Growing up, my favorite video games ever were ones featuring Mario and his gang. Everything about the world of Mario is insanely fun, and the multitudes of characters and all of the different worlds they travel to makes every game feel exciting and new. Today, I am sharing with you all my top 5 personal favorite Mario games; see if there are any on this list you remember playing (or still enjoy playing today).

5. Super Mario Sunshine

I remember being a kid and just loving this game. Even now, this one sticks out to me as being one of the best video games I ever played, and I am quite sad that the disc stopped working ages ago, because if it hadn't, I'd still be playing it. This game has a great story-line, and is cool because it's set outside of the typical Mario universe.

In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario, Peach, Toadsworth, and five Toads go on vacation to Isle Delfino, where Shadow Mario, a villain that looks just like Mario except, y'know, he looks like a shadow, has vandalized the Isle and kidnapped Princess Peach. Mario, unfortunately, is blamed for the vandalism, and is jailed and forced to clean the isle using FLUDD (Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device, a.k.a a backpack-style water system that helps Mario clean up the slime that is all over the isle). The object of this game is to clean up Isle Delfino in order to release Shine Sprites so that light can be returned to the isle and to rescue Princess Peach from Shadow Mario (who is actually Bowser Jr. in disguise) -- and, you know, to help Mario proclaim his innocence, which is also very important. This was the first game to introduce Bowser Jr, Petey Piranha, Shine Sprites, all characters that are still used in Mario games today.

4. Super Mario 64

This game is a fan-favorite because, in the time that it was made, it was one of the few 3D-open-world platform games out there, and it really was quite revolutionary. I played the enhanced DS version, and it was one of my go-to DS games because I enjoyed the story and the fact that it was challenging, but not so much that I, a terrible gamer, couldn't get past the first 4 levels (as is the case with many video games).

The story of this game is that Mario is invited to Princess Peach's castle by Peach herself to share a cake she has made for him; however, when he arrives, Mario discovers that Bowser has imprisoned Peach and her servants in the castle, along with it's Power Stars. The castle is filled with various paintings that are portals to the other worlds where the stars are being kept, and the object of the game is to collect the stars from the portals so that you can unlock the various rooms in the castle and, eventually, find the room where Bowser has set up obstacle courses so that you can beat him and rescue Peach and everyone else in the castle. Within each portal is a small world that you are free to roam in without time limits, and you have to beat various enemies and get information from various friends in order to find the hidden stars. This game is a staple in the Mario world, and a definite staple from my childhood.

3. Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy is a visually stunning game and is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all time. This one, like Super Mario Sunshine, is set outside of the usual Mario universe, giving it an extra layer of fun.

In Super Mario Galaxy, Mario has been invited to the centennial Star Festival by Princess Peach. While she is away, Bowser (who else?) rips Peach's castle from its foundation and transports it to outer space. Mario, who was at the castle at the time of its heist, was magicked onto a small planet by one of Bowser's minions; there, he meets Rosalina and the Lumas (sounds like a band name); Rosalina has had all of her Power Stars, which power the Comet Observatory through which she travels, stolen by Bowser, and she sends Mario throughout space so that he can collect them and restore power to the Observatory. Mario, along with one of Rosalina's Lumas, travels to the various galaxies, their planetoids, and their other structures to find the Power Stars and, when the Observatory regains power, he has to fight Bowser to save Princess Peach (will she ever stop being captured?). Gravity plays a huge part in this game, as the various objects out in space have their own gravitational force and offer you different ways to walk on the planets and the ability to fall from one object onto another without dying (a great perk, if you ask me). Though this game is nearly ten years old, it still feels new to me every time I play it.

2. Mario Party 7

In large part, this game comes in at number 2 for me because of the nostalgia attached to it. When my siblings and I were little, the first gaming console we ever had was a Nintendo Gamecube, and Mario Party 7 was our favorite game to play on it. What makes this game awesome is the fact that the whole game really is one big party -- you can play as one of 12 characters from the Mario universe (9 time out of ten, I'm playing as Peach), and you can play with as few as one person against the CPU or with as many as 8 people to make it a true party.

The premise of this game is that the Mario gang are all going on a luxury cruise to various landmarks around the globe, but they haven't invited Bowser, so he decides to crash the party and cause trouble for the group. This game, like other Mario Party games, is set up as an interactive board game with mini-games mixed in after every player has completed their turn or when someone lands on a mini-game space. The main objective is to be the player or team that collects the most stars, and at the end of each game you are given a certain number of Cruise Mileage Points to spend at the Duty-Free Shop, where you can buy various knick-knacks or unlock special games, characters, and difficulty levels, among other things. You can play in either the Party Cruise, the Solo Cruise, or the Minigame Cruise, and there are a total of 6 different boards you can play on (1 of which is a Bowser-themed board you have to unlock). This game is really fun and has a definite child-like whimsy to it that makes it stand out to me as one of the best games. Since the party never stops in the Mario world, there is a Mario Party 10 game for the Wii U and a couple of Mario Party games for the 3DS that, I hear, are also very fun to play, so, if you have one of the newer Nintendo gaming systems, there is probably a Mario Party game for it.

1. Super Mario Bros.

Forever a sucker for classics, this list wouldn't have been complete is Super Mario Bros. weren't on it, and it wouldn't have been right if it were in any other spot than the one marked "number 1". This is an absolutely iconic game that everyone has at least heard of and that a lot of us have played on one system or another (the first console I played it on was the Nintendo Entertainment System, which gives it the "authentic" feel -- those 80s graphics, though).

In this game (like you don't already know), Mario simply runs through the Mushroom Kingdom and tries to avoid being killed by Bowser's minion/obstacles in order to save Princess Toadstool (who we now all know and love as Princess Peach). Along the way, you collect coins, hit special bricks that unveil coins or power-ups, such as mushrooms that make Mario grow in size. At the end of each level, there is a flagpole, and you have to reach it within a certain time limit, otherwise you lose a life; once you've lost 3 lives, the game is over. The game is set up so that Mario moved between different worlds and different stages within those worlds; there are 8 total worlds within the game, and each has 4 stages to complete. If you have never played this game before, it is one that you need to play, like, right now (I mean seriously, where have you been), if only for the novelty of it.

Mario is a true classic in the world of video games, and Nintendo never seems to stop coming up with new adventures for Mario and his friends to go on. The number of games in the Mario series is astounding, and it was very difficult for me to narrow the list down to only 5 (here is where I want to make an honorable mention to Mario Kart, which is another favorite of mine). Though I am no real gamer and am definitely not a video game expert, Mario holds a special place in my heart, and, out of all the Mario games I have played, these stand out to me as favorites.

Have a great week, and many thanks for reading!