List of references in the Super Mario franchise

This article is about references made within the Super Mario franchise to outside media and real life. For references to the Super Mario franchise made by external sources, see Lists of references.

The following is a list of references to works and elements of the media, other assets of popular culture, and real-life celebrities and historical persons that have appeared in the Super Mario franchise and its partner franchises. Note that references to other Super Mario media are not included here, nor are references in crossovers referring to the original series' source material. Historical or geographical references are also not included.

Donkey Kong series

Donkey Kong

• "Game Start" is a snippet of the theme song of Dragnet.
• "Round Start BGM" is similar to the jingle upon completing the third level in the Nintendo arcade game Sky Skipper. Both games were developed and released simultaneously by Nintendo Research & Development 1.
• "Round 1 BGM" is a snippet of the bassline of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" by English rock band the Beatles.
• The default high score in the arcade versions of Radar Scope, Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr. is 7650. 7-6-5 is a Japanese wordplay for Na-mu-ko (Namco) and that score appears as the default high score in many Namco games. It is likely that programmers at Ikegami Tsushinki simply copied code from their Namco projects for Donkey Kong, which was then copied by Iwasaki Engineering when they reverse-engineered the code to create the sequel. It is not possible to get a score of 7650 in either Donkey Kong or its sequel because the points must be divisible by 100. This score was later referenced as Donkey Kong's Void Company employee ID number in the DK Island & Emerald Rush paid DLC for Donkey Kong Bananza.

Donkey Kong Jr.

• The jingle that plays when starting a new game in the arcade version of the game is a snippet of "Toccata and Fugue" by Johann Sebastian Bach.
• The theme for the Vine Scene is similar to the bassline for "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" by John Fred and his Playboy Band.
• The music when Mario goes to his hideout by using his helicopter is "Infernal Galop" by Jacques Offenbach, also known as the theme commonly associated with the can-can.

Donkey Kong 3

• The music that plays in the blue and gray greenhouses is "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Donkey Kong Jr. Math

• The title screen jingle is a reused piece of music, originating in Popeye no Eigo Asobi.

Mario Bros. series

Mario Bros.

• The music that plays when the player begins Phase 1 is the opening eighteen notes of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
• In the Atari commercial, the song that plays is a parody of the Car 54, Where Are You? intro.
• The Japan-only re-release of this game, Mario Bros. Returns, features advertisements between its levels, either for other Super Mario games (such as Super Mario Bros. 3) or for the re-release's sponsor, the Nagatanien food company.

Mario Bros. Special

• The title screen music is the "level complete" theme from the Family Computer conversion of Lode Runner, which was later used for the title screen music of Championship Lode Runner.

Punch Ball Mario Bros.

• The title screen music is the song "Dixie", which is a musical piece based on the Southern United States created in 1859.

Super Mario series

Super Mario Bros.

• The Beanstalk that Mario uses to climb up to Coin Heaven is a reference to the English folktale Jack and the Beanstalk.
• Lakitus and Spiny Eggs are known as "Jugemu" and "Paipo" in Japanese. Both names are taken from the rakugo folktale Jugemu.
• Bowser's initial design was based on the ox king antagonist from Toei Animation's Journey to the West (renamed Alakazam the Great for its English release).
• The pause sound effect is recycled from Devil World.
• The first bar of "Ground BGM" after the introduction shares a melody with a section of T-Square's "Sister Marian".
• The main bassline of "Underground BGM" heavily resembles the start of "Let's Not Talk About It" from Lee Ritenour's second Friendship album.
• "Invincibility BGM" heavily resembles the guitar intro of "Summer Breeze" by Japanese fusion musician Piper. Arpeggios similar to the ones present in the background of this part of the song would later be used in the theme's arrangement in Super Mario 64, "Powerful Mario".

Super Mario Bros. Special

• The item Hachisuke is based on the bee from the Hudson Soft logo.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

• The skidding sound (which would later be used in Super Mario Bros. 3) sounds similar to the tire screeching sound from the Famicom game F1 Race.

All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros.

Sunplaza Nakano's likeness is used for the Goombas and the Piranha Plant.

As an officially licensed retool of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, many of the game's graphics have been altered or completely changed to feature references to All Night Nippon:

• The faces on the OkaP (Goombas) and the Pakkun OkaP (Piranha Plants) are based on Sunplaza Nakano, one of the show's DJ's.
• Starmen are replaced with Hiranya, a symbol popularized by the Japanese radio show Young Paradise.
• The symbol that appears on the flag raised when Mario enters the end-of-level fortress and the axe at the end of each of the castle levels is replaced with the Mentama Mark logo for Fuji Television.
• The mushroom retainers saved at the end of each castle have been replaced with the show's hosts. Respectively, they are: Miyuki (World 1), Takaaki (World 2), Noritake (World 3), KYON² (World 4), Takeshi (World 5), Matchan (World 6), and Hidechan (World 7).

Super Mario Bros. 2

• The sound effect of Birdo spitting an egg is taken from the sound effect that plays when a magical projectile is fired by the Magical Rod item or the Wizzrobe enemy in The Legend of Zelda.
  • Similarly, the sound effect of an enemy being defeated is taken from the sound effect that plays when a monster is damaged but not defeated in The Legend of Zelda.

Super Mario Bros. 3

• The island on which the castle of Water Land is located is designed after Japan; the castle itself is also placed in the same location that Kyoto would be, the city in which Nintendo's headquarters is located. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 adds to this reference by adding Sado Island.
• Excluding Larry Koopa, the Koopalings are named after music figures: five rock-and-roll musicians and one classical music composer.
  • Morton Koopa Jr. is named after former country/western singer-turned talk show host Morton Downey Jr., since he "looked like a loudmouth."
  • Wendy O. Koopa is named after Wendy O. Williams, lead singer of American rock band The Plasmatics.
  • Iggy Koopa is named after Iggy Pop, lead singer of American rock band The Stooges.
  • Roy Koopa is named after early American rock musician Roy Orbison, since they both wore sunglasses.
  • Lemmy Koopa is named after Lemmy Kilmister, late lead singer of British rock band Motorhead.
  • Ludwig von Koopa is named after composer Ludwig van Beethoven, due to their hairstyle.
• Boos are known as "Boo" Diddleys in this game, as a nod to American R&B singer Bo Diddley.
• The Japanese name for Ptooie's Spike Balls is "Shūringan", taken from the Japanese rakugo folktale Jugemu. As described above, Lakitu and Spiny Egg's Japanese names share the same origin.
• "Airship BGM" is based on "Mars, the Bringer of War," the first movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets.
• The "Magic Whistle" item is the Recorder from The Legend of Zelda; it summons a whirlwind to warp the player character to another location and plays the same tune when used, which has become a reoccurring melody in the original series.
• In the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System versions, the sound effect for the Raccoon Mario transformation (as well as the Tanooki Mario transformation) is taken directly from the sound used when certain enemies appear in The Mysterious Murasame Castle.

Super Mario Land

• "Invincibility BGM" is taken from a portion of Offenbach's "Infernal Galop".
• "Chai Kingdom BGM" opens with the Oriental riff, a passage popularly used in western music to represent East Asia, especially imperial China.

Super Mario World

• Reznor is named after Trent Reznor, the founder of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.
• Rip Van Fish is named after Rip van Winkle, the main character of the story with the same name who fell asleep for twenty years.
• The sound effect used for when a Yoshi Egg hatches sounds similar to when Tamagon's egg hatches in the NES game Devil World.
• "Ground BGM" features a similar set of notes to the 1960 song "Green Green" by The New Christie Minstrels, which was translated into Japanese by Hikaru Kataoka for the children's show Merry-Go-Round of Song.

Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins

• The fourth level of the Mario Zone features LEGO-like surfaces. At one point in the level, it is revealed that these are N&B Blocks, a toy manufactured by Nintendo in the 1960s to compete with the popularity of LEGO.
• The second level of the Turtle Zone has urchin-like enemies, Unibo, that strongly resemble Gordos from the Kirby series.
• The Masked Ghoul enemy in the Pumpkin Zone is a reference to Jason Voorhees from the movie series Friday the 13th, and is also named after him in Japanese sources.
• The Pigs are a reference to the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs". They also emerge from houses made of straw, sticks, and bricks, respectively, which reference the houses the Big Bad Wolf attempts to blow down.

Super Mario 64

• Bowser's roars and growls used in this and other games are stock sound effects that were previously used for King Kong and other movie monsters throughout several decades.
• MIPS mentions "being late" when caught, referencing the White Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
• Several mission names feature references to other media:
  • "Slip Slidin' Away" is named after the song of the same name by Paul Simon.
  • The Chinese name for "Breathtaking View from the Bridge" references Mount Huaguo from the classic novel Journey to the West.
  • "The Pit and the Pendulums" is named after The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe.
  • "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" references the lyrics to "Over the Rainbow", written for The Wizard of Oz.

Super Mario Sunshine

Il Piantissimo with his mask off

• If the game is hacked to remove Il Piantissimo's mask, he has the same face of the Running Man and the postman of Termina, from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, respectively, only with darker skin.
• The second Shine Sprite mission of Ricco Harbor, Blooper Surfing Safari, is named after the The Beach Boys' song, "Surfin' Safari".
• During the third mission of Ricco Harbor, The Caged Shine Sprite, a Pianta says, "Hey, it's just like in the movies! You know the scene? It's where something's on the manhole, and they can't get it open." This may be a reference to the 1948 film He Walked by Night.
• The exterior of Sirena Beach is shaped like a Nintendo GameCube controller.
• Phantamanta is a reference to the ending of the horror novel The Shining: "For a moment it assumed the shape of a huge, obscene manta, and then the wind seemed to catch it, to tear it and shred it like old dark paper. It fragmented, was caught in a whirling eddy of smoke, and a moment later it was gone as if it had never been."
• During the fourth episode of Pianta Village, Chain Chomp's Bath, a Pianta child says, "Great chomps of fire!". This is a reference to the 1957 song "Great Balls of Fire".

Super Mario 64 DS

• In the minigame Loves Me...?, if the player wins three times in a row, an arrangement of the tune that plays when Link uses the Recorder in The Legend of Zelda can be heard.
• Shoot into the Wild Blue's Italian name references the song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno.

Super Mario Galaxy

The gashapon capsule/Poké Ball planet in Buoy Base Galaxy

• Roctos, Octoguys, and Octoombas resemble and behave in a similar way to Deku Scrubs and Octoroks from The Legend of Zelda.
• Kingfin's first-person introduction references a similar scene in the movie Jaws, where the shark's viewpoint is shown just before it attacks.
• The battle against Megaleg is based upon the Ganon boss fight that was originally planned for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• In the Rolling Gizmo Galaxy, a hidden bunch of Star Bits formed in a shape similar to a Rupee from The Legend of Zelda can be seen.
• The rockets in the Space Junk Galaxy and the Ghostly Galaxy closely resemble the Hocotate ship from Pikmin 2.
• The last planet visited in the Buoy Base Galaxy (when it opens up) is based on gashapon capsules, which are transparent containers that contain small toys, dispensed from vending machines. As stated by the Prima Guide, it also bears a superficial resemblance to a Poké Ball.
• The name of the Sea Slide Galaxy mission "Faster Than a Speeding Penguin" is taken from the first part of Superman's catchphrase, namely "faster than a speeding bullet".
• The Spanish name of the mission Big Bad Bugaboom references The Empire Strikes Back.
• The illustrations inside Rosalina's storybook as well as the designs of the planets seen in this game and its sequel resemble those of the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

• The gold Gearmo in Boulder Bowl Galaxy will ask Mario for a Goomba, and the silver Gearmo in Space Storm Galaxy will ask for a Topman. After being given what they ask for, they will hold it up in the air exactly like Link does when he gets an item in The Legend of Zelda.
• A Walk on the Weird Side is named after the song "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed.

Super Mario 3D Land

• World 5-2 is based on the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda, in honor of the series' 25th anniversary. Additionally, when Mario or Luigi opens the area that contains the second Star Medal, the "found a secret" theme as heard in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is heard.

New Super Mario Bros. U

• Bridge over Poisoned Waters' name references the Simon & Garfunkel song "Bridge over Troubled Water."
• In Soda Jungle-4, Painted Swampland, the level's aesthetic appearance is an homage to Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. This also applies to Superstar Road-5, Spinning Platforms of Doom, and their equivalent levels in New Super Luigi U, Painted Pipeworks and Under Construction, respectively.

Super Mario 3D World

• When Bowser captures the Sprixie Princess at the start of the game, he does so by trapping her in a bottle, which is the same way Link catches fairies in The Legend of Zelda.
• In Rainbow Run, a secret area similar to the one from Bob-ombs Below appears, except this time the blocks make up an 8-bit sprite of Link. After stepping on every block, the "Item Get" tune from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will play, followed by a remix of the series' theme.
• Mystery House Melee and Mystery House Brawl reference Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Both Mystery Houses are centered around combat.

Super Mario Maker

Mario wearing a Link costume

• Many of the Costume Mario costumes are based on characters from other non-Super Mario franchises.
• In the Super Mario World-themed underwater course, the sprite of a Spike Trap is replaced with a Sea Urchin from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which in turn appears similar to the Gordos of the Kirby series. However, unlike the sequel, placing one still announces it as a Spike Trap instead of a Sea Urchin.

Super Mario Run

• The game's Remix 10 game mode shares its name with the final Remix stages from both Rhythm Heaven and Rhythm Heaven Fever.

Super Mario Odyssey

• All minigame icons show silhouettes resembling the Game & Watch series of games.
• Mario's Sombrero and Poncho outfits originate from the Game Boy version of Qix.
• Rango's English dialogue is patterned after that of Disney character Goofy, particularly his Southern American drawl and distinctive laugh.
• Wooded Kingdom is very similar to the setting of the 1972 science fiction film Silent Running, which takes place in a giant greenhouse maintained by robots that also happen to resemble the Steam Gardeners.
• The Bound Bowl Grand Prix is loosely identical to the Goron Race from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: both have the rotund residents of a cold region (Shiverians and Gorons, respectively) racing with the player assuming the form of one (by way of capturing and wearing a transformation mask, respectively), though the racetracks are completely different as one is a circuit and the other is an obstacle-filled path to the finish line.

Super Mario Maker 2

• Various course creators from the game's Story Mode have nicknames and speech patterns referencing other Nintendo characters:
  • "Agent 1" and "Agent 2" are Callie and Marie from Splatoon, referencing their New Squidbeak Splatoon aliases.
  • "Celebrity MC" and "Celebrity DJ" are Pearl and Marina from Splatoon 2. "Celebrity MC" describes the Fire Junior Clown Car in That's One Hot Car! as "off the hook", and calls Swinging Claw Ropes Course "straight up SLOPPY!", referencing an exchange in Splatoon 2 where Pearl tries to establish the term as a catchphrase.
  • "Doctor Gizmo" and "Youthful Researcher" are Robbie and Purah from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. "Doctor Gizmo" uses Robbie's signature "hmm" verbal tic in the descriptions for ON/OFF Switch Research Expedition and Blinking Block Blitz.
  • "Fired-Up Announcer" is Biff from ARMS.
• Takamaru and multiple ninjas from The Mysterious Murasame Castle appear as part of the animation for the "Ninja Attack!" sound effect that plays a sped-up version of the game's main theme.
• A 16-bit arrangement of part of the music for the Famicom Disk Writer plays during the balloon Toad House minigame in a Super World, which is inspired by an animation in the Disk Writer where a bald man pumps air into an inflatable replica of himself.
• A 16-bit arrangement of the title theme from the Baseball plays when starting the baseball Toad House minigame in a Super World. The minigame also uses sound effects from the game.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park

• Various species of Pikmin can be found in specific levels.
  • A Red Pikmin makes a cameo near the end of Piranha Plants on Parade.
  • Three Blue Pikmin make a cameo in a subarea of Downpour Uproar.
  • A Yellow Pikmin makes a cameo during High-Voltage Gauntlet standing on an Electricity Block.
  • A Purple Pikmin makes a cameo at the end of The Midway Trial: Hop to It attempting to pick up the Goal Pole.
  • Three White Pikmin make a cameo during the Missile Meg section of The Final Test Wonder Gauntlet.
  • Two Rock Pikmin make a cameo partway into Rolling-Ball Hall, both partially buried.
  • Two Winged Pikmin make a cameo just above the Poplin and Talking Flower in the Deep Magma Bog Observatory #4.
  • An Ice Pikmin makes a cameo in an isolated section of Condarts Away!.
  • Two Glow Pikmin make a cameo outside a window in Light-Switch Mansion.
• Morton's Wonder form greatly resembles Puppet Ganon from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, as both appear as giant marionette-like puppets with tusk-like fangs.

Dr. Mario series

Dr. Mario

• One of the jingles after successfully performing a combo is the first five notes of the song "Flohwalzer" ("Flea Waltz").

Mario Teaches Typing series

• The games' Mario in Real Time segments have several references in them:
  • When Mario says "Look, I'm a video game.", he moves his head in a similar fashion to the ball in Pong.
  • When Mario says "Sorry; that's-a hard for you, but easy for me. You know why?", he sings part of the chorus for "I Ain't Got Nobody".
  • Mario, offscreen, shouts "I've fallen, and I can't get up!". He then finishes by saying "That is my impression of American advertising!", referencing the fact that said line originated from LifeCall, an American company.
  • When Mario says "Can I sing a song for you?", he sings the chorus of "