Games Like Super Mario Bros
Quick Answer
The closest games to Super Mario Bros are Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Celeste and Rayman Legends. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Super Mario Bros, and what does not.
What Made Super Mario Bros Work
Super Mario Bros is the cleanest platformer ever designed — one jump, momentum you can feel, and levels that teach without a word of text. Anything recommended here has to have that same tight jump. Fancy mechanics are optional; feel is not.
Super Mario Bros. is Nintendo's 1985 platformer for the Famicom and NES, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Mario runs right through eight worlds of four levels each, with momentum-based running and variable-height jumping that still feel precise. World 1-1 is still used as a lesson in teaching through level design. People asking for similar games usually want 2D platforming with tight controls and clean, readable levels.
9 Games Like Super Mario Bros
1.Super Mario World
The best 2D Mario, with a spin jump and a cape on top.
Why it fits: Nintendo EAD's 1990 Super Famicom launch game (SNES in 1991) adds Yoshi, the cape and a branching world map with secret exits.
What is different: Bigger, slower-paced levels with secret exits to hunt, and a save file.
Where to play it: SNES, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Switch Online.
Games like this →2.Super Mario Bros 3
The most inventive of the NES entries and still remarkable.
Why it fits: Nintendo's 1988 Famicom game (NES in 1990) adds a world map, suits such as the Tanooki Suit, and far more varied level design.
What is different: A world map, power-up suits and many more level types; it is less about pure running.
Where to play it: NES and Nintendo Switch Online.
More about this game →3.Super Mario Bros Wonder
The modern one, and it reinvents itself every level.
Why it fits: Nintendo EPD's 2023 Switch platformer is the first new 2D Mario in over a decade, with Wonder Flowers that transform each level in unexpected ways.
What is different: Colourful surprises in every level and online players alongside you; much easier than the original.
Where to play it: Switch.
More about this game →4.Celeste
The best-feeling modern platformer, and it teaches like Mario does.
Why it fits: Maddy Makes Games' 2018 platformer, about climbing a mountain, is built from single-screen rooms, precise and generous with checkpoints, with an optional assist mode.
What is different: Precision climbing with a dash and a story about anxiety; no enemies to stomp.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →5.Rayman Legends
The most polished 2D platformer of the last fifteen years.
Why it fits: Ubisoft Montpellier's 2013 2D platformer, built with the UbiArt Framework, has music levels and four-player co-op.
What is different: Four-player co-op and music levels, and punching rather than jumping on enemies.
Where to play it: PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
More about this game →6.Shovel Knight
NES design sensibilities with modern fairness.
Why it fits: Yacht Club Games' 2014 Kickstarter-funded platformer is designed as an NES game with modern checkpoints and a shovel pogo attack.
What is different: A downward shovel strike instead of a jump attack, and checkpoints you can destroy for treasure.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, among others.
More about this game →7.Super Mario Maker 2
Every Mario level anyone has ever made, plus a good campaign.
Why it fits: Nintendo's 2019 Switch level editor lets you build and play Mario courses in several styles, including the original Super Mario Bros.
What is different: A level editor first; the quality of what you play depends on who made it.
Where to play it: Switch.
More about this game →8.Kirby's Adventure
NES platforming that is kinder but just as well made.
Why it fits: HAL Laboratory's 1993 NES platformer introduced Kirby's Copy Ability and is a gentler 2D platformer with the same polish.
What is different: Copy abilities and floating make it hard to fail, so there is little of Mario's tension.
Where to play it: NES and Nintendo Switch Online.
More about this game →9.Pizza Tower
Momentum platforming taken to its extreme.
Why it fits: Tour De Pizza's 2023 PC platformer is built on speed and momentum, with a cartoon style inspired by Wario Land.
What is different: Speed and combos, not careful jumps; the style is loud cartoon chaos.
Where to play it: PC and Switch.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World are the natural next steps from the same era. For a modern game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the easiest recommendation. Celeste is the pick if you want the precision turned up.
How We Picked These Games
Every pick is a 2D platformer with precise jumping, levels that teach without tutorials, and no filler. We included Nintendo's own follow-ups and the modern indie games that best capture the same feel.
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How These Picks Match Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros is catalogued here as a 2D platformer on the Nintendo Entertainment System. All nine picks share at least one of its genre tags — nine platformers and five arcade games among them.
Going by the "where to play it" notes, four can be played on PC, three can be played on a PlayStation, nine can be played on a Nintendo system and three can be played on an Xbox. Celeste, Shovel Knight and Pizza Tower are from small or self-published studios. Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Rayman Legends, Super Mario Maker 2 and Kirby's Adventure are, like Super Mario Bros, games a child and an adult can play together.
| Game | Genre | Shares with Super Mario Bros | Where to play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Mario World | Platformer, Family, Arcade | Platformer, Arcade | SNES, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Switch Online. |
| Super Mario Bros 3 | Platformer, Family, Arcade | Platformer, Arcade | NES and Nintendo Switch Online. |
| Super Mario Bros Wonder | Platformer, Family | Platformer | Switch. |
| Celeste | Platformer, Indie | Platformer | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. |
| Rayman Legends | Platformer, Family, Arcade | Platformer, Arcade | PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. |
| Shovel Knight | Platformer, Action, Indie | Platformer | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, among others. |
| Super Mario Maker 2 | Platformer, Family, Casual | Platformer | Switch. |
| Kirby's Adventure | Platformer, Family, Arcade | Platformer, Arcade | NES and Nintendo Switch Online. |
| Pizza Tower | Platformer, Arcade, Indie | Platformer, Arcade | PC and Switch. |
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