Needless to say,Mariois the face of Nintendo. The mustachioed maestro rose from his humble beginnings as Jumpman to become one of the most recognizable pop culture icons in the world. Hisgoomba-stomping,princess-rescuing feats are nothing short of legend.
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He’s the star of some of the most celebrated platformers ever made and hastangled with heavyweight rivals such as Sonic the Hedgehog.Interestingly, though, Nintendo didn’t develop every Mario title. Here are ten games (obscure and otherwise) starring the hero that the Big N did not create themselves.
Updated April 25th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: There have been a lot of amazing Mario releases crafted over the years. Thanks to the success of Nintendo’s flagship franchise, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking over the reins ofMario’s game galleryand developing their own adventure including the iconic cast of characters. But during the early days of gaming, Nintendo would sometimes pass development to other companies, allowing them to use Mario and the associated characters to create unique new IPs. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out as well as Nintendo hoped in some instances, but that doesn’t mean it was all bad. Here’s a better look at some of the Mario games that weren’t developed by Nintendo themselves.
13The Early Mario Party Series
There have been a small handful of series that other companies have developed under the watchful eye of Nintendo. Mario Party is one such franchise, with the developer changing hands over the years but the actual publishing being done by Nintendo. As of 2012, all of Mario Party’s subsequent releases have been handled by NDcube, a subsidiary wholly owned by Nintendo themselves, but prior to 2012 the production of Mario Party was handled by two other developers.
From 1998 to 2007, the series was developed by Hudson Soft, a company that wasn’t stranger to making Mario-based titles in the past. There were also a series of Arcade machines that were released entirely in Japan, but their development was handled by Capcom.
12Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
It may be news to some to learn that the popular Mario + Rabbids series isn’t actually developed by Nintendo. Although the company acts as publisher (in Japan) and liaison on the growing series, its development and worldwide publishing is handled by Ubisoft Milan. Those that don’t follow game development closely would likely never know that the budding franchise was being created and developed by someone other than Nintendo, considering how much it “looks and feels” like a Nintendo game.
Needless to say, Ubisoft Milan has done a fantastic job capturing Nintendo’s style and aesthetic for the title (and its upcoming sequel), which has likely earned high marks from the Big N themselves, considering Ubisoft has another Mario + Rabbids title releasing in the near future.
11Hotel Mario
Well, granted, one look at this abomination is probably enough to tell you that Nintendo weren’t responsible for it. Do you rememberLink: The Faces of EvilandZelda: The Wand Of Gamelon? They weren’t the only Philips CD-i titles to make a mockery of iconic Nintendo franchises.
Hotel Mariohit this ill-fated system in 1994, the handiwork of Philips Fantasy Factory. It’s a rudimentary puzzle game in which Mario travels between a series of hotels (each of which boasts 10 levels), having to close every door in the stage to proceed to the next. The game boasted familiarSuper Mariomechanics (such as bopping enemies on the head and boss battles against the Koopalings/the nefarious Bowser), but there was nothing particularly memorable about it.
10Phillips' Other Canceled Titles
Hotel Mario lives on in infamy as one of the worst Mario releases to ever grace the franchise and stands as one that Nintendo doesn’t like to bring up as “part of the franchise” very often. That said, it wasn’t the only CD-i release that Phillips had proposed for the Nintendo icon.
Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds planned to emulate the success of Super Mario World but would make use of real-world Earth-based locations rather than taking place in the iconic Dinosaur Land. Unfortunately, the CD-i wasn’t powerful enough to include large amounts of sprites and other issues plagued development, causing the company to eventually cancel the proposed game altogether. Another title, Mario Takes America, met a similar fate. It was planned to follow Mario as he traveled to Hollywood to make a film but was scrapped for a myriad of reasons, with the main failures pointing to Phillips being unsatisfied with the title’s development.
9Mario’s Picross
What makes theSuper Marioseries such a barnstorming success? The games just have a universal appeal: incredibly accessible for younger players, while those looking for an extra challenge will find some surprisingly difficult platforming sections to test their mettle (sometimes in the post-game). Some of the titles on his resume, however, are far more niche.
Take 1995 Game Boy titleMario’s Picross, for instance. It was developed by Ape and Jupiter,a puzzler in which the playerhas to reveal the hidden image by determining which blocks to leave blank and which to break (think Minesweeper). With its limited appeal, it didn’t really make a splash outside of Japan and its sequels weren’t released outside of Nintendo’s home country.
8Super Mario Bros. Special
Needless to say,Super Mario Bros.is one of Nintendo’s greatest success stories ever. It’s been ported, re-released, rebooted and followed up countless times, serving as a wonderful little golden goose for Nintendo over the years. What you may not know is that Hudson Soft developed a version of it!
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Super Mario Bros. Specialwas released back in 1986, for the primitive systems that passed for gaming PCs back then. What was special about it? The levels and enemies were different to those fans are used to, but it was relatively solid. Still, it’s a relic of a bygone era that is mostly forgotten today.
7Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars
OneSuper Mariotitle from yesteryear that we’ll never consign to the page of history, however, isSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.This was the hero’s first foray into the RPG world, so it stands to reason that genre heavyweights were brought in to do the title justice: Square-Enix.
Square, as they were known back in 1996, delivered on every possible level here. Tough as it can be to marry Mario’s familiar world with an entirely new kind of gameplay,Super Mario RPGwas a triumph. Regarded by many as one of Mario’s best adventures ever (as all the howling for Geno inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatewill tell you), this title paved the way for several more RPGs starring the portly plumber (as we’ll see a little later).
6Mario Teaches Typing
As we know, Mario has tried his hand at just about every genre and style of game known to humankind. Between starring roles and cameo appearances, he’s seen and done it all. Sadly, yes, this means that we’ve been subjected to our share of Mario-branded ‘edutainment’ titles too.
Mario Teaches Typingwas first released in 1992, developed by Interplay Productions. The goal, of course, is to teach young players how to type. In terms of typing exercises, spelling help and so on, it’s a relatively comprehensive little package. There was even a sequel that allowed us to foil Bowser and bring his castle crashing down using a magical typewriter. We don’t know if that’s the best or the worst premise ever.
5The Mario & Luigi Series
As we saw with Square-Enix earlier, Mario’s RPG adventures tend to do super well with some outside muscle on the job. TheMario & Luigiseries is a spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG, with the games being developed by the now-defunct AlphaDream.
FromMario & Luigi: Superstar Saga(2003), these titles have been known for their dynamic battle systems, bright, colorful worlds and hilarious, self-aware dialogue. As with all the best spin-offs, you don’t need to be a dedicated Mario fan to appreciate these games.
4The Mario Kart Arcade GP Series
If you’ve seen aMario Kartcabinet at an arcade and wondered what the heck Pac-Man was doing in the game, the answer’s obvious: Nintendo licensed these titles for development by Namco.
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The initial game was released in 2005, followed by a series of follow-ups:Mario Kart Arcade GP 2(2007),Mario Kart Arcade GP DX(2013) andMario Kart Arcade GP VR(2017). Arcades are hard to come by these days, but who could resist a quick blast around the track if they saw one of these?
