-by Dylan DiBona

With E3 coming and the thoughts of a new Super Mario Odyssey trailer being released, my excitement for the plumbers series has skyrocketed once again. Like many people, Mario has brought me endless hours of clean fun and even though I wrote about him yesterday, I decided to honor the series once more with my definitive list of the “best” Mario games. One quick rule:

1. No spin-offs. Mario is a platforming icon first and foremost, so only platformers allowed. (No Yoshi’s Island either, I love that game though.)

5. Super Mario Bros. 3

It may seem like pure blasphemy, but I’ve never been quite as fond for Super Mario Bros. 3 as most other people. It’s an objectively good 2D platformer with tons of secrets, power-ups and fun to be had, but I always found the game to be just a tad too hard. Certain elements of level design…