It's astonishing to think how far Nintendo managed to get with the Mario. One would think they would run out of ideas for the Italian plumber. Instead, they've managed to take this concept and produce hit games for over three decades. At least, most of them were hits.

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Despite Mario's consistent popularity, some games have slipped through the cracks into obscurity. Perhaps it's because they weren't released in the United States. Perhaps they were just too bad or too weird. Whatever the case, these ten obscure Mario games are worth checking out for the 35th Anniversary. Let's a go!

10 Mario Teaches Typing

Mario dispatches some koopalings.

Back in the '90s, Nintendo made several "edutainment" games starring the Italian plumber that were aimed at a younger audience. Mario Teaches Typing is one of those games and is pretty self-explanatory. Players move Mario by pressing the corresponding keys on the screen to spell out letters and words. Aside from the game's educational value, the strange off-model design of Mario is truly a sight to behold. It's like staring into an uncanny Mario valley.

9 Mario Is Missing

mario is missing cover

If you've ever wanted to see a game where Luigi visits San Francisco and Beijing, look no further than  Mario is Missing. Bowser captures Mario and steals priceless landmarks to fund his latest scheme, leaving Luigi to bear the burden of rescuing his brother and reclaiming the landmarks. The edutainment game veers away from the familiar settings of the Mushroom Kingdom by sending Luigi to real locations to learn facts that aren't completely accurate. However, it is worth noting that this is the first Mario game starring Luigi as the main protagonist.

8 Super Princess Peach

super princess peach art

For years, Princess Peach has been the damsel in distress waiting for Mario to come to her rescue. In the mid-2000s, the tables were turned in Super Princess Peach where she was tasked with rescuing Mario with the help of a magical parasol.

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The gameplay utilizes Peach's joy, rage, gloom, and calm to maneuver through the levels. The game received some minor controversy on account of Peach being portrayed as an overly emotional girl which came off as offensive.

7 Hotel Mario

Mario closes a bunch of doors while avoiding goombas and koopa troopas.

The Philips CD-I is notorious for being one of the worst game consoles in the history of gaming and for its sorry excuse for a Mario game. In Hotel Mario, Mario and Luigi discover that Bowser had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom, kidnapped Princess Peach, and built various hotels run by the Koopa Kids. It's a terrible game but much like the CD-I Zelda games, the appeal comes from the cheesy, meme-worthy cutscenes. It's not worth playing, but it's worth looking up the various fan remakes of the opening scene.

6 Dance Dance Revolution: Mario

Mario dances with Waluigi in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix

Much like Mario, Dance Dance Revolution was a pioneer in the field of video games that brought the rhythm genre into the mainstream. In the mid-2000s, Nintendo decided to give Mario a rhythm game, and thus Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix was made. Most of the songs are remixes of level themes from other Mario games while the rest seem to be techno versions of classical music. It's hard to enjoy this game without a dance mat, but the music is still a blast to listen to. Much like Hotel Mario, it's also worth looking up and listening to, albeit for different reasons.

5 Mario Family (Sweater Designer)

mario family cover

To call Mario Family a video game is a bit of a stretch but it counts seeing as it was released on the Game Boy Color. This Japan-exclusive allowed players to choose between thirty-two patterns to color in, from characters like Wario to pick-ups like the Fire Flower, and use them to design sweaters.

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That is, provided that they have access to a Jaguar JN-100 sewing machine and the appropriate cable. It's also the last Mario game to be released on the Game Boy Color. Kind of a strange note to end on but they were likely focusing their priorities on a new console.

mario's game gallery opening

Content-wise, there isn't anything phenomenal about Mario's Game Gallery. The gameplay doesn't offer anything revolutionary or ground-breaking. Players are offered the chance to play against Mario in a game of Checkers, Backgammon, Go Fish, Dominoes, and the game's version of Yahtzee. What stands out the most is that this serves as the first game to utilize Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. Since then, he has continued to voice the character in every other Mario game.

3 Super Mario RPG

Nintendo Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars Cover

Just because a Mario game is obscure doesn't automatically mean that it is bad. Take Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, for instance. This game placed Mario in a turn-based RPG setting where he and teammates such as Princess Toadstool, Bowser, & Geno have to stop the Smithy Gang and reclaim the seven star pieces.

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Many consider this game to be a cult classic and have waited for a follow-up game or at least the inclusion of Geno in Smash Bros. Those fans will have to keep waiting but at least Super Mario RPG was made available on the Wii and Wii U.

2 Mario & Wario

mario & wario box cover art

Although the title does not leave much to the imagination, Mario & Wario is not a game to overlook. In this game, players take control of the fairy Wanda and manipulate the game's landscape to escort Mario after he's been blinded by Wario. The game was an exclusive in Japan for the Super Famicom and has been shrewdly referenced in other Nintendo games. Most importantly, this game was designed by the creator of PokemonSatoshi Tajiri, before he made it big. Hard to believe that more people don't talk about this for the trivia alone.

1 NBA Street V3

nba street v3 gameplay

By all accounts, NBA Street V3 barely qualifies as a Mario game but it counts due to the GameCube version exclusively featuring Mario and his friends as playable characters. This is due to a deal between EA and Nintendo requiring Nintendo properties to be added into EA games– giving players a strange crossover with Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach playing streetball against the likes of Lebron James, Shaquille O'Neal, and the Beastie Boys. It's bizarre watching the stylized Nintendo characters run around the court next to real athletes with more realistic designs. It's a surreal but fun experience to witness almost as if someone hacked the game and added mods.

NEXT: Super Mario 64: 10 Differences Between Video Game & Manga