Settling the debate: What makes a “core” Mario game?

Enlarge (credit: Collage by Aurich Lawson)

Nintendo’s mascot Mario has appeared in literally hundreds of video games, from featured appearances to small cameos. But simply considering every game with “Mario” in the title equally and flatly as a “Mario game” isn’t a very useful categorization. Surely there’s some way to draw a line between the games like Super Mario Bros. and games like Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix.

But where is that line? How do we define what is a “core” Mario game and what isn’t?

You probably think the answer is obvious and are developing your own list of “core” Mario games in your head right now. But I can assure you, your “obvious” answer is probably different from the “obvious” answer given by any other gamer you’d care to ask in some significant ways.