Mario has appeared in well over 300 video games if you count every cameo, spin‑off and crossover, but most modern lists put it in the low‑to‑mid 300s as of the mid‑2020s. There is no single “official” number, because different sources disagree on what counts as a Mario game (ports, remasters, minor cameos, mobile apps, etc.).

Quick Scoop: So… how many games has Mario been in?

If you’re asking “how many games has Mario been in?” rather than just “how many Super Mario platformers exist,” fans and gaming writers usually split it up like this:

  • Main “Super Mario” platformers: about 24 mainline Super Mario games as of the mid‑2020s (from Super Mario Bros. on NES up through recent Switch titles like Wonder and 3D collections, depending slightly on how you count expansions).
  • Games featuring Mario in a major way (kart, sports, RPG, party, crossovers, etc.): roughly 200–250+ titles.
  • If you extend to every cameo, spin‑off, and re‑release: 300+ games that include Mario in some role.

A helpful way to think about it is:

If you only count “main adventures,” you get a tidy list in the 20‑something range…but if you count everything he shows up in, you’re suddenly swimming in hundreds of titles.

Why the number isn’t exact

Different fans, wikis, and gaming sites use different rules when counting:

  • Some only count platformers with “Super Mario” in the title.
  • Some include Yoshi, Luigi, and spin‑off series as “Mario games” if Mario appears.
  • Some count ports, remasters, and collections separately; others don’t.
  • Mobile games, educational titles, and obscure releases (like arcade variants or region‑specific versions) also change the total.

So when you see one article say “238 games featuring Mario” and another say “300+,” they’re usually just drawing the line in a different place, not wildly contradicting each other.

Here’s a compact view of how sources tend to frame it:

[7][5] [5][7] [9][7][5]
Category Typical count What’s included
Main Super Mario games ~24 Core platformers with Mario as lead hero.
Games featuring Mario 200–250+ Mario Kart, sports, RPGs, party, crossovers where Mario is key.
All appearances 300+ overall Above plus cameos, minor roles, ports, compilations.

A quick “story” of Mario’s game explosion

  • Early 1980s: Mario appears as Jumpman in Donkey Kong and quickly becomes Nintendo’s go‑to hero across arcades and the NES.
  • 1985–1990s: The Super Mario Bros. era defines platformers; spin‑offs slowly appear (Kart, RPG, sports).
  • 2000s–2010s: Every Nintendo system gets multiple Mario‑branded series (Party, sports, RPG, 2D and 3D platformers), and the count accelerates.
  • 2020s: With the Switch era and re‑releases, compilations, and mobile titles, lists comfortably pass the 300‑appearance mark.

So the honest, internet‑friendly answer to “how many games has Mario been in?” is:

He’s starred in around two dozen core Super Mario adventures, but if you count every Mario game and cameo, you’re looking at 300‑plus games and still climbing.

TL;DR:

  • Main Super Mario platformers: ~24.
  • Broader games featuring Mario: 200–250+.
  • All appearances and cameos together: comfortably 300+ games.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.