Mario (franchise)

The current logo for the Super Mario series, often used to represent the Mario franchise as well

The Mario franchise, also known as Super Mario, is a long-running multi-billiondollar media franchise created by Nintendo. Most often taking place in the fictional Mushroom Kingdom, led by the elegant Princess Peach, who is usually the damsel-in-distress (though she at times can be a protagonist), it stars the titular Italian plumber, Mario, the main protagonist and longtime mascot of Nintendo, aided by his younger twin brother Luigi. The Mario Bros' mission in most games is to rescue the princess from the clutches of the evil Koopa King Bowser, the main antagonist. Like The Legend of Zelda series, some titles feature additional protagonists (such as Yoshi) and different lead antagonists (such as King Boo or Smithy).

Debuted during the very early gaming era of the Atari 2600 in July 9, 1981 by Shigeru Miyamoto, about five years before The Legend of Zelda in February 21, 1986, the Mario franchise is Nintendo's main flagship series. Although the very first game featuring the character Mario is the Donkey Kong arcade game, marking his and Donkey Kong's grand debut, this particular title alongside Donkey Kong Jr. are technically part of the related Donkey Kong series (its parent franchise); the first actual installment is Mario Bros. in 1983, while its breakthrough success began with the Nintendo Entertainment System title Super Mario Bros. two years later, starting its own Super Mario series. It is also known for many spin-offs such as Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario & Luigi, Super Smash Bros., and so on. Mario took the gaming industry by storm and became the most successful video game franchise of all-time, with over 250 titles released (20+ core installments) and more than 879 million copies sold as of 2024 (in comparison, The Legend of Zelda series sold only 163+ million). Alongside Donkey Kong, the Yoshi and Wario series are sister franchises.

MK8 Mario and Link trick — Mario and Link together as seen in *Mario Kart 8*

Although The Legend of Zelda is not technically a "sister" franchise to Mario, as their settings are completely different despite being based on a kingdom and the gameplay were designed to be polar opposites (Mario focuses on linearity while Zelda does not), it is still rather related, as both are widely known to have many parallels between them since their origins, coincidentally or intentionally, whether it is the main characters, events of the core games or even elements, often as Easter Eggs. This is because these iconic highly successful Nintendo franchises were originally created by the same development team and this continued into some later games of either series, especially the NES to Nintendo 64 eras. In spite of never being stated outright by Nintendo itself, due to the connections between Mario and Zelda and the fact most major media were released nearly simultaneously, it is likely they are partner franchises and even possibly sharing the same universe, with the Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule simply being extremely far away from each other. From the start, their main protagonists, Mario and Link, have occasionally crossed paths, most prominently in merchandise, Super Smash Bros. and the latest Mario Kart installments.

Relevance to The Legend of Zelda[]

TLoZ Manhandla Artwork — The Manhandla boss enemy is possibly a massive Piranha Plant from the *Mario* universe

The Mario series has had quite a few connections to the Zelda franchise, as early as the original The Legend of Zelda, which was developed concurrently with Super Mario Bros. by the same development team at Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda's earliest evidence of a connection to Mario is in the Japanese instruction manual of the very first game, in which Manhandlas are said to be jumbo-sized Piranha Plants.

HyruleWarriorsChainChomp — A Chain Chomp being held by Link in *Hyrule Warriors*, a *Mario* enemy meant for his home franchise

Two recurring elements of the Super Mario series, Chain Chomps and Fire Bars, were actually originally created for The Legend of Zelda series before they were given their prime association to the former.^[1]^[2] Nevertheless, both appear in the 1991 Super NES title A Link to the Past, which is one of the earlier appearances of Chain Chomps in general.

Although uncommon in Japan, a lot of Western media in the late 1980s and early 1990s grouped Mario and The Legend of Zelda together. The most prominent instance of this was The Legend of Zelda TV series, which was a part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! syndication package, and would have new episodes of Fridays. Additionally, many of the live-action Mario segments of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! would have a preview of a The Legend of Zelda episode. In Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up, there is not only a career page dedicated to Link, but a few of the pages include a Bot in them. The Mario and The Legend of Zelda series were also licensed together for various Nintendo-themed merchandise, such as Nintendo Cereal System and the Nintendo Adventure Books series. Both the franchises' license were given to Philips at one point to produce a few Philips CD-i games each such as Hotel Mario or Zelda's Adventure, which are infamously known to had poor development, little relation to the mainline games, and are consequently unsuccessful.

LA Kirby and Goomba — A Goomba and even Kirby from the *Mario* and *Kirby* franchises in *Link's Awakening* (despite the enemy for the latter is actually Anti-Kirby rather than the character)

Link's Awakening on the Game Boy in 1993 has guest appearances of various characters and enemies from other Nintendo franchises, especially Super Mario, and has more representation of this series than any other The Legend of Zelda title. Since Link's Awakening, Thwomps have been a semi-recurring enemy in the Zelda franchise, and the game introduces two Thwomp variants that have not appeared within the Mario franchise—Mega Thwomps and Stone Elevators—not unlike Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on the same handheld console, a platform game starring Wario that exclusively features another Thwomp variant, Pouncers. In Oracle of Seasons on the Game Boy Color, one of the bosses is a Thwomp named Head Thwomp, who has likewise never appeared in the Mario franchise. Bob-ombs and Cheep Cheeps are some other examples of Mario enemies that have appeared as foes for Link in more than one The Legend of Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda's own enemy species have seldomly had their variants in the Mario franchise, but in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Wii, there are Octoombas, which are a variant of both Goombas and Octoroks.

OoT Talon Artwork — Talon, who himself bares a physical resemblance to Mario

Some characters in The Legend of Zelda series share a bit of resemblance to Mario's own. The most well-known cases are Talon and Ingo in Ocarina of Time, who themselves have similarities to Mario and Luigi, respectively.

TFH Hammerwear Render — The Hammerwear from *Tri Force Heroes* is similar to the Hammer Bro enemy from *Mario*

Although actual items of either series are very rarely shared between each other, the most famous example is the Recorder from The Legend of Zelda was reused for Super Mario Bros. 3 to help Mario (or Luigi) warp between worlds. However, some Zelda games such as Tri Force Heroes have references to Mario such as the Fire Gloves and Hammerwear Outfits, which are based on the Fire Flower and Hammer Bro, respectively.

Other than Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo has often produced a mainline Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda game concurrently, such as Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 (the latter even uses a heavily modified Super Mario 64 engine like the earlier NES titles) and Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch.

Mainline games by console[]

Pre-NES (Arcade/other systems)[]

Nintendo Entertainment System[]

Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (otherwise known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan)
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3

Game Boy[]

Wii[]

Nintendo 3DS[]

Wii U[]

Mobile[]

Super Mario Run

Nintendo Switch[]

Trivia[]

As of January 2025, although it is Nintendo's primary series, Mario is not the highest-grossing media video game franchise of all-time, as it was greatly surpassed by the company's own Pokémon with $150 billion, making it the second in position, with $55 billion. The Legend of Zelda in comparison, however, is far less in revenue, having only $3.8 billion. Nevertheless, all three of such franchises are hugely successful in their own right.
Mario Kart 8/Deluxe of the Mario Kart series is the best-selling game of the Mario franchise, with over 73 million sold, combined.
- In terms of Super Mario, Super Mario Bros. is its top with over 40 million sold.

Aside from Mario, Nintendo's other flagship franchises are The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon.
Much like how Link, Princess Zelda, and Ganon are the three main characters in The Legend of Zelda series, the Mario franchise's equivalent are Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser, which can be easily seen as a parallel. They even share the exact same longtime roles in their core games' plot.
Although Donkey Kong is Nintendo's first major hit worldwide, it is not the first known title to be released. In 1979, an arcade shooter named Sheriff was popular in Japan. Its playable character appeared as an Assist Trophy in the Super Smash Bros. series starting in SSB4.
Much like the original The Legend of Zelda and Ocarina of Time for Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 are widely considered the most important installments of the Mario franchise based on their revolutionary influence in the 2D and 3D video game industry, respectively.
Interestingly, although Mario is the main protagonist of the titular franchise, Donkey Kong Jr. has his role being the complete opposite, where he kidnaps Donkey Kong (the first ever antagonist) as revenge for himself kidnapping his then-girlfriend Pauline (originally named Lady).

The Megaleg boss fight in Super Mario Galaxy is actually a scrapped idea for Ganon in Ocarina of Time
Interestingly, in Super Mario Galaxy, Mario's battle against the boss Megaleg was actually an idea that was originally planned for the iconic final battle against Ganon in Ocarina of Time. During development, the Demon King was supposed to be gigantic and Link had to scale his archenemy and attack various parts of his body. However, due to the hardware limitations of the Nintendo 64 (as it is a cartridge console from 1996), the concept proved impossible to program, as it resulted in a significantly reduced framerate and Ganon himself cannot be seen if the Hero of Time were to be on top of him, rendering the game unplayable. Ultimately, Nintendo was forced to rework the Final Boss fight entirely for the final release. For the CD-based Wii game in the Mario franchise released in 2007, the development team found its newer hardware much easier to use for this idea and they themselves were happy about it.
- Ironically, the Demon Dragon in Tears of the Kingdom had Link be on top of a very large boss in order to defeat this form of Ganondorf.
Like Zelda in Echoes of Wisdom, Peach has her own starring role as the main protagonist in a few games in the Mario franchise, beginning with Super Princess Peach in 2005 on the Nintendo DS, 19 years before her Zelda counterpart. However, she was already featured as a playable character as early as Super Mario Bros. 2, in 1988.
Prior to the debut of the Mario franchise to make Nintendo become the gaming giant ever since, it was once a nearly unknown toy/card manufacturer in its early history.
One of the most famous examples of Link appearing in a Mario game as a cameo include the 1996 Super NES title Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars.
Similar to Link's guest appearance in the Namco fighting game SoulCalibur II, Mario, and sometimes Luigi and Princess Peach, have been featured in non-Nintendo media as guests themselves. Famous examples include the Electronic Arts titles SSX on Tour and NBA Street V3. Coincidentally, those games were released on the GameCube, and, for obvious reasons, must only appear in a Nintendo console in any case.

Nintendo's mascot Mario shaking hands with Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, his former rival
During the 1990s, especially in North America by the release of the Super NES and Sega Genesis respectively, Nintendo had an infamous rivalry with Sega, in which the two companies had the Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises directly compete with each other until the release of the GameCube (due to the latter transitioning into 3rd-party by the failure of the Dreamcast). In recent years, their mascots Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog are currently friends and are seen together in Super Smash Bros. as well as the crossover Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (based on the real-world IOC Olympics).
In the Wii U title Super Mario Maker, alongside featuring Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and many other Nintendo-related characters, the game also included various popular guests from other media such as Hatsune Miku, Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, Sonic, and more, via Costume Mario by the Mystery Mushroom item.
- Although this was scrapped in its sequel Super Mario Maker 2 on the Switch for unknown reasons, Link himself is playable when Mario finds the Master Sword and transforms into the Zelda main protagonist.

Gallery[]

Mario, the main protagonist of the Mario franchise
Luigi, the secondary protagonist of the Mario franchise
Princess Peach, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom
Bowser, the main antagonist of the Mario franchise
Donkey Kong, an important character to the Mario franchise
Yoshi, an important character to the Mario franchise
Donkey Kong, the very first game of the Mario franchise
Super Mario Bros., the 2D breakthrough title of the franchise
Super Mario 64, the 3D breakthrough title of the franchise
Promotional artwork of Mario Kart 64 featuring Mario characters using the N64 controller as spaceships
Artwork of Mario playing the Game Boy
Classic artwork of Mario and Luigi playing the NES
Bowser playing the Nintendo Switch with his son, Bowser Jr.
Luigi beating Mario on the Switch while playing a Mario game themselves
Nintendo Power ad featuring Mario and Luigi promoting The Adventure of Link
An old artwork featuring Mario and Link together
Nintendo Power artwork of Link and Mario together
The Mario Bros, themselves the main characters of the franchise
Super Mario World artwork of Mario and Luigi together
Mario stopping Bowser, a common theme of the series
Bowser kidnaping Peach, a common theme of the series
Chain Chomps in A Link to the Past
Link encountering a Goomba and Piranha Plant in Link's Awakening
A photo of Princess Peach in the original version of Link's Awakening
A Mario cameo seen in Ocarina of Time, showing portraits of Yoshi, Peach, Mario, Bowser, and Luigi
A homage to the Donkey Kong arcade game as seen in Oracle of Ages
Mario encountering a Flute in Super Mario Bros. 3
Link avoiding Fire Bars in Spirit Tracks
Link appearing as an Easter Egg in Super Mario 3D World, based on The Legend of Zelda
A photo of Princess Peach in the Switch remake of Link's Awakening
Yoshi, Mario, and Link in a cameo together in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Mario encountering Link in Super Mario RPG
Mario's guest appearance in NBA Street V3, one of the rare cases of a Mario series character in non-Nintendo media

External links[]

Mario franchise on the Mario Wiki
Super Mario franchise on the Super Mario Wiki
Mario in Wikipedia

References[]

↑ "We’d had concept art for Bow-Wow lying around for awhile. We’d put it aside thinking we might make use of it if we could, but someone discovered it and ended up using it for their own purposes." —Takashi Tezuka (The Men Who Made Zelda – Staff Interview)
↑ "Iwata: You mean the spinning bars of fire attached to the castle walls that you encounter as you make your way along the corridor to fight Bowser.
Nakago: Right. Those first appeared right in the centre of the screen in Zelda.
Iwata: ...Really!?
Nakago: Yes, that idea originally comes from Zelda. We thought it would work better in Mario, so we transferred it across. I think it was Miyamoto-san who suggested it. Or perhaps it was Tezuka-san..." — Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo Official Website.

[1] "We’d had concept art for Bow-Wow lying around for awhile. We’d put it aside thinking we might make use of it if we could, but someone discovered it and ended up using it for their own purposes." —Takashi Tezuka (The Men Who Made Zelda – Staff Interview)

[2] "Iwata: You mean the spinning bars of fire attached to the castle walls that you encounter as you make your way along the corridor to fight Bowser.
Nakago: Right. Those first appeared right in the centre of the screen in Zelda.
Iwata: ...Really!?
Nakago: Yes, that idea originally comes from Zelda. We thought it would work better in Mario, so we transferred it across. I think it was Miyamoto-san who suggested it. Or perhaps it was Tezuka-san..." — Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo Official Website.

[1]

[2]