It's now been 40 years since the first Super Mario game was released and changed gaming forever. However, 2025 marks not only a new milestone in the plumber's history, but the dawn of a new console epoch for Nintendo—leading to great speculation over the future of Super Mario.
Since the original Super Mario Bros. Game first hit shelves in 1985, the series has continued to retain its tight platforming charm while innovating ceaselessly. The Switch's standout Super Mario titles, Odyssey and Wonder, charted a new era for 3D and 2D Mario games, respectively; the former brought 3D gameplay back to its open-ended roots with greater expansion than ever before, while the latter finally broke the NSMB mold after 17 years of solid but repetitive releases. Given that Wonder is still young and that Donkey Kong Bananza, itself developed by the Odyssey team, slots more-or-less into the place a new 3D Mario would fit, it'll likely be some time before the plumber returns to center stage—leaving ample room to place bets.
8 Best Mario Games That Lived Up To The Hype, Ranked
The announcement of a Mario game rarely fails to promote excitement among fans, but some manage to live up to the hype a little better than others.
A Wishlist For The Switch 2's Own Super Mario Title
More Mechanics Per Level
The formula for level design in Mario games has almost always been the same; a level will introduce a mechanic in a safe environment before expanding on that mechanic in riskier and more elaborate forms. This is a simple but effective approach to platformer design, and the devs working on the series have historically had a tight grip on this philosophy.
However, the next game should consider pushing the boundaries with this concept. The best Mario levels are typically found in the post-game, with tough-as-nails stages like The Perfect Run and Champion's Road bringing back old mechanics in concert with each other to craft genuinely challenging gauntlets. The main campaigns of Mario's titles are usually quite enjoyable, but the laser focus on more casual audiences can have its drawbacks when it comes to depth and design intrigue.
Casual audiences shouldn't be pushed aside, especially when Mario often serves to guide these gamers into the platformer genre, but the real brain-engaging challenge shouldn't just be gated to the post-game. Taking a leaf from games like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which introduces two mechanics per level, would be a great way to make each stage more challenging.
A Faster Pace
While Mario evolved a lot with games like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Wonder, it's hard not to compare the plumber to his contemporaries when so many games are pushing the bounds of fast-paced platforming. Even something like Rayman Legends, which has been a go-to multi-generation platformer for over a decade, has more of a flow than Nintendo's own Italian American—and that's without getting into the indie scene's innovations. A new game shouldn't be afraid to give Mario and friends more opportunities for high-stakes, high-adrenaline action.
A Story With More Weight
Mario has never been Shakespeare, but he's not always had blank slate stories. Even without bringing attention to the series' many RPG spin-offs, games like Mario Galaxy (which Nintendo is pushing a great deal after its recent Direct) have touching emotional beats and more meat on the 'save the princess' skeleton. Mario's stories don't have to be deep or complex; they just need to have a few more twists, turns, and satisfying payoffs.
Odyssey was a great example of this, with its climax paying off the possession mechanic in a phenomenal way—not to mention the character development Cappy goes through, as well as the various setbacks the duo have to encounter on their journey. The next Super Mario game should definitely follow Odyssey's example, but could go deeper by introducing a new villain and/or introducing subplots (which could take the form of side missions) for other members of the cast.
Super Mario is one of the biggest names in gaming. The first game in the franchise was 1985's Super Mario Bros., a game that is credited with helping the gaming industry recover from its two-year crash that began in 1983.
The Super Mario series still has an important place in gaming today, largely thanks to Nintendo's ability to continuously innovate the platform games.