Sequel Showdown #9 - Super Mario (3D)

[AstralSoul | 502]

What is your favorite 3D Super Mario game?

For fun I added 2nd favorite 3D Mario and least favorite as well.

Feel free to list your rankings if you wish.

Edited February 24, 2021 by AstralSoul

[Strange | 1,700]

Oh man I’m not sure I can choose. My default is Super Mario 64 but is that nostalgia?! Probably.

[AstralSoul | 502]

1. Super Mario 64
2. Super Mario 3D World
3. Super Mario Galaxy
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
5. Super Mario Sunshine
6. Super Mario 3D Land
7. Super Mario Odyssey

SM64 is just iconic, nostalgic, classic, and was the one game that blew me away more than any other game in history at the time of it's release. Prior to trying it out, in 1996, I had little to no interest in an N64. Playing the demo at Blockbuster instantly sold me on the system. Good thing too since it's my favorite console of all time.

SM3DW is my second favorite and I'd underrated imo. I hate using that term, but it really is. It has all the makings of a perfect 2D Mario with it's level design but it's in 3D. It's a perfect halfway point between 2D and 3D. I loved it on Wii U but the Switch version but completely solidified how much I love it especially with the addition of Bowser's Fury. If my nostalgia wasn't so binding for Mario 64 I might've even given this one the #1 spot.

SMO is my least favorite. I did think it was good. Overall I'd still give it an 8/10, but that goes to show how highly I think of the other 3D Mario's that 8/10 is the lowest scored one. To me it felt too unfocused and the moon's were WAY too plentiful and easy to get while other moons were difficult, but they all counted the same. Ever star in SM64 and every Shine in SMS felt like an achievement. Moons just lying around everywhere gives me absolutely no satisfaction. Then when it comes to finding harder to find moons, I just don't want to because why try so hard to get something I just found lying around earlier? 999 moons is just ridiculous especially when 200 or whatever amount of them can just be bought with coins. Why even bother having those in the game at that point? The level design was relatively good and the gameplay was tight and fun but I felt unfulfilled at the end of the game which is a shame because I think it could have been the best or one of the best in the series with just some small changes.

[croagunk | 798]

My favorite is Super Mario Sunshine. My second favorite is Super Mario Odyssey. I haven’t gotten to really play the others much yet, so I can’t 100% say regarding those.

[DefaultGen | 5,399]

SM64 is the GOAT. I like the free roaming 3D level Mario games best. SMO is great, but it just has too many filler moons. It's one of the few games I love that would be better if it had less content to highlight the higher quality content, because you can't make 900 good moons.

I impulsively voted SM3DW as my least favorite because I completely forgot Super Mario Sunshine exists, that's how little I think about it. The beach themed levels lack variety. I don't like the color pallet or look of the game at all. Hopping in and out of levels is more punishing than SM64 because more shines and blue coins are gated behind specific level configurations. And I can't forget that the absolute best parts of the game are when it strips away FLUDD and everything unique about the game and becomes a barebones Super Mario Galaxy style level.  Still a great game anyway. I do like the difficult and fiddly platforming.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

Odyssey (fight me)

64

I said 3D Land, since it's the least memorable.  But still great.  Haven't played Galaxy 2 or 3D World

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

Odyssey is the only 3D Mario game I've played through completely (998/999 moons).  I enjoyed the game a lot, although I still prefer 2D Mario titles.

I've played a little bit of several other Mario 3D games, but not enough of any of them to properly rate them.  I've played enough of Mario 64 to know that I will never be able to get into that game enough to enjoy it.  I've also helped my son play a little bit of Sunshine on the 3D All Stars game enough to know that I might actually enjoy that one.  I was hoping that 3D All Stars would give me a reason to try out Galaxy, but I haven't had the time yet.  What little bit of 3D Land and 3D World I've played was enough to know that those games are good, but a little boring to me, and it will be a long time before I take the time to play through those completely.  

For me, Mario is just a lot more fun in 2D.  

[AstralSoul | 502]

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:

SM64 is the GOAT. I like the free roaming 3D level Mario games best. SMO is great, but it just has too many filler moons. It's one of the few games I love that would be better if it had less content to highlight the higher quality content, because you can't make 900 good moons.

100% agree about Odyssey. Moon fatigue is real. Why did they throw in 200 more moons that you have to buy with coins just for the sake of having more moons? The level design was very good overall in the game but the moon abundance just ruined part of the game for me. Less would've been more but kids these days want more of everything even if it means watering the whole thing down.

[Sumer | 221]

Odyssey is 1 for me

3D World for #2, as I had some fun times with my wife with it on the Wii U.

Least Favorite: Galaxy.  I tried playing this a few times, and it actually made me motion sick!  Has to be the rotating of the planets/balls!

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

Waiting on @peg to comment that they're all trash so I can like his post.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

I like the polling so far.  I wasn't surprised at all at the current top (Mario 64) and clear loser (Sunshine) in the least.  The middle is fun, quite the spread on what comes in second.  I picked Galaxy on that...was tough, edged in Mario 64 to the #1 spot.  It really ushered in a new style of Mario and total platform gaming that just didn't exist much prior, and they all had awful control, camera problems, typically both.

Sunshine, the mechanics, the game is crap, it has a lot of perspective, physics, control problems.  A shame as the environment was fun, but there are just so many stupid choices in design on that it makes you wonder how many of them collectively hit their heads or what kind of drugs were pumped into the air system during development.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

Remove the Mario license from Sunshine and it's a huge cult favorite

[MegaMan52 | 2,440]

This poll was predictable, so I can't say that I'm surprised that the most underrated 3D Mario game for an almost equally underrated Nintendo console continues to receive lots of hate...even though it isn't that bad of a game.

[themisfit138 | 523]

Mario 64

Sunshine

then the rest are all about even for me. 

[Tanooki | 4,930]

2 hours ago, MegaMan52 said:

This poll was predictable, so I can't say that I'm surprised that the most underrated 3D Mario game for an almost equally underrated Nintendo console continues to receive lots of hate...even though it isn't that bad of a game.

It's not a bad game, it's just the worst of the 3D platformers is all.  I just don't get why some people just seem to conveniently ignore the issues it has.  The camera is utter crap in the 2D space which allows for a lot of sloppy deaths, and in 3D spaces it gets conveniently stuck with walls blocking you or weird angles along structures and walls.  It's not so much that it's buggy, it just has some really poor choices.  I enjoyed it more than hated it back in the day, finished it too, but having revisited it on the Switch I had to put it down as those problems were worse now more than before given how games have evolved in like 15 years.

[peg | 370]

The only one I ever played was Mario 64.  This may comes as a surprise and might even be shocking to hear, but it sucked.

[Gloves | 11,761]

8 minutes ago, peg said:

The only one I ever played was Mario 64.  This may comes as a surprise and might even be shocking to hear, but it sucked.

Nobody is surprised when you say these things lol.

[DarkTone | 984]

3D world. Not that new + shit that just came out. 

[AmandaCathedral | 148]

Sunshine is my favourite! Sunshine spin jump is God.

Mario 3D Land is my second favourite. It's a charming and lovely update to the Super Mario Bros. formula.

Mario 64 is my least favourite. Never owned it with my N64, so going back to it years later after better 3D games came out was pretty rough.

Edited February 25, 2021 by AmandaCathedral
Talked way too stinking much.

[Sumez | 2,933]

How on earth is Galaxy faring so poorly? How can you possibly beat that game? It's pure video game enjoyment distilled to the core. It's not just the perfect 3D Mario game, it's a strong contender to the all time best video game ever made.

[Sumer | 221]

2 hours ago, Sumez said:

How on earth is Galaxy faring so poorly? How can you possibly beat that game? It's pure video game enjoyment distilled to the core. It's not just the perfect 3D Mario game, it's a strong contender to the all time best video game ever made.

In my reply above, the only reason I put it as my least favorite was genuinely motion sickness/eye strain from the spinning of the planets.  Lame, I know...but the few times I tried playing it...I couldn't!  I will try to give it another try down the line and see if those very few times were aberrations...but now I know I am getting old!

[Inzoreno | 102]

Of the games that I have actually played, I have to give no. 1 to Odyssey. Super Mario 64 undoubtedly changed the gaming industry forever, but I think Odyssey really took it to a completely new level and is probably the best 3D platformer I have ever played. I gave Super Mario 64 my second spot, because again it's very hard to overstate just how much of a landmark title that is not just for Nintendo, but for the industry as a whole. 

My least favorite is Sunshine and that's mostly because I find the controls are just wonky and makes it more of a pain to play than necessary. I don't have a Switch, so I can't say if that was improved with the port. 

[doner24 | 1,195]

Odyssey is easily 1 for me. Galaxy is 2, Galaxy 2 is 3 and 64 is last of the 5 I’ve played. 

[Tanooki | 4,930]

13 hours ago, Sumez said:

How on earth is Galaxy faring so poorly? How can you possibly beat that game? It's pure video game enjoyment distilled to the core. It's not just the perfect 3D Mario game, it's a strong contender to the all time best video game ever made.

Damn man I hadn't noticed since I scored in yesterday.  I wish I could understand it, there's really no rational reason that odyssey should be clubbing it so badly other than it's the newest game of that style.  Sad thing is, I didn't even finish that one as it get stale...yeah a stale mario game.  With so many moons and the dumbest crap to earn a majority of them, they're given out basically like free candy.  Galaxy was so well and better executed and you earned your rewards.  No accounting for taste I guess.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Damn man I hadn't noticed since I scored in yesterday.  I wish I could understand it, there's really no rational reason that odyssey should be clubbing it so badly other than it's the newest game of that style.  Sad thing is, I didn't even finish that one as it get stale...yeah a stale mario game.  With so many moons and the dumbest crap to earn a majority of them, they're given out basically like free candy.  Galaxy was so well and better executed and you earned your rewards.  No accounting for taste I guess.

The lady doth overvalue her own opinions much