Welcome to my first Weekend Top Ten installment! Each weekend I plan to pick a random Top Ten topic and count it down. This weekend...the top ten Super Mario video games. Mario is the most recognized video game character (and in a popular survey declared more popular than Mickey Mouse); who doesn't have fond memories of Super Mario video games? This list only includes the "main" platform-based Super Mario video games, not the countless Mario spin-offs (like Mario Tennis, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario RPGs, etc.). This list also doesn't include Mario All-Stars since that was a compilation of several Mario games (otherwise it would easily top the list). Today features Part 1 of the countdown (#10 - 6), and Part 2 is already written and ready to roll. So, as Mario would say, "Heeere we go!"

10. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (Game Boy, 1992)

Remember the old Game Boy Super Mario Land games? I was thinking about not including them on this list, but since there's only nine "real" Mario games, I had to draw from the old Game Boy well. Actually this was a pretty good game, probably the best Game Boy Mario. It's difficult to compare it to other Mario games, since it was played on the blurry, hard-to-see Game Boy screen, but I think if it was made for a console system it might be a couple notches higher on the list. This was also the game that introduced Mario's evil twin Wario, which may or may not be considered a good thing (personally I'm not too fond of the character).

9. Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube, 2002)

The newest of the console Mario games, I've got a lot of problems with this one. I don't like the tropical island setting (this was the first Mario game in six years; I wanna play in the Mushroom Kingdom and stomp on Goombas and Koopa shells gosh darnit!). I really don't like those dumb-looking Delfino characters (who designed them anyway?). Also I didn't particularly care for the whole water-pack concept, it was too often frustrating to control and aim the thing (cleaning up oil spills was a chore). And the game was WAY too hard for a Mario game! Mario's famed creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, even admitted the game was too hard and promised not to do that again. If there's anyone in this world who's actually collected all the Sunshine Sprites, I'd like to meet you in person (mostly to tell you you're a liar, ha). I know it seems like I'm being harsh, but it was usually a pretty fun game to play. Overall though, this one was a little too different from other Mario games for my taste.

8. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, 1988)

This game is the true oddball of the bunch. There's a reason for that; it wasn't originally a Mario game. In Japan (where they usually get their games several months before we do), their version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was deemed too hard for American audiences (apparently we're much dumber than they are). So they took another popular game from Japan, Doki Doki Panic, replaced its characters with Mario characters, and shipped it to America as our Super Mario Bros. 2. We Americans did eventually get to play the Japanese Mario 2; we know it as "The Lost Levels" in the Mario All-Stars compilation. Actually the American Mario Bros. 2 was a pretty difficult game too, but it was also a lot of fun. The neat thing about it was that you could play as not only Mario or Luigi, but you could pick Toad or Princess Toadstool as well! Did anyone ever not pick Princess Toadstool for all the levels (her floating ability was pretty sweet)? Don't make me throw a turnip at you, fool!

7. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES, 1996)

It pains me to put this one so far back on the list, because I had a lot of fun with this game. The concept for Yoshi's Island was also a bit different from other Mario games, because you played as a young Yoshi that carried Baby Mario on his back the entire game while shooting eggs at bad guys. I think the game got as much negative attention for the annoying whining sound that Baby Mario made as it did for being a fantastically good game. And no question, this was a great game. The levels were well designed, the boss battles were the best of any Mario game, it was humorous, and it had a real trippy look to it. The graphics had a colorful hand-drawn style with pseudo-3D elements that you could sometimes interact with; it was really neat. You could make a strong argument that this is the best looking Mario game ever (even better than the newer ones), and many think it's the best side-scrolling platform game ever. The fact that it's #7 on the list is a testament to how great Mario games really are.

6. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS, 2006)

This game was released a few months ago, and I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me. I had long given up hope that I'd ever play another new Mario game with classic, side-scrolling, brick smashing elements (especially after simply rehashing the old Mario Bros. games on the Game Boy Advance for years); but then Nintendo delivered this game, and it's absolutely amazing. It takes the best elements of the older games (the overhead map layout of Mario 3 with the secret-finding elements of Mario World and a dose of Mario 1 for good measure), tosses in some features of the newer Mario games (wall-jumping, triple jumps) and jumbles them together in this finely-tuned, best possible Mario jamboree ever. It's a sheer delight to play this game; it reminds me of the giddiness I got playing the older games for the first time. Plus, the mini-games are incredibly fun to play multi-player. Just three minor complaints: 1. The overhead map layout is more stale-looking than those of Mario 3 and Mario World; 2. It's a little too easy to play through start-to-finish (though the real fun is in collecting all the hidden coins and finding all the secrets, which takes a LOT of time); and 3. Some might wish there was a flying power-up (though it didn't really bug me). If I were to create this list another five years down the road, after the game has achieved classic status, I'd be willing to bet that New Super Mario Bros. would be right near the top of the list. If you don't have a Nintendo DS, trust me; this game is reason enough to go out and buy that system (it's actually an excellent little system). Thank you Nintendo for making this game and remembering the joys of good old-fashioned gameplay.

And so ends this portion of the countdown. Here's the deal: Part 2 is already written and up on the website (it just hasn't been posted for you all to see yet). Before I post it I want to hear what your favorite Mario game is, or which one you think will top the list. After at least five of you shares your opinion in the "comments" section below (hopefully a lot more will), I'll open up Part 2 (or do it Sunday afternoon, whichever comes first).

(Mario Photo Credit: http://www.basimo.de/words/wp-content/super_mario.jpg, Mario Land 2 Photo Credit: http://yannick.fleurit.free.fr/Culture/Retro%20Super%20Mario/Covers/Super%20Mario%20Land%202%20(Cover).jpg, Mario Sunshine Photo Credit: http://www.worth1000.com/web/media/39459/Source-%20Super%20Mario%20Sunshine.jpg, Mario 2 Photo Credit: http://yannick.fleurit.free.fr/Culture/Retro%20Super%20Mario/Super%20Mario%20USA%20(2).png, Yoshi's Island Photo Credit: http://www.themushroomkingdom.net/images/ss/ss_smw2_13.gif, New Super Mario Photo Credit: http://www.vidaextra.com/archivos/images/supermariobrosds4.jpg)