How much “Super Mario” per year? — Seth Larson
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How much “Super Mario” per year?
Seth Larson @ 2026-05-29
It's impossible to objectively quantify art, but we try anyway.<br>For example: Is “Super Mario” a good video-game franchise?
Looking at review scores, Super Mario includes some of the most universally-acclaimed games ever published: Galaxy, Galaxy 2, and Odyssey<br>are respectively the #4, #5, and #13 highest ranking video-games<br>of all time on Metacritic, all with 97 overall. Chances seem good?
What if we tried quantifying art in a different and slightly more reductive way?<br>This blog post introduces and calculates a new unit: “Super Mario per year” .<br>If you enjoy this franchise like I do then this unit is of particular importance to you.
Calculating “Super Mario per year”§
There have been ~19 titles (and two add-ons) published to what I consider<br>the "main-line" Super Mario games, both 2D and 3D. Below is a table<br>with every title, the year it was published, and the approximate<br>duration to play. This last column is the most subjective, because<br>there’s speed-runners, casual players, completionists. If you think any value<br>is way off, send me an email.
Game<br>2D/3D<br>Platform<br>Year<br>Time to Beat
Super Mario Bros.<br>2D<br>NES<br>1985<br>5 hours
Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels<br>2D<br>NES<br>1986<br>10 hours
Super Mario Bros. 2<br>2D<br>NES<br>1988<br>5 hours
Super Mario Bros. 3<br>2D<br>NES<br>1988<br>5 hours
Super Mario Land<br>2D<br>GB<br>1989<br>5 hours
Super Mario World<br>2D<br>SNES<br>1990<br>10 hours
Super Mario Land 2<br>2D<br>GB<br>1992<br>10 hours
Super Mario 64<br>3D<br>N64<br>1996<br>15 hours
Super Mario Sunshine<br>3D<br>GC<br>2002<br>20 hours
New Super Mario Bros.<br>2D<br>DS<br>2006<br>10 hours
Super Mario Galaxy<br>3D<br>Wii<br>2007<br>15 hours
New Super Mario Bros. Wii<br>2D<br>Wii<br>2009<br>5 hours
Super Mario Galaxy 2<br>3D<br>Wii<br>2010<br>15 hours
Super Mario 3D Land<br>3D<br>3DS<br>2011<br>15 hours
New Super Mario Bros. 2<br>2D<br>3DS<br>2012<br>10 hours
New Super Mario Bros. U<br>2D<br>Wii U<br>2012<br>15 hours
Super Mario 3D World<br>3D<br>Wii U<br>2013<br>20 hours
Super Mario Odyssey<br>3D<br>Switch<br>2017<br>25 hours
Bowser's Fury (Super Mario 3D World)<br>3D<br>Switch<br>2021<br>5 hours
Super Mario Bros. Wonder<br>2D<br>Switch<br>2023<br>15 hours
Meetup at Bellabel Park (Super Mario Bros. Wonder)<br>2D<br>Switch<br>2026<br>5 hours
Using the table above we can calculate approximately how much new<br>Super Mario gameplay is published on average per year.
Year<br>All-Time Avg<br>10-Year Avg (10YA)<br>2D (10YA)<br>3D (10YA)
1985<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>0.0
1986<br>7.5<br>7.5<br>7.5<br>0.0
1987<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>0.0
1988<br>6.2<br>6.2<br>6.2<br>0.0
1989<br>6.0<br>6.0<br>6.0<br>0.0
1990<br>6.7<br>6.7<br>6.7<br>0.0
1991<br>5.7<br>5.7<br>5.7<br>0.0
1992<br>6.2<br>6.2<br>6.2<br>0.0
1993<br>5.6<br>5.6<br>5.6<br>0.0
1994<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>0.0
1995<br>4.5<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>0.0
1996<br>5.4<br>6.0<br>4.5<br>1.5
1997<br>5.0<br>5.0<br>3.5<br>1.5
1998<br>4.6<br>5.0<br>3.5<br>1.5
1999<br>4.3<br>4.0<br>2.5<br>1.5
2000<br>4.1<br>3.5<br>2.0<br>1.5
2001<br>3.8<br>2.5<br>1.0<br>1.5
2002<br>4.7<br>4.5<br>1.0<br>3.5
2003<br>4.5<br>3.5<br>0.0<br>3.5
2004<br>4.2<br>3.5<br>0.0<br>3.5
2005<br>4.0<br>3.5<br>0.0<br>3.5
2006<br>4.3<br>4.5<br>1.0<br>3.5
2007<br>4.8<br>4.5<br>1.0<br>3.5
2008<br>4.6<br>4.5<br>1.0<br>3.5
2009<br>4.6<br>5.0<br>1.5<br>3.5
2010<br>5.0<br>6.5<br>1.5<br>5.0
2011<br>5.4<br>8.0<br>1.5<br>6.5
2012<br>6.1<br>10.5<br>4.0<br>6.5
2013<br>6.6<br>10.5<br>4.0<br>6.5
2014<br>6.3<br>10.5<br>4.0<br>6.5
2015<br>6.1<br>10.5<br>4.0<br>6.5
2016<br>5.9<br>10.5<br>4.0<br>6.5
2017<br>6.5<br>12.0<br>3.0<br>9.0
2018<br>6.3<br>10.5<br>3.0<br>7.5
2019<br>6.1<br>10.5<br>3.0<br>7.5
2020<br>6.0<br>10.0<br>2.5<br>7.5
2021<br>5.9<br>9.0<br>2.5<br>6.5
2022<br>5.8<br>7.5<br>2.5<br>5.0
2023<br>6.0<br>6.5<br>1.5<br>5.0
2024<br>5.9<br>4.5<br>1.5<br>3.0
2025<br>5.7<br>4.5<br>1.5<br>3.0
2026<br>5.7<br>5.0<br>2.0<br>3.0
This table will help you calculate approximately how much Super Mario<br>is coming in the next decade. The current 10-year window<br>pace shows 5 hours of Super Mario per year .
Looking at the trends, it looks like we may have<br>already passed peak 2D and 3D Mario individually.<br>This table also shows how overdue we are for a new big 3D<br>Super Mario title, the last entry being Super Mario Odyssey<br>almost a decade ago in 2017.
If I were to somewhat morbidly apply these numbers I can<br>estimate how much more new “Super Mario” gameplay I’m likely to<br>experience. Let’s be optimistic and apply the “All-Time Average”<br>instead of the “10-Year Average”: the resulting number is 256 hours.<br>Around 10 games of similar size to “Super Mario Odyssey”... seems good to me!
Super Mario Blogroll§
If you want to read more Super Mario writing here<br>are a few personal selections from my blogroll:
“Mario 101: For Super Players” by Drew Mackie
“Super Mario Bros was designed on graph paper” by Nicolás Valencia
“The most Mario colors” by Louie Mantia
Happy gaming!
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