You know the broad strokes of any Super Mario game by now. But within the series, Super Mario 3D World stands out for using a largely fixed camera and levels that are more semi-3D than the totally open spaces in Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario Galaxy. There are still many items to grab and secrets to uncover across the characteristically charming, brisk and inventive stages -- but everything you can find at a given moment is right in front of you, which encourages you to look closer and move from foreground to background. Co-op play can be chaotic, but 3D World owns that. You and up to three buddies share lives but are scored on your individual performance, with the leader receiving a literal crown at the end of each level.

It's been a terrible year for game developers, but an amazing year for games. There were some missteps along the way -- if you'd asked me to predict this list a year ago, I would've mentioned both Redfall and Starfield -- but overall it's been a packed year unusually low on disappointment. We've never tried to name a single title as "the Game of the Year." Instead, it's become a tradition to get the whole team together to talk about our individual favorites. So here are those games, presented in alphabetical order to avoid hurting any of our writers' feelings. Feel free to sound off about what your favorites are in the comments; there are no wrong answers. I rarely have time to finish games these days, but I devoured Alan Wake 2 in just a few weeks. For me and my limited gaming time, that felt miraculous. I'll admit, I'm a mark for Remedy Entertainment. I've been following its work since the first Max Payne arrived on PCs in 2001, right as I was gearing up to head to college and building my first desktop PC. Yah, I was one of the cool kids on campus..) Max Payne blew me away with its fluid slow-motion gunplay mechanics and immersive narrative. As a lifelong console gamer until then, it was a big step forward from something like Tomb Raider.

Rivalry is a vital element of fandom. Whether its punks v rockers, Star Trek v Star Wars or Marvel v DC, subcultures have always defined themselves by what they're not as much as what they are. Which is why I'm secretly delighted that Sega and Nintendo are apparently releasing their new Sonic and Mario games within days of each other this October. Both Super Mario Bros Wonder and Sega Superstars are nostalgic callbacks to the era of 2D platforming. Both games allow players to select from a range of classic characters and take on the rich, lushly colourful environments in cooperative modes, and both supplement the retro aesthetics with new abilities.

A rare, sealed copy of Nintendo's original'The Legend of Zelda' video game is up for auction and will sell for more than a princely sum when the auction ends later this month. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions is auctioning off the never-before-opened game, which has a current bid of $115,000. It is one of many sought-after vintage games on offer in Heritage's first video games auction, which runs until July 10. The copy of Zelda has a grade of 9.0 from Wata Games, a game grading company and is placed inside a plastic container. This particular version is a No Rev-A Round SOQ model, which was produced in late 1987, before being replaced by the Rev-A variant in 1988.

PC A gentle, board game style town building sim, which has you matching hexagonal landscape tiles to craft unique locations, laying on further puzzles and pleasures as you go. What we said: "This is game-playing at its most thoughtfully relaxing, with that rare chance, in video games, to be the architect of a world, rather than its conqueror." Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One Part jazz age murder mystery, part ontological odyssey to the birth of the universe, Genesis Noir is a point-and-click puzzler that operates more as a philosophical toy than a traditional game – but don't be put off by any preconceptions that idea might engender. What we said: "The game sizzles with invention, and its hyperactive flits from the cosmic to the prosaic combine to produce an astonishing, memorable and novel piece of work." Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X Agent 47 returns for a climactic series of assassination missions, taking in Berlin warehouse raves, Argentinian wineries and vast English mansions.

Benjamin Frisch: OK, let's maybe start with some quick background: What's your relationship to the Mario universe? I've played pretty much all of the mainline Mario games, with the exception of 3D World, which I was very excited to finally get to play, since I sat out on Nintendo's previous console, the Wii U. Karen Han: I've always lived in a Nintendo household, but I admittedly haven't played that many of the big Mario games--most of my Mario experience comes from the Mario Party and Mario Kart series, though I feel like no one who was around when Super Mario Sunshine came out [in 2002 on GameCube] could escape that game completely. I also played through Super Mario Odyssey when it came out on the Switch, but I'd say that's the only Mario game I've ever actually completed. Evan Urquhart: The first video game I really got into as a child was Super Mario Bros. 3, and one of my all-time favorite games is Super Mario 64, so I have a deep connection to this series. I've played most of the 2D and 3D games, but like others, I skipped the Wii U entry, so I'm new to 3D World.

In the Guide's weekly Solved! Over the course of almost three decades playing video games and 15 years writing about them, I have seen a few recurrent questions that just refuse to die. Are video games art? (Yes, when they want to be.) Is Sonic better than Mario? Does playing games turn you into a sociopathic murderer?

To mark the epic 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo has announced a handful of exciting Super Mario video games, including Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Released on September 18, the new Nintendo Switch video game includes optimised versions of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy, making it a great nostalgic gift for Mario fans this Christmas. It also includes the soundtracks for the three games. The remastered collection of Mario games is currently Amazon's bestselling Nintendo Switch video game and is the third bestselling title for 2020. Released in limited supply, Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be available through March 31, 2021.

This console generation is on its way out, but Andrew Tarantola believes one of the PS4's best games ever is about to appear. That game, of course, is Ghost of Tsushima, which takes place during the Mongol invasion of Tsushima Island in the 13th century. It's not breaking a lot of new ground gameplay-wise, though, with elements cribbed from other third-person Sony games you've played before, like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Uncharted, as well as third-party titles like Batman Arkham and Sekiro. Still, he said that "Sucker Punch has managed to seamlessly meld them together, hone and polish the overarching gameplay experience into something truly phenomenal," so I guess there's one good reason to give your PS4 another go before it's replaced this fall. Just as we were getting used to the Lego Super Mario kits, the company has officially unveiled a brick-based replica of an entire Nintendo Entertainment System (which just so happened to turn 37 today).

The first GameCube Mario was also Mario's grand return to 3D adventuring, after Super Mario 64 blew the doors open for the genre. As a result, Super Mario Sunshine is packed with ideas. Instead of Mario's traditional powerups like flowers and stars, which gave him additional new powers, Sunshine's water jetpack did something revolutionary. It enhanced Mario's core abilities of jumping. It dared to redefine what regular Mario felt like.