and see an unambitious game. And that's what I was thinking too...before I played it. Suffice to say, I think people have overlooked a surprisingly well-designed Mario game because of its art style. It's very underrated.

Fortune Street.
It is a great board game video game, but people see it as a Monopoly/Mario Party title.

NSMBW is one of my all time favorite games! I still regularly play it with my family, and it is the only game that my parents, siblings, and friends ALL agree on nearly every time!

Mario Tennis on Switch is okay but I feel it's no better than the N64 version. I played the demo of strikers and it seemed okay but didn't make me want to buy. Mario Bros Wii is okay but not great. Sparks of Hope is just pants

I'd like to see Mario Land as part of subscription, not played in ages.

@abe_hikura I like SPM, but certain sections were ridiculous for how long they took to complete.

@-wc- I'll never know either.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Change my mind.

(Super mario sunshine metacritics at around 93%. For me the original is therefore quite overrated though of course not a bad game.)

Anyhoo, I agree that the majority of these you have put up there are underrated. The original Bowser's Inside Story was well recieved at 90% average review score so the "definitive version" should be better reviewed and recieved. So yeah, underrated. 3D World and Bowser's Fury would be underrated too. An easy 9+ as is 3D Land.

I LOVED Super Paper Mario! I was annoyed how it was never apart of the conversation when the latest Mario RPG came out on the Switch. And people reminisced on the great games of the past. I loved the game play and humor.

I like Paper Mario Sticker Star.

The game felt like FF VIII with disposable cards like using Magic in FF VIII.
And the 3D objects as Summon spell is really cool in my opinion.
The Scissors things are my favorite 3D things Summon.

Fun article. SMB2 is a typical one for me, but I've noticed that Nintendo shows no love to SML — It's like they try to forget certain contributions from Gunpei Yokoi sometimes. I think Mario is Missing! often gets tossed aside since it's an education game with the guise of SMW, but I feel if you were of age and trying to learn your geography, it's a game that doesn't hurt. Could it be better? Of course. But it was rather fun giving an excuse for Luigi to lead for the first time ever and Mario's gang to come to the "Real World" (an often teased theme).

Of the main Mario games, I think the one I’d have to argue for most underrated is New Super Mario Bros. 2. If you’re playing that game with the objective of collecting coins and earning high scores, this game has a completely different vibe from the other 3 New Super Mario Bros games and I put plenty of hours into this much more arcadey approach to the series.

Of the side Mario games, I’d argue Super Mario Party, Mario and Luigi Paper Jam and Mario Strikers: Battle League are all very underrated.

Nice list of overrated Mario games. Like, you gave NSMB Wii 9/10, and it's on your "underrated" list...

Genuinely, what are you talking about???

Super Mario 3D World is practically on par with any 3D Mario (and better than Sunshine).

@Boston_J her hair color never changed though. In the original artwork for SMB1 in Japan (the cover art, and all the art in the manuals) all had her with blond hair (and named Peach obviously). But the redhead Peach/Toadstool was just a sprite color limitation, same as Mario was never intended to have a brownish shirt or black overalls.

New Super Mario Bros U (and by extension U Deluxe)

Played it for the first time last few weeks and it’s probably my favourite 2D game.

U Deluxe is ranked 19th out of 23 on Nintendo Life for Mario games. Poppycock. As underrated as they come.

Probably gonna get bonked but my pick is Mario Party 9, since when people talk about it, they're usually saying something negative. I really like the game and I wish more people would see past that different = bad barrier.

I would say some Mario games could even be considered overrated.

I really enjoy all of the Mario Sports switch titles except for Golf. Golf was such a disappointment for me this generation. Battle League is genuinely the best Strikers game gameplay wise, but the asking price with the amount of content is rough. Aces however is awesome, the new gameplay changes are great, good character selection, and really nice visuals.

@LadyCharlie It’s absolutely awful and lacks any charm compared to the 3DS entry.

Lost Levels, 64 DS, Super Paper, 2, and New 2 in that order.

ill never be convinced to give mario battle league a pass. it may have the most solid strikers gameplay, but literally having nothing else to offer at $60 really burns it for me

you can tell audiences believed that too, being the only mario sports game on switch to get a 2nd demo several months after launch

NSMBU is a fantastic 2D Mario game - agree it is on par with Wonder in terms of game play and level design. In fact, I much prefer the World Map of U compared to Wonder.

@Oswinner Can not agree more.

Super Luigi U is the most underrated Mario game.

I would seriously say Hotel Mario, then I saw it mentioned at the end. 🚪😋

really loved mario hoops back in the day.. just put in on my wiiu,, let's see how that works

Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) is definitely the most underrated for me on this list. The rest seem fair enough.

My favourite underrated Mario game is actually New Super Mario Bros 2 on 3DS. I finally bought it at half price once it appeared on the Select range and played almost continuously for 2 weeks until I finished it. That is so rare these days as I typically get distracted by something else. Let's just say the levels were fantastic, and the overall game compelling. It was a real surprise, especially for a 2D Super Mario Bros game.

Hotel Mario absolutely is Mario’s most underrated game. But that’s because of its poor accessibility now and on a console nobody wished existed. I feel once people get a chance to play it more, the appreciation amongst zoomers will rise.

I've never understood people pulling 'Super Mario 3D Land' to a lower rating – that game is sooooo much fun - and other than graphic fidelity, I don't think World is 'better' - and I love World.

Except maybe those 'Shadow Mario' levels - those are BS.

Underrated or not, Super Mario Land is still one of the best games in the series for me.

Compared to SMB3 and Super Mario World, it is a very short and easy game. And that is true even when compared with SMB1. But as a reinterpretation of the original Super Mario Bros for a more limited system, it works really well and does a great job of making the experience feel familiar, yet new and exiting.

I really like the stylished down-scaled visuals, which utilize the low resolution well and wish that more gameboy games used a similar approach. The first Batman game by Sunsoft is another game that did this.

And the sound design and music in this game is excellent. The sound that comes when you shoot the sphinxes is very memorable and quite similar to the sound the gameboy makes when you knock down four lines in Tetris.

@mariomaster96

Color Splash has insanely good writing. Genuinely funny with interesting gameplay gimmicks. Definitely underrated

Mario Baseball games are severely underrated. Still hoping for a new Mario Superstar Sluggers entry on Switch.

More Mario Sports games or compilations are welcome in general (with deeper and more extensive content/modes/options than most of the current Mario Sports titles on Switch) i.e. Basketball, American Football (it’s time!), Hockey (also time for a full game), Sports Mix … Punch-Out (w/ Mario Refereeing again) etc.

… also does Fortune Street count as a Mario game?

Would love to see Nintendo let Squeenix make a new entry on Switch.

SMB2 was my introduction to Mario, and it has a special place in my heart, if you have the option, play "Super Mario Advance" though, the GBA remake, the GBA was my first (And thus far, only) day 1 console, and i got SMA to go with it.

I'd really like a sequel to SMB2 with the same gameplay style (The picking up and throwing enemies), there's something really fun about taking out enemies with other enemies.

NSMB Wii and DS deserve more love, but for my money, Super Paper Mario is THE most underrated Mario game. It’s the last good Paper Mario game imo - yes, it’s different from 64 and TTYD, but it’s SO GOOD AND CREATIVE! And it’s so well-written too

It's not amongst the possible choices, but I always found Luigi's Mansion 2 criminally underrated. Sure it's not perfect (that damn ice boss!), but I consider it superior to the original, which was too short and quickly ran out of ideas. LM2 gave up on the openness of the world, but the themes of each mansion were geuinely interesting and lead to great ideas.
Guess I'll vote for Mario Land 2 then.