Over the years, Mario has become the mascot character of the platforming genre, Nintendo, and arguably even the gaming industry as a whole. Any time the heroic plumber stars in a new release, the gaming industry stops and pays attention, regardless of whether it's a new Super Mario game, Mario Kart, Mario Party, or one of the character's many sporting ventures.
Despite the almost unparalleled level of attention that the Mario franchise receives, there have been a few games over the decades that fell through the cracks and slipped out of the memory of even some of Mario's most die-hard fans. Granted, some of these games have been forgotten for a very good reason, and they certainly don't match up to games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, but they're still interesting to know about for gaming historians.
10 Mario Is Missing!
One of the most appealing factors about the Mario franchise is that the games, simply put, tend to offer fun over anything else. However, the IP's popularity with children was used in 1993 to try and educate kids while also entertaining them.
Mario Is Missing! puts players in control of Luigi, who has to rescue his brother Mario after he's captured by Bowser. Luigi, along with Yoshi, travels to some of the world's most notable cities such as London, Paris, and Cairo, where the player will learn geography facts.
9 Super Mario Bros. Special
Considering the enormous success of Super Mario Bros., a game that helped rejuvenate the entire gaming scene in the 80s following the home console industry's crash, it would only seem logical that every other Mario release in that decade would get worldwide attention.
However, there was one game that was released just a few years after Super Mario Bros. that is still rarely spoken about in the western world. Super Mario Bros. Special was initially released In Japan in 1986, before coming to South Korea the following year. The game features 32 stages, the same as the original Super Mario Bros., but each level has been completely redesigned, and the fluid side-scrolling is replaced by shifting screens when Mario reaches the end of each screen.
8 All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is another Mario game that never had an official release in the west. The game was released in Japan on the Famicom in 1986, the same year as the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. Special. Like Super Mario Bros. Special, the game aimed to capitalize on the success of the original Super Mario Bros.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is essentially a retooled version of the original Super Mario Bros. but with a few alterations such as the ability to play as Luigi, alterations to the level design, and the implementation of Japanese celebrities as in-game characters.
7 Mario Clash
Mario Clash was released in 1995 in Japan and North America, exclusively on the Virtual Boy. The game is a 3D re-imagining of the original Mario Bros. arcade game, with the objective being to knock every enemy off of each ledge.
Mario Clash has an impressive 99 levels, though only the first 40 can be accessed from the start of the game. Moreover, the game doesn't feature a save mechanic, so many of the last levels will never be seen by some players. Mario Clash also doesn't save high scores, making progression feel redundant.
6 Mario Family
Throughout his illustrious career, Mario has ventured into all kinds of different genres and activities such as baseball, kart racing, and even medical practice in Dr. Mario. Despite this, there are many Mario fans who will be surprised to know that the platforming hero has also starred in a sewing game. Mario Family was released on the GameBoy Color and is compatible with the Jaguar's JN-100 sewing machine, which lets players sew their favorite Mario characters.
Mario Family is another game on this list that was only released in Japan, hitting stores in August 2001. Surprisingly, the game isn't the first sewing game in the Mario franchise, as I Am a Teacher: Super Mario no Sweater came before it in 1986.
5 Hotel Mario
Phillips were trying to promote their Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-i) console in the 90s, so they made the seemingly logical decision of hiring two of gaming's most iconic characters, Mario and Link, to star in a handful of games.
Unfortunately, the move is best remembered for providing two of the most notoriously awful games of all time with Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. These two Legend of Zelda games have been ridiculed for decades, though some people aren't aware that there was a CD-i Mario game too. Hotel Mario wasn't as bad as the Zelda titles, but the puzzle game still struggled to impress and wasn't the console seller that Phillips had hoped for.
4 Mario Teaches Typing
When hearing that there is a Mario game developed by Interplay Entertainment, the team that published Baldur's Gate, there aren't many people in the world who would guess that the game would be an educational title for kids.
Mario Teaches Typing does exactly what it says on the tin, teaching players how to type on a keyboard. This is done by presenting players with traditional platforming stages and tasking them to control Mario's movement by typing what they see on screen.
3 Mario's Early Years!
Mario's Early Years! is a collection of three point and click educational games titled Fun with Letters, Preschool Fun, and Fun with Numbers. Each game gives the player a selection of islands to choose from, containing a selection of educational activities.
The collection's gameplay doesn't tend to be too complex, usually requiring players to simply answer multiple-choice questions. These multiple-choice questions tend to tie into some form of simplistic mini-game, such as helping Mario reach one end of the screen to another.
2 Mario Hoops 3 On 3
As mentioned before, Mario is no stranger to inviting his friends and enemies for some sporting fun. Games like Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games, Mario Strikers Charged, and the recently released Mario Golf: Super Rush are well known to most fans of the plumber, but the Nintendo DS exclusive Mario Hoops 3-on-3 seemed to fall through the cracks.
As the name suggests, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 takes Mario and friends to the basketball court, with an over-the-top iteration of the sport. The game was developed by Square Enix and featured a handful of characters from the studio's iconic Final Fantasy series. Hoops 3 On 3 isn't the only Mario game that Square Enix has developed, as prior to Square's merge with Enix, Square developed Super Mario RPG.
1 Mario's Time Machine
Mario's Time Machine is yet another one of Mario's attempts at trading his plumbing profession the teaching. The 1993 educational game sees Bowser create a time machine, which he uses to steal numerous artifacts.
Mario, who has obtained control of Bowser's time machine, travels back to various times in history to return the stolen artifacts. In the process of doing so, the player will meet numerous historical figures like Sir Issac Newton and Thomas Edison and will learn about interesting facts about Human History.