11. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Super Mario Bros. was a game about jumping on turtles, growing large, and smashing bricks. Then Super Mario Bros. 2 came out and had us ripping up extradimensional grass to feed a gambling addiction, assailing trans elders with their own eggs, and force-feeding turnips to a despotic toad to liberate a subconscious dream land. Whiplash much?

Nope! I was a child, and did not think to question this massive change in gameplay, tone, or plot. (Wish I could be so mellow today!) I just knew that Super Mario Bros. 2 was hard to find in stores, fun as heck, and had graphics so good that I sincerely believed it looked like a damn cartoon.

Of course, everyone now knows that Nintendo pulled a switcheroo, withholding the real Super Mario Bros. 2—a sort of high-difficulty level pack for the original adventure—and reskinning the Famicom Disk System game Doki Doki Panic with Mario characters for the west.

While a few folks will always kvetch about not getting Super Mario Bros.’ “true” sequel, truth is, the weird, trippy adventure we ended up with is a fantastic 2D platformer full of curious, colorful sights and pleasing discoveries. It’s got a good difficulty curve and is just an all around pleasant time. A lot of its innovations even persist in the series today, including Peach’s float ability, Birdetta, bob-ombs, and the lovably weird shy guys, so I think history is on its side.

I miss the days, before everything went big-budget triple-A and games got “too big to fail,” when major game companies felt free to develop “weird sequels.” — Alexandra Hall

Read More: America Got The Better Super Mario Bros. 2