MarioWiki:Chronology

MarioWiki:Chronology is a editor guideline that aims to help contributors place the events of video games, television shows, comics, etc. in the same order throughout the Wiki. Nintendo has not published an official chronology for the Suepr Mario series. Thus, the Super Mario Wiki is forced to speculate as to the order in which the games take place. The list is unofficial and should not be taken as fact.

The chronology below is based off of several concepts. The first is the release date concept: when no indication of when the events of a title took place in relation to other titles, the Super Mario Wiki assumes that titles that were released first occurred first, and those that were released later occurred later. For titles released in multiple regions, such as Japan, North America, Europe, and Australia, the earliest release date is used. For example, there is no specific indication that Super Princess Peach occurred after Super Mario Sunshine. However, because Super Mario Sunshine was first released on July 19, 2002 (in Japan) while Super Princess Peach was first released on October 5, 2005 (also in Japan), we ASSUME that Super Mario Sunshine occurred first. The reason for this assumption is that many other titles reference earlier released titles. For example, in Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is shocked when a Pianta janitor suggests that they suck up the Boos with a vacuum cleaner, a reference to the events of Luigi's Mansion, originally released September 14, 2001 (in Japan). Finally, in the early days of the Super Mario series, each title used to be a direct sequel to the previously released installment, starting with Super Mario Bros. and continuing until Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island ended the chain by taking place in the past, when Mario was still Baby Mario.

The second concept used is the age of characters. We ASSUME that any title featuring Baby Mario without his older self occurred in the past because of the precedent set by Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Since then, this concept has expanded: if a character appears to have obviously aged between two appearances, that aging is used to justify placing the appearance in which the character is older at a later point in the chronology than the appearance in which the character is younger. For example, we assume that “Family Album: “The Early Years”,” a Nintendo Comics System comic featuring Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, occurred earlier in the chronology than the previous comic in the Nintendo Comic System story featuring adult Mario and Luigi. With the exception of the baby forms of central Super Mario characters, this concept usually goes hand-in-hand with the release date concept. For example, Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color released on September 10, 1999, featured Kid as a boy. Mario Golf: Advance Tour released on April 22, 2004, featured Kid as a young man.

The Super Mario Wiki chronology policy also account for direct sequels. Titles such as Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins may be released years apart, yet the storyline of the second title chronologically makes it clear that the second story happened soon or immediately after the first. In the above example, Super Mario Land 2 revealed that when Mario came home from saving Sarasaland in Super Mario Land, he found that Wario had taken over his castle. Therefore, the Super Mario Wiki places SML2 immediately after SML.

Unfortunately, the relation between originals and remakes is one area where Nintendo has left no known precedents. Because of this, the Super Mario Wiki makes an un-backed assumption that remakes occur at the same time, and thus should all be mentioned alongside one another in the articles. If one has information that proves this assumption false, the Super Mario Wiki would appreciate it if a user would present this information. Certain remakes, such as Donkey Kong for the Game Boy Color, expand upon and/or continue the events of the original, and thus both titles are considered to chronologically happen at the same time.

Example Chronology

1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (occurs when Mario is still a baby; the remake is Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, which should also be noted in case of changes or conflict between the two) and Yoshi Touch & Go (a retelling of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, so it occurs at the same time as SMW2)
2. Yoshi’s Story (the sequel to SMW2, Baby Bowser makes reference to Baby Mario, thus placing the game after SMW2; however, it was released before Yoshi’s Island DS, so it occurs before that game – this does not mess up any continuity)
3. Yoshi’s Island DS (another sequel to SMW2, it is not a direct sequel as it does not take place immediately after Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, some time has passed)
4. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Mario is a toddler is “Past” timeline)
5. Donkey Kong
6. Donkey Kong Jr.
7. (etc. etc.)
8. Super Mario Bros. 3
9. Super Mario World (although released later then Super Mario Land, the game takes place directly after Super Mario Bros. 3, as stated by the story)
10. Super Mario Land
11. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (although released much later, SML2 is the direct sequel to Super Mario Land, as stated by the story)
12. Dr. Mario (normal rules of release date now apply)
13. (etc., etc.)

The Yoshi games about the past, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and the Super Mario Land games are the only games we know that must be placed in the chronology without using the original release date rule. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time also breaks this rule, as some events occur in the past, while others in the present (the present events follow the release date rule). Every other game in the series should be placed in release date order, as none explicitly state they occur immediately before or after another game. Note that Luigi’s Mansion is not the last game in the series, as references are made to this game in later released games (such as the updated Poltergust models).