Super Mario Bros. invented 2-D platforming as we know it.  It started it all and revolutionized gaming forever.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) was an awesome game with many new features, but in a way more of a diagonal step (just a little forward, and a little sideways) from Super Mario Bros.  While still an amazing game, people remember it more as an experiment on the side or "not a real Mario game" or something, because it wasn't the gigantic revolution people expected after SMB1.  It was still incredible, but people expected more.

Super Mario Bros. 3 was a magical heaven, mastering 2-D platforming.  It added a ridiculous amount of powerups, and a ridiculous amount of completely different worlds and level designs, and even introduced some minor multiplayer parts.  And it introduced flight.

Super Mario World took all the magic from SMB3 and improved on it.  It added crazy new things like Yoshi, switch palaces, Mode 7 magic, multiple exits per level and thus multiple routes through the map, the Star Road, Special World, ghost houses, the ability to turn into a balloon, but at the expense of removing several items (the music box, the hammer, the warp whistle), several powerups (frog suit, racoon suit, tanooki suit, Hammer Bros. suit, Kuribo's shoe, P-Wings), the multiplayer part, the airships, the ability to fight the sun, the sky tower, giant world, pipe world, etc.  Super Mario World was many steps forward, many steps backward, many steps sideways, and just all over the place, and at least as insane as SMB3.

Super Mario 64 invented 3-D platforming as we know it.  It started it all and revolutionized gaming forever.

Super Mario Sunshine was an awesome game with many new features, but in a way more of a diagonal step (just a little forward, and a little sideways) from Super Mario 64.  While still an amazing game, people remember it more as an experiment on the side or "not a real Mario game" or something, because it wasn't the gigantic revolution people expected after SM64.  It was still incredible, but people expected more.

Super Mario Galaxy was a magical heaven, mastering 3-D platforming.  It added a ridiculous amount of powerups, and a ridiculous amount of completely different worlds and level designs, and even introduced some minor multiplayer parts.  And it introduced spherical worlds (and countless other shapes) with multiple centers of gravity per level.

The next Mario game will be the Super Mario World of 3-D platforming.

Heh, that was pretty good. Let's hope it'll be.

Interesting. Think it will be on the Wii?

The major problem here is SMB2 wasn't a Mario game because they just used Mario sprites in another platformer. While Mario Sunshine was very much a Mario Game if you played through the whole thing.

Other than that I see where you are going but and I agree but I take a different path to get to that conclusion.

I hope like SMW and SM64 they allow you to do the levels more openly, than Galaxy. You know more exploration and what not.

I understand your theory, but I wonder the next Mario is for Wii?

Where do you put Yoshi's Island on that list? Anyway, let's hope you're right. Mario could use some awesome crazy.

Considering how long the Wii should last, I think it could be on the Wii in 3-5 years, towards the end of the generation, kinda like SMB3 or Yoshi's Island, which were released really late the last 2 times Nintendo's consoles were really long-lasting market leaders.

It really hurt comparing SMB2 to Sunshine like that.  I think the games were great and people are just haters, but tried to rationalize their flawed hating.  If you're referring to other flaws, I'd love to hear them.

I'd say SMB2 was definitely a Mario game, but was released early in Japan with different characters as Doki Doki Panic.  Miyamoto made both games either way, but didn't decide to make it Mario until it was released worldwide.  He's always switching up characters and design at the last minute like that.

Yoshi's Island was released after Super Mario World, and I'm just not crazy enough to try to predict 2 Mario games in advance to force a comparison.

Nice, let's hope you're right.

I thought sunshine was excellent. The extra speed and level design made it probably my 2nd favourite after SMW. I ain't decided on SMG yet, I loved the game just not sure where it would go on my list.

On Topic: A 3-D game like SMW would be a first day buy.