Topic: Which Mario game is the most challenging?

After so many years, I've never bought a Mario adventure game.

I like challenging games. Mario seems like an ULTRA EASY game 95% of the time, to be challenging 5% of the time.

I don't have that level of patience.

This year, motivated by the Mario movie in theaters, I'm more likely to buy an adventure game featuring this character.

Which Mario game is best at:

• amount of RELEVANT content (not filler content)
• replayability
• challenge level

I won't play multiplayer.

I'm already writing off Mario Maker 2 because I didn't like the design of the player-made stages. I found it a big visual mess, so much gimmick.

Note: I don't care about graphics.

I don't play to get "magic", "good feelings" and I also don't enjoy watching unnecessary "graphic animations".

What I enjoy is simply having a good challenge to overcome the obstacles and face the enemies of a stage and finish the game.

Which Switch Mario game do you recommend? (i don´t like old games, like SNES N64...NES...) I played it when i was young, I´m 42 years old and i don´t have patience to play again, again and again...old games anymore.

I know you said you don't want old games, but Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels is easily the most challenging Mario game ever. It's playable on Switch Online.

However, for a good balance between the three points you mentioned, I would recommend either Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Odyssey isn't quite as replayable as other titles due to its structure, but it certainly makes up for it with its challenging levels and boss fights in the latter half of the game. Super Mario 3D World seems pretty simple to start out, but once you get to about World 5 or 6, the difficulty definitely starts to ramp up. Not to mention, there are several bonus worlds that are unlocked once you beat the final boss, and those are home to some of the hardest Mario levels of all time.

I consider all of the modern 2D Mario games to be pretty darn easy. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a walk in the park for me, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder only had a few genuinely challenging levels in the bonus world. They're really fun games, don't get me wrong, but if it's a challenge you're looking for, you might be disappointed with them.

Odyssey is probably too easy the galaxy’s offer a decent challenge if you go for 100% but the real challenge is new super Mario bros 2s impossible pack

@Rykdrew recent maro games I have mario odyssey, not brilliant, mario 3D on 3ds is not great either. One recent release was or not to recent is super mario wii really good and mario on wii U. Older releases that are really good all mario land on GB, ( I don't think snes mario games were great ) Mario sunshine on gamecube, mario v donkey kong is another good game. Best mario kart would be mario kart double dash and mario kart wii. Best paper mario is gamecube release or wii release. Have a look at them sure you'll spot there good.😁👍

@StarPoint Thank you for answer me. New Luigi U Deluxe is a good game? Replayability, Challenge?
Someone said something about this game.

Maybe I´ll get 3d World...

@FawfulsFury is this a Switch game?

@Ninfan Odyssey i think its more "collect stuffs" than fight against enemies and difficult objects, or am I wrong?

@Rykdrew New Super Mario Bros 2 is a 3ds game.
Mario Galaxy is on the switch but you need to buy Mario 3d all stars (only available on E-Bay or other resellers because it was a limited game)

@Rykdrew Correct, there is some hard collectibles to get though.

@Rykdrew Luigi U is like a harder version of Mario U deluxe.
So it has maybe a bit more replayability to get all the star coins but not much.

Would you be interested in RPG games? The Mario and Luigi series is quite fun and challenging.
If so I would recommend Bowsers Inside story.

@Rykdrew Oh yeah, I forgot about Luigi U. It's probably the hardest 2D Mario game on the Switch as you have a really short amount of time in each level.

@Rykdrew You want a challenging game, but don't have a lot of patience? That kind of sounds middle of the road. So, I'm inclined to recommend Mario Odyssey. I didn't think it was too easy, and it wasn't so tough, that it drove me nuts. I think it's a decent balance.

I didn't think I wanted a 3D mario game when Odyssey released, and then it became my favorite 3D Mario game. I ended up liking it so much, I've played through it three times (once playing through with my nieces).

In Mario Odyssey, if you try to get most, or all, the powermoons in a world before moving onto the next, I'd say there's a good amount of challenge. That's how I played. There's only about ten or twelve worlds in Mario Odyssey. You could breeze through if you only get the minimum number of powermoons needed to unlock the next world - I guess that's to make it more accessible for younger players.

Your other options are,
Mario 3D World - I don't love this game because of it's time restricted levels - just my opinion.

Mario 3D All-Stars (three games on it, Mario Galaxy(Wii), Mario Sunshine(Gamecube), Mario 64 (N64))
Galaxy is probably most people's favorite, and the reason to get 3D All-Stars. Sunshine is decent, but a bit polarizing. I know you don't want Mario 64.
**Note Mario 3D All-Stars is physical only - god knows why. So, it's not on eshop)

I don't play the 2D mario games, so that's why I excluded Super Mario Bros Wonder and New Super Mario Bros U. (Although, I'm considering getting Mario Wonder this winter).

@Rykdrew its really not great, I only played it for 5 hours and didn't like it

@WoomyNNYes I don't have the patience to play games AGAIN that I've already played to exhaustion in the past.

I had all the old Marios, but I haven't bought Mario adventure games since the Nintendo 64.

When you say "get Moon or Power Moons" in Mario Odyssey, this challenge is:

• reach a certain point in the scenario

or

• win a difficult challenge?

I could try Mario Galaxy in 3d All Stars. Thank you!

@GalaxicGlobe Thank you for the answer!

@Rykdrew No problem! Hope you find a game you like!

Super Mario Bros The Lost Levels without a doubt is probably the most challenging Mario game I played. I have tried it on many occasions and just end up giving up after awhile. I just don't find the game fun but if challenging Mario games is your thing.....

@Rykdrew In Mario Odyssey, Mario's gets an airship, called the "Odyssey", to travel between worlds. You need a number of power moons in order to fly the Odyssey ship to the next world (this is how you unlock worlds). Some worlds have like 25-30? power moons, but you only need about 25% of those moons to travel to the power the Odyssey airship to the next world.

There are many ways to get power moons. Some power moons are cleverly hidden, some are tough to get to, some are rewards for solving puzzles, beating bosses, etc.. Don't let that generic description fool you. I dare say Mario Odyssey leans toward being revolutionary with it's creativity and polish. A lot of these worlds, levels, enemy characters, and mechanics are impressively designed. This is Nintendo firing on all cylinders. https://www.metacritic.com/game/super-mario-odyssey/

The "Cappy" hat mechanic is new. (I thought Cappy looked corny before I played the game, but it's actually very good). There are several mechanics that can be performed with Cappy. Some are easy, some take skill. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil some of the discoveries.

EDIT: I see your edit. Yeah, I'd say Mario Galaxy would be the other best recommendation. That's on Mario 3D All-Stars. In here, I think you'll get split recommendations between Odyssey and Galaxy.

@WoomyNNYes Thank you very much! You helped me a lot!