This is Part 2 of the "Top Ten Super Mario Games" list. Friday, I listed #10-6. Today, I round out the Top 5.

5. Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)

I'm shielding myself right now from the stones that are going to be thrown at me. "The first Mario game is #5 on the list?" I know 99% of you are thinking. Many of you certainly think this one should be at or near the top, and I don't blame you. Believe me, I love this game as much as you do, I promise (the only way I know to defend myself is to say I simply liked the other four better). All of us have a story of how we saw this game at a friend's or cousin's house and knew right then we had to have a Nintendo system with Mario. It's probably the most influential game in history, and without doubt it's the reason we're still playing video games today. Sure it wasn't as deep or long as other Mario games; we love it for its sheer fun factor: the simple joy of smashing bricks or remembering the location of that secret "beanstalk" or warp zone. It's still as fun to play today as it was back then. Super Mario Bros. will always have a special spot in the hearts of video gamers anywhere. Long live Mario!

4. Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (SNES, 1991)

I went back and forth a million times deciding which should go higher, the first Mario game or the Lost Levels. The Lost Levels (or the Japanese Mario 2) has the exact same elements of the first game (except for the poisonous mushrooms), it's just longer and a whole lot harder. Most people I talk to think the Lost Levels was way too hard, but I think it provides the best challenge of any Mario game. Eventually, when deciding which game to place higher, it came down to "nostalgia factor versus fun factor." Certainly this game doesn't carry the fun memories of seeing Mario in action for the first time; but personally, when playing today, I get a bigger kick out of going through this game start-to-finish than I do Super Mario Bros. I guess for me, the challenge of this game makes it even better; I like to be challenged. And just to recap, this game was part of the SNES "Super Mario All-Stars" collection, released soon after the SNES system was, that graphically updated the NES Mario games. Anyone who doesn't have Mario All-Stars should make every attempt to hunt it down on eBay or elsewhere.

3. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)

Between putting this one at #3 and the first Mario game at #5, it'll be a wonder if I haven't been murdered by Nintendo fan-boys at the time you're reading this. The vast majority of people I talk to think this is the best Mario game ever. Again, I like it as much as you do; I just don't think it's the best one. We all remember how cool it was to fly for the first time in a Mario game (via the raccoon tail, or especially the "P-Wing"), as well as the other power-ups (the red Tanooki suit that turned into a statue, the rare Hammer Bros. suit, and the Frog Suit). The variety of levels was great (the desert level, the sky level, ice level, pipe level, so on), and this was the first Mario game to feature an overhead world map. Simply put, it was just a well-crafted game with a lot of good memories. Certainly much more work went into creating this game than previous Mario games; no wonder it was so popular and sold so well. I still miss the Koopa kids (the newer Bowser Jr. just doesn't cut it).

2. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996)

The two single most important and influential events in video games history were both Mario games. Every game we play today owes its gratitude to the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 was the first true 3-D game, but you'd have thought the folks at Nintendo were old pros at doing 3-D. This game blew us all away in 1996 when the Nintendo 64 was released, and it's just as fun to play today. I don't think anyone dreamed that Mario could make the leap to 3-D and still be so good, but it exceeded everyone's expectations. Controlling Mario in 3-D with the new N64 control stick felt perfectly natural, even with his tons of new moves. Not only was Mario 64 as fun as the old games; it took the element of exploration that made the other games so good to a whole new level. Though being the first 3-D platformer, many today (including myself) believe it's still the best. Nintendo seemingly perfected the genre as they were creating it. In 1996 most of the game's criticism was aimed at its "camera" system; but looking back today, it easily has one of the best camera systems for any 3-D game. Maybe the game was too good; the Nintendo 64 system never quite lived up to the hype that Mario 64 promised. Nor did the follow up 3-D Mario game, Mario Sunshine for the GameCube (which came out a whole six years later!). For that matter, few 3-D games can measure up to Super Mario 64 after ten whole years.

1. Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)

Super Mario World is the best Mario, and hence the best platform game, ever. Everything was just so much bigger and better in this game compared to the NES Mario games. Bigger levels. Bigger bad guys (remember the first time you saw one of those giant Bullet Bills?). More colorful, varied backgrounds. Better variety of gameplay elements (such as Yoshi, cape flying, the fences in some of the castles you could climb, so on). Plus the new graphic style for the series (the first to show off the SNES Mode 7 technology, which allowed objects to be scaled and rotated with ease) was a real treat. And despite having so much more of everything, it retained the clever level designs and fine-tuned gameplay that made the Mario Bros. games so awesome (and actually improved on it). However, for me the special element that propels this game to #1 is all its many, many secret exits and unlockable stages. Trying to find them all was a blast; many of them were cleverly hidden. Branching off to the Star Road and the uber-difficult "Special" levels was so much fun. Nintendo hit gameplay perfection with this title, a feat I doubt they'll ever be able to duplicate in the future.

(Super Mario Bros. Photo Credit: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Super_Mario_Brothers_NES_ScreenShot2.jpg, Lost Levels Photo Credit: http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/thumbnail/1113400165-01.png, Mario 3 Photo Credit: http://desktopgaming.com/desktops/thumbnails/321.jpg, Mario 64 Photo Credit: http://igo.ampednews.com/images/features/0041/mario64.jpg, Mario World Photo Credit: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Super_Mario_World_SNES_ScreenShot2.jpg)