List of references and parodies

The following is a list of references to other media that has appeared in the Mario series.

Note: References to other Mario series games are not included here nor are references made in crossover games.

All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
This game was an officially licensed hack of Super Mario Bros. It referenced the japanese radio program All Night Nippon by replacing certain enemies and objects with japanese celebrities.

Donkey Kong 64

 * A classic arcade game Jetpac was included as a bonus feature in this game.
 * In the final Boss fight of this game, Nintendo and Rareware are announced as the sponsors

Donkey Kong Country

 * This game introduced Diddy Kong, who has always appeared with his cap with the Nintendo logo on it.
 * Dixie Kongs hat also had the Rare Ltd. logo on her hat. This stayed with her until Rare was purchased by Microsoft.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest
After the player has beaten the game, they can take part in Cranky's Video Game Heroes competition. The competition is simply whichever video game hero can collect the most coins. When the player first sees this competition the heroes already present are Mario, Yoshi and Link. A garbage can can also be seen at the competition with Sonic's shoes and Earthworm Jim's raygun, implying they failed to get enough coins in the competition.

Donkey Kong Land 2
The Video Game Heroes competition also appears in this game, however Cranky Kong is absent.

Diddy Kong Racing
Timber's hat has the Rareware logo on it.

Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium
This game uses the same gameplay as the Excitebike games

Hotel Mario

 * All of the hotels owned by the Koopalings are puns on famous Real World hotels.
 * Some of Mario's lines reference popular culture such as "We ain't afraid of no Koopas!" (a play on the line "I ain't afraid of no ghost!" from the Ghostbusters theme song) and "Hey, you! Get off-a my cloud!" from the Rolling Stones song, "Get Off of My Cloud."

Luigi's Mansion

 * The boxart of this game resembles the cover design of Home Alone.
 * If Luigi goes to the door to King Boo's alter before capturing the required amount of boos, a scene will show King Boo mistaking Luigi for Mario. In the scene, King Boo states that, "I will not give up my favorite decoration, I like Mario just where he is". This is a reference to the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, in which Jabba the Hutt states, "I will not give up my favorite decoration, I like Captain [Han] Solo just where he is". Han Solo hangs frozen in carbonite on a wall similar to Mario being trapped in King Boo's painting.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
If the golf ball is hit and lands on a patch of flowers, several Pikmin will pop out from the ground.

Mario Kart Wii
The Kart; the Blue Falcon is an obvious reference to the F-Zero series, where the blue Falcon is driven by Captain Falcon.

Mario Party 2
Many of the minigames are puns on pop culture, such as Dizzy Dancing and Magnet Carta

Paper Mario
The Koopa Bros. are obviously based of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Super Mario 64

 * The theme of the Boo's Merry-Go Round is very similar to the Music Box House's theme in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
 * Snowman's Land is a pun on No Man's Land.

Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up
Link makes a cameo in the chef/waiter page.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

 * Link can be found sleeping in the Rose Town inn after beating Bowyer in the Forest Maze.
 * Samus can be found sleeping in the guest bed of Toadstool's Castle after beating Yaridovich, and before going to Land's End. When spoken to, she'll say she's resting up for Mother Brain, the end boss of the Metroid series.
 * A Samus action figure can be found in a toy box in Booster Tower.
 * Hinopio in the Barrel Volcano has models of Captain Falcon's and Samurai Goro's spacecraft, and an Arwing from the Star Fox series.
 * Culex is an optional boss designed to resemble the Final Fantasy bosses. During and after the battle with him, Final Fantasy music is played. The music heard is a remix of the Boss Battle theme in Final Fantasy IV and after the battle, the famous Final Fantasy Victory Theme played. His Elemental Crystals are also the same as in Final Fantasy IV.
 * The enemy Bahamutt is named after the powerful dragon Bahamut from the Final Fantasy series.
 * Another reference to the Final Fantasy series involves the Czar Dragon: a superboss of the same name was dummied from Final Fantasy VI.

Super Smash Bros.
The Beam Sword from this game series bears a strong resembelance to the Lightsabers of the Star Wars franchise.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Several sound effects of this game are borrowed from Metroid II: Return of Samus, such as the pause sound effect and the sound that plays when Wario hits a boss.

Wario Land II

 * When the player has completed the game a remake of the 1980 Game & Watch game Flagman appears, called Flagman DD.
 * Some of the treasures in this game come from The Legend of Zelda series, such as the Flute, a purple Rupee, the Power Glove, and the Pegasus Boots.