I'd agree with it being the most important game of all time (at least, one of them). It can be tied to the important fact of saving video games from the crash. And would video games be as big as they are today if not for that?
It also was one of the first games, iirc, to actually have a larger scope in focus. As in, the level design was so much bigger and deeper and you went on an "adventure" to save the princess. Most games up until that point were score-based (Galaga, Space Invaders, Pacman, Pong, etc.) and very one-dimensional.
So absolutely, SMB was a predecessor to thousands of amazing games that we've played since. It paved the way. But the GOAT? That's more subjective, but I'll say probably one of the top 50.
It'll be awhile before I figure out how to do one of these. :P
