Point

Points are units of score in the Mario games. They are acquired by defeating enemies or bosses, collecting coins, etc. The total of all received points is usually called the score. The first Mario game to include points was the original Donkey Kong arcade game, where they determine the player's ranking.

In Super Mario Bros., Mario earns 50 points for breaking Bricks, 200 for collecting a coin, and 1,000 for collecting a power-up. The player can earn a consecutively increasing number of points by chaining certain enemy-defeating actions without stopping. Stomping on multiple Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Buzzy Beetles grants the following sequence of points: 100, 200, 400, 500, 800, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 5,000, 8,000, and then all 1-Ups. Enemies defeated by a Koopa Shell or Buzzy Shell grant the following sequence of points: 500, 800, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 5,000, 8,000, and then all 1-Ups. Stomping two Goombas with one jump grants Mario 100+400 points (200+500 if it occurs just after he stomps on another Goomba). Kicking a shell itself usually grants 400 points, though it may grant 500 or 800 points if done after the player stomps on the enemy. Stomping on a Lakitu grants 800 points, and stomping on a Hammer Bro grants 1,000 points. Defeating most enemies with fireballs grants 200 points, though defeating a Goomba grants 100 points, defeating a Hammer Bro grants 1,000 points, and defeating Bowser with fireballs grants 5,000 points. Pulling down the flag on the flagpole grants 100, 400, 800, 2,000, or 5,000 points depending on how high the flagpole is touched. At the end of a level, there is a bonus that grants 50 points for each remaining second on the timer, though no such bonus is present in castle levels in the original NES version; it is, however, in Super Mario All-Stars and the Challenge mode of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

Later games have different chains for stomping on consecutive enemies and kicking a shell into foes; specifically, the point chain is 200, 400, 800, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, and then all 1-Ups (it is preceded by 100 in Super Mario Bros. 3), and it also applies when the player runs into enemies while invincible, starting with Super Mario World (however, in Super Mario 3D World, the chain loops back to the start in this state), as well as when the player slope-slides, as of New Super Mario Bros. A chain started with Lakitu or any member of the Hammer Bro family starts at 1,000 (since New Super Mario Bros.), as do enemies defeated by touching goals. However, certain items can affect these chains, as stomping enemies while using a P-Wing in Super Mario Bros. 3, shell-dashing into foes in New Super Mario Bros., or running into foes in the White Raccoon or White Tanooki form in New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 3D World, respectively, grants only the initial point value for each enemy beaten.

Points have a purpose in various games. For example, in Super Mario Land, they let Mario continue after a Game Over for earning 100,000 points; in Super Mario Bros. 3, they spawn an N-Mark Spade Panel for every 80,000 points earned; and in Super Paper Mario, points are used to level up the characters, replacing Star Points from Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. However, they are largely aesthetic in most other games and serve only as a secondary goal, such as in Super Mario World and the New Super Mario Bros. games. In Super Mario 3D Land, points are replaced completely by coins. In Super Mario 3D World, points reappear, though they only serve a purpose in multiplayer mode: the game keeps track of the points each player gains (though any points earned while riding Plessie are awarded to all players) and displays the totals at the end of each level, with the player with the most points getting a crown as a prize. This crown is worth 5,000 points if an active player wears it to the end of the next level, but it can be lost if the player who holds it gets hit by an enemy, and it can be stolen if another player ground-pounds the crowned character. If the crowned player grabs a Double Cherry, only one instance of their character wears the crown. Unlike most other games, Super Mario 3D World only tracks the highest score for each level, rather than having a running total throughout the game; Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 also does this for the Special Zone's levels once they are all cleared.

Certain games and items may also affect the score. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 features two point-changing e-Reader cards: a Japan-only one that doubled any points gained and an unreleased one that made the point chain start at 4,000 instead of 100. Super Paper Mario features Speed Flowers and Slow Flowers, which speed up or slow down gameplay, respectively, and also triple any points gained while the items are in effect. The game also subtracts points instead of giving extra lives when the point chain gets far enough; this is because the game has no extra life system.

In the Mario Kart series, the Grand Prix and Versus modes award points based on the player's finishing position. At the end of the course/tournament, the player with the most points gets a gold trophy, and the second- and third-place finishers receive silver and bronze trophies, respectively. Points are also used in Battle Mode, with different uses throughout the games. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart DS, the player can set a rule that makes the winner gain a point, and (in Mario Kart DS only) win the match when reaching a predetermined number of points. In Mario Kart Wii, the player earns a point for every balloon popped or coin collected. At the end, the teams' points are totaled and the team with more wins the match. Winning a predetermined number of matches means winning the battle. In Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8, points work as in Mario Kart Wii but are summed individually. In Balloon Battle, players can earn an unlimited number of points, but in Mario Kart 7's game Coin Runners, a player can earn only 10 points per battle due to the game's limit of 10 coins carried at a time.

Various Mario sports titles use the same point system as in the real sport depicted, such as shooting a basketball into the net in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mario Sports Mix, scoring goals in the Mario Strikers series, and trying to get the lowest score in the Mario Golf series.