Trophy

Trophies are collectibles found throughout the Mario franchise. They can serve different purposes, but they are usually given as rewards for completing tournaments.

Mario Kart series
In the Mario Kart series, trophies are rewards for completing cups. When the player ranks in the top three in a Grand Prix, an award ceremony is held, featuring a trophy; each cup has a different design for its trophy, and its color depends on the player's position, being gold for first place, silver for second place, or bronze for third place. Since Mario Kart Wii, a generic trophy appears if the player ranks in the top three at the end of a round of Vs. Mode or Battle Mode; this trophy varies in color like the Grand Prix trophies.

Mario Golf series
In Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, players receive trophies only if they get 1st place. In the rest of the games of the Mario Golf series, there are gold, silver, and bronze trophies. Players get them by ranking in the top three in course championships. In Mario Golf: World Tour, trophies can also be earned by placing in the top 60% of all the participants in online tournaments.

Mario Tennis series
In the Mario Tennis series, trophies reappear with the same purpose as in the Mario Golf series. Like in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, they can only be earned by ranking in 1st place.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
In Mario Hoops 3-on-3, there are trophies for each cup. The cups are: The Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Star Cup, and the Rainbow Cup. Once the players collects all four for the first time, they can play all four cups again on Hard Mode. There are bronze, silver, and gold versions of each trophy, though instead of being based on the player's position (they can only get trophies by placing in 1st), the trophy is based on how many points a player earns in a tourney (200+ over all CPUs for gold, 100-199 for silver, and 1-99 for bronze). Each bronze, silver, and gold trophy for each cup offers a different reward.

Super Mario Strikers
In Super Mario Strikers, trophies are awards won by achieving a certain number of special actions. Additionally, all cups of the game are trophies, including the Mushroom Cup, the Flower Cup, the Star Cup, the Bowser Cup, the Super Mushroom Cup, the Super Flower Cup, the Super Star Cup, and the Super Bowser Cup. The cups' trophies are won by winning the cup. These special trophies can also be unlocked:

Winning a gold trophy also unlocks certain cheats available in the Options menu.

Mario Strikers Charged
In the sequel to Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, players can earn one of three trophies, the Fire Cup, the Crystal Cup, and the Striker Cup. To win the cup, players must beat the champion of the cup in the best 2-out-of-3 series. If the player wins two games, then the cup is theirs.

In addition to the three main cups, all three also have two bonus trophies known as the Golden Foot and Brick Wall awards. These are based on goals for and goals against, respectively.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong series
Trophies are an important feature in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, starting with Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! and returning in Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge. In these games, they are used to reward players when they surpass the goal score of a level. Gold trophies are needed to unlock bonus levels, which are more challenging than the main levels.

In Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars, trophies are given more variety to assist the game's star gimmick. They come in bronze, silver and gold and are given in accordance to the player's score, just like in other games of the series. Each type of trophy is worth one star. Stars are used as in-game currency to purchase items from the Workshop Store, and were also used to tip players for levels shared online prior to Miiverse shutting down. In Workshop mode, before a player can upload their own level, they must play-test it and earn enough points for a gold trophy.

Mario Sports Mix
In Mario Sports Mix, if players beat tournaments for any sport, they will receive a trophy for finishing the final match of that specific tournament.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star
In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, if Mario returns to where he found the Bowling Ball in the Bafflewood after knocking down the pins at Strike Lake, he will find a gold trophy (supposedly to him, as it has his name on the bottom). If he takes it to the Sling-a-Thing and uses the sticker in battle, the man on top of the trophy will toss his ball at the enemies to damage them.

Trivia

 * A Trophy featuring Mario, Luigi, & Bowser (along other images) was used for the Nintendo 3DS demo at E3 2010 and StreetPass Mii Plaza.
 * In Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, the player can rotate the trophy by moving the Circle Pad or using the GamePad's screen respectively.