Super Mario (series)

The original logo of the Mario series.

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, one of the latest Mario Kart Arcade installments. The Mario Kart series has become an important staple of the entire franchise.

The Mario series is one of the most successful franchises of the Japanese video game company, Nintendo, and in the video game industry in general.

Created by Shingeru Miyamoto (宮本 茂) with the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, the Mario series is probably the most recognizable and well-known lineups of games on the market. Mario, the namesake for the series, has become easily the most iconic gaming character ever as the heroic plumber and guardian of the Mushroom Kingdom. Other notable characters include his faithful brother Luigi, the trouble-magnet Princess Toadstool, the fiery main villain Bowser, as well as countless memorable characters. Spanning across the arcade and gaming consoles since the '80s, it's had a huge impact on the video game community as well as the general society itself.

With over 200 games and counting, the Mario series is so huge that it actually consists of multiple sub-franchises, such as RPG games, 3D platformers, various sports games, and of course, the popular Mario Kart series!

Games

Below is a brief summary and list of the countless games emulating from the Mario series, starting off with the center of this wiki, the Mario Kart series. Please note that this page will be under construction for some time.

Mario Kart Series

For more information on the series, click here.

Quite possibly the most popular spin-off series, Mario Kart features the characters from the Mushroom Kingdom (and sometimes from other games) in intense go-kart races around various locations. The series is known for being hectic in both single player and multi player thanks to its iconic Items that aid some racers- and destroy others. It was first brought into the limelight in 1992 for the SNES, and since then its had a new game on every major console. In addition to these, the Mario Kart franchise also has spinoff games of its OWN... that should demonstrate just how huge it is.

Main Series

Mario with the returning Feather Item in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

• Super Mario Kart (1992)
• Mario Kart 64 (1996)
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001)
• Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)
• Mario Kart DS (2005)
• Mario Kart Wii (2008)
• Mario Kart 7 (2011)
• Mario Kart 8 (2014) (2015 for some DLC)
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) (2018 for some DLC)

Spin-off Series

• Mario Kart 64 (slot machine) (1997)
• Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005)
• Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007)
• Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (2013)
• Mario Kart Arcade GP VR (2017)
• Mario Kart Tour (2019)

Arcade and LCD Origin Series

Mario's first appearance was on arcade games, namely Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. In the first one, Mario (then known as Jumpman) had to rescue a damsel (Pauline, not Peach) from the ferocious Donkey Kong. Mario Bros. brought about Luigi's intro into the gaming world as they fought off countless Crabs and Koopas. The Game & Watch handhelds brought Mario to the world of portability.

• Donkey Kong (1981)
• Mario Bros. (1983)
• Game & Watch handhelds. (1980)

Super Mario Series

Often known as the main component of the Mario franchise, the Super Mario series features many games in which Mario and a few of his friends have to rescue someone, usually Peach, from a villain, usually Bowser. The first game, Super Mario Bros., started it all as a 2D side-scroller, and since then, the series has evolved to incorporate 3D worlds, enhanced graphics, and a gameplay that has just the right touch of sameness to the other titles but also ingenuity.

Super Mario Odyssey, which was released today!! (page created 10/27/17...)

• Super Mario Bros. (1985)
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1987)
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1989)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993)
• Super Mario World (1990)
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
• Super Mario Land (1989)
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)
• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)
• Vs. Super Mario Bros. (1986)
• Super Mario Advance (2001)
• Super Mario 64 (1996)
• Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
• Super Mario 64 DS (2004)
• New Super Mario Bros. (2006)
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
• New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012)
• New Super Mario Bros. U (2012)
• New Super Luigi U (2013)
• Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010)
• Super Mario 3D Land (2011)
• Super Mario 3D World (2013)
• Super Mario Run (2016)
• Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

Paper Mario Series

A screenshot of Paper Mario Sticker Star with Mario battling some Shiny Gooombas.

Taking from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, the Paper Mario series sets Mario & his friends in a flat, paper existence within a 3D world. These games were praised for their RPG element and the turn-battling mode in which players fought.

• Paper Mario (2000)
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
• Super Paper Mario (2007)
• Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012)
• Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016)

Mario & Luigi Series

This series of exclusively handheld games teams up the Mario Bros. at once (and sometimes with their baby counterparts) against Bowser, Princess Shroob, and a host of enemies that are battled in a similar fashion to Paper Mario.

A screenshot of Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003)
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009)
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013)
• Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015-2016)
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions (2017)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (2019)

Mario Party Series

One of the biggest series of Mario games, the Mario Party series started out on the Nintendo 64 and quickly became a fan favorite for its addictive board-game style gameplay and its slew of minigames. Many games were released, and some consoles even had 2, 3, sometimes 4 separate games for them! The Mario Party series is also so gigantic that is contains its own handheld subseries.

Too bad for Luigi... (from Mario Party DS).

Main Series

• Mario Party (1998)
• Mario Party 2 (1999)
• Mario Party 3 (2000)
• Mario Party 4 (2002)
• Mario Party 5 (2003)
• Mario Party 6 (2004)
• Mario Party 7 (2005)
• Mario Party 8 (2007)
• Mario Party 9 (2012)
• Mario Party 10 (2015)
• Super Mario Party (2018)

Spin-off Series

• Mario Party-e (2003)
• Mario Party Advance (2005)
• Mario Party DS (2007)
• Mario Party: Island Tour (2013)
• Mario Party: Star Rush (2016)
• Mario Party: The Top 100 (2017)

Mario Tennis Series

Another well-received spin-off series is Mario Tennis, in which the Mario characters pick up their rackets to go play some tennis, obviously. Most of the games had basic tournament cups and exhibition matches, but a few, such as Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color and Mario Tennis: Power Tour featured an RPG-style game as well.

Gameplay from Mario Tennis: Power Tour.

• Mario's Tennis (1995)
• Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64) (2000)
• Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) (2001)
• Mario Power Tennis (2004) (2009 for new play control)
• Mario Tennis: Power Tour (2005)
• Mario Tennis Open (2012)
• Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (2015)
• Mario Tennis Aces (2018)

Mario Golf Series

Mario and all his pals(plus enemies... go full-on country club by also picking up in the Mario Golf series. At first, this internal franchise started out with unappealing, low-graphic games that only featured Mario as the main character, but it picked up speed with NES Open Golf Tournament and Mario Golf for the N64 to become a pretty respectable series.

Mario using a driver in Mario Golf: World Tour.

• Golf (Nintendo Entertainment System) (1984)
• Golf (Famicom Disk System) (1987)
• Golf (Game Boy) (1984)
• NES Open Tournament Golf (1987)
• Mobile Golf (2001)
• Mario Golf (Nintendo 64) (1999)
• Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) (1999)
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (2003)
• Mario Golf: Advance Tour (2004)
• Mario Golf: World Tour (2014)

Mario Strikers Series

What the Mario Strikers series doesn't have in size, it makes up for intensity. This game pits the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom up against each other in soccer matches up epic proportions. It's a bit underrated in America, but in other parts of the world where soccer (or "futbal") is more prominent, it's a real hoot.

• Super Mario Strikers (2005)
• Mario Strikers Charged (2007)

Mario Baseball Series

The game of baseball also makes an appearance in the Mario series. Although it's list of games isn't nearly as long as other spinoffs, but it's still accepted as a pretty good subseries for its power-up abilities and fun game-play.

• Mario Superstar Baseball (2005)
• Super Mario Sluggers (2008)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong Series

A callback to the original feud between Mario and DK from the arcades, the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series was started on the Game Boy Advance and has since been on exclusively portable systems. However, the latest installment, Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge, will soon be released for the 3DS AND Wii U.

• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (2006)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (2009)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (2010)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (2013)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars (2015)
• Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (2016)

Dr. Mario Series

One of the lesser prominent but still fun Mario series is Dr. Mario, in which Dr. Mario and Nurse Peach try to solve puzzles in a Tetris-like franchise. For the "Year of Luigi" in 2013, Luigi temporarily commandeered the series with his Dr. Luigi.

Dr. Luigi takes over Dr. Mario!!!

• Dr. Mario (1990)
• VS. Dr. Mario (1990)
• Dr. Mario 64 (2001)
• Dr. Mario Online Rx (2008)
• Dr. Mario Express (2009)
• Dr. Luigi (2013)
• Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (2015)

Super Smash Bros. Series

Although not technically in the Mario series, the Super Smash Bros. franchise brings together the main cast of the Mushroom Kingdom and other Nintendo characters in a brutal and sometimes bloody fight to the death. Starting off on the Nintendo 64, the Smash Bros. series has gained widespread critical acclaim for its gameplay and togetherness of the franchises. It's also worth noting that this series hold two of the four few games in which Mario is rated EVERYONE 10+ (Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U), as well as holding the only T rated game starring Mario other Mario characters, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

An intense Smash Bros. fight...

• Super Smash Bros. (1999)
• Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014)
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

Mario & Sonic Series

Sonic, who was also featured in the latest 3 Super Smash Bros. games, often takes on Mario in the Olympic Games. Officially licensed, this series pits the two iconic video game characters and their friends up against each other in both the summer and winter games.

• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007)
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009)
• Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011)
• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013)
• Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016)

Yoshi's Island Series

This 2D side-scroller was first introduced as a mere branch of the Super Mario series, but because of its popularity, it grew into its own series in which Yoshi and Baby Mario set out to defeat Baby Bowser by hovering and throwing their eggs throughout beautiful worlds.

Box art of the SNES game.

• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
• Yoshi's Island DS (2006)
• Yoshi's New Island (2014)
• Yoshi Touch & Go (2005)
• Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (2002)
• Yoshi's Safari (1993)
• Yoshi's Story (1997)
• Yoshi's Topsy-Turvy (2004)
• Yoshi's Wooly World (2015)
• Poochy and Yoshi's Wooly World (2017)
• Yoshi (Nintendo Switch) (2019)

Luigi's Mansion Series

One of the most criminally underrated franchises is the Luigi's Mansion series, in which the easily frightened Luigi is tasked with clearing out an onslaught of ghosts from his mansion. There's only been two releases from the series, and that's probably what it owes its non-popularity too.

• Luigi's Mansion (2001-2002)
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2013)
• Luigi's Mansion 3DS (2018)

Donkey Kong Series

Originally starting out on the arcade cabinets, Donkey Kong died out when the failure of a game Donkey Kong 3 was met with negative reception. Thankfully, the team at Rareware (now Rare Ltd.) revived the series with the critically acclaimed spin-off of a spin-off Donkey Kong Country which featured outstanding gameplay, new characters, and beautiful graphics for the time. Rareware also created Diddy Kong Racing, and Donkey Kong 64, two great games for the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, Rareware was bought out by Microsoft, and the newer Donkey Kong Country games just weren't as good as the original...

The lineup fro Diddy Kong Racing, including Diddy Kong, Conker, Banjo, Tiptup, and a few others.

• Donkey Kong (1981)
• Donkey Kong Jr. (1982)
• Donkey Kong 3 (1983)
• Donkey Kong Circus (1984)
• Donkey Kong Country (1994)
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (1995)
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (1996)
• Donkey Kong 64 (1999)
• Diddy Kong Racing (1997)
• Diddy Kong Racing DS (2007)
• DK: King of Swing (2005)
• DK: Jungle Climber (2007)
• Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (2005) (2009 for new play control)
• Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (2008)
• Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010)
• Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (2013)
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014)
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Nintendo Switch) (2018)

Wario series

Mario's obese rival Wario has his own series as well it started with his debut in Super Mario Land 2 and he then starred in Super Mario Land 3 but after that, the Wario series continued on its own. It has received a huge amount of games.

• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)
• Virtual Boy Wario Land (1995)
• Wario Land II (1998)
• Wario Land 3 (2000)
• Wario Land 4 (2001)
• Wario Land: Shake It! (2008)
• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (2003)
• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! (2003-2004)
• WarioWare: Twisted! (2004-2005)
• WarioWare: Touched! (2004-2005)
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves (2006-2007)
• WarioWare: D.I.Y. (2009-2010)
• WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase (2009-2010)
• Game & Wario (2013)
• Bird & Beans (2008-2009)
• Paper Airplane Chase (2008-2009)
• WarioWare: Snapped! (2008-2009)
• Mario & Wario (1993)
• Wario's Woods (1994-1995)
• Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (1994)
• Wario World (2003)
• Wario: Master of Disguise (2007)
• WarioWare: Gold (2018)

Mario Paint Series

A little different then the other Mario series, the Mario Paint franchise is an older set of games from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64. It was basically a painting series featuring Mario characters that brought out the creativity in players to draw and... well, create. The Mario Paint series DID however help inspire a relevantly recent game, Super Mario Maker, so much so that the Gnat Attack fly-swatting minigames from Mario Paint was included with it.

• Mario Paint (1992)
• Mario Paint 64 (2000)
• Mario Artist (2000)

Other Games

The list below is a few Mario games that don't really have their own spinoff series but are nonetheless still great assets to the franchise nonetheless.

Wrecking Crew '98 box art.

• Mario Clash (1995)
• Mario's Picos (1995)
• Mario Sports Mix (2010)
• Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (2006)
• Super Mario Maker (2015)
• Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (2016)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2014-2015)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo 3DS) (2018)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo Switch) (2018)
• Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (2017) (2018 for some DLC)
• Wrecking Crew (1985)
• Wrecking Crew '98 (1998)
• Super Princess Peach (2005)

Other Media

TBA.

Trivia!

The Mario Circuit stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

• In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a fighting map known as "Mario Circuit" was featured in the game, seeming to be designed off of a Luigi Circuit course.
• Also, in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, a course titled "Rainbow Road" (based on the Mario Kart 7 version) could be played on.
• Super Mario Galaxy introduced Rosalina into the series, but Mario Kart Wii made her playable.
  • Similarly, Dry Bowser was inducted into the series in New Super Mario Bros., but Mario Kart Wii made his playable.

Gallery

宮本 茂, the creator of Mario. Arigatou!

Mario, Toad, Yoshi, and Peach, just a few of the many great characters from the Mario series.

Daisy doing a Crystal Smash in Mario Strikers Charged.

A pause menu from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, referring to Petey Piranha.

The Game Boy Advance original of Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

More gameplay from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.