The Mario games are celebrated as titans in every genre they touch. With titles like Super Mario 64 defining the future of 3D platformers, the New Super Mario Bros. reinventing 2D platformers with fresh takes on the classic games, and Super Mario Odyssey becoming a modern classic with its movement and exploration - the games are undoubtedly excellent. But for many fans, the wait for the next installment after Super Mario Bros. Wonder has them looking for something new to jump to.

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The Best 2D Super Mario Games, Ranked

Super Mario is one of the icons of gaming for a good reason, and these are the best of the best of the franchise's 2D games.

For those who need more charming, cartoony gameplay with tight controls and a focus on polished and playful presentation, this list features some of the best platformers that take inspiration from Nintendo's iconic Italian plumber.

7 Rogue Legacy

Rogue-Lite Platforming Against The Castle

Gamers who enjoyed New Super Mario Bros. might enjoy the tight 2D platforming of Rogue Legacy. Legacy is upfront about its roguelike influences but captures that spirit perfectly. It allows players to take control of a new ancestor in each run and platform their way to the next boss for tense combat that is easy to learn and impossible to ever truly master.

Progress is made when the player dies and brings any collected gold back to buy permanent unlocks and upgrades. The castle is randomly generated, but the bosses are always confined to their areas, ensuring there is always a direct goal - this time, the hero should make it to the giant eye and kill it, etc. The game has a sense of humor, too, and never takes itself too seriously, with some characters seeing the world in black and white and making a run that is entirely played in monochrome. Or perhaps one's character has a fear of chickens, and the precious health items become formidable foes.

6 Celeste

Climbing Is Key

Each and every aspect of Celeste has been praised widely and justifiably. Madeleine climbs Celeste Mountain, which, she is told time and time again, will kill her by the people she meets on her ascent and by a dark presence that haunts her throughout. A beautiful take on anxiety and the concept of a lack of self-confidence, the gameplay is some of the most engaging platforming in generations.

Starting with the basics - jumping, climbing, and dashing - and evolving into a manic scurry across timed stages with flight and blocks to dash through, Celeste is a spiritual successor to games like Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. It features simple mechanics that are stretched to their limits and poses challenge after challenge to players who are ready to face them. The speed of the game makes those 'just one more try' moments come constantly, and optional challenges, like remixed levels, add longevity and replayability to an already exceptional game.

5 Pizza Tower

A Fun Platformer About Catering

If the maddening speed of Super Mario Sunshine left any wanting more, the 2D platformer Pizza Tower pushes the insanity to previously inconceivable heights. Gamers play as an Italian man - already drawing similarities to another mustachioed hero - who must climb the Pizza Tower to save his restaurant. The dizzying speed is accompanied by a combo meter and a score counter that are always explosively visible and urge the player to push on faster in the same way as a high scoreboard in an arcade game would.

After finishing a stage, the music will get even more intense, and a timer will start to count down. The player then has to descend the level that they have just completed while on a maddening time limit. The platforming is perfectly precise with any kind of speed, making things slippy and difficult, but the star of the show is the punchy retro soundtrack that is catchy and bizarre all at once.

4 Remnants Of Naezith

Mario Meets Webswinging

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC
• Released: February 5, 2018
• Developer: Tolga Ay
• Genre: Platform, Adventure

Some of the more challenging levels in Super Mario Sunshine relied on precise jumps and speedy platforming. Mario Odyssey's Balloon World also used the speed and tricky task of hard-to-pull-off maneuvers to create something difficult but rewarding. Remnants of Naezith is a really hard game, but the grappling hook and swinging physics are perfect.

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9 Easiest Mario Games, Ranked

The best Mario games are the ones that offer challenges to those that seek them, but equally, provide those who just want an easy time with fun.

There is no cap on momentum, so exhilarating speeds are always tantalizingly reachable. Add in the speedrun feature, which can make the whole experience competitive, and this title becomes a worthwhile competitor to Balloon World and other platforming racing games. Thanks to the Steam community, there is also a selection of community-made levels that can extend the gameplay even further.

3 BattleBlock Theater

A Co-Op Competition

• Platforms: PC, Xbox 360
• Released: April 3, 2013
• Developer: The Behemoth
• Genres: Platform, Adventure, Puzzle

The couch cooperative modes in the New Super Mario Bros. games encourage competitive teamwork for friends who can gather around one screen. BattleBlock Theater lets players use the same local co-op or online play but ramps up the competition up to eleven. Fans can collect new characters to play as or new gadgets and then go into levels where they will have to work together closely on puzzles, platforming, and timed sections.

The comedic story sees a shipload of friends captured and imprisoned by cats and forced into deadly stage plays. The puzzles that teams will encounter will test friendships, and the hilarious cartoon violence of throwing an explosive paper airplane at teammates can often derail a good attempt at a difficult level. With plenty to unlock, arena modes, genuinely challenging platforming, and enough game modes and collectibles to drown in, BattleBlock Theater is a definite descendant of Mario Bros. in many ways.

2 A Hat In Time

A Charming Collectathon With Exceptional Headwear

For fans of Super Mario Odyssey, A Hat In Time acts as a collectathon in a 3D open sandbox with heaps of exploration and cutesy charm. Players take on the role of the Hat Kid, a spacefaring child in a magical top hat, who will jump, swing, and climb her way around tricky platforms to sew new hats for new magical abilities.

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Nintendo: 6 Weaknesses Mario Has

Mario is one of the most famous video game characters of all time, but even he has certain weaknesses that trouble him.

With five huge maps that feel familiar to those experienced with Odyssey's Kingdoms, the cast of friendly locals will let fans settle into the over-the-top and adorable visuals quickly. Hat Kid will have to solve murders, platform precisely, and use her powers to succeed in this much-loved game.

1 Psychonauts

Psychic Powers In Mind Blowing Dreams

Psychonauts is a 3D platformer with plenty of action that sees Razputin - a young psychic agent in training - at a camp for children like him. The story is surreal and unstable, with twists, turns, and big betrayals that lead to Razputin entering platforming segments inside the minds of plenty of different characters. This approach makes it much easier to grow to love these characters, as players can see what makes them tick.

The variety of levels, with winding Escheresque pavements on one level followed by a psychedelic disco world, gives an excuse for the level design to show off everything it can do. The Mario games often play with mechanics until they reach their limits, and the same approach is taken in Psychonauts with the psychic abilities. Telekinesis and levitation are given enough uses that players will constantly be surprised by the goofy animation and the results of their chaotic powers.

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6 Games To Play If You Like Super Mario RPG

Those left wanting more by the end of Super Mario RPG should give these similar titles a proper chance.