Yeah, there is a game that has Mario References. Dragon Quest VIII.
To be exact, The Monster Arena. The guy who runs it is named "Morrie", And he's a Red and Green clad...erm..."Pimp"...who has a moustache speaks with an italian accent. Kinda like our favorate plumber, except Mario's a tad overweight and can't revive dead monsters.
However, this may be a coincidence (A giant coincidence, I might add), if not for the fact that his name and four bunny girls have more two add, which are related to each other.
If you speak to the bartender that's in front of the Monster Arena gates, He makes a refference to the four bunny girls (Marrie, Merrie, Mirrie and Murrie, If I remember correctly), and says somthing about the "Super Morrie-o Sisters". If you don't catch at least one reference at this point I will hit you with a mallet. Morrie-o Sounds like Mario. Super Morrie-o Sisters can be linked to Super Mario Brothers. Should be pretty obvious at this point.
Anyways, that's all I have to contribute at this point.