Super Mario (series)

The Super Mario series, also called the main series or main games, is the biggest and most important sub-series of the Mario franchise. It started in 1985 with the creation of Super Mario Bros. on the Family Computer and subsequently the Nintendo Entertainment System. It has been followed by many sequels released in almost every Nintendo video game console to date, except the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance, where only remakes, ports, or other spin-offs games were released and development was handled by other divisions and companies.

The series features both 2D platform games, the first of which has been Super Mario Bros., as well as 3D platform games, the first of which has been Super Mario 64. Most of these games, notably excluding Super Mario Bros. 2, follow the story of Mario and, usually, his brother Luigi and sometimes his best friend Yoshi, in their quest to search for and rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser, who wants to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom or another location, depending on the game. The Mario Brothers' adventure is not easy, however, as they must face Bowser's troops throughout, who attempt to thwart the brothers' attempts to rescue the princess.

The series is developed by several Nintendo divisions. The main games have been developed exclusively by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (known during its early days as Nintendo Research & Development 4). Following its merge with Nintendo Software Planning & Development in September 2015, the series is now handled by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.

In 2010, the series celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. The celebration involved a series of videos showing various tricks throughout the series' games on the Wii's Nintendo Channel, as well as releasing a Wii port of Super Mario All-Stars, which included a history booklet of the Super Mario series and a CD containing several songs from games in the series. In 2015, the series celebrated its thirty anniversary with the commemorative game being Super Mario Maker, a game creation platform game that allows players to create their own Mario levels by choosing between four game skins based on other Super Mario games. Special amiibo based on Mario's classic and modern design were released as well.

Additional games
During the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. the games considered part of the Super Mario series were listed in official material. On pages 238 to 255 of the Encyclopedia Super Mario Bros. all the games released on consoles made by Nintendo and featuring Mario were listed as well, indicating the grade of involvement of Mario in them and indicating as well which games were part of the Super Mario series. In both media two additional games were listed as being part of the Super Mario series, that are also part of the Super Mario Land series. These games are also included as part of the Super Mario game collection in the Mario Portal website, an official portal website dedicated to the Mario franchise, operated by Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Related games
These original games are related to the Super Mario series, while not officially being considered part of it. An important case is that of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which is considered by Shigeru Miyamoto as part of the core Mario series. The Mario Portal website listed Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Run as part of the Super Mario game collection.