Best Super Mario RPGs

When someone thinks of Super Mario, the RPG genre is far from the first thing that pops into mind. How could Mario possibly work as a role-playing game? Surely this concept would flop harder than an attempt to reboot Devil May Cry. Not only did the blend work back in the ’90s, but it is still a thing to this day.

For over twenty years, Mario RPGs have produced gems for Nintendo fans. They balance the cartoonish world of Mario with thoughtful and well-made JRPG gameplay. What are the best, though? What Mario RPGs stand out more than others?

Updated on December 4, 2023, by Mark Sammut: The Nintendo Switch has received a new Mario RPG, but how does the remake compare to the plumber’s other adventures?

15 Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Metascore: 75

Sticker Star is when Paper Mario made the jump onto the Nintendo 3DS, albeit to a more mixed reception than usual for the series. It contained many familiar elements (including the stellar writing) that made everybody love the franchise, but it also made the mistake of being rather messy and uneven.

Sticker Star is not a bad game by any means, but it is considered by many to be a step backward. Rather than the usual experience-gaining system, the player is forced to collect stickers in order to get more powerful. Although not coming completely out of nowhere, Sticker Star shifted Paper Mario away from the RPG genre in general, to the point that it barely qualifies for this article’s subject.

14 Paper Mario: Color Splash

Metascore: 76

With some of the best visuals in the series, Color Splash takes a reverse Pleasantville approach to its story. All the color of the Paper Mario world has been drained, and it’s up to Mario to save the day. As per usual, the writing is top-notch with clever and inventive visuals to keep things fresh.

Paper Mario: Color Splash is a step up from Sticker Star and is overall a solid experience. Unfortunately, the combat system tends to be a sticking point with most people as it is considered to be among the worst in Paper Mario‘s history.

13 Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

Metascore: 76

With the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario series having so many entries, it was a pleasant surprise when a crossover was revealed. With the beautiful art styles merged together along with a unique combat system, it wasn’t hard to hook fans onto this game.

It wasn’t perfect, though. Since it was merging two franchises together, the game holds the player’s hand a little too much. Overall, Paper Jam is not the best of either series, but it is a great crossover event regardless.

12 Paper Mario: Origami King

Metascore: 80

By 2020, it had been a few years since the last Paper Mario game, but Nintendo finally brought the series to the Switch with The Origami King. This time, the visual gimmick is Origami and this leads to the best-looking game in the series. Of course, witty writing is back with some hilarious comedy.

Origami King is a game that shows that Nintendo is not afraid to experiment with new ideas. However, the new ring-based combat system did leave a slightly sour taste in some players’ mouths while others loved it. It was received positively for the most part and left fans hoping for a new Mario & Luigi game to hit the Switch as well.

11 Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

Metascore: 81

Inception meets Mario. That is the best way to describe Dream Team except without the mind-bending twists. The game was released during The Year Of Luigi and focused heavily on the underrated younger brother. Players control both brothers as they fight off evil inside Luigi’s dreams and in the real world.

As usual, the game features some of the best expressions and animations for the plumbers, giving them plenty of character. The writing and humor are on point with a fun RPG battle system.

10 Super Mario RPG (Remake)

Metascore: 83

Super Mario RPG has made its way to the Nintendo Switch in the form of a remake, and it has garnered a relatively low score for a Mario title. However, context is key. The game is very faithful to its SNES predecessor, so it loses some points for originality and creativity. The ’90s classic has also aged well, and while that helps the remake in a way, it also makes it feel slightly unnecessary. That said, Super Mario RPG is still among the best role-playing games on the Nintendo Switch thanks to its simple but addictive gameplay, vibrant and clean visuals, and witty narrative. At its core, this is still a masterpiece.

Now, while the core experience largely sticks to the original’s blueprint, the remake offers a few twists to help justify a revisit. Obviously, the graphics received the biggest upgrade, and Super Mario RPG looks fantastic on the Switch. The gameplay is generally unchanged, although there is a new combo attack that can be executed once a gauge fills up. This system rewards players who time their button presses well during combat, providing a flashy incentive beyond a small boost to the player’s performance.

9 Super Paper Mario

Metascore: 85

The third Paper Mario game leaped its way onto the Nintendo Wii. As the title of the game may suggest, Super Paper Mario merges the RPG gameplay fans know with the platforming of classic Super Mario games. One would think this might result in a divisive experience but it did rather well.

It was the sixth highest-rated Wii game of 2007 and was praised for its unique style. It also received praise for its writing for being the best in the spin-off series thus far.

8 Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

Metascore: 85

Out of nowhere, Nintendo and UbiSoft collaborated to create a crossover between the Mario series… and the Rabbids? Of course, this concept immediately sparked concern among gamers as it seemed random and out of place. Could it even possibly work? Well, yes!

To the shock of everybody, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle proved to be an extremely fun spin-off that merged lite-RPG elements with a tactical strategy game akin to XCOM games. It was unique and showed off beautiful visuals for the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps Nintendo should partner with more companies like this.

7 Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time

Metascore: 86

Time travel that results in a prequel/sequel… because why not? Again, showing Nintendo’s love for experimenting, Partners In Time has players control both adult and baby versions of Mario via the Nintendo DS. Just to make things even crazier, the Plumbers are fending off evil aliens known as Shroobs.

All of this could have led to a disastrous launch that bit off more than it could chew, but Partners In Time proved to be a great RPG. In this game, the Baby Brothers are not annoying like in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

6 Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope

Metascore: 86

Surreal as the crossover seemed initially, Kingdom Battle proved to be enough of a success to warrant a sequel. With the concept’s novelty now gone, Sparks of Hope could not risk simply regurgitating its predecessor’s formula verbatim, and that’s something Ubisoft took to heart. Although not as steep of a departure as some of the Paper Mario sequels, the 2022 release is still notably different from Kingdom Battle, albeit in ways that emphasize the latter’s strengths rather than reinvent them.

While still a turn-based strategy RPG, Sparks of Hope has quite a lot of exploration and puzzle sections, which act as a nice change of pace from combat. The battle system is also a delight, offering players far more options to contend with. The introduction of Sparks which can be equipped to characters to provide unique abilities adds an element of customization absent in Kingdom Battle.

5 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Metascore: 87

When it comes to the immediate sequel of a hit game, it is either a giant upgrade or a massive letdown. In the case of the second Paper Mario game, The Thousand-Year Door proved to be an equal in quality follow up. Even those that consider it worse than the original can’t call it bad.

The only common complaint it received at launch was the overly long text boxes. Other than that, it was a great new RPG that added more lore, characters, and a new setting to the series. Another gem for the library of GameCube owners around the world.

4 Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars

Metascore: 89

Before the handheld games came along, the first Mario RPG was developed by SquareSoft: the people behind the Final Fantasy series. Alongside the likes of EarthBound, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG is often labeled as one of the best RPGs ever made.

It was a bold move to take a platformer Mario and attempt to give it story and turn-based combat. SquareSoft (now Square Enix) proved that they were up for the challenge.

Super Mario RPG is not on Metacritic since it debuted prior to the site’s launch. Consequently, the listed score is based on GameRankings, according to Wikipedia (as the site is no longer available).

3 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Metascore: 90

The most amazing thing about Mario‘s RPG franchises is just how different they are from one another. Super Mario, Paper Mario, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga debuted within 8 years, and while they share similarities, they are still wildly different experiences.

Superstar Saga‘s main selling point was not only that it included both brothers as protagonists, but also that they are controlled simultaneously. Mario and Luigi have unique abilities that make them individually important while either traversing the world or engaging in battles.

2 Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

Metascore: 90

It seemed that Nintendo had a difficult title reaching the same heights as the original. That changed with Bowser’s Inside Story which is often considered the perfect sequel that is arguably better in some aspects. Similar to Partners In Time, players control two parties at once.

Mario and Luigi venture inside Bowser’s body with two buttons while the other buttons control Bowser himself. The writing was some of the franchise’s best, the gameplay was fun, and it did everything just right for a sequel. A unique RPG that some argue is even better than the original.

1 Paper Mario

Metascore: 93

Super Mario 64 nearly became the second-highest-rated Mario game on the Nintendo 64. It rightfully deserves that top spot, but it had a stiff competitor in the form of a little experimental title known as Paper Mario. That’s right, the very first Paper Mario game was just one point away from beating Super Mario 64.

Sometimes, you just can’t beat the original. The RPG mechanics and writing are sublime; it features everything that all other Paper Mario games attempt to recreate and come very close to doing. However, for many, the original is still the best of the series.

MORE: Every Mario Platformer Ranked By How Long They Take To Beat