List of references in video games

Mario characters have appeared as cameos in other Nintendo games over the course of Mario's long history. Below is a list of some of these appearances.

Mention Sightings

 * Alex Kidd in Shinobi World – The first level's boss, "Mari-Oh", bears a striking resemblance to Mario. This was likely a way to mock Nintendo, as the Alex Kidd games were all made by Sega, Nintendo's brutal business rival.
 * Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum – A certain Roman looks like Mario, only much more skinny. He also come with his own version of FLUDD. When attacking, he will very faintly shout "Yahoo!" in a Mario-esque voice. Upon beating him, he will shout "Mama mia!" The Roman also moves in a similar way to the way Mario moves in Super Mario Sunshine. In later stages, the Roman will even resort to trying to jump up high and stomping the character.
 * Banjo-Tooie – A toilet in Grunty Industries, Inc. needs a plumber, Kazooie suggests Mario because he's a plumber. The toilet says he thinks Mario doesn't do that job anymore. Also, Googles plays with a Donkey Kong doll.
 * Big Brain Academy – One of the Syllable Count sentences is the famous Toad quote "Thank you, Mario, but our princess is in another castle" and in The Missing Link, sometimes a sketch of Mario's Hat will appear.
 * Chibi-Robo – A character named Kid Eggplant looks just like the Eggplant Man enemy from Wrecking Crew.
 * Crash of the Titans – The Ratnicians can be heard sometimes saying "You thought he was an Italian plumber or something?" when they notice Crash.
 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest – At the end of the game, Mario is awarded second or first place for collecting the most DK Coins. Mario's rank depends on how many DK Coins the player has collected.
 * Earthbound/Mother 2 – In the Onett arcade there are several Donkey Kong arcade machines. In the Japanese version of Earthbound (known as Mother 2) Mario, Peach, Luigi and Toad are a few of the default names of the games characters. Also the default name for the dog is Yoshi and Ness's favorite meal is "Mushroom Meal" and the favorite thing is "goal".
 * Earthworm Jim – The Sega CD version of this game includes several secret masks for the character, including one of Donkey Kong with an arrow through his head. This is supposedly to spite Nintendo as the release of Donkey Kong Country around the same time prevented Earthworm Jim from making more of an impact.
 * F-1 Race – Mario waves the checkered flag when the player wins a race.
 * F-Zero X and F-Zero GX - A playable racer named Mr. EAD has an uncanny similar phisical appearance to Mario. In F-Zero X, a race course named Rainbow Road appears, with a striking resemblance to the Mario Kart 64 Rainbow Road.
 * Goldeneye 007 – A cheat mode in this game is "DK mode" this is named after Donkey Kong. In this mode players have big heads and small bodies.
 * The Great Giana Sisters – This entire game was an unauthorized rip-off of Super Mario Bros., with similar-looking graphics and gameplay. It was released for computers in 1987, and was pulled from shelves very quickly due to legal pressure from Nintendo. The tagline for this game was "The brothers are history.".
 * Jill of the Jungle – A "News Bulletin" announces Mario, at age 72, is giving up superhero status because of Jill's "incredible" popularity. "We are not cool enough. We just did not stand a chance." states the newsflash. It also says that he will return to his old job, cleaning gorilla cages at the local zoo. (Unfortunately for Jill, because of her incredible unpopularity she was retired after only three games.)
 * Justice League Heroes – The villain Gorilla Grodd attacks the player's characters by materializing large barrels and hurling them.
 * The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening – Li'l Bow-Wow, known in the Marioverse as a Chain Chomp is featured in the game and 'befriends' Link as actually helps him access one of the dungeons. Other Marioverse monsters like Bob-ombs and Goombas also appear in the game. The character Mamu also looks just like Wart.
 * Maniac Mansion – When the player turns on a "video game," some music is played, and the player hears the first five notes of the famous Super Mario Bros. theme.
 * Megaman Battle Network 3 – Mario's clothes appear in Mayl's room.
 * Megaman ZX – There are two brothers who resemble Mario and Luigi.
 * Mother 1 & 2 – Same as Earthbound
 * Nintendogs – Mario and Luigi's hats appear as wearables for the dogs, as well as RC Mario, Peach, and Bowser Kart toys.
 * Pikmin 2 – A picture of Bowser is on a box of matches. The game's protagonists, Captain Olimar and Louie, resemble Mario and Luigi respectively. Their original Japanese names are also anagrams or shortening of Mario and Luigi's names. (Orima = Mario, Rui/Lui = Luigi)
 * Pokémon – On the TV in the copycat's room the player can see Mario with a bucket on his head. This is a reference to the game Mario & Wario, where Mario gets a bucket dropped on his head by Wario.
 * Pokémon Stadium 2 – A few of the accessories that can be get from the Mystery Gift feature in Pokémon Crystal is NES, SNES, Virtual Boy and Nintendo 64. When using the Transfer Pack to see them in Pokémon Stadium 2, a limited number of video games appears randomly on the screen depending on which console that is used. These games includes Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. for the NES, Super Mario World for the Super NES and Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64.
 * Qix – Mario appears, dressed from certain cultures from around the world.
 * The Simpsons Road Rage – Some houses have the switch from the switch places in the garden.
 * Spyro: A Hero´s Tail - there is an enemy that looks like a Piranha Plant and the Professor mentions Power Stars and Red Coins
 * Stunt Race FX – Mario and Luigi appear on billboards.
 * Super Play Action Football – On the coin that is tossed before the game, Mario's head is the Head side and Raccoon Mario's tail is the Tail side.
 * Super Punch Out – Mario, DK, and DK Jr. (all in their original forms) appear in crowd.
 * Super Scope 6 – Mario flies one of the planes once a certain amount of progress is made.
 * Taiko no Tatsujin 8 – The Super Mario Bros. theme is one of the playable songs.
 * Uniracers – The Hopper track Wario Paint is a spin off of the game Mario Paint.
 * Viewtiful Joe – Joe whistles the main theme to Super Mario Bros.: B-Dasher.

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