Supporting Cast of Team Mario

[ABbutton]

For a long time Mario has been the face of the franchise. He is the star player without question but what about the other guys like luigi, wario, toad, princess peach, yoshi, donkey kong, bowser, etc. They are a major part of the nintendo franchise too and at times have had almost as much shine as Mario. How many of you guys have a favorite game that doesn't feature Mario or at least doesn't feature Mario as the lead guy? There are some out there here are some that I like:

What are your favorites?

 

[CodyMarkBrian]

Luigi's Mansion is a flat out masterpiece. Of of my favorite games of all time is Yoshi's Story for the N64. Donkey Kong 64 is also another incredible game, and for the time, Wario's Woods (nes, snes, gameboy) was a great puzzle game.

 

[iceskater101]

I am playing through Luigi's Dark Moon and it actually is really super fun! Go Luigi! Can Daisy get her own game please?

 

[aboleth_lich]

Donkey Kong Country was a downright phenomenal and truly fun SNES classic!

I distinctly remember playing it with a group of friends shortly after it was initially released, and we were truly blown away by the new high-bar it set for the SNES!

It's a shame that the SNES' Donkey Country 2-3 were merely passable entries in the franchise that didn't significantly further the original, but I do hand it to the Wii's Donkey Kong Country Returns for reigniting the magic of the original and then taking that re-ignited magic to a whole new level!

Now, for a bit of out-of-left-field fun on the subject of Donkey Kong Country: check out this outlandish fan theory about Donkey Kong Country being a critique of the USA's Banana Wars during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries! I'm skeptical that Nintendo actually had this mind when they created Donkey Kong Country, but I honestly cannot refute any of the parallels and metaphors suggested by this theory!

 

[steeleda]

I feel like I missed out on life. I've never actually played Donkey Kong or Yoshi's Island. I was always such a die hard Mario fan that the supporting characters' games weren't a priority to me and I find that really sad. I wish I would have taken the time when I was younger to try out some of these games, especially Donkey Kong, because it honestly looks pretty fun.

 

[gamerboy]

I loved Donkey Kong country man just sitting and thinking about it is justbringing memories to me because I really think that these games were really fun to play and Mario really was not the only game on the console that we fun but these other games too.

 

[Johnny Hopkins]

One of the best games for the gamecube did not star mario, I am of course talking about Luigi's Mansion. That game was awesome and really was a unique idea as it really showed the true potential of the luigi character.

 

[aboleth_lich]

As far as "Mario" games in which neither Mario nor Donkey Kong were the star go, I must give props to the Wario Land series! They were a rather fun, fresh, and unexpected spin-off of the otherwise lesser Mario Land Game Boy franchise!

I'm not sure if I would go as far as Wall Street's Gordon Gekko and proclaim that "greed is good," but Wario Land was one case in which greed was at least rather fun!

 

[steeleda]

Did anyone have the Mario game for the Gameboy? I know it is a Mario game (can't really remember what the actual name was) but I had it for the Gameboy and I don't remember liking it that much. Compared to Super Mario World, it just wasn't as fun.

 

[aboleth_lich]

Did anyone have the Mario game for the Gameboy? I know it is a Mario game (can't really remember what the actual name was) but I had it for the Gameboy and I don't remember liking it that much. Compared to Super Mario World, it just wasn't as fun.

There have been several Mario games for the Game Boy.

Do you mean Super Mario Land, the first Mario game for the Game Boy?

I will concur that Super Mario Land was one of the weaker Super Mario games, but I do give it some credit as:

- Rather than simply trying to port a stripped down version of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo created a whole new game that featured the same power-ups but entirely new (albeit extremely stock) enemies and settings.

- It was an early Game Boy game (which excuses the poor graphics especially), and at the time it was novel to play something very similar to Super Mario Bros on a portable console.

- It included levels in which Mario piloted a submarine and a fighter plane (an experience not unlike using the Rush-Marine and the Rush-Jet in the NES' Mega Man III), which was fairly novel.

Ultimately, it's a "just-okay" Super Mario game that's worth playing if you're a big fan of the franchise and have exhausted the other, better games.

Super Mario Land's immediate sequel was a vast improvement.

Although it dropped the vehicle-based levels, it:

- Had better graphics and game-play.

- Had more unique, novel, and fun power-ups.

- Replaced the stock alien warlord with the Earth 3 / Mirror Universe Bizarro Mario named Wario!

 

[LitoLawless]

I was actually wondering about something like this the other day. I would love to see a Bowser game or a Waluigi game of some sort. I think that would be really cool. I believe Luigi already has two stand alone games, and I think Princess Peach might have one too, I'm not too sure. All I know is that we need to see a game with some supporting characters at the forefront. Perhaps , have all of them featured in one game minus Mario?