It has become one of the world's highest-grossing media franchises, as well as one of the longest-running video game franchises of all time. As the flagship franchise of Nintendo, Super Mario has garnered critical acclaim and widespread recognition throughout the world, with several of its games being considered to be among the best video games ever made. The franchise has also been licensed into other media, such as television series, anime, comics (including manga), children's books, and feature films, and spawned various promotional videos and a theme park attraction. In total, over 300 video games are included in the franchise, which combined have sold over 870 million copies, more than any other video game franchise. Furthermore, a few spin-off franchises have arisen starring specific characters from the franchise, namely the Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario franchises. Mario series, the action-adventure Luigi's Mansion series, and educational games such as the Mario Discovery series, among others. Super Mario games of other genres include the Mario Kart racing series, sports games such as the Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Baseball, and Mario Strikers series, party games such as the Mario Party series, role-playing games such as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, puzzle games such as the Dr. The two brothers use their jumping prowess and various power-ups to progress through levels, while also being helped by their friends, such as the dinosaur Yoshi and adventurous Mushroom Kingdom citizen Toad.

The main series in the franchise is the Super Mario series, consisting of platform games that typically involve Mario and his brother, Luigi, working to save the Mushroom Kingdom and its ruler, Princess Peach, from the Koopa villain Bowser and his army of minions. Most Super Mario games have been released for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onwards. Many of the games are developed and self-published by Nintendo, while others are developed by other companies under Nintendo's supervision, such as Hudson Soft, Camelot Software Planning, Intelligent Systems, Next Level Games, Retro Studios, and NDcube, among others. The franchise was created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and its first installment was the arcade game Donkey Kong, released on July 9, 1981. It centers around the fictional character Mario, an Italian plumber who serves as the hero of a realm called the Mushroom Kingdom. The Super Mario franchise, also known simply as the Mario franchise, is a media franchise chiefly consisting of video games published and produced by the Japanese company Nintendo. If it were not for this blindingly spectacular creation, digital entertainment as we know it today would not exist.” - Hideo Kojima, Nintendo PowerVolume 230, November 2010

“Super Mario is equivalent to the Big Bang of our gaming universe.

Donkey Kong, Mario Baseball, Mario Strikers, Mario & Sonic, Mario + Rabbids Mario, Mario Kart, Mario Discovery, Mario Party, Mario Golf, Mario Artist, Mario Tennis, Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Luigi, Mario vs. Mario Bros., Golf, Wrecking Crew, Super Mario, Dr. The current versions of the logo, used since Super Mario 3D Land ( 2011)

For the main series of platform games, see Super Mario (series). This article is about the whole Super Mario franchise.

All mario characters and enemies