Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are both getting remakes, but what of the rest of the Mario series? Surely there are other games that could do with some spit and polish. Read on to find out which Mario remakes we want to see next.
Our Top 5 Picks for Mario Games That Could Use a Remake
With the remakes for Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door officially part of Nintendo’s lineup, many fans are wondering what other classic Mario games could get the remake treatment. Surely every Mario fan has their two cents on the topic, so here’s ours. These are the top 5 Mario games we want to see remade next.
5. Mario Kart 64 (1996)
You’d probably think that this was the very first Mario Kart game at first glance. I mean just look at it. But no, Mario Kart 64 is actually the second game in the Mario Kart series, released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64. Mario Kart 64 introduced Mario’s Go-Karting days to the 3D era of gaming, with its graphics obviously dated by today’s standards.
The game also had plenty of hardware limitations, such as the lack of music for the game’s 3-4 person multiplayer mode. Though a remake would certainly do this game some good, plenty of other Mario Kart games already succeeded it, making it a low-priority remake at best.
4. Super Mario Land (1989)
How’s this for a slice of history? Super Mario Land was one of the first-ever GameBoy games to hit the shelves, packaged with other games like Alleyway, Baseball, and Yakuman for the console’s Japan release in 1989. It’s an older game and it shows with its 8-bit graphics and extremely simplistic gameplay.
It also features an odd storyline, which shows Mario saving Princess Daisy from a villain named Tatanga over the course of a very brief playtime of under an hour. This game desperately needs a remake as it lacked on many fronts. We’re just not sure how well a GameBoy to Switch remake would fare.
3. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
Moving away from the dinosaurs of the franchise, we have Super Mario Galaxy from 2007. Originally released for the Nintendo Wii in 2007, Super Mario Galaxy is the third 3D game in the Mario franchise following Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
This game was a spectacular success, as was its sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010). Its gravity-defying platforming and iconic planetoid stages cemented it as one of the better games in the franchise. While it was ported to the Switch via the Super Mario All-Stars Collection, as were the other two games on this list, it didn't add anything or change anything to bring it to the modern age. A remake may find difficult to improve on excellence, but perhaps it could do the impossible and take the game to even higher heights.
2. Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
We’re counting down the franchise’s 3D era now because our number 2 spot goes to Super Mario Sunshine, the second-ever 3D Mario game. Released for the GameCube in 2002, this game is considered by some as the black sheep of the Mario franchise.
Super Mario Sunshine is far from being a bad game, but it’s not without its kinks to work out. Dated graphics, wonky mechanics, inferior voice acting, and a poorly implemented focus on the FLUDD device are just some of the things a remake could improve on. Among all the games on our list, this is the one that actually NEEDS a remake.
1. Super Mario 64 (1996)
You definitely saw this one coming from a mile away. Yes, Super Mario 64, the proud progenitor of all 3D Mario games, is in our top spot for Mario game remakes. Could you blame us? While the other entries in this list are a part of Mario’s history, this game made Mario history by breaking it into the future of 3D gaming.
That being said, with its status as the first 3D Mario game, its 3D graphics are outrageously dated. Its gameplay, while fun, was limited by its time and was rife with bugs and glitches – glitches very notorious in the speedrunning community. A remake would certainly iron these out, letting us relive the glory that was Super Mario 64. I, for one, look forward to throwing baby penguins off a cliff in glorious HD.
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