Super Mario Series
Article Archive
Early Works
- Donkey Kong
- Mario's heroic run begins here, in the classic arcade game as the circus worker goes off in pursuit of the giant ape all to rescue the hero's girlfriend, Paulie.
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- The tables are turned in this decent, if not exceptional, sequel featuring Donkey Kong's son on his own adventure to save his papa.
- Mario Bros.
- While Kong ventures off down his own path, Mario is joined by his brother Luigi for a sewer adventure of strange and weird proportions.
- Wrecking Crew
- Odd-job loving Mario becomes a construction worker for this decent little puzzle-platformer that showed where the company's ambitions were headed from the plumber.
Classic Console Era
- Super Mario Bros.
- Mario's world breaks wide open as he shifts from one-screen adventures to his full platforming potential in this formative first game in this "super" series.
- The Lost Levels
- Originally released only in Japan, this first pass at a sequel was more of a hard-mode kaizo hack of the original game without a lot of big improvements over the original title.
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- While the Japanese sequel stuck to the core of the original game, the U.S. got a very different game, a refresh of a Japan-only title, Doki Doki Panic, that played very differently from a "traditional" Mario game.
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Mario takes one more pass at the NES platforming series with a gamed that blends the best elements of the games that came before for a title thaat feels like a true masterwork for the console.
- Super Mario Land
- Translating the original game's mechanics down to the tiny Game Boy screen, this game brough Mario into yet another set of hands with remarkable results.
- Super Mario World
- Mario enters the realm of 16-bit consoles with, arguably, his biggest adventures yet as he ones again takes on Bowser and the Koopa kids, this time on Dinosaur Island
- Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins
- Mario returns to the Game Boy for a "World"-sized adventure on Nintendo's tiny handheld.