The Best Mario Games On Handheld Consoles

The Mario series is one of the few platforming series to be equally proficient in both 2D and 3D action. Once gaming entered the 3D era, the 2D Mario games seemed like the perfect fit for handhelds, aligning well with their graphical limitations and focusing on providing quick, swift action that complements the natural “pick up and play” nature of handhelds.

The Switch has blurred the lines between handheld and home console gaming, making Mario’s 2D games feel just as important and prominent as their 3D counterparts. Any fan of Mario games is selling themselves short if they have not explored the large number of handheld Mario platforming titles.

10 Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS

There is more focus on level building in Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, but it remains a decent platformer thanks to the strong Super Mario Bros. engine. Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS offers a comparable range of level design functionality to its sibling launch for the Wii-U, giving you countless options when designing your own stages.

Even though Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS includes a decent number of built-in, well-designed levels, it suffers from the inability to upload or share your own levels with others (unless you use StreetPass). Another issue with Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS is that the game has poor resolution, making everything look unclear and blurry.

9 Super Mario Land

The most barebone Mario game is likely Super Mario Land. Due to the limitations of being an early Game Boy title, Nintendo plays it safe with Super Mario Land’s game design. The level design feels uninspired, and the physics don’t quite capture the speed and acceleration of the NES versions of Mario.

Super Mario Land still has plenty of charm in its visuals and audio. Its black-and-white limit gives the game a distinct look not present in any other Mario title since the series is famously vibrant in colors. Super Mario Land is narratively more ambitious than many other Mario games, as it takes place in a new kingdom, Sarasaland, ruled by Princess Daisy, instead of relying on Mushroom Kingdom tropes.

8 Super Mario Run

Among the standout platformers on iOS, Super Mario Run changes the traditional platform formula by introducing automatic running. Super Mario Run focuses on timing, requiring good precision and rhythm to play effectively.

Since Super Mario Run offers limited control options, it adds variety to its gameplay by including rare characters like Daisy. Super Mario Run cleverly incentivizes players to try to collect all the coins, capturing the essence of a traditional Mario game within the constraints of a runner platformer.

7 New Super Mario Bros.

The first half of New Super Mario Bros. is underwhelming. New Super Mario Bros. starts off as too easy, allowing you to breeze through the first five worlds without losing any lives on your first playthrough. However, New Super Mario Bros. eventually ramps up to offer a solid challenge for seasoned players.

While the stage design in New Super Mario Bros. feels uninspired, the levels are crafted to test the precision of your platforming skills. The final world offers nice callbacks to the original Super Mario Bros., such as the return of Bowser’s castle puzzles.

6 New Super Mario Bros. 2

New Super Mario Bros. 2 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it still delivers the same level of refinement expected from a Super Mario game. If you enjoyed its predecessor, then New Super Mario Bros. 2 shares similar strengths and weaknesses, though it adds a gold coin gimmick to help set it apart.

The emphasis on collecting coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 leads to level design that encourages speed and efficiency. While the game is not difficult, it inspires players to challenge themselves by collecting the vast number of coins scattered throughout the stages.

5 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

For the most part, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is a more refined version of the original Super Mario Land, offering superior graphics, sound, and detail. However, what makes Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins stand out is its unorthodox level design and unique setting.

While most handheld Mario games follow the typical formula of ice, desert, grass, and castle levels, the creators of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins use their imagination effectively. They place Mario in unusual scenarios, such as platforming inside a mechanized version of himself, where he encounters Lego-like and gear-based machines. Mario also gets shrunken down to size and faces a giant rat while exploring a large house in a Toy Storyesque type of stage.

4 Donkey Kong ’94

A relatively forgotten title within the Mario series, Donkey Kong ’94 is one of the best games for the original Game Boy. The controls in Donkey Kong ’94 are significantly more fluid and forgiving than those in the original arcade version. Donkey Kong ’94 even introduced mechanics like triple jumps and flips before Mario 64.

Similar to the Mario vs.Donkey Kong series, Donkey Kong ’94 is packed with problem-solving challenges. A hallmark of a great puzzle game is when it consistently delivers “eureka!” moments, and Donkey Kong ’94 achieves this balance well. The game is never so easy that you can breeze through the levels, but it is also rarely so difficult that you feel stuck. The Mario vs. Donkey Kong series has evolved into a Lemmings style of game, making Donkey Kong ’94 still unique in its puzzle-oriented gameplay.

3 Super Mario 3D Land

When Mario transitioned from 2D to 3D with the iconic Super Mario 64, platforming fans rejoiced. However, Super Mario 64 and other 3D Mario platformers felt fundamentally different from the Super Mario Bros. series. Super Mario 3D Land was the first 3D Mario game that controlled similarly to the 2D games.

The precision jumping in Super Mario 3D Land are crisp, and the 3D effects are impressive when played on its native 3DS hardware. Although Super Mario 3D Land is relatively short and on the easy side, giving it a bit of a tech demo feel, it still stands as the best 3D portable adaption of Super Mario Bros.

2 Super Mario Odyssey

The Switch is a hybrid console, so its launch title, Super Mario Odyssey, is technically as much a handheld game as it is a home console title. Super Mario Odyssey excels at creating an open world that fluidly connects different zones.

Compared to previous 3D Mario platformers, the open worlds in Super Mario Odyssey feel less like designated hubs. Super Mario Odyssey offers the best open-world exploration of any Mario title, and the large size of its map surpasses that of any handheld Mario game by a significant margin.

1 Super Mario Bros. Wonder

For the first time since the SNES days, Super Mario Bros. Wonder has made the 2D Mario games seem like a true mainline title as opposed to a supplementary game. Super Mario Bros. Wonder brought back the precise platforming elements of the original Super Mario Bros. and combined them perfectly with the extravagant power-ups like the elephant fruit and drill mushroom.

Mario fans will welcome the challenging speed-running aspects of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which likely features the most challenging and rewarding special zones due to its out-of-the-box level design. There are also many levels that provide power-ups, making it enjoyable to progress through, giving fans who are not great at platformers a way to engage with Super Mario Bros. Wonder.