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He’s the star of some of the most celebrated platformers ever made and has tangled 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 of Mario’s game gallery and 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.

13 The 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.

12 Mario + 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.

11 Hotel Mario

Well, granted, one look at this abomination is probably enough to tell you that Nintendo weren’t responsible for it. Do you remember Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand Of Gamelon? They weren’t the only Philips CD-i titles to make a mockery of iconic Nintendo franchises.

Hotel Mario hit 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 familiar Super Mario mechanics (such as bopping enemies on the head and boss battles against the Koopalings/the nefarious Bowser), but there was nothing particularly memorable about it.

10 Phillips’ 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.

9 Mario’s Picross

What makes the Super Mario series 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 title Mario’s Picross, for instance. It was developed by Ape and Jupiter, a puzzler in which the player has 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.

8 Super 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. Special was 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.

7 Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars

One Super Mario title from yesteryear that we’ll never consign to the page of history, however, is Super 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 RPG was a triumph. Regarded by many as one of Mario’s best adventures ever (as all the howling for Geno in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will tell you), this title paved the way for several more RPGs starring the portly plumber (as we’ll see a little later).

6 Mario 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 Typing was 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.

5 The 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. The Mario & Luigi series is a spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG, with the games being developed by the now-defunct AlphaDream.

From Mario & 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.

4 The Mario Kart Arcade GP Series

If you’ve seen a Mario Kart cabinet 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) and Mario 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?

3 Mario’s Game Gallery

Gamers of a certain age may remember the Game & Watch Gallery series, which offered a variety of Game & Watch titles with a powered-up Mario veneer. Mario’s Game Gallery is a little like that but offered up games that were even more simplistic.

This title was created by Presage Software and first launched in 1995. It incorporates five classic games: dominoes, backgammon, Go Fish, yacht (a dice-based game) and checkers. Hardly essential fare, but it was a decent enough take on these titles and Mario’s heavy presence was enough of a selling point for some. The game is also notable for being Charles Martinet’s 2nd-time voice acting as the Italian Plumber.

2 The Mario Tennis Series

Among the many spin-offs Mario has appeared in, he’s turned his hand to a wide range of sports, from baseball to soccer and tennis. The latter has probably been his greatest sporting success to date, with the Mario Tennis series being very popular.

The most recent installment, Nintendo Switch’s Mario Tennis Aces, boasts rock solid and super fun tennis mechanics alongside a wide roster of characters, though it’s more than a little sparse in terms of game modes. It was developed, as were the earlier entries, by Camelot. Interestingly, Mario’s Tennis, a 1995 Virtual Boy title, was developed by Nintendo themselves. Still, that was a Virtual Boy game, after all, so nobody actually played it.

1 Mario Is Missing!

For our final entry, we’ve got a bit of a curveball for you. Mario Is Missing! doesn’t actually star the main man himself. As is the case with the Luigi’s Mansion series, this time Mario’s been kidnapped himself and his hapless brother is on the case.

Mario Is Missing! was released by The Software Toolworks in 1993. Edutainment was the aim of the game here, as Bowser attempted to establish a base on Earth and Luigi had to visit locations around the world, answering various geographical questions to thwart him. A novel concept and an interesting little footnote in wider Mario history.

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