All of my video game playing time as of late has been spent playing some version of a 2D Mario game. The latest Super Mario Bros. incarnation on the Nintendo Wii is to blame. Even though the majority of my time has been spent playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, my recent experiences revisiting the older gamers in the series has given me the clearest idea of the brilliance of all the games in the series and, more specifically, what was done right and wrong with each game.

10. Super Mario Bros. 2 (US version: NES): I did not like this game. Way too slow and it felt nothing like a Super Mario game. I like Birdo as a character and the unique abilities the 4 chooseable characters have was clever. But pulling radishes from the ground was not fun for me.

9. Super Mario Land (Game Boy): This was a fun way to play a Super Mario game on-the-go, but there is nothing particularly memorable or revolutionary about the game play. The two big contributions are Mario using vehicles (which is odd for a game series built on the nuance of jumping from platform to platform) and a fireball that bounces around the screen instead of just disappearing.

8. Super Mario Bros. 2 (JPN version: Famicom): This game is SADISTIC in its difficulty. I feels like Nintendo just wanted to mess with hardcore Super Mario players. It opens with tricking players to grab a poisonous mushroom that kills you. 'Nuff said.

7. Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy): This sequel made huge leaps in the graphical department. To make it look better, characters had to be bigger resulting in a far smaller portion of a level being visible on screen. The best thing about Mario Land 2 is the introduction of Wario. Levels looked great and the weird jelly stuff you can get stuck in was interesting. The Rabbit Ears power up was a pointless and too-easy-to-use tweak on the Raccoon Tail from Mario 3.

6. New Super Mario Bros. DS: The DS 'NEW' addition to the series took a lot of the right steps to finding the elements that make a great Super Mario game. Unfortunately it wasn't able to bring a sense of polish that would make it a Super Mario classic. As with the Super Mario Land 2, it felt like the level layout suffered from having to make the characters big enough to look attractive. I like how all the power ups were built around the core jumping and platforming game play. But the levels feel bland and forgettable. Using the touch screen for an emergency power up was distracting and counter-intuitive. I also don't like that to get many of the hidden coins, you have to use a power up that is not included in the level (like the Micro Mario mushroom).

5. Super Mario World (SNES): The game had a lot of great things and a lot of bad things going for it. The good levels were great (like the fortresses, haunted houses, and castles) but some of the regular levels were forgettable and/or confusing. Yoshi was fun and created some variety. The weird choice of having koopas pop out of their shell when you stomp on them was a very odd game play change that disrupts the standard Super Mario game flow. The flying cape technique is non-intuitive and gives players the unfair advantage to just fly through levels. There are also way too many buttons to use, confusing game play.

6. Donkey Kong (Game Boy): Although not traditionally considered a Super Mario game, I think it deserves to be here because Donkey Kong showed how to give players a variety of intuitive moves without the need for extra buttons. In many ways, what Super Mario World did wrong, the Game Boy Donkey Kong did right. In the Game Boy Donkey Kong you can back flip and time your jumps perfectly to get an extra boost. This awesome move set made many of the Donkey Kong levels too easy, but showed how to make a simple yet nuanced 2D Mario gaming experience.

4. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES): I struggle putting this here because, as much as I love this game, it's not a Super Mario game. I love the unique way Yoshi floats a bit when he jumps. I also think the throwing egg technique was cleverly implemented and had a sense of intuition that was not prevalent in Mario World's Cape power up. Level designs were awesome but a little too long. As a whole SMW2: Yoshi's Island was a brilliant 2D platform game (one of the best) but was a bit too methodical and slow-paced to be regarded as a true Super Mario game.

3. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES): This game got so many things right. My main problem with it is it had too many ideas. It could have benefited from a little editing. We didn't really need Raccoon Tail AND Tanooki power up. The Hammer Bros. power up a waste. And the game often got absurdly hard (those air ships are NASTY!). But it did so many other things right: the level maps, distinct over world themes, Koopa Kids... The raccoon tail power-up was a fine example of a simple but clever way to introduce flight to a game based on jumping. Three things that bummed me out were that some levels were way too short, that fortress boss was pointless, and I didn't feel that the Koopa Kids were used to their fullest potential.

2. Super Mario Bros. (NES): Perfect level design. Tons of variety. A level of nuance to game play that not only was ahead of its competitors but still feels rich over 20 years after it was made. Call me crazy, but I also think that graphically Super Mario Bros. looks better today than Super Mario Bros. 3.

1. New Super Mario Bros. Wii: This game takes all of the best elements from previous games and refines them. By choosing to use the Wii Remote like an old NES controller, Nintendo forced themselves to make a play control approach that was easy to understand but hid great depths of game play. Every power up adds something new to the gaming experience. Level designs are memorable and carefully hint at hidden coins without giving away too much. Challenge felt just right. It's tough but not as merciless as Super Mario Bros. 1, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Mario World sometimes become. The one flaw is the generic graphics.