15 Best Video Game Platformers Ever
2. Super Mario World
The one Mario game on the list. It was always going to feature highly, whatever it was, and in the end it takes silver. Best platform game series? Mario, by a landslide. It’s the only one here who can bring double digit games worthy of inclusion.
On a direct comparison of best to best though? The winner was a shooting star who outshone Mario briefly, but brightly.
As for Mario itself, recent offering Odyssey and seminal 3D game 64 were battling it out alongside the more classic 2D versions for inclusion. With all that in mind, World seemed like a sensible middle.
Will people disagree? Absolutely. Is this list anything more than a subjective ranking? Absolutely not.
Super Mario World was the SNES’ best selling game ever, and like most Mario games was released to almost universal praise. Probably the smoothest game of its era, releasing in 1990, it was one of the earliest platformers to offer alternative routes through levels, giving it massive replay value.
The game helped make Yoshi into the icon he’s become, adding more depth and variety than any Mario game previously. Shigeru Miyamoto has called it his favourite Mario game, which should be more than enough to justify selection.