In 1985, a little game called Super Mario Bros released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the video game industry was both saved and changed forever. Fast forward 35 years, and Mario and friends are arguably still the most iconic faces in all of gaming with constant game releases of all types and support from people of all ages.
Rumors recently broke that Nintendo has a big 2020 in store for the mustachioed plumber, with multiple games in the series’ past being remastered alongside a new Paper Mario game, and first looks at the Super Mario theme park and movies on their way in the future. You can read about the rumor more in the link below.
There are tons of Mario games that fans would be ecstatic to see make a comeback to the Switch. There have been countless memorable journeys that remain in the hearts of fans worldwide. With that in mind, here are the Mario games we want to be remastered for the Switch during the 35th anniversary.
Honorable mentions: Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Super Strikers, Mario Party 2, Mario Party 3, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, Paper Mario (N64)
Super Mario 64
We’re going to start the list off with some of the games rumored to be getting remastered. Super Mario 64 is one of the most important video games of all time. It wasn’t the first game in 3D by any means, but it was the first one to show how a camera should be handled in a 3D environment.
While being set in Peach’s castle, the level selection was as varied as you would expect a Mario game by each level being themed around the painting you jumped into to reach it. While it received a kind of remake on the DS, we would like to see a remaster of the original game in Super Mario Odyssey’s engine. Maybe Nintendo can add in a few new levels, but for the most part, let’s hope it’s the classic adventure brought up to today’s standards. Bonus points if Luigi is finally playable in a cooperative mode.
Super Mario Sunshine
While not hated by the community, Super Mario Sunshine is probably at the bottom of most people’s list for best 3D Mario games. Instead of jumping, Mario heavily relies on his water-jetpack-robot FLUDD to both let him move around and clean up a bunch of goo covering his vacation destination, Isle Delfino.
By no means is Super Mario Sunshine a bad game, but it was rushed during its initial development. It would be nice to see a remaster focus on fixing up the original’s shortcomings and see if the second time around, we can enjoy its levels a little more.
Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2
Finishing off the games already rumored to be getting remastered is Super Mario Galaxy, although I wouldn’t stop there. If the first Mario Galaxy is getting remastered, the second one needs to come at some point.
Super Mario Galaxy saw the debut of Rosalina and led to Mario jumping from planet to planet to save Peach, who you guessed it, was captured by Bowser. The physics of this game made it stand out from other Mario games, and the second one only improved on where the first game started.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
The Paper Mario games are a popular spinoff series that brought Mario back to the RPG genre following the success of Super Mario RPG on the SNES. The first game was great, but the second hit the height of the franchise. The rumor is that a new game in the Paper Mario series is on the way, but a trip back to Thousand-Year Door would be a guaranteed success for Nintendo.
Following Thousand-Year Door, Paper Mario games started falling in quality. They started straying away from the RPG mechanics the past games thrived on. If we do not get a Thousand-Year Door remaster, let’s at least hope the game is a return to form.
Super Mario Bros
If we are celebrating 35 years of Mario, we should do so by celebrating the game that made him famous! Imagine with me real quick, running through the original levels of the first Super Mario Bros in an updated look and with the iconic soundtrack.
The New Super Mario Bros games are fine and everything, but they do not hold a candle to how enjoyable the original 2D Mario games were. This game might be too short to remaster and sell on its own, so they would probably combine it with games like the next two.
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario Bros 3 is still regarded as the favorite Mario game of certain fans and was the debut of many people’s favorite power-up, the super leaf. SMB3 is the perfect companion game to be remastered alongside the first Super Mario Bros because it’s from the same era and was a giant step forward at the time for the series.
Super Mario Bros 3 technically received a remaster already back in the Super Mario All-Stars cartridge for the SNES, so seeing how they could further improve on that would be very interesting. Another way for Nintendo to flesh out a remaster for both Super Mario Bros games would be to include NES Remix style mini-games.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Finishing off our short list is the Game Boy game, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. This game introduced Wario as the antagonist (which honestly does not happen enough) and had some great 2D levels. One of the power-ups will need to be redesigned since it dresses Mario up in a Native American headpiece, but they could easily replace it with a fire flower. Nintendo could also be cool and combine the original Super Mario Land, but maybe swap Mario out with Luigi to save Princess Daisy. If anything on this list needs a remaster, it’s original Game Boy games that gave people fond memories but would be difficult to go back to today.