Get Played - Tiers of the Kingdom: 2D Mario Games

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

Heather, Nick and Matt talk about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Spider-Man 2 and Fortnite OG before diving into ranking all of the 2D Mario games! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @getplayedpod. Check out our Anime watchalong podcast Get Anime'd only on patreon.com/getplayed. Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Have you all been playing Mario Wonder? Yeah. Yes, I have. It's really... Lots of elephant. Really good. It's just... I got to be honest with you two.

Okay. I am one of the people who auditioned to be the new voice of Mario replacing Charles Martinet. Oh, shit. Yeah, and so, like, I just, I'm playing it, and the new voice actor is really good. It's a great performance, and they cast the right person. But I just, like, I feel a little bit upset that it wasn't me, you know, because it would have been a dream. Oh, Nick, yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.

That would have been a dream come true. You know, I hate to say this. I also auditioned for Mario. Oh, my God, that's wild. I mean, it makes sense. They probably were like, who are some great voice talents that are, you know, already we know are in video games. They probably naturally reached out to.

Wow. Yeah, that's so interesting to hear that from the two of you. This feels like as good a time as any to also say that I, too, auditioned for Mario. Matt, of course you did. It makes a little less sense, but I think they were just sort of like, we got to see who we can see.

Sort of like, let's just get as many people in here as we can because we don't know what we're gonna want until we hear it sort of you know so I they didn't like my take and that's fine but I thought I thought I did a pretty good job yeah they obviously didn't like my take either I mean should I should I just do my audition yeah yeah if you have the tape I'd love to just hear it. Yeah, I can just play this back right here. I have it on my desktop still. All right, here we go. Hey, I'm fucking Mario. Who the fuck are you? Give me my pencils and shit.

I need my pencils. I'm fucking Mario. So that's actually really good. Yeah. My thing, if I had to give you a note, it's that I just have never really thought about pencils with Mario like at all it's kind of like not his thing

he's not really a pencils guy that was probably you know and I didn't hear it I just heard them say like we like you but this isn't what we're thinking the note behind the note was that like that was just like a weird choice but I don't know it's what it's what I went with well and thank you for sharing that do you guys want to hear mine or is Probably the note behind the note was that like that was just like a weird choice. But I don't know. It's what I went with. Well, thank you for sharing that.

Do you guys want to hear mine? Yeah, I would love to hear yours. Yeah, I really am curious. Hi, it's me, Princess Peach. Mario. I'm Mario. I'm Mario. Not Peach. I don't know why'm Mario. Not Peach. I don't know why they didn't pick you. No, that's really great.

That's actually really good. I guess if I had to guess maybe why they didn't pick you is because you auditioned as Princess Peach doing Mario. What? No, I didn't. No, that was Mario. That was Mario the whole time. Got it. That makes sense. No, that makes sense.

That was great. They should have picked you. They should have picked both of you. I don't suppose you guys want to hear my take? Of course you do. I would love it. I knew going in that I was doing something a little different, but I just wanted to put my stamp on it.

Okay, great. Oi, it's me, Mario, isn't it? I'm a picky fucking blinder, ain't I? I am, I am. Oi, get me my chimney sweep, eh? My chimney's full of shit. I fucking Santa Claus over here. I had diarrhea down my fucking chimney.

Oh, it's me, Mario. Again, really good. I think it might have been the seasonal thing of throwing Santa in there. They were like, well, this game's going to come out. I shouldn't have said Santa. Not necessarily Christmas. A lot of Americans

don't know about the English tradition of diarrhea in a chimney on Christmas. So it might have been a little bit of a thing where they were like, oh, that's not how Christmas is here. The feedback that they gave me in the room is that they actually liked that I changed accents midway. They liked that I sort of did two accents. I thought that was a bold choice. Yeah. midway. I sort of did two accents. I thought that was a bold choice. I sort of went very English and then dice.

Went dice clay kind of at the end. I'm bummed out that none of us got it because though the new guy is great, it would have been a real delight to load up Mario Wonder and hear one of your takes or my own. You know, though, let's

for just for a point of comparison, I'm just going to boot up the game. I got my Switch screen shared on the Zoom and we can just hear some of the new voice actor. Hey, I'm fucking Mario. Give me my fucking pencils. Fuck me my fucking pencils.

Fuck, he's good. He's really good. Yeah, he's so good. We bounce off Paragoombas and dress up in Tanooki suits as we create our 2D Mario tier list this week on Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to Get Played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Nick Weiger. That's-a me, Nick Weiger. I'm here with our third host, Matt Abadaka.

I'm stunned. I loved that. Heather, did you know he was going to do that? I didn't know he was going to do it. It was great. You liked it too. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

Hello, everyone. It's-a me, Matt Apodaca. I want to do it too. Hello, everyone. It's-a me. Welcome back, Bucket. Yay! To the premiere video game podcast, Get Played.

That's right. And we have exciting news at the top of this episode. We, as of today, as of this episode, are now part of the HeadGum Network. Wow. This is a HeadGum podcast. This is now a HeadGum podcast. You're going to hear that. This is a HeadGum podcast.

This is a HeadGum podcast. This is a HeadGum podcast. This is our first episode as a HeadGum podcast. This is a HeadGum podcast. This is our first episode as a HeadGum podcast. That's right. Does that mean our jokes will get better? No. Does that mean that we will rehearse this show? No.

Does that mean we will plan out what we're going to do to sort of establish a new identity and like a new broadcast persona here for you on the HeadGum Network? Absolutely not. If you've been tuning in for our bullshit for all this time, we are the same idiots that you have come to know and love. Yes. And you're probably wondering as a listener, how does this impact me in any significant way? Not at all. You're hearing the episode in your

feet already. That's right. And you have to do nothing. You did a great job. That's right. We obviously knew that this change was coming, but we decided to wait until this point because we didn't want people to be like, oh, what do I have to do on my podcast app? Do I have to resubscribe? Do I have to change my RSS feed? Do I have to, you know, whatever, like you don't have to do any of that. It will keep coming to you in the same subscription that you've had. And by knowing this was coming, we walked into the booth at Earwolf and Nick said, grab everything you can. And I went, what?

And he said, go, go, go, go, go. And we ran all the way across town to the Headcumbs studio. And you better believe I've stuffed my pockets with off-brand gummies. Veggie chips. That thing of beef jerky that had dust on it. Yeah, exactly.

We got all of it. Greg Fitzsimmons CDs. We hoarded all of it. We do want to thank our past engineers over at Earwolf Stitcher. First up, Alex Gonzalez, who's been with us most recently. An absolute dream to work with, total professional, and just a ray of sunshine each week. So thanks so much to Alex. Thanks to Jordan Duffy, who was with us for a stretch before then. Jordan, another great engineer,

and also gave us the Stream Daddy theme song, which we may still end up using at some point. Speaking of theme songs, we of course want to thank Devin Bryant, our original engineer, who created our original theme song and was obviously such a huge part of helping shape the show over the first few years. Also, thanks to Colin and Cody over there. And yeah, what a ride. What a ride.

I was really bummed out to hear that the Resident Evil merchant couldn't figure out his contracts and won't be joining us. They locked him up. There was one guy they were like, we can't release him. Yeah, he's too good, they said. We got to figure out what to do with this guy. So I think right now the Resident Evil merchant is one of the main hosts on patriot radio over on sirius x now yeah yeah politics are just nicely aligned yeah yeah uh so i think i think it should be wait go ahead what

were you gonna say nick no no i was gonna transition go on oh i was gonna transition and say that you know this was a a really exciting um an important moment for us as a team and a cool podcast uh like i don't know leveling up um i so the boys are in studio and they are in this lovely studio that some of us have seen on social media i am in bed across town um i'm having so uh you know if you follow me on anything, I had a recurrence of cancer, and I am currently taking care of it. I will be on the show as much as I possibly can over the next few months, but I will be in treatment, and I don't know how aggressive that treatment will be. But I also want to say that without jinxing anything and without, you know, like my fear of magical thinking, my prognosis is really good. So it's not like it's not like I'm recording from underneath the house as the as the Wicked Witch of the East. I'm I'm just Just the same old regular witch. The same old regular witch. But yeah, and a few of you have reached out over Discord or on the Battle Bus and, you know, wished me continued good health.

And I want to say thank you to the best fucking listeners on Earth and the best fortnight players on earth you you're all incredible and it has been a really moving um i don't know it's been it's been really moving and nice to have all that support so thank you and i'm going to try not to get emotional because that's not the kind of show we do we talk about sandwiches on this show we don't really do that here. We're the soup podcast.

We talk about soup. Heather, we love you. We'll take you wherever we can get you. We want to point out that

you, Matt and I want to point out that you made an extra effort to make sure to be here for this episode,

which, you know, we like, we're not expecting you to do, but you really wanted to be a part of it, this head gum transition.

We really appreciate you doing that. Of course. As you're laid up. If my voice sounds weird, I'm on a weird mic that's balanced on my stomach as my feet are elevated above my heart and my throat is like shoved up into my brain. Yeah. But otherwise, it's still me. Just want to shoot and stab and run around.

They don't know how you normally record. This is actually more of a normal way. Thank you for sharing that, Heather. And thank you, of course, to everyone who sent well wishes on your behalf. And I do want one more bit of business before we get into things, which is we have a new producer at HeadGum who will introduce next week. They weren't able to join us. But for today, we have a stud engineering with us in studio. Our guest engineer, Chef Kevin Bartelt from Hollywood Handbook. Holy shit. Hi, Chef.

Hi, guys. Thanks for having me. I'm pumped to be here. Big fan. Watched the first episode being recorded. Honored to be here for this one as well. It's it's been great to have you as a part of the extended family and as a listener. And thank you so much for accommodating us in these circumstances. It's great to have you. I also want to shout out our Doughboys producer, Emma Erdbrink, is going to be editing this episode. Yeah. Nick texted me this yesterday, and I literally said,

this is like the fucking Avengers. This rocks. On your left, Kevin comes out, and he's already with the Pro Tools. I am wearing a Doctor Strange cape for the listeners. Yeah, Kevin's sort of new thing that he's over here is that he's like a cape guy now. I think it's a good look for him. Yeah. You wear it well. So we'll announce our'll announce our our we play you play for this

month a little bit later probably next week we're still figuring that out but as for today uh we just want to talk about some video games and that brings me to the question we used to begin this discussion which is what are you playing what are you playing oh my god no immediately in breach of contract oh my god jake and amir gonna get sued yeah don't do that hey i just want to say you know i shouldn't be here yes you should not huge error on my part uh you i don't know if you've heard of a gag order but i've got one of those from both uh our former employers and the legal system so uh yeah just uh just want to drop in and before i i gotta go because i i'm also in the middle of a car chase, so I have to run back out to the car. Oh, my God. But I wanted to know, what are you playing?

Thank you for joining us, Resident Evil Merchant, and I hope everything's all right. Stay safe out there in this car crash. Please don't endanger anybody. No. What are you playing is the question to the panel, and I want to put it to Chef Kevin because I know you're a gamer yourself. Chef, what have you been playing? I'm playing a series I haven't played in 15 years. My brother-in-law

recently joined the Navy, and I'm struggling to have anything to talk about. So like any good brother-in-law, you go to the library, you get a bunch of books to learn about the field. I bought a bunch of Call of Duty video games and have been brushing those off for the first time since I was in seventh grade. And it's nice because I forgot how you could play on the easiest of easy modes. So you can get shot in the chest eight times and then go, okay, so grenade or gun. So you're playing the single player Call of Duty duties you're not playing like a war zone i'm playing uh modern warfare 2 the campaign and i bought three as well so i immediately hemorrhaged my bank account for probably 30 seconds of small talk this thanksgiving of small talk this Thanksgiving.

Are they like fun? Are you like super like into it? Great question. Not really. It's like surprising. Like I said, I haven't played these games in so long. So my memory of it is pretty limited.

But I'm surprised that I think what helps me is just is just like i said playing it on such an easy level yeah i'm able to kind of plow through the campaign uh pretty quickly but after that i will get uh the new spider-man game i have been texting matt non-stop tiktoks from the point of view of troubled burglars getting their necks snapped by Spider-Man. It's been making me laugh so hard. They're so funny. But what is your typical gaming diet? Because I know you as somebody who does, you do play video games, but I feel like you have spurts where you're actively super into something and then maybe you take a break for a while. Yeah, I think it's work-related when I'm busy.

I don't play for a while, probably like most people. And then when I'm in, it's my full-time job. I love Cyberpunk and Spider-Man and what else have I been playing? Just a handful of some of the newer stuff. I bought a PC for the first time to play Diablo. Oh, nice. What else have I been playing? Just a handful of some of the newer stuff. I bought a PC for the first time to play Diablo. Oh, nice.

Not just to play it, but I wanted to get a gaming PC. And so I'm only like five hours in, but I've been really enjoying that. I'm really similarly haven't done PC gaming. I'm really channeling like seventh grade Kevin this sure this uh last few months which has been interesting yeah um little oregon trail little yeah watching arrested development um yeah so call of duty right now and then i know i'll get into spider-man after that and maybe like a starfield or something after that. Wow. Wow. Yeah. There you go. Hey, everyone. You know, you want to eat healthy, you want to eat well, but you don't want it to be a pain to prepare. Well, let me tell you, eating better is easy with Factor's delicious, ready-to-eat meals. Every fresh, never-frozen meal is chef-crafted, dietician-approved, and ready-to-go

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in the last few weeks, but I do make time for Fortnite. Unfortunately, because I've been sort of like on the phone, like my Fortnite games have either been really great with with uh with battle bus uh discord listeners and and and uh and or fellow uh real life friends but when I get a phone call I have to drop immediately so that I can like get on the phone and like talk to doctors or like schedule appointments or whatever. So there've been multiple games of Fortnite where I'm like

charging into battle and all of a sudden, like, like the girl in the matrix, who's like, not like this, or I guess that's a non-binary character or was maybe never confirmed. I don't know the person in the, uh, in the matrix. Who's like, not like this, not like this. Yes. Not like this. And then just drops. That's like been me in multiple Fortnite rounds. And I feel so much guilt about it because I take it really seriously. Right. When you're on a squad, you don't want to like leave people hanging.

So being it's Fortnite forecast time. And the big announcement is that tomorrow the original Island is returning. Wow. Do you get, do you guys like the very first season? Yeah. Very first Island, very first items all returning tomorrow.

And it's called fortnight OG. And that's going to be the next season. That's wild. Certainly, certainly something I never experienced myself, but I know yeah me neither yeah um they also announced a stranger things collab so you can play as uh you know as 11 uh with a shotgun uh with like an attack on titan backpack right. Shooting at Alan Wake. So.

Makes much sense as anything. Yeah. The character you're talking about, I believe, is Switch. The not like that character. I believe that's who it is, right? Because there's all there's like there's like Mouse and Cypher and Trinity. And I think. Oh, yeah.

Switch. And then. The one in the white suit jacket. Yes. But the I was remember I remember I remember thinking back on The Matrix, the guy I always felt bad about was Tank because Dozer gets fucking, the whole team gets wiped.

Tank survives, but Dozer's brother, I think, is established. It's like, ah, man, what a bummer. Yeah. It's been a long time since I've seen The Matrix. I have seen highlight reels of the way The Matrix Online, which was a canonical MMO, ended, and it's all the characters being crushed

into small polygons and making horrible screaming noises and then dying. I love that. That's so cool. Isn't there, like, a big bug? Like, doesn't Morpheus canonically get killed in the MMO by like a big bug? I don't remember the details of that. But yeah, there's all sorts of weird shit that actually ties into, you know, by the time we get to Matrix Resurrections, it's all like part of the established lore of the franchise.

So crazy. I love it. I love that commitment. Just like everything counts. Yeah. Like, why not? Yeah. Yeah. It's all fake anyway. Who cares it. I love that commitment. Just like everything counts. Like why not? Yeah. Why not? It's all fake anyway. Who cares? It's very Kingdom Hearts.

It really is. The Matrix is Kingdom Hearts. They're one and the same for sure. Matt, what are you playing? Well, I'm playing two games right now. Two big ones. And Heather wasn't here last week so I'm going to say this again and see what Heather thinks about it. October 20th, Friday, 2023.

Not the order you usually say those things. Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Wonder come out same day. Yeah. Barbenheimer, Oppenheimer and Barbie come out same day. Yeah. Barbenheimer. Oppenheimer and Barbie come out same day, right? Yeah, yeah. Spider-Mario? Wait, did you already say this on the show?

I did. And it sort of was met with lukewarm. I think Nick said, and I quote, that's what you came up with. Well, I think about that. I guess I forgot to mention that I have been playing Super Mario Wonder in part for this show. Yes. Because, you know, you got to play the big hits to stay relevant.

As for what you said, I don't know that there's anything to add, Matt. Okay, great. We'll move on. So I'm playing Super Mario. Yeah, it sounded like Heather was going to say that she really liked it. I was going to say, show me the real Barbenheimer.

No, the real Barbenheimer. Spider Mario, perfection. Wow. So Heather did really like it, actually. That's great. This is actually a huge win for me, and I will be expecting a written apology from Sean Diston and Nick Weiger on my desk.

So I'm playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and I'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit at some point. But there's some really hard levels. This game does a great thing where it tells you the difficulty of the level before you start. And a lot of them are in the one to two sort of range where I'm at right now. But then there are these challenge levels that are like four, right? There's like a star ranking for the difficulty. And you're sort of like, okay, how hard can this be?

It's a Mario game. Right. And they're fucking hard. They're really hard. And I beat this one that's called Jump, Jump, Jump, and it's like a rhythm game level, basically, where there are these invisible, there are these outlines of blocks,

and this sort of metronome starts and you have to jump on the blocks in rhythm because they appear in rhythm and they're constantly moving and i did this fucking like a hundred times wow and i when i got to the end of it i really felt like i did something like I like actually like really achieved something huge for then to be presented with another level just like that but instead of going uh like around like or you know this one in this next one you go up like there's like wall jumps where you have to go up in rhythm and yeah yeah and, yeah. And it was so hard. Some of the blocks were like one block, so you have to really get precise in it, but I did both of those

and I felt like God had like touched me in the heart. Like I felt like, I felt amazing when I did that. Yeah. And I just think

this game is great. I still love the little flower guy a lot. I think he's fun. And I'm just- With the talking flower guy? Yeah. What are he's fun um and i'm just the talking flower guy yeah what are you going up here holy cow i can't believe it yeah that guy when you get to the end of these levels it's like five of them and they all are like yay that is really satisfying when you get

congratulated by them i really love that and so I'm playing that, but I'm also playing Spider-Man 2. And like Sean was saying last week, it's a little bit like, a little more of the same, right? It's as good as those other ones, kind of. But the things that they've refined in this game are so great.

It looks a lot better. It always looked really good. It looks great on the PS5 um the the traversal is just it feels even faster and snappier uh the combat is still like you have to kind of like that combat that sort of like crunchy uh combo sort of driven combat um but flying around with these web wings it's like it's like a completely different thing I love it so much it's so fun and great and the story so far is really great

I know that I've been in the Peter section for a while and I've been missing Miles because I just personally like Miles more as a character I think fucking everybody does he's just cooler and better. Yeah.

His story's more interesting. So I took a break from doing the Peter story and did this funny, weird side mission with Miles where I had to hunt down these thieves who stole musical instruments. And then the reward is that you get to walk through this museum and read about whose instruments they were. And I was like, this is kind of interesting. And then you unlock a suit you get to walk through this museum and read about whose instruments they were.

And I was like, this is kind of interesting. And then you unlock a suit where he's like a jazz guy. He has a vest and fedora and stuff. And I was like, what is this game? This is so weird. He's just wearing nice clothes and a Spider-Man mask. It's great. But I'm loving it. and I love New York City.

Are they real? Greatest city on earth. All five boroughs. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and of course, Staten Island. We love all of them. We love all of them equally. Equally. And I will not hear about this again.

Yes. We don't prioritize a certain borough. No. We like them all the same. No borough favoritism for the five boroughs. No. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, all the same level as far as I'm concerned.

All S tier boroughs. Just because they're listed in that order does not denote preference. Exactly. It's just kind of where they fall in my mind. It's just where they are. Let me ask you this. Yes. You talked about these jazz musicians' instruments.

Are these real jazz musicians? They are. Oh, wow. That's cool. Here's Herbie Hancock's piano or something? There's stuff like that in there, and there's like, I mean, I wish I was paying more attention

because I would have actually learned, because there's actual information. It was great. So you're actually walking through this museum and helping the community. Wow, Billy Higgins drum kit. Yeah, okay. Sounds like you played it.

I didn't. I'm just curious who the jazz musicians are. That's awesome. It's so fun, and I love it. And I just like Spider-Man. I just like his powers and his moveset and his villains. They're all interesting and cool. So many of them are just like mad scientists.

Right. And that's the fun of it. It's like he's this teenage kid or whatever, and he's like, this scientist is mad at me. I love it. It's great. Yeah. One of the videos I sent Matt was,

when you get hired to protect a saxophone and it's Spider-Man pushing a guy against the wall and then pulling the wall to the ground and just breaking him. Well, this is the thing that they go through such length to show that Spider-Man is doing all these non-lethal things. You can web swing kick somebody off of a building and then this remote web sort of comes out

and webs him to the wall for safekeeping for the police or whatever yeah but i'm like i think i just threw a fucking uh manhole cover at that guy's neck he's dead yeah that guy's dead and then you can also dodge bullets and then the bullets can hit the other guy right like well you shot that man to death. Yes, yeah. I'm guilty by association because I have spider sense and moved out of the way allowing you to kill your friend.

Right. I could have used my super strength to absorb the bullets in order to make sure this other, this petty criminal doesn't get murdered on the street. Wait, wait, wait. Is it canonical

that Spider-Man can take a bullet? I don't know. I have no idea. I'm just speculating. Let's find out. Because I feel like that's such a Superman strength. Yeah. It's like that he can take a bullet even in the eyeball.

But like I've never thought of Spider-Man as being able to take a bullet. I think that it would still be hurt. I think like it was just like he would probably take it better than a normal person. That's just my guess. I'm just speculating. But I feel like Wolverine can take a bullet. Sure. Iron Man in the suit can take a bullet.

Yeah. Hulk can take a bullet. I don't think Spider-Man is being able to take it. I feel like if you shot Peter Parker in the stomach, he'd just drop. I feel like if you shot Peter Parker in the stomach, he'd just drop. I think it's more that the likelihood of him getting shot is a smaller percentage than somebody else. Because he has the heightened sense of awareness, he'll more easily dodge a bullet before being able to even get shot to begin with. Right. And I think that using that power to dodge the bullets is evidence that he, in his heightened sense of awareness, is like, I would rather not take a bullet

because it will kill me. Yeah. So there's a utilitarian kind of philosophy being applied here where it's like, well, I can do more good living than this burglar behind me would if they instead take these bullets that are headed towards me.

So Spider-Man's always doing the trolley problem in his head constantly? I think so. I think that's what's happening there. And it's all to save Cannonball Adderley's Alto Sacks. But you saying that also made a great point about why I actually like this game. And I was saying this to some friends the

other day this and it sounds silly but go with me for a second this game really simulates what it would be like to be spider-man because you'll be on your way with an intention to go do something and then you'll see that there is a crime happening you're're like, well, I can't let that go. Wow. I'm Spider-Man. I have to go do that. Yeah. So like that, it's such a good, like, cause that's the push and pull of being Spider-Man. And that's like what the main conflict in his life is,

is that I have to be Spider-Man and I don't get to be Peter Parker. Right. So like I, cause because I'm Spider-Man, I have to go do this. So every time that there's, I see something else happening, that's not the main thing I'm supposed to be doing. I'm like, well, I have to go do this. So every time that I see something else happening that's not the main thing I'm supposed to be doing, I'm like, well, I have to go do that. Yeah.

That Spider-Man would go do that instead of going to change out of my clothes to go to the carnival or whatever I have to go do. Can I bring up maybe like an awkward turn of phrase here? Sure. I think Peter Parker suffers from spider privilege because like his big complaint is that he can't like go what go to a club like my big complaint as a human being in the world is that i feel incapable of doing anything heroic yeah like if you if i feel like if any of us got the abilities that spider-man got we wouldn't spend time complaining that we had to save people's lives we would feel great all the

time I mean I'd be pretty reasons I'd be pretty pissed off actually kind of a major inconvenience can't go to sorry can't go to your birthday, sweetie. I gotta go lift this car off of someone. Like, what? Yeah, no, I think it's bullshit. I think it is a, I think it is a bullshit problem. Okay, Heather, well you go get bitten by a spider and then you go tell me how that

goes for you. Here's, I, Matt, I like this observation because you're basically saying that the IP is using the conventions of an open world video game to accurately simulate what it's like to be that character. That push and pull, yes. Right, because that's the whole thing of playing the open world video game. We've talked about this a lot in the podcast, but it's like you've got your main thing to do. I've got to save this world-saving quest, and it kind of seems kind i gotta go like deliver a letter for some rent for from some random merchant yes you know like like

that's supposed that's a good use of my time but here since you're dealing with people who are like in all these dangerous situations and you're supposed to act heroic it seems to kind of be using that to its advantage that's that's uh that's a really interesting thing it gets you to the fun stuff which is the being spider-man stuff. I don't love the parts where you're walking around normal, like when you're Peter Parker. It's interesting for the story. I understand why they have to do it. Yeah.

But I want to be out there swinging. I want to get out there, and I want to swing. Yeah. Do you see the interview with the head developer? They asked why they toned down so much of the tech like all of his like toys and gear from this game compared to the first game they said when they were writing it like this new game they were debating on how much they should put in and they were like well he is spider-man like i don't think he needs to be a god yeah yeah and they're also

like uh people were complaining about Mary Jane's levels where she's like, she basically has like a taser gun and she can sneak up and like stealth take down people

and people were complaining that she's OP and the developers were like, who gives a shit? It's fun. Who cares? Who fucking cares?

I love that. It's great. That's my new favorite way to deal with any sort of feedback. Who fucking cares? I love that. It's great. That's my new favorite way to deal with any sort of feedback. Who fucking cares? So that's what I'm playing. Thank you for letting me monologue about Spider-Man. I loved it. Loved it.

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Thank you, Magic Spoon, for sponsoring this episode. I'll give a quick Cyberpunk 2077 update, which I know Kevin has been playing as well. I went for the Rogue ending, which I'll say without any spoilers. You just basically pick a few different characters you can ally with that takes you into the endgame. Having done the Pan Am ending in a previous save, this is the direction I went with. And I actually found it really satisfying and pretty distinct my main

thing from finishing up Vanilla Cyberpunk 2077 is replaying the main game which I'd already played after doing Phantom Liberty has really hammered home just how much more refined the Phantom Liberty section of the game is I'm not sure how you felt Matt

and Kevin maybe as well I don't know if you've been playing Phantom Liberty I'm not sure how you felt, Matt, and Kevin maybe as well. I don't know if you've been playing Phantom Liberty. Not Phantom Liberty, but I'm excited to play it. I think you'll really like it because it is just like they've really dialed in what works about the structure of the quests, and I think they just have a really great main story thread that they're following there

that ends in a really satisfying way, and that includes that there are some post-game, quote-unquote post-game Phantom Liberty quests. After you finish the main quest there, there's some more stuff that's happening as a consequence of whatever outcome you pick. And that I found really satisfying. I thought those were really cool quests as well.

But that said, I really enjoyed my time with 2.0. Mario Wonder also been playing. I kind of feel embarrassed that this might be my game of the year. Cause it's kind of, it feels like a basic pick, but it's just like, like I like the new Mario game, but it is just so well executed.

Um, it's so fun. It's pure joy. You know what it feels like? I was looking at another game on my shelf, which we got for this podcast, which is a Balan wonder world. And that game,

I think we all like, as we were playing it we were all just like disoriented and confused it made us think we hated video games it made us feel like it put us into a hallucinatory state but this it's that same sort of sensation here because everything that's happening is so dazzling and overwhelming and just like the entire layout of the stage transforming on the fly and you having completely new objectives, having to figure out what that's going. It puts you into kind of a fugue state, but it's purely joyous. And I'm just really impressed by this design.

I've heard this reference that I've heard this talked about, but there are some longtime Mario veterans on the team, which kind of ties into where we're going with our topic here. But it was produced by Takashi Tezuka and designed by Shigefumi Hino. And they both are in their 60s. Both of them worked on Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo, and they co-created Yoshi. The two fathers of Yoshi are part of the Mario Wonder team.

Also, if you look at their credits, it's just insane. Like, Tezuka co-directed the original Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3, Yoshi's Island, he produced Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Maker, Hino co-directed Yoshi's Island, he co-directed Pikmin 1 through 3. It's just like a like just working on

all these huge totemic Nintendo first party games and you know I think the merging of that and then you know whatever new blood they got in there it's just it's created this amazing game that feels timeless but also contemporary I'm really really

enjoying it and the music is also fantastic music's great the music's also fantastic. Music's great. Yeah, the music is great. The level design is great. Guys, I really don't like playing as that elephant. I would go so far as to say I fucking hate it.

If we were doing... I'll say this. I was excited for the elephant. I do think the elephantized version of the characters are, like, cool looking and fun. I'm a little underwhelmed by the elephant as well. I wouldn't say that the elephant fills me with wonder. It fills me with a mild sense of annoyance or disgust. I love the rest of the game so far, though.

Yeah, I'm having a blast with it. If we were going, and which we did as part of our three-part, we did like a three-part series on our old paywall where we did the for Stitcher Premium,

when that existed, that was the, we ranked every Mario power-up. Yeah. And I think Elephant might be like a C tier for me. I'm not loving it. I don't like the animation on its trunk. I don't like it.

I don't like how it gets a bubble in its trunk when it goes in the water. I don't like it. I don't like that. I don't like... I don't like it. I don't like the Elephant. I don't like it. I don't like that. I don't like, I don't like it. I don't like the elephant. I don't want it.

I would have to agree that, like, I do, I like it, and I like its, I like its use cases. It's like a B for me, probably.

Yeah. Like, if I had to, if I had to rank it. I'm much more enjoying Bubble Mario. Bubble Mario's a hoot. I love the bubble. Yeah, love Bubble Mario. He blows a bubble, Kevin. A lot of bubble. I'm much more enjoying Bubble Mario. Bubble Mario's a hoot. I love the bubble.

Yeah, love Bubble Mario. He blows a bubble, Kevin. A lot of bubble. I'm in. I'll also mention it just because I know we're transitioning into Mario Wonder here, but I'll also mention that I've been playing more Slay the Spire, which was, look, there's an iOS version on Apple Arcade,

which I'd forgotten I was still paying for, and it is a really good version of it. iOS version on Apple Arcade, which I'd forgotten I was still paying for. And it is a really good version of it. Yeah, it's one of those things, like I can't believe I've been sending money for this shit I haven't been using. But I installed it just for curiosity's sake because I was playing it on PC and it is really good.

I just, I can't have this game on my phone. It's like, because here's part of the thing, it's a roguelike deck builder. But the thing I'd forgotten about this having been away for this game for a while is just how long the runs are like the like the last run i finished on my phone was two hours and 35 minutes in playtime like i can't be looking at my phone this long no playing a fucking playing this card game so you can only look at your phone for that long if you're just like looking at your phone exactly yes that's okay but playing it playing a dedicated game it feels uh uh yeah it feels like a waste uh all right let's transition to our topic for today

tears of the kingdom t-i-e-r-s and we're talking about 2d mario games so these are mainline marios only and these are only the 2D games. We're going to go all the way back to, well, Matt, I guess we'll find out exactly where we're starting here. And I think that I will just say, and it should hopefully go without saying, but our Super Mario Brothers Wonder Ranking

is provisional because none of us have finished the game as of this record. That's right. So I have it up here, and it looks like this tier list in particular has all the big boys, has all the classics that you would expect. Got it.

So we're skipping, it looks like, the original Mario Brothers. We can add it here, but it's kind of its own thing. Yeah. I feel like the classic Mario platformer is, I mean, like, if I was going to, I would honestly probably give Mario Brothers a C or D tier. It's a fine single screen arcade game, but it's not the most exciting thing. So we'll start with Super Mario Brothers 1. That's first up.

Guys, what are we doing? Looking at this list, are we really gonna... None of these games is gonna be a D. I would put this first one in D. What?

No, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't put it as high as I would put this first one in D what? I wouldn't put it as high as A or S I think obviously you need this it sets the template it's perfectly playable today Super Mario Brothers? there's no way I'm going back to the first one

if I could play one of the later ones I think this might just be a fact the fact that you're 10 years younger than me matt because i would do that get your hands off my neck i played this game you know on an nes when i was a kid yeah endlessly replayable finished it as a kid i've gone back and finished it as an adult i i think it's just like i think the physics and the control are are amazingly tight for a game of this era i think that it offered so much of the mario iconography that still stands with the game including the koji kondo theme uh and themes multiple songs that are still being reused to this day. And I don't know. I just think it's so fun.

To me, this is an A or S tier. I would maybe say A tier just to give us room to grow, but I think it's so great. I would say A tier, and that's because I know what the S tier requires. Yes. Like I know which of these games is an S tier. So I think it is an a tier but that being

said it is it is such an like it's not just a great game it is a great tutorial system masked as a game that is very true because it was also creating the language by by which you were the language by which you were learning to play a Mario game while playing it. Like that you see a guy walking towards you and you have two buttons you can press and one of them doesn't seem to do anything and you press the other button and you jump. Like it's the staging design is teaching everything you need to know about how to beat the stage as you play it without any pop-up or like you know fucking character being like you know you know you could jump on the head of a monster and kill it look out mario like none of that stuff is happening it's invisible it's so fucking good it's it's an a-tier game for sure yeah you're talking about

you know world one one that first stage which which is just maybe the best tutorial mission ever in terms of introducing everything and, you know, enemies, power-ups, jumping over pits. It's just all presented there, but it's presented in such an elegant, invisible way to the user. And this was also, you know, this was before the era of tutorial modes and and tool tips and shit but this was the era when there was an expectation that the gamer would read the manual and you don't have to read the manual to play super mario brothers um but that's just what to me one aspect of it i also just think like the all the varied level design uh the the and the progression is really satisfying and just the creativity in figuring out that this, like effectively inventing the modern side-scroller, the platform game, a genre

which persists to today. Let's put it in A. Let's put it in A. Okay, great. That brings us to Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan, aka the Lost Levels when it was released over here. Now, I have a lot less time I've spent with this game than I have with Super Mario Bros., but I did

play this. I did play through this and have revisited a few times as part of the Super Nintendo collection. You know, I'm actually realizing, I've said before, we had a family on our block and they had a Japanese Famicom and I actually played the original Super Mario

Bros. 2 on that. So I did play that back in the day. But I would argue for this to be a little lower. It's not the difficulty is the issue. I think the difficulty is fun. It's more that this one doesn't really do a ton to innovate. It's kind of just like more Super Mario Bros. Again, a great game.

Had some things like the Poison Mushroom. innovate it's it's kind of just like more uh more super mario brothers again a great game had some things like the poison mushroom um but but overall i feel like this one is just does not advance the franchise the way some other games are i i'd maybe argue for this for c-tier people are getting mad maybe i don't know i'd put it i'd put it in c-tier because it's it it does feel like more of It does feel like more of Mario Brothers. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's more of Super Mario Brothers as opposed to the way that we experience modern 2D Super Mario Brothers games is what is the new thing? You know what I mean?

Right. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. thing you know what i mean right yeah yeah i i agree i haven't spent as much time with uh this one but i think it i think it it can get comfy in the c tier there and you know i think maybe the next one man it could even go a little lower uh super mario brothers 2 in japan for the famicom sold 2 million 650 000 copies isn't that insane this kind of like a game that's called the lost levels overseas still just like an enormous hit yeah that's great uh all right let's uh let's look at super mario brothers 2 a game i liked more when we revisited for the podcast uh aka super mario. This is the reskinned Doki Doki Panic

that introduces elements like, you know, playable Peach and Toad, and also the other characters, including Luigi, having their own specific abilities. Also things like, you know, Shy Guys, the bombs are introduced in this game. It's a weird game.

It's very much its own thing. Yeah. I do have a lot of affection for it. It has one of the best character selection themes of all time. Oh, my God. It's so good. And it also has one of the best overworld themes of all time. I don't think it goes higher than a C tier though because it's like

what it's not I don't want to be a purist but it's not really a Mario game is it? No I think it's interesting that they've never tried really like a Super Mario Brothers 2 2 or like a Super Mario

Brothers USA 2 you know like they've just like advanced the same play style like they've just sort of, you know, they figured out how to fit some elements that are in this game into the the franchise at large, but they've kind of dispensed with how this game plays. But I do think it's it's it's interesting and fun. I think like pulling up the vegetables and tossing them is just like I don't know know, like pulling up, yanking shit out of the ground is a kind of fun mechanic. You like to yank. I love to yank. I love throwing a potion and ducking inside the door. I mean, it's also like so fucking weird and dreamy, which obviously makes sense with the ending.

But maybe the solution here, yeah, Heather, to keep people from getting mad at us is we just put it at C tier with lost levels. Wow. The two Mario 2s at the c tier i mean i prefer it to i prefer to usa to to japan but also that's the game i grew up with so of course i'm gonna feel that way i don't remember liking it when we played it on the show i think i i didn't i didn't care for it but that was also my first experience with yeah so i was just it was new to me and think I didn't care for it, but that was also my first experience with it. So I was just, it was new to me and I didn't love it. Super Mario Bros. 3,

this is maybe the easiest S tier of this whole exercise, right? Just jam that up there. I was worried that you guys were going to fight for it to not be S tier. Super Mario Bros. 3 is a perfect game. It's perfect. You literally can't improve on Super Mario Brothers 3 with the technology of the

time or maybe even ever like it is. It's so fucking perfect. And it's also one of the most beautiful boxes ever designed. Like it is perfect happiness. Yes, it's it Like it is perfect happiness. Yes. It's beautiful colors. The art has never aged. Super Mario Brothers 3

is a perfect game. It has one of my favorite levels in any game ever, Kuriboh's Shoe, where you hop in the big oversized shoe and it's the only level this mechanic has used at all. And you can use it

to stomp on enemies and um uh you know uh walk over piranha plants like it gives you all these different abilities that are only used in this one circumstance uh and then it just moves away from it and i think like a lot of 2d game design or a lot of platform game design has borrowed from this the idea of like hey let's introduce one distinct mechanic. A game like Inside is like that. Here's a new distinct mechanic. We're going to explore it to its full and then dispense with it, and then it's gone, and Wonder is doing the same thing. But that aside, the diversity of each individual world,

like how distinct they feel, and all the different power-ups that exist, like Mario flying for the first time and that happening via consuming a leaf and turning into a raccoon and wagging your tail to go aerial like all that shit's just so fucking weird the music's great

yeah this game is I prefer Super Mario World which we'll get to but this is absolutely an S tier game Super Mario 3 easy S tier unbelievable Tanook Mario 3, easy S tier. Unbelievable. Tanooki Mario. We love Tanooki Mario.

Damn it, Donald. You belong in prison for that take. I think the DOJ is going to indict you a second time. I did everything right and they indicted me. For those of you joining us for the first time As we join the HeadGum Network This is a comedy podcast The boys are doing an impression Of a YouTube compilation of AI voices

Where the presidents do Tier rankings on video games Yes Alright let's just put Super Mario Bros 3 in S tier And move on because I've got to put Malia to bed. Here's the thing. Go on.

I don't even know who that is. Here's the thing. Me and the boys used to get down at the watering hole and play Super Mario Bros. 3. It's an easy S tier. Who is that? I think it's me.

I think I'm being Joe Biden. Super Mario Brothers Land. Speaking of presidents, you ever see that photo of Hillary Clinton playing Game Boy on a plane? Yeah, on Air Force One. Yeah, Air Force One. It's crazy.

I had a poster of that in my room. Super Mario Brothers Land is up. I Super Mario Bros. Land is up. I think Super Mario Bros. Land is great. I think it's really cool. I didn't have a Game Boy at the time, but I did play it on a friend's Game Boy, and I've also played an emulation. I'm curious if either of you played this back in the day,

but I think this is a really fun... I guess I have a little bit less um boy it's interesting to look at this list because i'm wondering if super mario brothers land 3 is even on here that which is which is where we introduce wario uh but i i i just i have a like like in my memory a little bit less specific uh grasp of how to rank these, the Mario Lands versus each other. Because they all feel like kind of the same to me. But I would maybe put this as a B tier. I'm not sure what you think.

Mario Land 2 is weird. I mean, I'm sorry. Super Mario Land is weird. It has, like, the bouncy fireballs instead of, like, the, like, they bounce, like, full screen or some shit. It's like a ball you throw instead of, like, like they bounce like full screen or some shit. It's like a ball you throw instead of like a typical fireball. Yeah. Whereas Super Mario Land 2 is more like Super Mario Brothers or Super Mario 3 converted to a Game Boy. Like Super Mario Land is a weird game.

It's like got weird physics and stuff too. And like weird animation. I would put it at a B tier. It's got weird physics and stuff, too, and weird animation. I would put it at a B tier because it's weird. Okay. And I would save, if I'm ranking these Game Boy games, I would save Super Mario Land 2 for an A tier, but it might also be a B tier.

Hmm. Don't know. I don't know. What do you think, Matt? I was going to say, I haven't spent as much time with the Land series, if I'm being honest. My first Game Boy was a Game Boy Color, but my very first Mario game was Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance. That was my very first Mario game.

That's wild. I know. And I had maybe played a little bit at my uncle's house or whatever, but my first memory of playing a complete Mario game from start to finish was Super Mario World. Let's leave it in B tier for now. I am just reading about it,

and this is a fascinating detail. Super Mario Land outsold Super Mario Bros. 3. Wow. Because the Game Boy is just that ubiquitous. Exactly, yeah. But 18 million copies. They're playing it on Air Force One.

While who knows what else was going on. Wow. I like to play that on a different plane monica get the batteries uh super mario what's next oh super mario world is next christ socks sucks sucks Super Mario World to me this is a

I prefer it to land or I'm sorry to 3 I prefer it to 3 because I just think like it's I love Yoshi I love the aesthetic of world I think the upgrade to 16-bit just gives it a level of graphical and audio polish that you just weren't able to achieve on the earlier hardware. Then the raccoon tail in terms of power-ups.

But I just think it's such a cool design. And I think it's got an amazing endgame. I think the way that you can navigate the map, the totally connected world map, not divided into distinct worlds, is so cool. And I don't know. I absolutely adore this game. It's probably the Mario game I've played the most I think to me this is an S tier yeah this is an easy S to me like I remember playing this like I said on the Game Boy Advance and just being blown away uh like honestly by the scope of it like the fact that there are secret levels I was like this is unbelievable I can't believe I found

something that was supposed to be hidden uh and i know that it's in other markets too but like uh like to me that was my first exposure to it i was like this is i wasn't even supposed to find this this is a little secret just for me oh yeah it's great uh that feeling of discovery is incredible it feels really great that's that to me unless heather says otherwise is an easy s tier well i don't want to turn this into a Heather gets her way. I just want to say I don't like Super Mario World as much as Super Mario Brothers 3. That's fair. That's a reasonable opinion.

And I don't like Super Mario World as much as I like Sonic and Sonic 2. Wow. And. I can understand that. At the time. You know. As a. As a Genesis kid.

Like. Playing Sonic. And seeing Super Mario World. I kind of had this. Feeling of like. It felt like going backwards. From like a place that I had already been. Beyond.

And Sonic felt like something beyond Mario. Like, so I guess I don't have the same nostalgia associated with it. But, you know, by the time we get to the N64, like Super Mario, and I know that we're not ranking that game. So I'm not saying that like, oh, I was beyond Mario at that point in my life.

It just felt so slow and thick compared to the games that I was playing at the time that I was a little disappointed in Super Mario World. I recognize it as a classic and as an S tier game. Right. But I think it's worth voicing that feeling. I will say that, you know, like this is this is the Genesis does what what Nintendo era and they would run commercials with the side by side of Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog. And it would feel positively plodding versus, you know, the just the just the kinetic momentum

that you felt from the the that you felt from Sonic. And so I can totally get that. I think it's just such a cool design. Let's leave it at S tier because I think it's like... No, I don't disagree with it being an S tier game. Yeah. All right, let's move on to Super Mario Land 2.

This is Six Golden Coins. Six Golden Coins. That's right. Six Golden Coins. Introduces Wario as the antagonist. A huge game just for that reason. He probably wanted those coins, didn't he? He 100% did.

He's very greedy. I think this is an is it is a solid b plus okay a game i could i could argue yeah i mean just from the wario of it all i'm happy to put it in a um only so that i don't have to make a a b plus tier yeah let's not make a new tier we can we can figure this out uh it's it this is this is tricky because when i think of like a i don't know actually where we're gonna get oh we might get there so i'll just save the discussion um but like there there there are mario games that i think of as like oh this is maybe like a there there is at least one mario game was's like, this is maybe a D tier Mario. But I'm kind of wondering if we should start doing some downward nudging just to create some more space in the middle here.

Because I'm like, is, I mean, to Heather's point, are we going to say, if we're going to say Super Mario Land 2 is an improvement over Super Mario Land, should it just be at a tier above it? Or do we just cram them both in B tier and just sort of accept that one is like a little bit better than the other or is regarded as better than the other? Like I said, my memory is foggy. I think Super Mario Land 2 is the best of the Game Boy Super Marios. It is not an S tier game, but it's an A tier game. So you want to put it up an A tier. Yeah, it gave you the full Mario experience on

Game Boy. That was crazy. Yeah. I could put it in front of Super Mario Land in the B tier. That doesn't help anything. Put it in A tier. Let's put it in A. Great. Alright. Alright, we got another Super Mario game for the Super Nintendo.

We're talking Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island, though people usually forget the first part of that. I love this game. This game's incredible. It's so good. The aesthetic is gorgeous. If this was my own list, i might jam this up an s tier just because i think it's just such a pristine game it is aesthetically it has not aged a fucking inch yeah it is so fucking gorgeous to look at it is got such good music the only the only like compelling argument you could make

that this game isn't an s-tier game is the sound of baby mario crying which is among the most grating sounds ever created in a video game but as a gameplay element encourages you to catch him so that you can stop hearing that sound. It's also like, it's not like when Donkey Kong Country and stuff came out, you would be like, oh, well, this is like, these are all pre-rendered. These aren't actually being made on the Super Nintendo. Right. But when you saw Yoshi's Island island you were like how were they fucking doing this because it was really being made by the console yeah it was it you know it's these were these were i mean that they're both were sprites but these weren't like these

these pre-rendered you know 3d models um, yeah, it's a completely different look to it. I think that games really, I mean, here's the thing, and I was trying, I was searching for this quote, and I haven't been able to find it, and it's maybe apocryphal, but I remember reading years ago that they'd had a different sound effect for crying baby Mario,

and the issue was in playtesting, the user would not go retrieve baby Mario. And the issue was in play testing, the user would not go retrieve baby Mario. So they're like, we have to make this. And this is the thing you were talking about, Heather, but like we have to make this more like an actual baby's cry to incentivize the user to go get it. And I don't know if that's true or not, but that was always my defense of that choice.

I don't know. What do you think matt if you if i had to make a list of maybe my top 10 favorite video games i think yoshi's island is somewhere in the top 10 if i if the criteria that's wild i love this if the criteria is i have to put pick games from like every games from every system or whatever. Yeah. Because I think I spent so much time. I've replayed Yoshi's Island so much when I had it. I mean, I had all these games on the Game Boy Advance. So it's a little bit different maybe.

But I spent so much time with Yoshi's Island. I think I completed it on all three saves that you're allowed. And I love it. I think it's such a perfect game. she's island i i think i completed it on all three saves that you're allowed yeah and i uh like i just i love it i think it's such a perfect game uh like you guys said aesthetically top to bottom it looks great today it plays great today it rules i'm i would argue to put it in the s tier let's do it let's do it fucker i love maybe maybe it's boring maybe it's safe for us but I think it's I think it's fun all right what's what's up next we

got is it Super Mario Brothers Land 3 Lux it looks like Deluxe Oh Deluxe Oh Super Mario Brothers Deluxe for the Game Boy Color do we want to rate this one separately what is it because this is a collection right this is this is a effectively a remaster of

the original super mario brothers nah skip it skip it because then but then the next one that it jumps to which might not be correct isn't that what it is super mario brothers deluxe yeah i think Super Mario Brothers Deluxe? Yeah. I think it's just, it's Super Mario for the Game Boy Color. I think. Are you looking it up? Yeah, it is. It's Super Mario Brothers and the Lost Levels is included. So it's like a compilation of those two. Yeah, I don't think we need to rate it separately.

Nope. Okay. So that brings us to, and I guess we're, I guess Wario Land, Super Mario Brothers 3, Super Mario Land 3, rather, is not included here because it's maybe a Wario game. And neither is the Virtual Boy Wario Land. Easy S tier. Wario's just like me. I love Wario. We understand each other.

I am Wario. All right, let's move on. Wow, that brings us to New Super Mario Bros. That's next? Can that be correct? Because I mean, I guess then they spent time in the 3D games more than they did the 2D games. Yeah, I guess there's not a 2D Mario 4.

But this is what's strange about this particular tier list is that we don't have the Super Mario Bros. 2 remake for the Game Boy Advance or the or the or Super Mario All-Stars is also not on here. And then the other one that's not on here is the one you were talking about, the Super Mario World. And actually, they did a Yoshi's Island port for the Game Boy Advance. I guess we'll just ignore all that. All right, this is fine.

We'll go to New Super Mario Bros. Wow, so we're going all the way to the Wii, because that was all basically what they were making for Game Boy Advance. Wait, isn't New Super Mario Bros. DS? This first one was for the... Oh, that's right. I was thinking of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Yes, there's New Super Mario Bros. for DS,

and then New Super Mario Bros. 2 is also on the ds uh new super mario brothers you know it revitalized the the 2d fran side of the franchise a little bit i don't know i don't love any of the new games i don't want to sound like a fuddy-duddy. I hated this game. You hated this. I hated it. I hated New Super Mario Brothers. I felt, it felt like I, if I'm going to play a Mario game, it's for like some specific experience of gameplay physics that is like constantly satisfying and like, I think I can do this and therefore this will happen. And I think Wonder really nails that sense of physics. New Super Mario Brothers felt loose

and weird and sloppy to me. Yeah, I mean, I don't hate this game. I feel better about it than its sequel, which we'll talk about. I would maybe put this game. I feel better about it than its sequel, which we'll talk about. I would maybe put this in the C tier. Yeah. Let's do it.

With Mario 2 and Lost Levels, although I like Mario 2 and Lost Levels both more than this. Super Mario Brothers Wii, I mean, is that in the same territory or does that go up to B tier? I don't know. I also didn't love this game.

I don't even think I played this game. I definitely played this and I definitely was excited to have a new 2D Mario on console. I played this and liked it fine, but the Wii was not big in our house, really. I don't know. I didn't love it.

I hated New Super Mario Brothers so much that when they were like, it's New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii, I think I was just like, this is a skip. And I've played every other one of the Mario games on this list. Even New Super Mario Bros. 2, because at some point I was like, okay, I'll give it another shot. But I don't think I played new Super Mario Bros. Wii. I think I skipped it. I can't believe that.

I definitely played this and had this. And I would say maybe just jam it in C tier next to new SMB. That's in C. I will make a case for at least new Super mario brothers 2 being in the b tier because i believe this one was on the 3ds and it wasn't oh maybe that's where i got it it was in 3d and as you can see from the cover art the whole thing is getting coins you get so many coins the whole time and you're just like it's like all you're doing, kind of. It's the classic Mario stuff, but there's coins everywhere.

I loved the premise of this game. This is the one I was going to argue for D tier, because actually this is a step backwards for the Super Mario Brothers. But I'm not going to fight for it. I'm just going to say that D tier is looking pretty empty, and this to me is kind of the low point of the series.

You're being extremely sus right now. The only thing that's sus is the bank accounts for your Trump Foundation. I definitely played New Super Mario Bros. 2. If it is indeed for the 3DS, that's why I got it. Because I was like, well, I need a fucking Mario game on my 3DS. The coins sound is so good that it felt like it's such a weird thing to say that it felt like you were making money while you were playing this game. The whole game is a bonus stage, yeah yeah yeah um but i don't remember it being a great game i just remember it kind of

being funny that it would be like coins don't really matter in like it's not like when you collect rings in sonic it's to keep you alive like in mario the coins only like they only give you like a life. And this game wasn't hard enough to require you to get like 300 lives. You can end you can end like a section of the game and have like 40 lives. Well, the goal is to collect one million coins, which I think is a great premise. I think that's really fun. The idea of just like, hey, let's see how many fucking coins you can get. One million coins, which I think is a great premise. I think that's really fun, the idea of just like, hey, let's see how many fucking coins you can get.

1 million coins. That's good. Kevin literally slapped his knee at that. I'm playing to Kevin. I put these impressions on us, tier. I would say I'm looking at the tier list right now. I would say I'm looking at the tier list right now. I said B tier.

You said D tier. That evens out to C tier. C tier is getting crowded. I'm nervous about how this looks. Yeah. Because I don't think in good conscience I could say so many of these Mario games are mid. Here's what I'm going to say. I think we nudge Super Mario Bros. up to S tier. It's just like it's one of

the most important games ever made. And I think it's still very playable today. I think we Now it looks perfect to me. I think we move Because we've actually made a big C on the chart. the whole list is a c c tier guys i i think this is right i think what we have is right i i think you're about to fight for

hillary mario is mid you're fighting against the startling realization that some mario games are so perfect that they make you think that the rest of the series is also perfect. But I do think that the rest of this, that most of the Mario games are kind of mid. And I think we've got a couple more S tier games in front of us. But like, this feels right to me. I was going to make the the that's that's a convincing case i was going to make the argument for we just make c tier the new super mario brothers tier and we just nudge up lost levels in super mario brothers 2 because i think those are better than do you do

you like do you like new super mario brothers in the same level as those? I like Super Mario Bros. 2 at least. Oh, I think I like Lost levels better than New Super Mario Bros. That's what I was going to say. We nudge those up. We put those up to B tier. But I don't think Mario 2 USA is better than New Super Mario Bros. I think those three games are real mid. Now that's what I'm talking about.

All right, let's just make that adjustment then. then let's let's put new super mario brothers 2 into the same tier and you know what new it's fucking new super mario brothers you say well i had the same reaction this game the game's like fucking whatever you know this was this was the like post all right this is like the treasure planet era of Disney animation. Because then they re-released this as a Switch port and it's kind of I agree. I never even finished it because I was like, well, this is just kind of nothing.

I did finish it. It's fine. It just is a little uninspired. And I think if it didn't have the Mario IP, it would just be kind of ignored. Damn. Or it just wouldn't be notable you know what I mean I don't know I mean like whatever

I also didn't love the new power ups in Mario Brothers U the next one here on Heather you were saying something I don't remember what I was saying the next one here on the Wait, Heather, you were saying something. I don't remember what I was saying. The next one here on the list I think is controversial because

I don't think it belongs here. Absolutely not because also this list is insane. This is... The one you're pointing at is Super Mario 3D World. If we're going to rank that, we should also rank 3D Land, but those are 3D games. We're doing a 2D tier list, so forget about it. Here's the thing. Super Mario 3d world is s tier it is yeah that game's incredible i love that i love 3d land too

i think they're both great but it's not it's not 3d and it's it's isometric like it's not really 3d like you would you would put sonic what is it Sonic Spinball or whatever the fuck if you were ranking all the Sonic 2D games you would put that awful Sonic game in your list and you would rank it D tier so I think you put Super Mario 3D World which is

you can't you cannot jump in 3D I mean you can I think I understand, you can. I think I understand what you're saying, Heather. Let me pick up this thread and argue for its placement in the tier list. While this is a 3D game, it is spiritually and functionally, it plays like the 2D games. and functionally it plays like the 2D games where, yes, you have a somewhat 3D plane, but the objectives and the way you go about the world

is more inspired by the 2D games than they are the 3D games. If we're going to do that, then we also have to include Super Mario 3D Land. I'll download a JPEG right now and make it so. I do think it's going to be a little confusing that our 2D tier list has two 3D games with 3D in their title. All right. If we're going to argue for this, then I also think we need to argue that the only true 3D game that exists in Mario is like Mario 3D Land is the only one that's

actually in three. Those are the only ones that are in 3D. Are we going to throw Galaxy in here? What are we doing? I mean, come on. That's a 3D Mario game. No, no. I'm saying that Super Mario 64 is still a two-dimensional game. You're playing it on a two-dimensional surface. These are the only three-dimensional games in the entirety of Super Mario. If we want to do all the Marios, it's whatever. Well, what do we have left? We've got to throw in 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, Galaxy 2.

I don't have time for that. I don't think any of us have time for that. No. I don't have time for that. I don't think any of us have time for that. No. I don't have time for that. So let's forget about it. If we insist, I oppose this, but I'll go with the majority. If we insist on including 3D Land and 3D World, I would put 3D World in S tier and 3D Land in A tier. I love 3D Land.

I do too. Great. I'm doing it. Okay, great. Okay, S tier, 3D World. A tier, 3D Land. Perfect. Just a bigger C. Next game.. A tier. 3D Land. Perfect. Next game.

It is a bigger C, actually. We've actually done Heather's good observation, Kevin. Yeah, we've done Heather's, her wish. Well, next game. Now I think it's going to turn into like a weird short F because I don't think anyone can argue for Super Mario Run being above D tier. No.

This is a mobile game that's just so boring. I downloaded it, and I think I had it on my phone for 10 minutes, and this was like, nah, I'm good on this. My main memory of Super Mario Run is handing the phone to my nephew and him immediately somehow spending $10. I thought it was going to be more damning than that. I thought it was going to be more damning than that.

I thought it was going to be him being like, I don't want this. That's funny. That's so crazy. All right. The last one is, and that, does that bring us to super Mario wonders and nothing we've missed?

That brings us to super Mario wonder. Ones that aren't included in this list that we're going to talk about a Mario maker to me is like an, an eight game that's that's really great i had some fun with uh you know uh i i'm i'm mario all-stars i'm not sure if we wouldn't i mean mario all-stars is an s-tier just for the games that includes yeah um mario maker 2 i'm not sure how we rank that but i like i i'm maybe those maybe the mario makers are kind of their own thing and we we Mario Maker 2, I'm not sure how we rank that, but maybe the Mario Makers are kind of their own thing, and we kind of think of them like the compilation game.

Yeah, because I think, I mean, while they do have prefab levels and their own designed ones, I think the thing that makes those games fun and interesting is the user created uh levels right yeah which is also yeah awesome it's great but i think they're kind of their own thing for these purposes i agree uh and then that brings us to mario wonder i'm i'm going to provisionally put this in a tier i think this one probably ends up at s tier if i'm enjoying this as much as i

think i do through the end game yeah um but I'll just put it in A tier for now. I'm not sure what anyone else thinks. I want to point out that Nick Weiger is like, this might be my game of the year. It's an A tier game. In a year where like fucking Baldur's Gate has come out. Yeah. In a year where like Tears of the Kingdom came out. I'm not even a huge Tears of the Kingdom fan. Like there's so many incredible games that came out this year that not even a huge tears of the kingdom fan like there's so many incredible

games that came out this year that for you to be like this might be my game of the year but it's only an eight-year game it's pretty wild right i'm just i'm just giving room in case as we continue because you know it i'm like in the mid game but maybe once i get to the late game i'll kind of be exhausted by it or something i i don't know we could also just not include it if none of us feel comfortable giving it a grade right now i'm happy to i'm happy to put it in a tier i would put it in b tier because of the elephant um but i'm not gonna be that oh yeah we can't we can't just go off of that like uh right we add an e tier nick for elephant yeah for Yeah. All the way at the bottom. I'm just saying, we can end at E tier for elephant. Can you add a W-A-A-A one for Wario too?

I think this is a comfy spot in the A tier with room to grow, of course. I think the time spent in it so far, I have been really enjoying it. Time will tell if it reaches the heights of the S tier, but I think it's trending toward that trajectory. I feel pretty good about this list. Any adjustments anyone wants to make? I'd like to put Super Mario Brothers 2, aka Super Mario

USA, in the D tier. I disagree with that. I would argue that for New Super Mario Bros. 2, but I think we're both... Okay, we've reached an impasse. We're at an impasse there, and I think the thing to do is to leave them both in C tier.

Yeah. I think this tier list looks good to me because it feels... I like what it revealed to us, which is what I've always kind of secretly felt about Mario, is that there's, again, there's these like four or five games of Mario that are so perfect as they're like

Smithsonian level works of art. Yes. And it's like you are looking at the, you know, the entirety of every painting in a museum. And you're like, well, these four masterpieces are in here. So everything else in the Louvre is good. But the truth is that a lot of the paintings in the Louvre are fine. And I know that's an insane thing to say because I could never paint any of these.

The Mona Lisa. I could never make. She's ugly. She's mid. I could never make a video game as good as any of the C tier Mario's I couldn't even make a Mario run

like I couldn't make a D tier Mario game but I think this list is right because I don't know that a lot of the Mario's are perfect

yeah but the ones that are good are so good like you were saying yeah they're incredible and I think this reflects that they are all that they are of varying quality and i think honestly you know hey to some degree

all worth playing um all right let me let's recap what our what our tier list is uh d tier at the bottom we get super mario run c tier super mario brothers 2 new super mario brothers new super mario brothers we new super mario brothers 2 and Super Mario Bros. U. In the B tier, we've got Super Mario Land, the original, as well as Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan, aka the Lost Levels. In the A tier, Super Mario Land 2, 6 Golden Coins,

Super Mario 3D Land, in our 2D list, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We've also got, in the S tier, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We've also got in the S tier Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 2, Yoshi's Island,

and Super Mario 3D World. I feel pretty good about this. I feel great about it. It's a great list. We did a great job. We did it. This is actually now, this is just true.

Yeah. Like this is now what the ranking is and everybody has to be like, this is what it is actually. You guys were at each other's throats, but in the end, we put together a pretty good list. You know what would be funny is to do a list that was all of the mainline Mario games, including the 3D ones, and all of the mainline Sonic games, including the 3D ones, all as a single list. That's fascinating.

Well, we can just graph that onto this list if we ever continue. If you want to save this one, Matt, we can pick it up from there. I'll save this. Yeah. What is your favorite cover art of all these games? Because I feel like they're all pretty. Mario 3. Yeah.

It's just so iconic. I think it is Mario 3. It's so fucking perfect. It's so perfect. 3 is amazing. I do love Yoshi's side-eye and Super Mario I was about so much I like how cheeky he looks you know I'm realizing I don't have like a specific memory of is the Super Mario Brothers Japanese box art the original oh yeah

there's like a that that Nintendo sticker on it, but it's so small that it looks like a burger on the screen to me, but maybe it's just because I would like to eat a burger. Burger sounds pretty good. Oh, yeah, this one is fucking incredible. Look at that shit. Oh, yeah, that's really great. That one is awesome.

That's so good. It's just such a detailed piece of art. Well, since we got to the end of our tier list, how about a segment? Okay. I love it. I don't know uh what to call this segment because i think this is sort of a uh a one and done segment here so i'm just going to tell you uh i'm gonna just read this little prompt that i wrote it's not uncommon for video games to change development studios so i'm going to name some video games and you have to tell me the studios that have worked on them. What should we call

this? Arrested Development? Oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. This is called Arrested Development. I was going to pitch Studio 60. On the Sunset Strip? Yeah. Why? Because it's different studios.

Studio Mixed-y? On the development strip? Arrested Development. This is called Arrested Development. And so I just have a list of some video games and video game characters here. And you guys have to tell me what studios. I'll tell you how many studios have worked on them,

and you can tell me how many you think you can name. I'm just coming up with the rules kind of on the floor. Great. So this first one is Crash Bandicoot, and there are three development studios. Oh, this is going to be fucking hard. Naughty Dog. Yeah, Naughty Dog is one of them.

Naughty Dog's one. Sony First Party? No. Wait, hold on. Is this the game or the franchise oh the franchise the franchise not just single game yes okay so

I just can't remember the names of the studios that made later entries Jesus I don't know. This is, I'm done at Naughty Dog. Okay. I mean, there are three. I could just tell you the other two.

Yeah. Traveler's Tales and Vicarious Visions. Right. Vicarious Visions is the sort of second go-to house for remakes and remasters, I feel like, these days, because they did the Tony Hawk game as well. And Diablo 2. That's right. This next one, Star Fox.

There are five studios that have made Star Fox throughout the years. Rare worked on one of them. That's right. Nintendo worked on one of them. That's right. Nintendo worked on one of them. Oh, fuck.

What else? So we've got the... Five Studios? They had the... Yeah, what was the... What was the GameCube one? Oh, the GameCube one was the... No, there was another GameCube one, wasn't there?

I don't know. Star Fox Adventures? Yeah, Star Fox Adventures is the Rare one. But there's another GameCube one, wasn't there? I don't know. Star Fox Adventures? Yeah, Star Fox Adventures is the rare one. But there's another GameCube one that's more Star Fox Armada? Is that the name of it? Yeah, it sounds right. Who the fuck made these fucking games? I don't know.

Did Sega make one? No, Sega did not make one. I can tell you the others. Here we go. This is a hard segment. This is hard. I kind of thought this was going to be too hard, and this is kind of why we're only gonna do this the one time also ties into just you know us um uh moving networks um this one so starfox uh development has gone to yeah nintendo

rare namco oh namco that's what i was thinking of q games and platinum games who made what did q games and what did what did q games make i i don't have that in front of me unfortunately i That's who I was thinking of. Q Games and Platinum Games. Wow, Platinum. What did Q Games make? I don't have that in front of me, unfortunately. I just have the studios. Do not ask me questions, Nick. The next one is... Star Fox Command was the Q Games one.

That was the Nintendo DS shoot-em-up. You guys might be able to get this one. Mortal Kombat. Two studios. Kind of easy. Midway. Great. Acclaim.

That's incorrect. Acclaim published it for console, right? I believe so. So what fucking makes it now? I wish I knew the name of it. I don't follow the modern Mortal Kombat at all. It's a subsidiary of Warner Brotherser brothers games uh nether realm okay nether realm was owned by warner brothers they developed a more recent uh mortal combat games because i believe

midway is no more losing so much fucking gamer cred now uh this is sort of also why i created this game to just uh yeah to humiliate the two of you. Star Wars Battlefront, two studios. Oh, this is Pandemic worked on one of them and then the other one

was handed off to DICE. That is correct. They're both EA games. Wow. And EA folded Pandemic. Yes. Which is a fucking, I interviewed there

back in the day. Wow. What'd you ask people? which is a fucking i interviewed there back in the day wow what'd you ask people why didn't i get the job where's the bathroom yeah yeah yeah hey buddy where's the shitter uh this one is sort of a more of a broad one but donkey kong donkey kong's kind of bounced around by uh developers right i mean this i, if we're just including Nintendo First Party broadly, that's got to be on there. Rare, obviously.

Retro. Let's see, what else do we have? That's three of the five. Tongi Kongo was also Nintendo First Party, right? What other Donkey Kongs were we missing? Jungle Beat. Should be the same team.

What about the Donkey Kong Racing? Is that... Yeah, Diddy Kong Racing was rare, I think. Yeah, because Conker was in Diddy Kong Racing. Yeah. Do you have the names of the games? I don't have the names of the games in front of me,

which would have made this a little easier. Can you give us hints on... One of them has appeared on this list, and one of them I've never seen before. Are these Western developers? I believe so. I mean, one of these worked on the Star Fox series as well. Oh, so just two studios?

Platinum Games, Donkey Kong. One of them is Namco. The other one is, I think it's pronounced Paon. P-A-O-N. Another studio that worked on Donkey Kong. What game was that? Do we know? I don't...

Yeah, I don't have it in front of me. I just have the list of studios. The Fallout franchise. Do you guys have any memories of the studios that worked on Fallout? It was Interplay back in the day. It was the publisher. But I'm trying to remember the developer. It wasn't Black isle was it it

was black isle that's that's one of them holy shit and then uh the current ones obviously are uh are published by bethesda um but another studio um develops oh no i thought those were developed by bethesda shit shows what I know. They're Obsidian. Oh, Obsidian. Obsidian made New Vegas. Yes, Obsidian made New Vegas. Yeah, got it. And then let's just do this last one.

Metroid. The Metroid franchise. Should have gotten New Vegas. Metroid franchise, you know, again, you've got Retro, obviously. Yes. You got Nintendo First Party. Oh, what's... Oh, fuck. Who's the Fusion developer? retro, obviously. Yes. You've got Nintendo First Party. Oh, what's... Oh, fuck, who's the Fusion developer?

Oh, fuck. What the fuck are they called? I should know this. Platinum. Platinum? Platinum? Well, the developers for Fusion are still Nintendo.

Nintendo Research and Development number one department. And then they also have another one called Intelligent Systems. Intelligent Systems was another one. Team Ninja worked on... Intelligent Systems is their Nintendo kind of second party. Team Ninja did the other m right intelligent systems made the um yeah fuck uh which ones they make fusion i think they made um uh samus the original samus returns uh and um maybe um one of the other ones.

And then the more recent team. No, they did. They're credited with the OG Metroid. Oh, with the OG Metroid. Intelligent Systems. Yeah, they're kind of like a Fire Emblem, Paper Mario. But yeah, the original. I'm trying to think what other Metroid games they worked on. Was it just that one?

Super Metroid? No. Yeah, Super Metroid is what i meant metroid and super metroid um and then the last one is their more recent uh developer they worked on um the 3ds remake of metroid 2 samus returns and um metroid dread yes yeah that was the and i can't think of the name of the studio. Mercury Steam. Mercury Steam. And that's, there's like, there's so many of these, but that's the segment Arrested Development. And we did a really good job. Pion is the studio, the Donkey Kong game they made was King of Swing, which is the, was a Game Boy Advance game where you kind of like swung around. Like it was basically just sort of navigating a map by picking various handholds.

Wow. That was challenging. It wouldn't be a segment that I came up with that wasn't impossible. I think this has legs, though. I think if we have, like, if you could give us hints for what the games are, that could help drive us towards it

and little nudges. Hey, maybe we can get Ron Howard to narrate it next time. Hey, that's this week's Get Played, our first Get Played here on the HeadGum Network, which we will be continuing doing the show every week. Again, you don't have to do anything to your podcast feed. You'll continue to get it in your ear holes.

Also, check out our paywalled show, Get Animated, where we are wrapping up Cyberpunk. And is what's coming up now? Ghost in the Shell. Yeah, we actually ghost in the shell we haven't yet we actually finished ghost we finished cyberpunk last week and this week as you're hearing this episode we'll be

releasing our episode about ghost in the shell all three of us talking about ghost in the shell over there at patreon.com slash get played that's right and we'll also hopefully

have some more stuff over at patreon.com slash get played I'm in addition to our get animated content that is all pending. Yes. Very soon. You'll hear it here first.

We'll let you know. Yes. On the show is where you'll hear it. That's right. And just because he's in striking distance, Kevin, you got played. Thanks for being a huge help. You're a hero today, Kevin, but you 100% got played. It was only a matter of time.