Super Mario (series) - Reception

Reception

The Super Mario series is one of the most popular and enduring series of all time. The series is ranked as the best game franchise by IGN. The original Super Mario Bros. was awarded the top spot on Electronic Gaming Monthly's greatest 200 games of their time list and IGN's top 100 games of all time list twice (2005, 2007). Super Mario Bros. popularized the side scrolling genre of video games and led to the many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise. Super Mario Bros. sold 40.24 million copies, making it the best selling video game of the series.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is often regarded as one of the Nintendo Entertainment System's greatest games; Nintendo Power rated the game No. 6 on their 200 Greatest Nintendo Games list. and the game was No. 14 on Electronic Gaming Monthly's list. Super Mario World also received very positive scores, with a 94.44% average from GameRankings and rated the 8th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.

Super Mario 64, as the first 3D platform game in the Mario series, established a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. did for 2D sidescrolling platformers. It is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time. Guinness World Records reported sales of 11.8 million copies for Super Mario 64 at the end of 2007.

Super Mario Sunshine also received critical acclaim by game reviewers. IGN praised the addition of the water backpack for improving the gameplay, and GameSpy commented on the "wide variety of moves and the beautifully constructed environments". Gamespot and Computer and Video Games, however, called the game "unpolished", with the latter going so far as to insinuate that it was unfinished.

Of all the Mario games released, Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2 may very well be the most highly acclaimed Mario video games among both professional critics and ordinary gamers. Extolled for its creativity, special effects, graphics, and soundtrack, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 have not only been rated as some of the best Mario games created but also some of the greatest games ever made in video game history, according to sites such as IGN and TopTenReviews. GameRankings, a website that collects game scores and rankings from well-established video game critics, estimates that Super Mario Galaxy has an "average score rating of 97.64%", making it the best ranked game on the site.