Played this immediately after Mario 1. This game really does continue with the difficulty curve that Mario 1 left off at, so I wouldn't describe this game as a "Mario 2" or even a "Mario 1.5", it straight up just feels like if Mario 1 continued for 8 more worlds, which is kinda cool in a way.

Anyway, trash. This game is legitimately evil, and not in a fun way. I don't know who at Nintendo thought some of those enemy placements were a good idea. Or whoever designed those fucking maze castle levels that are impossible to beat without rigorous trial and error. And how about the genius who decided to make the falling platforms look identical to the platforms that move from left to right? These feel like shitty Mario Maker levels made by preteens, not levels made by THE Nintendo, immediately after they made Mario 1! And you want me to beat the game 8 times to unlock the special worlds? Lol no thanks.

I do have to give the game props for actually having 32 unique levels (more if you count the extra worlds), unlike Mario 1 which just kinda gave up halfway through and started recycling levels.

I just replayed Mario 1 and Lost Levels back to back yesterday and it was kind of an interesting experience actually. Looking at these two games as two halves of a whole certainly adds a bit of appeal to both games.

Anyway, Mario 1. Super important, super iconic, super... meh. It doesn't even need to be stated that it set the groundwork for the Mario franchise, because that goes without saying, but that also means that most Mario games are literally just better versions of this game. So there's just straight up no reason to play this game today unless you either want a history lesson or a harmless way to spend 45 minutes. The controls are stiffer than they should be, the music gets repetitive, and some of the game's later levels are just copy pastes of earlier levels in the game. It certainly is no Mario 3, let alone Mario Wonder. Still, the Mario fun is there, so I can't hate it too much.

Something I find interesting is that I actually find this game quite fun when I'm speeding through it as fast as I can. I think the game flows really nicely when approaching it in this manner, as opposed to playing the game slowly and carefully since I'll have to deal with the game's annoying momentum more.

Yeah, I dunno. I still don't get it. After just replaying the game (because it's short so why not), I'm really surprised by the overall positive-to-mixed reactions to the game after its addition to NSO. I really thought that its addition would cause more people to look at it in a more critical light, but I guess people truly will eat up any platformer with "Mario" in the title, huh...

People call this game "weird" to justify giving it high scores, but I actually think this is one of the most aggressively bland Mario games out there. It is paint-by-numbers Mario, but it even feels like a pale imitation of that, with uninteresting level design and zero secrets. It's like Mario 1 but even further stripped down to its bare essentials. If having a few unique character designs and two generic space shooter stages constitutes "weird", then those are some extremely low standards of weirdness. If you want weird, play Mario Land 2. That's a game that truly earns its reputation for weirdness, and it's also much higher quality too.

Is having a few weird character designs and some mild historical significance as the first handheld Mario game really enough to single-handedly give this game a passing score? Enough to look past the controls and visuals and everything else that is clearly substandard? Honestly after thinking about it I truly feel confident in saying that this is my pick for the worst mainline Mario game. I'm pretty shocked that it isn't brought up more in that discussion.

Kind of interesting that this exists. It's the NES version of the game, but the conveyor level from the arcade version is restored. And this really cool restoration was only ever released on the Wii and 3DS Virtual Console for some reason? Not even NSO? Huh? Anyway, what matters is that this is actually compatible with NES emulators. It's still the original Donkey Kong, so you know what to expect, but now it's 4 levels long instead of 3. So if you wanna play the original Donkey Kong on NES, this is the version you should play.

I could tell this was made by the same team as Mario Land 2, but it didn't quite win me over like that game did. The controls are so slow and awkward and the jump is really stiff for some reason. That's not just because of Wario's size; based on the little bit I've played of VB Wario Land, that game controls much better. I do think this game does a lot of cool things to differentiate itself from the Mario series though, like having to pay 10 coins to use a checkpoint or beat the level, the longer and more open level design, and how turning small disables some of your moves (I'm pretty mixed on that last one, but it's still an interesting concept). And of course, this game had a focus on collecting coins two decades before NSMB2 did. And even though I dislike the controls, I do like Wario's moveset; the dash and crawl both feel ahead of their time. The level design is alright too. I had a pretty good time with this, though it's pretty obvious that this game suffers from "first game syndrome". Short but sweet, pretty basic and could use more polish. I'm excited to see how the later games improve on this one.

Very much feels like a product of the overly sanitized era Mario found himself in during the early to mid 2010s. This game doesn't have even a speck of its own identity, building itself exclusively on Mario 3 references rather than contributing anything to call its own. Level themes are almost always typical Mario fare (aside from the clock tower levels and some other exceptions which are cool) with no cohesion within worlds, and the boss battles don't even register. You want to be challenged? Pffft... who's ever heard of difficulty? And the game's big claim to fame, molding 2D and 3D platforming experiences into one, was already done by Crash Bandicoot and a gazillion other platformers before this one. This game is bland, it's soulless, and it has very few innovations to speak of. If you've played any other Mario game before, this one won't offer any surprises.

Even still... dammit, this game is a great showcase for how Nintendo just knows what makes games fun. 3D Land just has that Secret Sauce™. The controls are perfect. This game's iteration of the Tanooki suit is one of the most fun power-ups to use in the series. I love how many of the levels have shortcuts; you can skip chunks of levels with a long jump or with the Tanooki flutter and it feels very intentional. Some levels have really interesting open field sections, calling back to the style of the older 3D Mario games. The game also has the most worlds of any level-based Mario game, at 16, so even though the 8 special worlds are mostly just remixes of the game's earlier levels, there's tons of content to sink your teeth into and get addicted. My only real complaint about the gameplay itself, aside from the lack of difficulty outside of the special worlds, is the poor depth perception throughout. I played the entire game with the 3D slider on and it does not help with the depth perception at all.

You are not missing out on anything if you've skipped on it, but this is a really good, fundamentally solid game. Almost certainly the weakest 3D Mario, but if this is the weakest, then that sure is a damn fine track record.

Honestly? A smidge overrated.

Super Star Ultra is a solid remake of a good game. My favourite thing about Ultra is that it feels very "DS-core", despite not even originating as a DS game. The anthology approach just works so much more naturally on a handheld than on a home console, and the bottom screen adds some quality of life enhancements that improve the experience. The game also looks a bit better too, and I enjoyed the CG cutscenes. The sound is worse, but that's minor. I'd still stick with the original if I wanted to play multiplayer, but if I ever want to play Super Star in single-player in the future I'll definitely play this version. It's just a straight upgrade.

However, Ultra still keeps the flaws of the original game and in some ways worsens them. My biggest issue is the helpers. Helpers are a cool idea, but they absolutely trivialize the entire game's difficulty, in addition to just being annoying due to spawning in every time you try to discard an ability. Since Kirby games usually give you many different ways to play the game, I find it baffling that they didn't add an option to turn off the helpers. I think that single feature would've made the game SIGNIFICANTLY better.

I am also annoyed by this game's reliance on recycled content. I already disliked this in Super Star, as Milky Way Wishes and the Arena were already mostly recycled content from the game's other modes, but every single one of Ultra's new modes just exacerbates this. Revenge of the King is the only new mode that has any new level design, but is essentially just a harder Spring Breeze with most of the same bosses. Helper to Hero and the True Arena are just more Arenas. And... Meta Knightmare Ultra... what a horrible mode. I think the concept of Meta Knightmare Ultra's gameplay loop is interesting, but playing through every previous mode in the game as Meta Knight is not it. It's just lazy padding using nothing more than recycled content. It's even more annoying since that means we're playing through Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, and Milky Way Wishes all over again but this time without the gimmicks that made them unique. Just a thoroughly boring mode through and through. I really don't think Ultra is as much of an improvement over Super Star as most people seem to think, because the new modes just aren't that good or interesting.

Gotta say though, Masked Dedede and Galacta Knight are fantastic. Gotta give Ultra credit for that.

Edit: Turns out, you actually CAN discard your ability without spawning a helper by using the select button, which you couldn't do in the original! Thank you @GalacticSpear for letting me know. This is a huge quality of life feature and I'm so happy it was included. I can now agree with everyone that Ultra is a bigger improvement over Super Star than I originally thought. My rating and overall sentiment stays the same though; just ignore the second paragraph.

I don't think MK7 deserves its reputation of being a "yeah, that happened" game in the series. I feel that MK8 owes most of its identity to this game. The controls in 8 are extremely similar to 7's, making it really easy to jump from one game to the other. Gliders and underwater driving are huge additions to the series that allow tracks to have more memorable and varied layouts; 1 lap tracks are also a great concept for the same reason. Kart customization is another great addition that I feel people take for granted. MK7 is an incredibly important game to the series, and is very fun to boot, as much as people seem to think that it's just whatever.

I actually think this is the best handheld Mario Kart game. DS easily has this game beat in terms of single-player content and... having a VS mode (I can't believe 7 excluded it), but 7 has a much better track lineup, both new and retro, and unlike DS, the controls are not horrendous. Sorry DS lol

Also, Honey Queen

Played on Switch Pro Controller because for some reason the keyboard control scheme is total crap. Celeste 64 is a decent translation of Celeste's gameplay into a 3D space with a surprising amount of exploration and discovery in such a small platforming playground. Despite the 64 in the name, the game is actually designed more similarly to a Mario Odyssey kingdom... with some Mario Sunshine PTSD cassette levels thrown in.

I can't tell whether the devs of this game thoroughly misunderstood what makes 3D platformers fun, or thoroughly understood what makes some 3D platformers shit. That might actually be a compliment? I hated playing it and for that reason I had a great time playing it. Unlike Celeste, not a single death in Celeste 64 will be your fault. It'll all be because of that pesky camera. Or the depth perception. But in some sick twisted way, that is also kind of its appeal? I think it's stockholm syndrome please save me from this polygonal hell

Just spent the day rushing to play and download as many of the best Mario Maker 1 levels I could find before the servers shut down. And even despite all those amazing levels I found, I still chose to keep some room for many of the old crappy levels I made when I was 11 (except for "Sextuple Giant Bowser Fight". I think I'll let that level become lost media). I think that shows exactly what makes this game so special. Mario Maker brought out everyone's inner child, and captured the imaginations of players to create a sense of unity and community like no other. Truly an incredible game that gave way to so much creativity and passion, and I will truly miss this game and this era. I played this game on its release date and now I've played this game on its death date. Rest in peace Mario Maker 1.

One of the best games ever made, for reasons that everyone has already said, and yet I will repeat anyway.

This game's design just holds up so well. The way it rewards exploration is timeless, and makes the game downright cathartic to revisit. The game somehow manages to give you no guidance while simultaneously avoiding being outright cryptic (with some exceptions which I'll get to) and letting the player figure out solutions for themselves. That is a groundbreaking achievement in exploration-based game design and it's no wonder that this game essentially spawned a genre. When you find a solution in Super Metroid, it truly feels like you earned it, and the game completely understands how good that feeling is. Environmental clues and experimenting with your abilities are the keys to finding your way through (and if not, just use the X-Ray visor), and it is just as satisfying a gameplay loop today as I'm sure it was in 1994. The game is not very lengthy, but it's just long enough that I feel the game gets the most out of its gameplay structure and locations, without going on for so long that it starts getting monotonous. I feel I must stress this game's lack of monotony; each of the game's locations are very distinct from both a visual standpoint and design standpoint. They're all just the right size, with no repeated rooms, and some notable landmarks to help you remember the layout, which is a huge improvement from the first two Metroid games. I also appreciate how the game starts small before opening up. The compact beginning area where you get the morph ball and missiles is a great way to ease new players into the structure of Metroid games before letting them out in the deep end. And of course, this game wouldn't be nearly as fun to play if it didn't have that map.

That's not even mentioning the game's incredible presentation. The visuals are fantastic, with great attention to detail and subtle but impactful visual effects bringing the world of Zebes to life. And of course, the atmosphere is unparalleled. Between the creepy and the serene, every tone is executed perfectly in Zebes' compelling mixture of sci-fi and nature. Gorgeous environments matched with an ambient yet melodic soundtrack really does go far. I love Crateria, the moody rain and damp grassy caves is such an appealing aesthetic to me and it would be recaptured with Prime's equally breathtaking Tallon Overworld. And that moment when you go down the elevator and the energetic upper Brinstar theme gradually fades in is just... wow. It's so subtle but it really feels like the game kicks into gear in that moment. It's a perfect demonstration of how this game excels in atmosphere and tying its audiovisual design with its world design. It's an all-time great moment for me, and this is a game filled with all-time great moments. The opening in the space station is an immediate hook, the previously mentioned beginning area serving as a recreation of certain Metroid 1 rooms is a great bit of continuity (something games of the era almost never had), Ridley's Lair isn't very long but the music and visuals make it feel like the epic last stand that it is, and the story comes full circle with an absolutely legendary final boss and ending that still ranks among the most memorable in any video game. It's mindboggling how cinematic this game feels considering the time it came out, and it does so without speaking a single word outside of the opening!

I don't think this game is a 10/10 though. It just has too many flaws that hold it back. My first issue is the occasional lack of clarity. While the vast majority of this game can be solved with good intuition, there are a few moments in the game that outright require a guide, which is a huge no-no for a game like this. Some stupid moments that come to mind are: that bridge in Brinstar that requires you to run across, breaking the glass tube with a super bomb to enter Maridia, being able to go through lava with the Gravity Suit, and exiting Ridley's Lair through a completely normal looking wall which the X-Ray visor doesn't work on for some godforsaken reason. None of these are ever told or indicated to the player. I thought putting players in a situation where they have absolutely zero way to know what to do without a guide was Zelda's job, not Metroid's! It would also be nice if doors were indicated on the map; I think that's the main quality of life feature this game is missing. Side note, but I also found the Maridia area generally frustrating and unfun to traverse, but it's immediately followed up by Ridley's Lair and that is peak Metroid so I'll forgive it.

My other main criticism is the controls and movement, which I find downright unenjoyable. The jump has too much vertical momentum and not enough horizontal momentum. Pressing L to aim diagonally downwards and R to aim diagonally upwards is archaic. Why is there even a run button? And wall jumps are the biggest offender. You all know what I mean. Screw that one pit. What I'm saying is, if you got MercurySteam to remake this game in Dread's engine, add a few QoL features, and make a few small alterations to the world design, you'd probably have the perfect game. Some food for thought.

Basically, Super Metroid is a masterpiece, a must-play for literally everyone, the single best action game on the SNES, yadda yadda yadda. You get the idea. PLAY IT.

And yes, I saved the animals.

As I've said before and will always continue to say, this is the best platformer on the SNES, and probably the best platformer of the 20th century in general.

The sheer degree that they improved on DKC1 is freaking unimaginable. Presentation-wise, it's better. The art style is more colourful and pleasing, the graphics are the best on the console (that 3D effect in the sunken ship stages??? Hello???), the soundtrack composed by David Wise is one of the best in video game history. Gameplay-wise, it's better. The level design is top notch, with ingeniously designed gameplay mechanics and enemies that make nearly every level memorable and fun. There's also way more variety thanks in no small part to the vertically-scrolling levels, and they actually made proper use of the animal buddies this time by giving them special moves and their own focused levels! I've heard a lot of people say that this game is more difficult than the first, but I disagree. Even though the levels are longer and more complex, the camera and enemy placements are a lot better, making the game much more fair. The bosses are hugely improved too.

Replacing Donkey Kong in his own game was a wild decision, but it ended up working perfectly. DK was kinda useless in the first game, basically being a slower, larger, and less fun version of Diddy. I think that the Diddy and Dixie pairing is one of the best examples of game balancing... like ever? Diddy is a faster runner and climber, but Dixie can hover in the air. There's the fast but risky option, and the safe but slow option, and both options are fun to play as. They both have situations where they're useful, but neither of them are ever rendered useless at any point. And they both play similarly enough to where it doesn't feel disorienting to switch from one Kong to the other. So we have a game that's already propped up by DKC1's phenomenal engine, but now we have two characters that are truly fun and useful to play as!

And even the little things this game added go volumes to enhancing the experience. The team throw is an interesting new move that spices gameplay up, you can throw objects upwards now, you can hold Y to swim faster underwater, whenever you beat a level Diddy raps and Dixie plays the guitar (this is very important), and way more that I can't name off the top of my head. These little refinements make the game feel as polished as possible and sets a new standard for gameplay flow. Just the act of playing this game still feels utterly timeless.

But I think one of the other main reasons this game has held up so well, which is something that I feel a lot of people overlook in regards to the conversation around DKC2, is the collectibles. As far as I know, this was the game that pioneered the format of there being a certain number of collectibles in each level, and those collectibles being used to unlock optional secret levels (in this case, the bonus room coins unlock Lost World levels). This adds a great deal of replay value and incentive to revisit levels, and is a huge step towards making each level serve as so much more than just an obstacle course for you to beat. This was the step that platformers needed to take to finally evolve past the arcade and NES era, and most platformers still use this format to this day. Even Mario went on to adopt this formula a decade later with things like Star Coins and Green Stars. And DKC2 did it first. I think.

It also helps that the secrets feel rewarding in their own right. They're almost always hidden in ways that reward being observant. There may be small indicators and/or banana trails that test your deduction, or they may be placed behind optional platforming gauntlets that test your skill. It's so much more satisfying to find a secret in DKC2 than in DKC1 (where most secrets were just hidden behind walls that you throw a barrel at) or Mario World (where most secrets just require you to fly upwards with the cape). And the bonus rooms themselves? Peak. They're so varied and fun, and the series has never lived up to the standards DKC2 set in regards to the bonus rooms.

This game ain't perfect though. There are a few issues that hold it back and kinda expose the era it released in. The world map is awful to traverse, checkpoints are too sporadically placed, and umm... WHY do you have to pay banana coins to SAVE YOUR GAME? There's also one segment in the Screech's Sprint level that requires you to use the roll jump mechanic to progress, which is a move that the game fails to indicate that you can even do. So uhh... this game requires a guide to beat. Thanks Rare. Overall, I'd give the edge to Tropical Freeze as the best DKC game, due to that game's sheer attention to detail and how they made each level totally distinct from each other. That's not DKC2's fault though. It was just limited by the technology of its time, even though it did as much as it possibly could with those limitations.

The controls and engine feel perfect, the levels are expertly designed, the visuals are phenomenal, the music is next level, and the game's additions and innovations have made it feel modern. It pushed every boundary possible and it succeeded. There could not possibly be a better platformer from the time period this game came out. Rare could have just rested on the success of the first game and made more of the same, but they went the extra mile in every single aspect. This game is so confident in what it wants to be. It took what worked so well in past platformers, threw away what didn't work, and added new elements of its own on top of that. This game is a full fledged, one-of-a-kind experience that still holds up to modern standards in every way. In short, DKC2 feels like the game the SNES was ultimately made for. Indisputably one of the greatest games ever made. (Remind me why it isn't on this list?)

It's astonishing how well this game holds up in spite of its ambitions. Usually these early 3D shenanigans age like fine milk but the prerendered graphics still somehow look nice. They didn't just coast on the technology like most other 3D showcase games of the era did; they also put a ton of love into the atmosphere, art direction, and animation and that has caused this game's visuals to age gracefully. But it's not just pretty to look at, it's also a fantastic platformer, and the game would not be as well-regarded today if it didn't feel good to play. The level design is tight, and the engine/physics is genuinely some of the best-feeling of any platformer even 30 years on. Screw Sonic, this is a real momentum-based platformer. And do I even need to mention the MUSIC?

Still, it's very rough around the edges in some aspects. The difficulty curve and camera are frustrating, the secrets and bosses leave a lot to be desired, and the level variety is low (way too many caves). It's so insane to me how this game constantly appears on lists of the best video games ever made, instead of its sequel, which improves on this game in literally every aspect.

Overall though, I think this game manages to marry visuals, audio, and gameplay in a way that few other platformers outside the DKC series really do. DKC's world feels truly tangible and alive, which is an insane achievement for a platformer. Platformers usually strive to be as "video gamey" as possible (think Mario), but DKC is so much more than just a video game, it's a living breathing world. I think that's this series' secret weapon.

Also this game introduced my Smash main. Love ya K. Rool