The Super Mario video game empire is the most enduring franchise and the biggest universe in the gaming industry. It’s so big that even people who don’t play video games can identify Mario and Luigi. Sure, the giant “M” and “L” on their hats are a pretty big clue but go ask your grandparents if they know how Mario and Luigi are, and then ask them if they could pick Sly Cooper or Crash Bandicoot out of a lineup.
The franchise started in 1981 with Nintendo’s arcade classic Donkey Kong, in which Mario, or Jumpman, served as the game’s protagonist. Two years later, Mario got his own arcade game with Mario Bros. Three years later, Mario became the flagship game for Nintendo’s new console with Super Mario Bros. The addictive sidescroller launched Nintendo into a video game behemoth, followed by a long line of Mario games. Unfortunately, some of those titles didn’t jump high enough to meet the high standard set by those games. Some of them couldn’t even get off the ground.
Below are the 15 worst.
