How many mainline Mario games are there?

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

Simple question, but I'm curious about what people think.

I've been thinking about this before (and it's probably been discussed on here), and this week I kept getting a video recommended to me by the YT algorithm about this very topic, so time to ask you folks.

Most people would call these the 'Super Mario' series, but in case anyone would consider a game that doesn't include the word 'Super' part of the main series (as I do) I'll call them the mainline Mario games for now. Here's my list:

1. Super Mario Bros. 1
2. Super Mario Bros. 2/The Lost Levels
3. Super Mario Bros. 3
4. Super Mario Bros. 2/USA
5. Super Mario Land
6. Super Mario World
7. Super Mario Land 2
8. Super Mario 64
9. Super Mario Sunshine
10. New Super Mario Bros.
11. Super Mario Galaxy
12. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
13. Super Mario Galaxy 2
14. Super Mario 3D Land
15. New Super Mario Bros. 2
16. New Super Mario Bros. U
17. Super Mario 3D World
18. Super Mario Odyssey
19. Bowser's Fury

The only thing I'm kind of torn on is whether DK/DKjr./Mario Bros. are mainline Mario games. They're not exactly, but they're not really spin-offs either. I consider the Donkey Kong series something that started with Donkey Kong Country, so it's not part of that either. Luigi U is also a bit ambigious. A lot of people would probably have a slightly different list.

For example, would you include games like Maker 1 and 2 and Super Mario Run like Nintendo does? Any remakes/ports that warrant a separate count (NSMBUDX like Nintendo does, or 64DS)? What about DK '94, Mario vs. Donkey Kong or even Mario Clash? Or do you have brain damage consider Yoshi's Island and/or Wario Land 1 a main Mario game?

[vnisanian2001]

Aug 29, 2021 14:13:07 GMT -5 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 said:

For example, would you include games like Maker 1 and 2 and Super Mario Run like Nintendo does? Any remakes/ports that warrant a separate count (NSMBUDX like Nintendo does, or 64DS)? What about DK '94, Mario vs. Donkey Kong or even Mario Clash? Or do you have brain damage consider Yoshi's Island and/or Wario Land 1 a main Mario game?

I would include all those into the series. Even Yoshi's Island. I also count DK/DK Jr. as part of the entire Mario series, because they spun-off Mario Bros. in 1983.

I like to think of DK/DK Jr. as a husband and wife, and Mario Bros. as their first child. A child that would also have children of its own.

By the way, very good question.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Recently saw a YT video on that, let me fetch it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XejJ6PzPtEw

I mostly agree with your list though I would split 2D and 3D in two lines.

Luigi U, Lost Levels and maybe Bowser's Fury feel more like expansion/level packs to me.

[dsparil]

I'd include Run since it's just a Mario game adapted to one button controls and the Makers maybe with an asterisk for the focus on user generated content. I'd probably include DK and MB at the top both numbered with 0s since they are direct predecessors but not really part of the series proper. Clash doesn't have those ties so I wouldn't include it.

I think this makes more sense as a tree than a list though. Not a super complicated one but one with just enough branching to include the secondary platformers. DK at the top with Jr, 3 and 94 going off of it. Then MB with Clash off of it. If I was making an actual visualization, I'd include some kind of visual separation of these. Then the rest would be the regular list with the Yoshi games stemming off of SMW and Wario from SML2. I'd also hang Luigi U off of NSMBU, but I wouldn't include ports as separate entries although I would include a short note if a port included substantial new content. I'm moderately tempted to make this now.

[Deleted]

The only thing I can find from Nintendo is this link:

mario.nintendo.com/history/

So assuming this is the correct source then mainline games would be:

Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario Land 2
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine
New Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Galaxy
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario 3D Land
New Super Mario Bros 2
New Super Mario Bros U
Super Mario 3D World
Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Run
Super Mario Odyssey
New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe
Super Mario Maker 2
Super Mario 3D All Stars
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury


It's missing Lost Levels. Perhaps that's because it's from an American perspective? Or perhaps it's just an incomplete list. All Stars and 64 DS are also bizarrely absent despite the inclusion of modern ports.

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

Nintendo's own list is definitely inconsistent. Either have all remakes, or none. And no SMB2J despite literally being called Super Mario Bros. 2 and being available in the west for the last three decades or so is also weird. But Nintendo is often weird about these kind of things.

dsparil, yeah of course a branching thing would make more sense, but that only makes it more interesting to me to see what should count as the core series. I remember crudely slapping something like that together in MS paint as a kid, but that was all games including spinoffs and that was in like the GCN era or something.