The Mario series has been consistently great since its inception and has maintained (and in some cases, improved) from console to console. The NES/SNES classics built the foundation, the N64 launched with arguably the series’ best game, the Gamecube era more or less continued what worked without ruining it, and both Mario Galaxy titles have proven that Mario is still relevant in the current console generation. There’s a lot of pride in that: you can’t take longevity for granted here. Consider this: Sonic the Hedgehog has been a werewolf. A werewolf.

Give props, folks; you can’t take this kind of production for granted. Mario has had an unprecedented streak of success and continues to hit new peaks. That’s unheard of considering the years that Mario has been under those overalls. I mean, It’s not like Conker is still having bad fur days.