Every few months someone publishes a Mario ranking, and every few months the same fights break out in the comments. Collider's new top 10 is the latest entry in that grand tradition, and I'll give them credit: they didn't play it safe.

Ranking Mario games is basically ranking gaming history itself. This is the franchise that saved consoles in the mid-80s, invented the modern 3D platformer twice (once with Mario 64, again in spirit with Galaxy), and somehow keeps delivering bangers forty years later. You could throw a dart at the mainline catalog and hit something great, which is exactly why these lists cause arguments.

The usual suspects are all in play here. Super Mario Bros. 3, the game that turned a sequel into a world tour of ideas. Super Mario World, the one I have a soft spot for since it was my first console game and the cape feather remains an all-time power-up. Super Mario 64, which taught an entire generation how to move in three dimensions. Galaxy and Galaxy 2, Nintendo at peak creative confidence. Odyssey, the modern standard-bearer. Where each of those lands in Collider's order is where the debate lives.

The thing I always find interesting about these rankings is what they reveal about the ranker. If 64 is number one, you value revolution. If Galaxy sits on top, you value imagination. If it's World or Bros. 3, you're a purist who believes 2D Mario was never truly surpassed, and you know what, that take holds up better every year. TJ and I have a version of this argument about Final Fantasy constantly, about where the series' soul actually lives, and Mario fans have been having the same fight since 1996. Nobody wins. Everybody replays their favorite.

What makes Mario endure, and why these lists keep getting written, is that the games were never really about the plumbing or the princess. They're about movement that feels good in your hands. Nintendo has spent four decades polishing the simple pleasure of running and jumping until it feels like the most natural thing in the world. Every other platformer is still chasing that feeling.

Collider's full ranking is worth a read, if only so you can be properly mad about where your favorite landed. That's half the fun of lists like this anyway. Nobody shares a ranking hoping everyone agrees.

Me, I'm just going to say it: any top 10 without a Galaxy game in the top three has to explain itself. And I'll die on the hill that Yoshi's Island deserves a spot even if it's technically a Yoshi game. The moment you start making exceptions is the moment you realize how deep this franchise really goes.

What's your number one? If you say anything other than your actual favorite, your Discord server can tell. They always can.