9 Top Super Mario Games for Nintendo 3DS

Whether you’ve just discovered Mario for the first time via Super Mario Run or you’ve been playing Super Mario Bros. for thirty years, there are always more great Mario games to enjoy in a wide variety of genres. Here are just a few we recommend on Nintendo 3DS family systems…

GO FOR GOLD IN CLASSIC 2D PLATFORMER NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2

Coins are always important in Super Mario games but in New Super Mario Bros. 2, they’re put front and centre with over 80 courses packed full of glittering gold coins for Mario and Luigi to collect. To date, players all around the world have collected over 2.7 Trillion coins and counting! You can contribute to this total too by playing regular courses or even competing with your friends in the special Coin Rush challenges!

TAKE TO THE RACETRACK IN MARIO KART 7

Race across land, air and sea in Mario Kart 7, as Mario and friends compete in new karts, which transform to fly through the air or drive underwater as the tracks demand! Mario Kart 7 is the ultimate portable Mario racer, featuring 32 tracks and 16 characters to choose from! As well as a range of single player game modes, players can also race against friends online and locally – even if their competitors don’t own a copy of the game, via the magic of Download Play!

RUN AND JUMP THROUGH AMAZING 3D WORLDS IN SUPER MARIO 3D LAND

If you’ve only ever played 2D Super Mario games and wanted to take the leap into three dimensions then SUPER MARIO 3D LAND is the perfect next step! Featuring over 90 sumptuous 3D courses, SUPER MARIO 3D LAND uses a fixed perspective so that Mario can move through the courses as easily as he would in a 2D game. So no matter what your experience, you’ll be able to start bounding around these sumptuously designed environments in no time at all! Alternatively, if you’re an experienced player who's grown up with 3D Mario games on Nintendo 64, GameCube and so on then there’s a wealth of challenging bonus courses to unlock too!

RELAX ON THE FAIRWAY IN MARIO GOLF: WORLD TOUR

Mario’s life, whether sprinting through the mushroom kingdom or racing around kart tracks, can be pretty fast paced. So what does he do to unwind? A round of golf, is something you might be surprised to hear he’s a fan of! Mario has a long history of golf games that combine the fun and imagination of his platform game worlds with a deceptively deep sports simulation. Mario Golf: World Tour is Mario’s most recent golf outing and features 7 full courses plus even more to download as add-on content! As you’d expect, players can compete in single player tournaments or play against four friends either online or locally.

CREATE YOUR OWN COURSES IN SUPER MARIO MAKER FOR NINTENDO 3DS

You’ve played through countless courses with Super Mario and now you can create your own in Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS! Using the touchscreen, you can create your own fun and challenging Super Mario courses, using themes and gameplay from Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros.! Share them with friends and family to see if they can beat them, or even share them with strangers via Nintendo 3DS’s StreetPass function! Just want to play Mario courses? No problem, Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS features 100 courses designed by Nintendo and millions more, created by fans, to download. Eurogamer recently called it “one of the best 2D Mario games in years,” so we’re sure you’ll find lots to enjoy.

EXPLORE A SPOOKY HAUNTED HOUSE IN LUIGI’S MANSION 2

A fan favourite on Nintendo 3DS, Luigi’s Mansion 2 sees you take control of Mario’s adorable brother as he explores a house haunted by ghosts. Armed only with a torch and vacuum cleaner, Luigi makes for an unlikely hero and we think you’ll love playing as him as he nervously tip-toes and trembles through his brave adventure. Luigi’s Mansion 2 is perfect for Mario fans who are looking for a nice change of pace, as the focus shifts to exploration and puzzle solving. But there’s also a fun and frantic multiplayer mode where up to four players can put their ghost busting skills to the test against each other!

SERVE UP AN ACE IN MARIO TENNIS OPEN

From the same developer as Mario Golf comes another great sports simulation with all the fun of the Mushroom Kingdom. Want to put Mario and Bowser’s differences aside for a day? Team them up in a doubles game of tennis and take on more of Mario’s friends on a variety of standard or wildly imaginative courts. Of course, just as you’d expect, you can play Mario Tennis Open alone or with friends online or locally whether they also own the game or not!

TWO DIFFERENT MARIOS MEET IN MARIO & LUIGI: PAPER JAM BROS.

Over the years, Mario has starred in plenty of role-playing games, featuring epic adventures, turn-based battles and character customisation. Two of the most popular such RPGs are the Mario & Luigi series and the Paper Mario series. In Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. these worlds come together for the very first time as the bouncy and fun Mario of Mario & Luigi meets his flat and floaty counterpart from Paper Mario! Enjoy one of the most fun stories of any Mario game in this brilliantly inventive adventure, and if you love it then why not try one of the other Mario RPG games available on Nintendo 3DS too!

PLAY A WACKY BOARD GAME WITH MARIO AND FRIENDS IN MARIO PARTY: STAR RUSH

The Mario Party games offer up all the fun you’d expect from a family board game but with twists and turns only made possible by video games. Up to four players can make their way around the board as their favourite Mario character and compete along the way in more than 50 fun and challenging mini-games that require brains, dexterity and a little bit of cunning! In a new feature for the series, anyone who downloads Mario Party: Star Rush – Party Guest from Nintendo eShop will be able to join a full multiplayer experience with an owner of Mario Party: Star Rush, absolutely free!*

These are just a few great Mario related games we recommend on Nintendo 3DS. For more Mario games on Nintendo systems, see the Super Mario hub or follow the official Super Mario Facebook page!

^{*The registration of Nintendo Network ID and acceptance of the Nintendo Network Agreement and Privacy Policy are required. At least one copy of Mario Party: Star Rush is required to play multiplayer. It is not possible to play multiplayer using only Mario Party: Star Rush - Party Guest.}