Best Mario Game Reveals, Ranked

Highlights

• Mario, the iconic plumber, has appeared in various games on different platforms, from arcade to phones.
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii introduced multiplayer, and Super Mario Maker allowed fans to create their own levels.
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle are notable RPG spinoffs, while Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Odyssey showcased 3D platforming.

Who would have guessed that a plumber in red overalls would be an iconic character over thirty years later? Mario, as Jump Man, fought a big ape, Donkey Kong, and somehow he became the cornerstone of Nintendo’s enterprises. Since his arcade debut, Mario has graced every Nintendo platform under the sun.

There are even Mario games on phones now so that Mario as a character can never leave the side of fans. There have been many big reveals in the franchise over the years from Space World to E3. These announcements rank up there as some of the wildest and they include everything from main entries to spinoffs.

6 New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Mario Goes Full Multiplayer

New Super Mario Bros. was a big win for the 2D Mario fans out there in 2006 for the DS. It had been a long time since a 2D game came out and it received a good amount of positive press. That New concept was used for one of the biggest jumps in Mario’s history: multiplayer.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii was demoed live onstage with four players at Nintendo’s E3 2009 press conference. It was released for the Wii that following Fall. It was a big deal because no mainline Mario game had simultaneous multiplayer at that point. Players could mostly switch off between rounds in older games like Super Mario World. Since then, many Mario games have featured co-op.

5 Super Mario Maker

Creating Your Own Mushroom Kingdom

Super Mario Maker was another big leap forward because it gave fans the ability to craft their own levels. It was first unveiled at E3 2014 as Mario Maker which was then changed to Super Mario Maker in 2015 when it also launched on Wii U. The sharing aspects are what really attracted fans and the Wii U interface made customization a breeze.

One of the coolest aspects was using Amiibo to play as characters like Marth from Fire Emblem in levels. The game got a 3DS port followed by a sequel on the Switch and that has been it as of 2019. Right now, fans are hoping to see other franchises get this treatment like The Legend of Zelda or Metroid.

4 Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Mario Gets His First RPG

By 1995, Mario had starred in a variety of game genres including puzzle games, racers, platformers, and so on. He had yet to star in an RPG and that changed with the unveiling of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in 1995. It was during the V-Jump Festival in Japan which was not available in North America at the time but there has seen been an upload of the promotional VHS online for those curious. There is some interesting beta footage of Mario’s first RPG.

North American fans would get the news in the October 1995 issue of Nintendo Power which had a whole spread on the game although the cover story was about Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. The RPG spinoff would release on the SNES a year later and it changed the franchise forever.

3 Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

A Bizarre Crossover No One Saw Coming

While wild in 1996, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is not the oddest RPG spinoff to date. That honor would go to Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle which was announced during Ubisoft’s E3 2017 event. It was a tactical RPG more in line with X-Com than Final Fantasy. Rumors were swirling about the idea of a crossover between the two franchises in late 2016 but most chalked it up to bad intel. Oh how wrong the nay-sayers were.

The best part about the announcement was Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo and Yves Guillemot of Ubisoft posing with replica guns from the game. It was too precious for words and it was easy to tell how excited the pair were to be working with each other. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was a success which led to a Switch sequel in 2022.

2 Super Mario 64

The Standard For 3D Platformers Arrives

The N64 was a revolution on its own as an early supporter of 3D gaming. Of course, the PS1 and Sega Saturn beat it to launch, but Nintendo had a killer app in 1996 that no one else could compete with: Super Mario 64. It was made available to play at Nintendo’s Space World even in 1995 and it got an even bigger presence at E3 1996.

The non-press world would get a taste of Super Mario 64 and the N64 in general in the January 1996 issue of Nintendo Power. Kiosks around the nation featured Super Mario 64 at Targets, K-Marts, Walmarts, and so on. It was a big attractor for kids. It standardized 3D platforming for generations to come even though by today’s standards it can be clunky.

1 Super Mario Odyssey

Mario’s First Big Adventure On The Nintendo Switch

Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii was the last 3D game in the series for seven years. Both Super Mario Galaxy games were big deals on the Wii. There were plenty of Mario games to follow but they didn’t have that same 3D quality. Things changed at the reveal event for the Switch in January 2017. That’s when Super Mario Odyssey was announced. Here’s the clever thing Nintendo did though.

While they showcased plenty of weird environments in that reveal trailer from cities to jungles, they did not show Mario using Cappy. That was saved for E3 2017 and that trailer really made fans pop off. It is the wildest Mario has ever been in his games from turning into a Goomba to possessing a real human. Plus the theme song “Jump Up, Super Star” was beyond catchy. 2017 was a banger year for Nintendo which included this game’s launch alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, showcasing the competitive staying power of Nintendo’s handheld console in the modern market.