In 1996, an unlikely collaboration between Nintendo and Square led to one of the greatest Japanese role-playing games ever made: Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars. Somehow, the platforming plumber translated incredibly well into a turn-based RPG akin to the Final Fantasies of the era.
Nearly three decades later, we’ve gotten more than a few RPGs starring Mario, along with remakes of Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door on the horizon. From RPGs that lean more into puzzle mechanics to tactical crossovers and traditional JRPGs, here is a list of them ranked from worst to best, with a focus on what makes RPGs great – memorable adventures with engaging combat.
14. Paper Mario: Sticker Star
The various developers of the Mario RPGs on this list packed tons of charm and fun into every one of them, and Paper Mario: Sticker Star is no different; however, it strayed far from its RPG roots while adding little to the Paper Mario series. The Sticker mechanic provided hours of fun exploration and puzzle solving, yet it didn’t make up for the lack of party members, badges, and other Mario RPG staples. In fact, you could argue it doesn’t belong on this list at all.
13. Paper Mario: Color Splash
Truly, Paper Mario: Color Splash and Sticker Star are interchangeable for the top spot. Both featured fun puzzles and exploration based on their respective gimmick, yet the lack of prominent RPG mechanics made their respective turn-based battles tiring. However, Color Splash added more reasons to battle: the more you defeat enemies, the more paint you’ll have on hand. That said, the paper-thin plot and overreliance on Toad NPCs rather than unique world-building keeps Color Splash low on this list.
12. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
For some time, the Mario & Luigi series gave Mario RPG fans what they wanted as Paper Mario titles drifted away from RPG mechanics. When Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was released as a crossover between the two worlds, many expected a deep RPG experience. However, that wasn’t the case: while ideas from both games intermingled to create a unique adventure, it ultimately falls lower on this list because it failed to utilize either series well – not to mention the incredibly forgettable story and tedious Toad Hunt mini-games.
11. Paper Mario: The Origami King
Paper Mario: The Origami King brought back some of what fans loved from the earliest entries: fun, memorable side characters and unique locales to explore. In fact, The Origami King had some of the best level designs and secrets of all Paper Mario games. Unfortunately, developer Intelligent Systems also tried to reinvent the wheel – literally. Instead of traditional turn-based combat with a party member or two to back Mario up, The Origami King featured a shallow wheel-and-grid-based system that offered no real challenge outside of a handful of decent boss battles. If only Intelligent Systems opted for more of a traditional RPG system, The Origami King might’ve challenged for a top 5 spot.
10. Super Paper Mario
Super Paper Mario’s greatest sin was being a massive departure from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Experience points, different playable characters to switch between, and items remain, but it was no longer turn-based; instead, it played much more like an action-adventure game. Still, clever puzzles, a 2D to 3D shifting mechanic, some truly unique locales, and a rather dark and intriguing – if a little overwritten – story make it one of the best Paper Mario titles after the original two. Despite all the positives, it wasn’t much of an RPG with such action-orientated combat.
9. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
From here, it’s quite hard to rank the Mario & Luigi games. Dream Team featured some great ideas: Dream World levels to explore as Dreamy Luigi with some clever Luigi-themed puzzles and giant battles. These pair well with the real-world levels on the aptly named Pi’illo Island that feature the standard turn-based battles the series is known for. It’s just that, by this point, the Mario & Luigi formula had grown a little stale with an overlong, tutorial-filled adventure. Its predecessor, Bowser’s Inside Story, did everything better.
8. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
In this bizarre mashup developed by Ubisoft, Mario and friends receive some ranged weaponry to take out some corrupted Rabbids plaguing the Mushroom Kingdom. To the surprise of everyone, it quickly became one of the best tactical RPGs on the Nintendo Switch – a console with a lot of tactical RPGs – combining deep, almost puzzle-like strategy with skill trees to outfit Mario, Luigi, Rabbid Peach, and more. The labyrinth worlds were fun to explore and solve puzzles in, and it also had an absolutely amazing DLC starring Donkey Kong.
7. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
The second Mario & Luigi game successfully translated the puzzle-and-RPG heavy gameplay to the dual screens of the Nintendo DS with great success. Partners in Time’s most memorable feature was the time-hopping plot, which saw Baby Mario and Baby Luigi teaming up with their adult versions to rescue Princess Peach, bringing the amount of characters players controlled at once up to four. Controlling the Mario Bros. as babies became a little bit unwieldy, sure, but it also provided quite a lot of fun puzzles to solve. While some of the adventure became grindy with drawn-out battles, it utilized the DS so well that dual screens would become a staple of the series.
6. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Sparks of Hope took what Kingdom Battle started and cranked player freedom up to 11 with free-range movement and great galactic worlds to explore. While not as mechanically tight as its predecessor, it allowed for game-breaking builds between the use of Sparks, character combinations, and skills; one of the greatest feelings an RPG can offer is making players feel powerful, and Sparks of Hope did so well. It also, like the best Mario RPGs, let Bowser join the party, though its DLC definitely failed to live up to what Kingdom Battle offered.
5. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
The first Mario & Luigi game successfully channeled what made its inspiration, Super Mario RPG, great: a whimsical adventure with tight, time-and-turn-based RPG gameplay. Players controlled Mario and Luigi at the same time, which, while it took a little getting used to, was an innovative way to experience an RPG’s puzzles. It has one of the more memorable settings in a Mario game with the Beanbean Kingdom, along with some of the funniest gags, such as the exchange rate between Beanbean Kingdom coins and Mushroom Kingdom coins.
4. Paper Mario
Proving that Mario truly works, whether he’s made of pixels, polygons, or paper, Paper Mario took players on an incredibly whimsical and memorable adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom. Each of Mario’s partners, of which there were eight total, assisted with both clever puzzles and simple – but still engaging – combat. Bright and vibrant, it’s one of the best-aged Nintendo 64 games, and a single playthrough leaves little doubt as to why it spawned so many successors. It’s just a shame they didn’t stick to the more traditional RPG mechanics.
3. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Bowser’s Inside Story was the Mario & Luigi series’ peak in terms of both story, gameplay, and a clever gimmick that later entries couldn’t top: platform adventuring and RPG battles within Bowser on one of the DS’s screens, and RPG adventuring as Bowser on the other. In fact, Bowser stole something other than Princess Peach this time: the spotlight from the Mario Bros. Along with giant Bowser battles and the best writing in the series, Bowser’s Inside Story is by far the best Mario & Luigi title and one of the best Mario RPGs ever made.
2. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Sorry, Super Mario RPG fans – the original isn’t at the top of this list, though if you want to cross out the 2 beside the header and write a 1 with a Sharpie on your screen, go right ahead. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars isn’t just one of the best Mario RPGs – it’s likely in the top 5 of best JRPGs ever made. An amazing cast of unique characters, including fan-favorite Geno (who somehow never made the Super Smash Bros. roster), along with an absolutely amazing soundtrack, innovative turn-based battles, and a vibrant world to explore, you can’t find much to criticize when it comes to Super Mario RPG. The rest of the games on this list wouldn’t be here without it.
1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Yes, the second Paper Mario – and the least played after Color Splash and the original, as it was a GameCube exclusive – packed in the most whimsical characters, surprising locations, and fun turn-based battles of all Mario-themed RPGs. Part of this comes from how Intelligent Systems separated the game into eight distinct chapters, filled to the brim with their own inclusive stories and characters. From the seedy hub of Rogueport to a trip to the moon, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an RPG that has as much clever writing, intuitive puzzles, and memorable boss battles as The Thousand-Year Door, and that’s all without mentioning Luigi’s hilarious parallel adventure stories through the Waffle Kingdom.
If you are looking for other Mario lists, here are all of the plumber’s 3D games ranked.
