What Mario games would fit in the National Game Registry?

S

SplodeyBob-Omb

Goomba
I'm making a National Game Registry, consisting of games that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

What Mario games would fit on the list?

I'll accept spinoffs (Yoshi, Wario Land/WarioWare, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Paper Mario, etc.)
 
mario teaches typing

if i had to limit it to just four (because idk i want to): super mario bros, super mario bros 3, super mario world, super mario 64
 
I'd add Super Mario Kart on there.
 
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It introduced the most defining elements of the Paper Mario visual style, and it became such a cult classic that the series not living up to it became a major talking point for every game after (including Super Paper Mario which I personally love). Nintendo took notice too, otherwise they wouldn't have closed a Direct with the remake's announcement. It's also notable for its trans representation in Vivian (being portrayed far more gracefully in the remake too).
 
There aren't many Mario games that are super significant. There are a lot of great games in the franchise yes but the actual important ones going by the descriptors given is very small.

Basically like, DK the arcade game, SMB1, and I guess SM64 for it's major innovations to 3D gaming.
 
Mcmadness said:
There aren't many Mario games that are super significant. There are a lot of great games in the franchise yes but the actual important ones going by the descriptors given is very small.

Basically like, DK the arcade game, SMB1, and I guess SM64 for it's major innovations to 3D gaming.
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Mario Party should be worth consideration (even if you don't agree); in spite of its quality and having a series of sameish games built off recycled assets, it DID popularize a genre of video game board games interlaced with minigames, if not set it. Basically, it's one out of the few series in the Mario franchise that did have some impact in the industry.

The original Mario Kart also helped expand Mario's franchise into the biggest series it is today, helping cement the idea of the Mario cast being reused for many different situations. Again there were Mario spinoffs before this, such as golf, but Mario Kart pretty much set the way for the franchise to be the biggest in the world in terms of sales and installments. As with Mario Party, this one also popularized a genre, if not making one.
 
As The Cutting Room Floor puts it: "For a stout, moustachioed pipe-fitter, Mario's defined more than his fair share of genres over the past couple of decades." I think there has to be at least five picks that should qualify. Here's what I came up with.
  • Super Mario Bros., the platformer that defines platforming
  • Super Mario 64., the platformer that defines 3D platforming
  • Donkey Kong Country, showcases pre-rendered visuals. They don't go on to be a gaming staple because games can just render 3D visuals now, but for a while this was the way to get 3D graphics on hardware that couldn't do that.
  • Super Mario Kart, invents the kart racer
  • Mario Party, I agree with Mario that it sets a standard for digital board games.
 
Xiahou Dun said:
Mario Party should be worth consideration (even if you don't agree); in spite of its quality and having a series of sameish games built off recycled assets, it DID popularize a genre of video game board games interlaced with minigames, if not set it. Basically, it's one out of the few series in the Mario franchise that did have some impact in the industry.

The original Mario Kart also helped expand Mario's franchise into the biggest series it is today, helping cement the idea of the Mario cast being reused for many different situations. Again there were Mario spinoffs before this, such as golf, but Mario Kart pretty much set the way for the franchise to be the biggest in the world in terms of sales and installments. As with Mario Party, this one also popularized a genre, if not making one.
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I mean, "using different characters in different kinds of ways" isn't exactly a new or innovative concept. Franchising existed long before video games even existed. Heck even in video games Pac-man was doing that before Mario did.
 
Didn't say it was necessarily new or innovative. I emphasize the scale in the video game industry instead: Mario's sales figures and amount of games are undeniably unprecedented for a video game franchise, dwarfing every other video game series, and it owes to Mario Kart probably planting those seeds.
 
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