First mario game was Super Mario World for the GBA. In my opinion I think it's better than the snes version as u couldn't play as mario and luigi at the same time in one player mode plus in the snes luigi is only a color swap of mario and neither of the bros had voices for example in the GBA version, mario/luigi would say "oh mama mia" when they lost a life or "just what I needed" when getting a power up like a mushroom. It was just so fun and funny! Remember those good old days in 2005 playing on my old red GBA when I was only a 4 year old preschoolEr I could thank my uncle for introducing me to the world of video games, as this game is also my 1st owned video game as well. And what's so sad now is that my uncle took it away for actually getting bored by 3 games I only had. 1 really sucks do which was barbie and overtall super mario world being my favorite of all time even today! Never actually beat the game due to my young age xD Basically all my favorite mario games were released in the 2000s decade and a few from the 90s Yep my uncle is a fanboy of the Super Mario Series and we both grew up playing mario games since forever cuz of this game, Yoshi became one of my most favorite Mario characters alongside Mario and Luigi
But the 1st mario game I brought without being given to me was New Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS released in 2006
Just love the gameplay and the epic music! It brings a fun adventure to save the Princess Peach and the multiplayers functions were awesome with some minigames and Mario vs Luigi Mode