What makes a ‘core’ Mario game? GamesBeat Decides

Spinoffs. Remasters. Side-games. These exist outside the realm of core games. It’s the difference between a Final Fantasy VII and Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon. But for a series as vast and old as Mario, it can be difficult to figure out exactly which games earn that core distinction.

This whole thing started as a debate on Twitter that we carried over to our podcast. You’d think that saying only 2D and 3D platformers that star Mario and were made by Nintendo should count would work, but even then you have problems. And some (crazy) people even want to exclude seemingly obvious choices like Super Mario Bros. 2 or Super Mario 3D World.